Monument Valley clinches share of 3A North football title

FORT DEFIANCE

With an important win over the Tuba City Warriors, the Monument Valley Mustangs clinched a share of the 3A North football title.

Coupled with Page Sand Devils’ 26-6 victory over Chinle Wildcats, the Mustangs remain in first place in the conference standings at 4-0 and 9-0 overall.

The Mustangs kept its unbeaten record intact after a 25-8 win over Tuba City last Friday.

Monument Valley has one remaining game on the schedule. The Mustangs host Chinle this Friday at 7 p.m. at Mustang Stadium. A win by Monument Valley assures the Mustangs the 3A North championship outright.

In the latest statewide power rankings, Monument Valley in ranked No. 4.

The state tournament will feature the top 16 schools. Other 3A North schools looking in from the outside are Page No. 17, Chinle No. 18, Tuba City No. 19 and Ganado No. 20.

The state tournament playoff schedule will be released this Saturday morning by the Arizona Interscholastic Association. State tournament first round begins on Nov. 5 at the site of the higher seed.

Monument Valley head coach Bryan Begay said the Mustangs started out well, but got complacent after we got up early. He said both teams went down the field and could not convert their possessions into points.

“That was a day of work right there and the first thing you need to do is take your hat off to Tuba City and their game plan,” Begay said. “They did a great job of keeping the football, shortening the game and working the clock. We had some execution issues at times and we weren’t able to get the lead early and hang on.”

Begay said the Mustangs are used to getting off the field on defense and getting its offense the ball back.

“We held in there and found a way to win,” Begay said. “I am proud of our team sticking together. Fighting, working hard, and grinding out a win.

Sometimes you’ve got just to grind them out. As for us we had some penalties that killed our drives and/or kept them on the field. Our blocking assignments (for) that game were not very good and we struggled to play as a team. That was the best I had seen Tuba City play all year.”

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