Navajo Pine scores 28 unanswered points for its first win of the season

NAVAJO, N.M.

With both teams searching for its first win, something had to give.

After trailing 22-12 early in the third, the Navajo Pine Warriors went rampant and scored 36 points for the rest of the half to post a 48-28 win over the Monument Valley Cougars in eight-man football Friday night.

“We were down the entire first half,” first-year Navajo Pine coach Rodney Leal said. “I think the biggest thing is we’ve never played a full game this year, so the expectations of coming back in the second was exciting.

“For us, it was doing our jobs,” he added. “We tell our kids to do your job and if you can do that, a lot of good things will happen.”

Navajo Pine utilized the quarterback tandem of senior Josh Martinez and junior Miguel Tom as those two signal callers were very deceptive with their play calling.

“They complement each other really well,” Leal said. “We’ve been working on reading our blocks, and they showed it the second half.”

Both players finished with three touchdowns each as their coordinated effort baffled MV about whether they were going to pass or run the ball.

“We’re on the same page, and we just communicate,” Martinez said. “We just help each other out because we switch during certain plays, and it confused them.”

Tom said their receivers recognized MV’s defense formation and that allowed them to exploit some passing plays.

“It’s just reading what the defense was giving us,” said Tom while noting that they played with better energy in the second half.

“Our energy was low in the first half, and when we scored some points, the energy started rising,” he said. “We just started going from there.”

As for winning the game, both players say their triumph was much needed.

“It feels good to win our first game,” Martinez said. “It was a pretty good game and I enjoyed being out there with the team. We had a fun time. Overall, it was good to take home the ‘W’ for our team.”

“I can’t explain it, but it means a lot,” Tom said of the win. “It means everything to us.”

Trailing 8-0 heading into the second quarter, Martinez put the Warriors on board with a rushing TD near midfield.

“It was a big, long run,” he said. “I’m glad that I pushed my limits to keep going and to not look back.”

After MV tacked on another touchdown, Tom scored his first TD as Navajo Pine completed a 65-yard drive with Tom running in the final two yards with 2:39 left in the opening half.

That score cut MV’s lead down to 14-12 at the break.

The Cougars opened the second half with a promising drive as sophomore quarterback Kasey Yazzie found sophomore Jake Deswood for a couple of receptions, including a 31-yard strike that set up them up at Navajo Pine’s 15-yard line.

Three plays later, Yazzie hit junior Tashawn Nez for an 8-yard TD pass with 11:03 left in the third for a 22-12 cushion after the successful two-point conversion.

The complexion of the game, however, took a massive turn with Navajo Pine scoring 28 unanswered points. Martinez got it started with a 35-yard score with 4:33 left in the third as the Warriors got within 22-18.

Navajo Pine took the lead for good early in the fourth after they recovered a botched punt by MV. With the ball at MV’s 24-yard line, Martinez rushed for 19 yards to set up a TD by Tom for a 26-22 advantage

For its next TD, Martinez found Kaidyn Nez for a 14-yard score with Navajo Pine leading 32-22 with 7:51 left in the game.

After a key interception by Martinez, the Warriors opened a 40-22 cushion when Tom found junior Brandon James for a 34-yard TD reception.

MV got one of those scores back with a 50-yard drive with 3:50 left. Yazzie orchestrated that scoring drive with a pair of passes, which included a 15-yard TD toss to Alexander Hicks as the Cougars got within 40-28.

Nez then capped the game with a 9-yard TD run with 58.2 seconds left with Navajo Pine ahead 48-28.

“We had a lot of big plays,” the Navajo Pine coach of their second half play. “Everything is about momentum in football, and you gotta take advantage of those big plays. We did a lot of good things on defense, as far as swarming to the ball, wrapping up, and if we couldn’t take down the guy by ourselves, the rest of the team came over and helped out, and that’s exactly what we want.”

Navajo Pine will have its bye week as they will resume play on Oct. 3 hosting Alamo Navajo.

MV, meanwhile, travels to Panguitch on Friday for a region game.

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