Page edges past Monument Valley in OT thriller

KAYENTA – It was déjà vu all over again.

The 2023 version of the Page and Monument Valley football game had a similar conclusion to last year’s classic game.

The visiting Sand Devils (3-1 overall, 1-0 in 3A North play) came up with a key fumble to seal a 12-6 overtime win against the Mustangs last Friday night.

“It went back and forth and, you know, all I can say is – it’s the rivalry,” Page coach Bubba Billie said. “All the credit to MV and coach (Bryan) Begay. I have all the respect for him and his program, but when we get on the field together records don’t matter. Nothing matters except what happens on that Friday night.”

The Mustangs (1-3 overall, 0-1 in 3A North) were looking to tie the game and, perhaps, win the contest after Page got the go-ahead score in OT. But on its second play from the line of scrimmage, MV quarterback Kameron Young fumbled the ball at the nine-yard line.

“The snap was at his feet and that is how the game ended,” longtime MV coach Bryan Begay said. “We just shot ourselves in the foot. It was kind of the same scenario as last year when we were ready to score on that final drive and we fumbled the ball.”

Page defensive tackle Talon Herder pounced on that fumble to earn the Sand Devils the hard-fought 3A North win.

“The ball came out and that was an opportunity for us to get the ball back,” Herder said. “We pretty much played our hearts out tonight and this means a lot for us.”

With his last-minute heroics, Herder was awarded the game ball.

That award could have also been handed to either sophomore quarterback Joseph Benally or junior tight end Tyree Stingley as the two Page players connected on the go-ahead score.

“I beat the corner inside and I beat the double team,” Stingley said of his 6-yard reception.

The MV coach said they held Stingley in check for most of the night until that final play.

“The one time we let him inside he catches and hauls in a score,” he said.

MV coach Begay said they had plenty of opportunities to score but they just couldn’t quite punch the ball into the end zone as the Mustangs finished with four fumbles.

“Both teams played hard and it’s one of those game to where anybody could have won,” he said. “Obviously, the ball didn’t bounce our way. We just had a hard time maintaining drives.

“Both teams had a great number of errors and cramping issues,” he added. “You know, all that adrenaline, blood, sweat and tears is just a typical Page and MV game, and tonight we had to go through overtime to determine a winner.”

Begay said he liked their chances going into the contest as Page was awarded a rivalry trophy for winning the game.

“It’s basically a territorial trophy that’s between us and Page,” Begay said. “It’s something like the rivalry between ASU and (Arizona). The ADs obviously wanted to make this game bigger and I think it did with the sizeable crowd we had tonight.”

“This is our first year competing for the trophy,” Billie said. “Normally, it’s us and MV playing for the 3A North trophy. They wanted to create a special rivalry trophy just to make it more exciting.”

Billie said Stingley had to earn that TD reception as he was facing double coverage.

“We kind of picked that up early in the game,” he said. “They were loading in the corner on one side by bringing in their safety. To have him make that catch there at the end was pretty amazing.”

Defensively, the Page coach felt that his club corrected some of the mistakes it made during its last game with Payson on Aug. 31. In that contest, the Sand Devils came up short 43-6.

“We had some hiccups when we played Payson,” the Page coach said. “We had big defensive solid games against Holbrook and Chino but against Payson there were some things that didn’t happen with what we wanted from our boys.

“Through our bye week and through this week we really focused on that,” he added. “We kind of took a step back and we really looked at our team internally.”

The defensive unit came up big late in the fourth as MV was looking to score. That promising drive was botched when Page recovered a fumbled.

“We were heading south and we gave the ball to our best playmaker,” Begay said of senior Uzziel Flores. “They stripped the ball from him at the six-yard line and so it was that kind of night.

“We dropped the ball and, obviously, the kids were hurt and their kids were happy,” he added. “It was ugly on both sides and I think Bubba was not happy as well, but somehow they got that final touchdown and they escaped Kayenta with a win.”

On Friday both clubs will step away from 3A North region games as the Sand Devil are traveling to Wickenburg while MV is scheduled to play at Kingman.

“They’re gonna bring in a lot of the single wing football,” Begay said of Kingman. “They’re going to run and pass, and they can throw the ball. We just got to do a better job of executing and we got to take care of the ball.”

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