Page keeps playoff hopes alive with comeback win over Scouts

Posted by Quentin Jodie | Sep 29, 2022 | Football |

WINDOW ROCK

A defensive stand by the Page football team kept its postseason hopes alive.

The Sand Devils got the go-ahead score with about three minutes left and they held onto an entertaining 32-30 win over Window Rock last Friday night.

“We had a huge defensive stand at the end of the game,” Page coach Leland “Bubba” Billie said. “That kind of sealed the win for us.”

Billie said the Scouts never threatened on that final drive, as Window Rock did not make it to midfield.

Page improved to 4-1 overall and 2-0 in 3A Northeast play as they head into Friday’s conference road game with Blue Ridge with some much-needed confidence.

“You know, we’ve faced some adversity these last two weeks,” he said. “We’ve had some injuries and we’ve been banged up. The kids have been kind of been fighting through it and, you know, we have that ‘next guy up’ philosophy.

“We still have 90 kids out for football,” he added. “As the injuries happen or grades happen, we have kids who are stepping up and filling those spots.”

In Friday’s win, Sand Devil quarterback Collin Joe accounted for all of Page’s scores. Joe completed 9-of-21 passes for 175 yards and two scoring strikes.

He also added 25 yards on the ground on five carries for two more scores.

With receiver Aiden Nix and running back Emmanuel Manygoats going down with some key injuries, the Page coach said his quarterback had to step up.

“We hope to get Emmanuel back at some point of the season,” Billie said. “Aiden is touch and go from here on out. We’ll see after this week about his (prognosis), but we’re not sure when he’ll be back.”

With that, Billie said he has other players such as Ashton Penrod, Conner Shirley and Kyun Tate taking on more responsibilities.

“We also have Jimmy Alvarez who hasn’t run the ball very much this year that ran the ball for us last year,” he said. “I mean, we still have a lot of bodies that can step up.”

Stats for Window Rock were not available on Maxpreps.com, but Billie said the Scouts came out firing.

“They jumped all over us in the first quarter,” he said. “I think we fumbled the ball on our second possession and they just came after us. We were trailing early, trailing at halftime but we had some big defensive plays.”

One of those plays came in the first half when the Sand Devils recovered a bad snap into the end zone for a TD. Freshman Caleb Nix had a hand in that miscue by Window Rock.

Defensively, Billie said he was proud with the way his unit played, especially with the way the Scouts can air out the ball.

“I feel like we did a pretty good job in coverage,” he said. “You know, they’re well coached. It’s a tough game every time we play Window Rock, coach Wilbur (Begay) has his team prepared and overall I felt like we did a pretty good job.”