Red Mesa routs Hopi, sets up title match with Tuba City

Posted by Quentin Jodie | Oct 30, 2014 | Football |

ABOVE: Red Mesa wide receiver Taylor Begay (80) rushes around the left end against Hopi’s Dylan Ami (3) during first quarter action at Hopi High on Oct. 25. (Times photo – Paul Natonabah)

POLACCA, Ariz.

Like most high school seniors, Arlo Begay wants a good sendoff.

He is one of 13 such players on the Red Mesa football squad. The slot receiver/cornerback is hoping that his team will close out the regular season on a winning note. With that his squad will add some more playing time beyond the month of October.

For that to happen, Red Mesa needs to win the sectional championship. That opportunity will present itself on Friday night as Red Mesa hosts Tuba City in what is being regarded as a play-in game for the Arizona Division V state playoffs.

The two teams enter Friday’s pivotal matchup with identical 5-0 league records. But in the Oct. 21 state power ranking they were pegged as the No. 26 and No. 27 teams with Tuba City holding a slight advantage. (Due to a Special Executive Board Meeting to discuss appeals, the AIA didn’t release its latest rankings until late Wednesday afternoon.)

In Division V, the 16-team state playoff bracket will be made up of seven automatic bids – reserved for the sectional champs – and nine at-large qualifiers. The remaining bids will be snatched up based on how the teams fared in the final power rankings.

“Football is what I grew up on and that would mean the world for me,” Begay said of the prospects of making state. “Going to the state playoffs would be the cherry on top with it being my senior year.”

With a senior-laden class and the return of legendary coach Pita Olomua, Begay said entering this season they had high expectations.

“We knew that we could have a special year,” he said. “In the four years that I have played this is the best season I’ve had.”