Playoff bound: Sand Devils earn No. 12 seed
Special to the Time | Reginald Chee
Page Sand Devil Hunter Billah (30) celebrates after recovering a fumble against the Wickenburg Wranglers offense in a freedom game at Wickenburg High School on Thursday evening, Oct. 30.
WINDOW ROCK
The Page football team is heading back to the state playoffs.
The Sand Devils (8-2) are making their second consecutive trip to the playoffs under head coach Ty Bennett, who took over the Page program last season.
The Arizona Interscholastic Association released the state brackets over the weekend and Page earned the No. 12 seed in the 3A bracket. The Sand Devils are making the trip to Tucson to play fifth-seeded Pusch Ridge Christian Academy on Friday night.
“We were kind of expecting that,” Bennett said of their state seeding. “We were looking at the possibilities of who we play and Pusch Ridge was definitely on there, so we expected this.”
The Pusch Ridge Lions enter Friday’s game with an 8-2 record, which includes a runner-up finish in the 3A East.
“They’re good,” Bennett said of the Lions. “I mean, they’re the defending state champions. They won it last year and the coaching staff is great, and the players are great. They’re athletic, and they’re physical and they’re fast.
“They’re going to be good all the way around,” he added. “It’s going to be a battle. We gotta show up and play the best football that we’ve ever played and we gotta make it a game. And we gotta get them to play our way of football.”
Page is led by senior quarterback Joseph Benally, who leads the state in the 3A division for total yards. Benally has amassed 2,284 yards of offense with 1,559 coming in the air.
The skilled playmaker has 716 yards in rushing, which is a team best. The Sand Devils also has junior Renato Littleman and senior Caleb Nix as offensive threats. Littleman has rushed for 440 yards while Nix has carried the ball for 341.
On the receiving end, junior Lorin John and sophomore Braylon Rupp have caught 601 and 354 yards, respectively.
“We’re pretty solid all the way around,” Bennett said. “Right now, Joey is No. 1 for total yards in 3A, and he’s a stud. We got a lot of playmakers. We got Renato Littleman; we got Caleb Nix, and we got Lauren John.”
Defensively, seniors Hunter Billah leads the team with 62 tackles while senior Deegan Sparks has 53. Freshman Mason Hansen has a team-best 7 sacks.
“Our defense has only given up 13 points in the last seven games,” Bennett said.
In its recent game, Page defeated Wickenburg 58-0 as the Sand Devils were in full control. The Bennett-coached team completed 42 offensive plays with Benally completing 11-of-16 passes for 174 yards and three touchdowns. Benally added one rushing TD as he had 30 yards on the ground.
The Sand Devils were led by Littleman in rushing yards as the junior ran for 125 yards on 11 carries and two TDs. Senior Erec Neeley and freshman Korey Bigthump also added one TD each.
“The game was good,” Bennett said. “Wickenburg came up fast and they like to hit. They were chippy, but we played our ballgame. Our defense held their ground. Our defense didn’t give up big run plays or big pass plays. We kept everything in front of us.
“The offense has done what they’ve done the last two years,” added. “They move the ball and they put the ball in the endzone. There is not much to say about the game other than we executed.”
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