Tohatchi earns first win of the season with 26-6 victory over Newcomb

Truman Begaye
Special to the Times

TOHATCHI

The Tohatchi Cougars picked up their first win of the season Friday night, defeating the Newcomb Skyhawks 26-6 at home despite multiple rain delays and a threatening lightning cloud that lingered overhead.

The win comes after back-to-back losses to tough New Mexico opponents to start the season, but the Cougars looked in rhythm behind junior quarterback Tristan Begay, who threw four touchdown passes to three different receivers.

“I really can’t say enough about Tristan — he does well, and he’s becoming a very good leader, especially as of late,” Tohatchi head coach Darrick Henry said. “It’s still early in the season, but he’s definitely given us some good feedback. He’s working with us and we’re working with him, and everything is starting to lay out a little more.”

Begay got the Cougars rolling early, connecting with senior wide receiver DeAndre Rios on a 12-yard touchdown pass. A successful two-point conversion put Tohatchi ahead 8-0. Newcomb responded with a steady ground attack, leaning on star running back Landon Noble to gain chunks of yardage, but the Cougars’ defense held firm.

In the second quarter, Noble broke through for a 2-yard touchdown to cut the lead to 8-6, but the Skyhawks missed the two-point try. On the following Cougar possession, a turnover gave Newcomb a chance to seize momentum — but Rios produced a key interception at the 47-yard line. Moments later, Begay found junior Wesley Chee on a 27-yard touchdown strike, extending Tohatchi’s lead to 14-6 heading into halftime.

The Cougars carried their momentum into the second half. Begay hit senior Dennis Sam on a 26-yard touchdown pass midway through the third quarter to make it 20-6. Before the quarter ended, Begay connected again, this time with senior Ricky Long on a 23-yard scoring pass to push the lead to 26-6 — where it would stay through the final whistle.

After starting the season with two lopsided losses, Henry said those experiences helped prepare his team for Friday night. “Sometimes you have to go through those games to kind of get where you are going,” he said. “I gave the guys the story of Navajo Prep’s girls basketball first game last year against Monument Valley and how they didn’t perform very well — and then they ended up winning the state championship.”

Newcomb head coach Vincent Lee said his team never found its rhythm. “There’s not much I can say other than we played terrible,” Lee said. “We played our hearts out last week against Gallup and then we came out here and started out strong, but Tohatchi played their hearts out. Our biggest thing is that we keep hurting ourselves. We didn’t execute well tonight. We didn’t block when usually blocking is our strength. We made adjustments, but they just beat us at the point of attack, and there is no excuse we can make — Tohatchi came out to play tonight.”

The Cougars (1-2) will look to build on the win when they open district play at home on Sept. 19 against the Gallup Bengals at 7 p.m. The Skyhawks (1-3) will regroup and travel to Loving on Sept. 20 for their final non-district matchup against the Falcons.

Get instant access to this story by purchasing one of our many e-edition subscriptions HERE at our Navajo Times Store.

 

---