Tohatchi scores 12-7 win over Shiprock behind team effort

TOHATCHI

After a scoreless half, the Tohatchi Cougars punched in two touchdowns on Friday night en route to a 12-7 win over Shiprock.

Both teams had opportunities to score in that opening half, but turnovers and penalties beset them.

“Overall, it was a good team effort,” Tohatchi coach Landoll Benally said. “We have a young squad this year; we graduated 12 seniors last year, but as soon we get the ball moving, we’ll be all right.”

Benally said the offsides penalties thwarted a couple of promising drives as they went deep into Shiprock’s territory for the first 24 minutes of play.

“We were really close to the goal line,” he said. “Those penalties set us back, and it kind of snowballed from there. But other than that, the boys did a fantastic job.”

The Cougars were penalized seven times, which cost them 35 yards.

Meanwhile, Shiprock tallied a dozen flags, resulting in 80 yards of penalties.

“It’s a mental thing,” Shiprock coach Anthony Clah said. “We have to be disciplined and not get those penalties. It’s mind over matter, and we’re going to focus on that a little more.”

After trading turnovers, the visiting Chieftains had a prime opportunity to get on the scoreboard as they covered 56 yards in six plays with just under three minutes in the second quarter.

Shiprock started at its 20-yard line, getting its biggest gain on a 51-yard reception when junior quarterback Austin King connected with junior wide receiver Valin Boyd.

That promising drive, however, didn’t come to fruition as King was intercepted while trying to connect with Boyd again in the end zone.

Nonetheless, the Chieftains responded in a big way at the start of the second half, with senior Jarvis Begay returning an 87-yard kickoff return for a score. After the successful PAT, Shiprock led 7-0.

Begay accounted for 181 of Shiprock’s 389 total yards, rushing for 93 yards on 14 carries.

“He had a lot of big gains, a lot of big plays, and he’s experienced running back,” Clah said of his pupil. “Because we’re short on numbers, we need to figure out how to give him more rest time during the game, so some of the big plays he had, he was tired, and he wasn’t able to go 100%.”

After exchanging turnovers, Tohatchi went 55 yards in 12 plays to punch in its first touchdown. That drive included a pair of fourth-down conversions, and on the last play, the Cougars needed eight more yards to extend its drive.

Instead, they got 14 as sophomore quarterback Elijah Johnson found the sophomore tight end, Adriano Begay, for a touchdown pass.

With that TD, Tohatchi pulled within 7-6 with 1:43 left before the third.

In a time-consuming drive, the Chieftains were looking to match that score, going 53 yards in 13 plays. Shiprock got as far as Tohatchi’s 3-yard line, but they were pushed back a few yards before they attempted a 21-yard field goal.

That attempt came up a tad short, and Tohatchi went 80 yards to extend its lead to 12-7 with 4:35 left following an 18-yard TD toss from Johnson to Begay, his favorite receiver.

Shiprock made one final attempt to regain the lead, but its drive stalled at Tohatchi’s 31-yard line with Tohatchi safety Dewayne Hunch picking off a pass by King.

“They came out with that spread formation, and we knew they were going to try and punch it in the air,” Benally said. “We had good coverage, and that interception was big.”

With Escalante on its schedule next, Benally said they have a few things to shore up.

“We definitely need to start working on tackling better,” the Tohatchi coach said. “We had a lot of missed tackles in the backfield, so that was a big mishap on our end.

“We’re going to be doing a lot of heads-up tackling, some shoulder tackling,” he added. “We also had a couple of offside penalties and a couple of false starts on the offensive end. It’s something we can correct, and in the long run, we should be all right.”

The Cougars were making gains on the offensive end by racking up 312 yards on the plus side.

Johnson accounted for 112 yards by completing 8-of-19 passes for two TDs, while senior running back Matthew Tsosie rushed for 87 yards on 17 carries.

For Shiprock, King completed 7-of-14 passes for 124 yards while the running backs combined 150 yards, with Jarvis Begay accounting for 93 yards.

“Compared to last year, we’re moving the ball downfield,” Clah said. “They have come a really long way because last year we ended with negative yardage. We didn’t gain anything, but tonight we were moving the ball well, we were passing well, running well, and our line was blocking well.”

Clah said if he had more players on his squad, the outcome might have been different.

“We ran out of strength and energy,” he said, while adding that he suited up 16 players on Friday.

Clah said he had only two linemen for subs, and they didn’t have any substitutes for his skill players. Nonetheless, he put in his kicker for one of those series to rest his player.

“We’re hurting with subs,” he said.

Clah is looking to add five more players this week for its game at Crownpoint on Saturday, and in two weeks, he should have 24 players on his roster.

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