Warriors, Wildcats time to shine

CHINLE

The Chinle football team on Friday evening hosted a scrimmage between them and the Tuba City Warriors.

Holbrook was also scheduled to make an appearance, but they pulled out earlier.

The scrimmage was held at the newly renovated Chinle Football Stadium, which was closed in 2019 as it underwent renovations along with the school’s baseball and softball fields – all are part of the same $6.5 million redesign plan.

Now the stadium has new turf: LED stadium lights, a new scoreboard and the Chinle Wildcat logo on the field.

The stadium was supposed to reopen the previous year, but the coronavirus outbreak forced the school to close.

After nearly two years the players are let back onto the field as they prepare for the 2021 football season. For some seniors on the team, this was their first time back on the field since their freshmen year. For juniors this is their first time.

Chinle played well with junior Tim Clark sacking the Warrior’s quarterback. Wildcat junior quarterback Zack Toadlena made four successful throws, with two going for touchdown scores. There was a fumble on both sides. Clark made at least three touchdowns as he passed the ball and ran around his opponents to the endzone. Toadlena got into the end zone as well.

Warriors offense

For the Tuba City side, they put up a strong offense and used two successful trick plays to get touchdowns.

Junior Hunter Colorado intercepted a throw, and senior Jurrel Cook was involved in six touchdowns as well as six defensive tackles. Senior Xander Mitchell also made multiple touchdowns for the team, allowing them to get more touchdowns by the end of the scrimmage.

“It feels great man,” Cook said. “Laying out opponents, feeling that contact, being out after being inside for so long it feels good.

“And putting all that work I invested in during the pandemic it felt good, because of the coaches we’re good, we’re looking so great just from this game.”

Coach Vincent Lee of Tuba City said his players did well and is eager for the season, confident that this will be the Warrior’s time to shine.

“Today’s scrimmage went excellent,” Lee said. “Our team looked really good and I say that because if you looked at our performance today (Friday) it didn’t look like we were off for two years. We have a lot of room for improvement, but outside of that we executed, we were able to get to the end zone pretty quickly.”

First game of the year

Both Lee and Cook thank the Chinle team for having them and letting them play their first game in a year before the start of the season.

Coach Alan Barwick of Chinle admits things could have gone better for the Chinle side, but he is nonetheless proud of how far his team has progressed given the difficulties of the past year and that they are still learning.

“As long as we have the ability to play, we’re going to be OK and we support the decision of those who are looking out for us,” Barwick said. “We all need to remember we are a part of one big community even though it was Chinle vs Tuba.”

Chinle was originally supposed to play Piñon this week but the Eagles pulled out of Friday’s game. The Wildcats are looking to fill in Friday’s slot with another opponent.

Toadlena is happy to be out playing with his teammates.

The Wildcats’ goal this season is to make it to state, but Toadlena is determined to make sure it’s a fun experience for his team and the fans. His priority is to keep his teammates heads up as they keep moving forward.

“It’s my first time on the field and I’m still getting goosebumps,” Toadelna said. “I’m just glad to be here and getting the people out of their houses, their caves, and just spend some time together and play some ball.”

Team spirit

The fans were excited to watch the games again. Dozens of people filled the stands and would cheer whenever Chinle made a touchdown. Chinle’s athletic director Shaun Martin said it was the largest crowd he had ever seen for a scrimmage during his 18 years on the job.

“This is my first time seeing a big crowd like this,” Toadelna said, “Never had a big crowd like this before, I’m just speechless having the fans out here”

“I hope any high school athlete parent … knows that high school athletics is important and that communities live vicariously through it and you see this here,” Barwick said as he gestured to the fans. “They’re here, they’re following the guidelines, they want to be here, they want to see the boys play, they want to support the team and the community.”

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