The Camp Verde High School football team won its first game this season on the filed thanks to “perfect storm” of offensive and defensive execution, according to coach Jerry Rhoades.
The win boosts Camp Verde’s record to 2-5. The other win was a forfeit when Arete Prep Academy was unable to field a team.
“It was just one of those nights… a perfect storm,” he said about the Cowboys’ 39-0 victory of visiting Mohave Accelerated.
“We didn’t expect to shut them out, but our defense played really, really well,” he said, adding that the Patriots had “scored on some pretty good teams” this season.
Rhoades said the coaching staff expected to be able to move the ball up and down the field. And they did get off to a fast start, which he credited with getting Mohave Accelerated off balance.
After that, the defense kept the Patriots [0-7] from finding their groove.
The Cowboys led 26-0 at the half. It was a far cry from the previous week when Rhoades called out his upperclassmen at halftime for their attitude in a blow-out loss Paradise Honors High School.
“Well, it’s a different frame of mind when your ahead 26-0 at the half versus being down 41-0,” he said. “Winning takes care of a lot of those attitudinal issues.”
Among the key players in the game, according to Rhoades, were senior receiver Carson Zale, who scored three touchdowns, and junior quarterback Payton Sarkesian, who passed for three touchdowns. And, the coach added, “the entire defense.”
After the 54-6 loss to Paradise Honors last week — and without having won a game on the field all season — Rhoades boldly predicted that his team would win three of its last four.
The win over Mohave Accelerated gave him a leg up on that.
“It’s a beginning,” he said, chuckling after being reminded of his prognostication. “I think we have a pretty good shot at beating Parker [High School]. They’ve played teams we played earlier in the year with pretty much the same results.”
The Cowboys travel to Parker Friday, Oct. 15 to play the Broncs.
Part of Camp Verde’s plan for each game is to add a few new wrinkles, according to Rhoades.
“We try to do something different each week, something a team hasn’t seen on film. It’s not a lot, but we’ll run the same plays out of different formations or motion.”
After the Parker game, Camp Verde closes the season at home against Gilbert Christian High School and Sedona Red Rock High School.
The Mohave Accelerated game was the fourth that Rhoades has coached since the suspension of head coach Steve Darby in mid-September.
The school district has not made any public announcement of Darby’s status.
Rhoades said he hasn’t heard anything other than that Darby is scheduled for a hearing this week.
He said he’s not concerned about how long he’ll be running the team.
“Until I hear otherwise, it’s full steam ahead.”
