When Camp Verde coach Jerry Rhoades answered the phone Sunday and was asked about his team’s game Friday, he let out a combination groan and sigh.
When victories are few, the ones you let get away are especially painful.
The Cowboys, after being down most of the game to visiting Gilbert Christian High School, came back to take the lead late in the third quarter. They held it until there were 34 seconds left in the game, when the Knights’ senior Caleb Young threw a one-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Kyle Patterson to give Gilbert Christian a 24-20 win. The Knights improved to 5-4 on the season.
“We were in control,” Rhoades said. “We had the ball with about six minutes to go, but couldn’t get a first down. We punted and were hoping to get a stop, get the ball back and run out the clock. But we couldn’t get it done.”
The loss, which came after two straight wins, dropped Camp Verde’s record on the field to 2-6. The Cowboys also picked up a forfeit earlier in the season when Arete Prep was unable to field a team, but the Arizona Interscholastic Association does not include that in its records.
Cowboys’ coaches knew going into the Gilbert Christian game that the Knights’ speed would be a challenge to their defense.
“That was pretty much the difference,” Rhoades said. “They were running their receivers vertical. They had a couple of huge plays — a third and 15 and one on fourth down — where we just didn’t have an answer.”
Camp Verde’s offense got off to a slow start, scoring just six points in the first half — thanks to junior quarterback Payton Sarkesian’s one-yard touchdown run — and were unable to counter Gilbert Christian’s defense that was stacked against the run.
“They were daring us to throw, putting nine in the box and playing single coverage on our wide receiver and tight end. They were saying, ‘We’re going to make you beat us with the pass.’”
Eventually, that’s what the Cowboys did. Sarkesian connected on two 30-yard scoring strikes to senior Carson Zale.
According to Rhoades, the Cowboys lost seven players to grades last week, which left the team with just the one wide receiver. “That killed us,” he said.
And it might affect the team’s season finale, against Sedona Red Rock High School, which will visit Camp Verde Friday, Oct. 28.
“We’re not sure if we’re going to get them back. We don’t know who were going to have,” Rhoades said.
The Scorpions are riding a two-game winning streak after beating Tonopah Valley High School, 7-6, on Oct. 28. Sedona had lost its first seven games of the season before rebounding the last two weeks.
Rhoades said his team’s game plan will depend on what personnel he will have.
“We’ll try to go big on them. They’re more of a running team than a passing team. They pound the ball like we do.
“Plan B depends on who we have at receiver.”
