Following Camp Verde’s 47-16 loss to the Arizona Lutheran Academy in the season opener, Cowboys coach Rick Walsworth said that he was interested in seeing how the team progressed, noting that the biggest improvements in a football season tend to come between the first and second weeks. When Camp Verde took the field for its week two game against Holbrook, the improvement was indeed massive.
The Cowboys evened their record on the young season, topping the visiting Roadrunners in a 52-36 final.
The running game told the story for Camp Verde. The Cowboys accumulated 446 yards of total offense in the game, with all but three coming on the ground. A total of 313 of those yards came from from junior quarterback Jacob Oothoudt and senior running back Peyton Kelley. Oothoudt ran for 202 yards on 11 carries with three touchdowns, while Kelley had 111 yards on six carries with a touchdown.
“When an offense rushes for over 400 yards, there are a lot of good things done by the offensive line,” Walsworth said, recognizing Corey Johnson, Josiah Hicks, Sam Williams, Jakob Evans-Flick, Jason Dalley and Rogelio Carrillo Carrillo.
Juniors Kayden Boggess and Wyatt Parker ran for 74 yards on 12 carries and 17 yards on two carries, respectively. Each scored a touchdown, as well.
While the Cowboys did allow 36 points, their defense came through with a number of big plays. One came in the first quarter. After Oothoudt put Camp Verde up 6-0 with a 67-yard touchdown run, Holbrook got the ball across midfield. The Cowboys not only forced a fumble but scored on it when junior defensive back Cole Gillespie scooped it up and returned it 57-yards for the touchdown. The ensuing two-point conversion put Camp Verde up 14-0.
Other top defenders included Mason Rayburn, who intercepted a pass. Parker and Oothoudt were each in on 11 tackles, Gillespie and Rayburn were in on nine while junior Garrett Dulaney was in on eight.
“Honestly, we did not have good practices during the week, but there were some obvious improvements in the comfort level of our inexperienced kids,” Walsworth said. “Defensively, coach [Steve] Darby and coach [Aaron] Gronwald were very pleased with the improvements the kids made knowing their responsibilities and being in the proper position to execute them.”
Despite the win, there were some aspects of the game that Walsworth identified as areas to improve on. Among them were ball security and open field tackling.
Inopportune penalties were also a problem. Rayburn had a 70-yard punt return for a touchdown and an 86-yard interception return called back.
“Having Rayburn’s two big plays called back for blocking penalties was frustrating,” Walsworth said. “So we need to work on correcting those because we cannot afford penalties against better opponents.
“We also made a couple of blunders on special teams that mean we need to further discuss some of the rules of play with our kids. Having a lot of guys on the high school football field for only the first or second year means there is still a lot of learning happening.”
Additional bright spots for the Cowboys included their two-point tries, which they went 5-for-7 on. Four of those were converted on the ground, with Dulaney making two, and senior Luis Venegas and junior Bryce Seekins each notching one. Oothoudt and Parker connected on a pass for the other. Walsowrth also lauded the special teams contributions of Venegas for his kicking efforts on kickoffs and punts.
The win moved the Cowboys to 1-1 overall. They will begin 2A Verde Section play in their next game. Camp Verde was initially slated to host Valley Lutheran for homecoming night on Friday, Oct. 16, but the Flames ended up canceling that game. So unless the Cowboys find an opponent that also had its game canceled, they’ll be off until Friday, Oct. 23, when they go on the road to play Scottsdale Christian.
The Cowboys will be in Scottsdale the following week as well, when they take on Scottsdale Prep on Friday, Oct. 30. Camp Verde’s next home game will be on Friday, Nov. 6 against North Pointe Prep, which will also be the Cowboys new homecoming game.
All of Camp Verde’s remaining games are scheduled to start at 7 p.m.
