Down 21-14 heading into the fourth quarter, the Camp Verde High School football team took No. 2 Tempe Preparatory Academy down to the wire Friday, Oct. 29, but came up just short, losing 27-17.
Colin Clawson’s 25-yard field goal to begin the fourth quarter brought his Cowboys within four at 21-17.
“I thought right then, ‘We’re in the position we want to be in, we’ve played pretty good defense tonight and we can hold them, then get the ball back,’” Camp Verde Head Coach Luke Steege said.
Somebody forgot to tell the Tempe Preparatory sideline the master plan, however, and on its first play, Knights running back Rocky Brittain rattled off a 72-yard run for a touchdown to put his team up for good, 27-17.
“It was a back breaker,” Steege said. “We stopped that play all night. We stopped them from going outside the whole time, then the one time we break down defensively, that kid breaks one for 70 yards and a touchdown.”
The disappointment in Steege’s voice was enough for anyone to understand how hard it must have been to watch that moment in the game, knowing full well his team might not recover from the previous play.
The Knights managed nearly 300 yards on the ground Friday and had over 350 yards of total offense.
As for Camp Verde, junior quarterback Deshon Tripp was outstanding once again, completing eight of 13 passes for 137 yards and a touchdown while running 14 times for 46 yards and another touchdown.
Tripp’s touchdown toss went to wide receiver Kody Rayburn, who had two catches for 51 yards and the score.
Defensively, Tanner Rezzonico was outstanding Friday, recording 18 tackles against Tempe Preparatory while Jake Spleiss and Gavin Collins each had 14.
With the loss, the Cowboys finish the regular season with a 5-5 [2-3, 2A Central] overall record and are No. 13 in the Arizona Interscholastic Association power point polls.
On Monday, Nov. 1, the AIA released the 2A conference state playoff bracket to the public.
At No. 13, Camp Verde will make the four-hour bus trip south to No. 4 Pusch Ridge Christian Academy in the first round of the state playoffs Friday, Nov. 5, in Tucson.
“I got the film Sunday so we’re going to break them down and prepare like we always do. I hope our guys come out hard and play well,” Steege said.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
