Raiders rally past Havasu
Arvizo throws winning TD to Chavez in 4th
The Cibola football team staged a second-half comeback Saturday evening at Northern Arizona’s Walkup Skydome in Flagstaff to emerge with a 19-17 victory over Lake Havasu.
The Raiders (1-1 overall) trailed 17-6 at halftime, but came back thanks to a pair of touchdown passes by senior quarterback Ethan Arvizo and a defense that forced two Havasu turnover on downs in the final five minutes.
“It’s a big win, especially being down,” coach Lucky Arvizo said over the phone. “They were pretty athletic, quick, and they got a quick start on us, but our guys hung in there, faced some adversity and stuck with it. I’m really proud of them how they came out in the second half.”
Cibola’s comeback began with a 35yard touchdown pass from Arvizo to junior Jacob Gettings with 2:58 to go in the third quarter, and culminated in a 6-yard touchdown pass from Arvizo to senior Jesse Chavez with 7:42 to go in the game.
The Chavez touchdown came on a fourth-down play, and from the same yard-line that Cibola turned the ball over on downs at early in the second half.
“We tried earlier in the game a couple of corner routes to the back part of the end zone, and their defensive backs started cheating outside, and we were able to throw a slant (to Chavez),” Lucky Arvizo said.
Arvizo, who also rushed for a 1-yard touchdown in the second quarter, finished the game 16 of 36 for 261 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. He spread the ball around nicely, as four players had at least 40 yards receiving.
Gettings had two catches for 58 yards, junior running back Zeke Rios had five for 56, Chavez had four for 47 and senior receiver Gabriel Ramirez had three for 41.
Rios was mostly contained rushing the ball, carrying 20 times for just 43 yards, and had an untimely fourthquarter fumble, but ultimately made up for it.
Two plays after Cibola’s defense forced a turnover on downs at the Raiders’ 24-yard line with 4:29 left, Rios lost a fumble that gave the ball right back to Havasu (1-1 overall) at Cibola’s 44 with 3:50 remaining.
“Things happen,” Arvizo said, “and our guys pick each other up. The defense went out saying, ‘Hey, no worries, we’ll get another stop. I was pretty
proud of the attitude at that point.”
Cibola’s defense indeed rose to the challenge, allowing a 4-yard run on first down followed by three straight incompletions to give the ball back to the Raiders’ offense with 2:58 remaining.
After a 2-yard carry on first down and a 5-yard carry on second down, Rios atoned for his earlier mistake with a long run on 3rd-and-3 to effectively seal the game.
The game, the third of a quadruple-header played at the Skydome on Saturday, had a 4 p.m. start, meaning the Raiders left Yuma at 6 a.m. Long day, huh? “You know what,” Arvizo said, “after getting a victory, it’s not so long.”