Quick Hitters
Rams’ Aaron Donald fined $23,395 by the NFL
NEW YORK — Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald has been fined $23,395 by the NFL.
Donald was fined $10,026 for unnecessary roughness and $13,369 for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Donald got into a scuffle on the sideline with Justin Britt in the fourth quarter of the Rams’ win over Seattle last Sunday. The first fine was for a facemask against Britt and the second was for his conduct after the game when he put his helmet on as he tried to confront Britt on the field.
Britt was fined $20,054 for unnecessary roughness for his late hit on Donald when he was out of bounds after a whistle.
Davison’s pick-6 helps NAU hold off North Dakota
FLAGSTAFF — Maurice Davison returned an interception 51 yards for a touchdown late in the third quarter and Northern Arizona turned back independent North Dakota 31-16 on Saturday in the season finale for both teams.
The Lumberjacks (4-6) grabbed a 14-0 lead in the first quarter on Aramis Aldredge’s 9-yard TD run and Brandon Porter’s 30-yard scoring strike to Emmanuel Butler on back-to-back possessions. Porter’s TD toss came after Wes Sutton intercepted a pass from Nate Ketteringham and returned it 22 yards to the North Dakota 31-yard line. Luis Aguilar booted a 37-yard field goal early in the second quarter to push the Lumberjacks’ lead to 17-0. But the Fighting Hawks (6-5) used Ketteringham’s 21-yard scoring strike to Noah Wanzek and a 35-yard Brady Leach field goal to pull within 17-10 at halftime.
Leach kicked a 43-yard field goal midway through the third quarter to cut the Hawks’ deficit to four points, but Davison’s pick-6 came with 3:50 left in the third to push the Lumberjacks’ advantage to 24-13. Leach’s third field goal pulled North Dakota within 24-16 just nine seconds into the final quarter. NAU wrapped up the victory when Cory Young scored on a 1-yard run with 61 seconds left to play.
PHOENIX — Just one more game and Yuma Catholic football will have the chance to snap a four-year state championship drought.
The No. 2 Shamrocks (11-2 AIA) are moving on to Friday’s 3A state championship game against Northwest Christian after a 75-43 thrashing of No. 6 Sabino on Saturday at Shadow Mountain High School in Phoenix.
Prior to this game, Sabino had not given up more than 21 points since August.
In typical Yuma Catholic fashion, the arena-football pace gave the Shamrocks’ opponent trouble en route to 75 points and 631 yards of offense.
The Sabercats tried to keep the Shamrocks’ pass offense from putting up big numbers, so instead it was junior running back Ean Chavez’s night to shine.
“This week we were really focused, because we knew it was going to be a big game,” he said. “We knew if we came out here and came out firing, that we’d get the win.”
Chavez had 404 yards from scrimmage (284 rushing and 120 receiving) and seven touchdowns (six rushing and one receiving). It seemed as if he was in the open field nearly every other play.
After doing most of its work through the air this season, YC came out and ran for 377 yards.
Helping Chavez was junior Zach Hunter with 54 rushing yards and two more touchdowns.
“People underestimate our run game,” Yuma Catholic coach Rhett Stallworth said. “Everybody is trying to get out there to make sure they double and triple team J.R. (Henderson). We just said, alright, fine we’ll show you what our run game is all about. I think that’s definitely going to open some people’s eyes, I’ll tell you that.”
Chavez and Hunter were able to get going early in the game with long runs, and two passing touchdowns from junior quarterback Gage Reese to Henderson (23 yards) and Chavez (80 yards) helped YC pull ahead 28-7 early in the second quarter.
Reese was a quiet 12-for-16 with 254 yards. He added three touchdowns and two picks. Henderson had five catches for 108 yards and two touchdowns.
The Shamrock defense was able to hold Sabino’s offense somewhat in check by forcing a couple of turnovers on down deep in their own territory.
YC went into the break with a 4221 lead.
“We still need to do a little better job on the defensive side of things,” Stallworth said. “We did what we had to do. We definitely put our offense together. On the defensive side we came out big, which helped us