The Beatty Hornets football team went down hard against the Pahranagat Valley Panthers last week 54-0 with injuries playing a major role in the defeat. The Pahranagat Valley Panthers played with precision and increased their winning streak to 73 games.
Hornets Coach James Robertson said he had six players go out with minor injuries against the Panthers in the first half. “We had so many injuries that the score was 32-0 at the half. It was at that point I put in my second string and they did the same,” the coach said.
The Hornets now find themselves on the bottom of the standings (2-2 overall, 0-2 Division IV Southern Nevada) with three other winless teams, Beaver Dam (0-1), Indian Springs (0-1) and Tonopah (0-2).
The Panthers held the Hornets to just 82-yards total offense. Beatty rushed for just 55 yards and passed only for 27. While the Panthers rushed for 335 yards on the ground and had 549-yards total offense.
Robertson said his main injury was the Hornets’ quarterback Luis Flores. He has a bruised arm and just won’t be able to throw, but is expected to play on defense against Beaver Dam this Friday.
Robertson was asked how his team would do this Friday with all the injuries and he replied,”I expect that we will win ugly and stay healthy. My backup quarterback is Jhonpaul Adujar and this boy can throw. Of course we will run also against Beaver Dam.”
The Hornets travel to play the Diamondbacks on Friday at 2:30 p.m. The Diamondbacks lost their last game to Spring Mountain on Sept. 19, 74-0.
At this point, Robertson did not know who was healthy on the team. He expects to keep the ball on the ground and use some sweeps and option plays to keep his opposition off balanced.
The Hornets hope to get their first league win this week. Robertson believes his team has played the best teams in the league and feels his team has a good chance of beating the rest of the teams on the schedule. After Beaver Dam, the Hornets play Round Mountain, Tonopah, Indian Springs and Sandy Valley.
Tonopah had problems with Sandy Valley
The Muckers out-rushed and out-produced the Sidewinders by over 200 yards (619 yards total offense to 433) last Friday and still lost 62-46. Tonopah football (2-2 overall, 0-2 Division IV Southern Nevada) remains winless.
The stats tell the story. The Sidewinders didn’t defeat the Muckers — the Muckers did. What killed the Muckers were turnovers and penalties. Quarterback Connor Friel had two interceptions and the team had two fumbles. The team was penalized 18 times for 184 yards.
Friel in passing was 20-30 for 337 yards and Vinny Bagarose and Jeb Ayers rushed for 282 yards.
Tonopah scored 20 in the second, 12 in the third and 14 in the fourth. Friel rushed for two touchdowns and Ayers had two rushing touchdowns. Bagarose had one reception for a touchdown and Withers had two receptions for touchdowns. The Muckers play the Round Mountain Knights next on Friday at 7 p.m. at home.
The Knights’ (3-1 overall, 1-1 Division IV Southern Nevada) only loss came from Sandy Valley and their league victory was over Indian Springs.