High School Football in the News

 Victory out of reach for Sinagua football team

Short-handed Sinagua falls to Scottsdale Coronado for its second straight loss to start '08.

By RORY FAUST Sun Sports Staff   Friday, September 05, 2008  

Johnny Velasco took a pitch, rolled right and fired a dart in the direction of wide-open receiver Luke Farrell in the back corner of the end zone.

Just when it appeared the Sinagua football team would snap its eight-quarter scoreless streak, a Scottsdale Coronado defender skied into the air and battled the pass harmlessly to the Skydome turf. The final play of Thursday's 36-0 loss served as a microcosm of the Mustangs' young season. It seems as though even the promising plays have ended in disappointment for Sinagua in its second straight shutout loss.

But unlike last weekend's 68-0 loss to Apache Junction, Mustangs coach Paul Wolf was able to extract some positives from Thursday's game against Coronado. "If we would've just played the fourth quarter we would've been all right," Wolf quipped afterward. "The kids played well, played their hearts out. That's all you can ask. "If we build off this fourth quarter, we'll be OK."

Sinagua was without two of its top players -- quarterback Cody Roberts and lineman/linebacker Ethan Durnez -- Thursday, and two other starters missed the first quarter for disciplinary reasons.
Roberts wasn't cleared to play after suffering a mild concussion in last week's opener. The Mustangs started with emergency backup Perry Shiels under center, then quickly shifted to sophomore Cody Livingston, a junior varsity call-up, early in the second quarter.

Livingston (4-of-12 passing for 33 yards) had some success moving the offense and the Mustangs allowed just one touchdown after the switch. "He deserved a shot in there," Wolf said of his young quarterback. "He did a great job, I'm proud of him." Unfortunately, the wheels fell off just before Livingston was inserted into the game.

The Mustangs saw their deficit grow from 13-0 to 29-0 in a 1:24 span early in the second quarter. The slide started when Sinagua recovered its own fumble in the end zone for a Coronado safety, and snowballed from there. Kaylin Ashley returned the free kick 62 yards for a touchdown and three plays later the Dons were in the end zone again when they scored a touchdown immediately after recovering a Sinagua fumble.

"The safety and then the kickoff return kind of broke their back," Coronado coach B.J. Pasquel said. "I know their quarterback was hurt and they were rotating guys, and that's tough to do. Our defense is pretty aggressive and came up with a couple big plays, but for the most part, they did a pretty good job."

For most of the game, however, the Mustangs appeared to be in survival mode. They fumbled seven times, losing three, and managed just 67 yards of total offense. The deepest Sinagua drove into Dons territory was on their final drive of the game. Coronado, on the other hand, rolled up 363 yards of total offense with quarterback Alex Buya making his first varsity start.

The sophomore finished 5 of 6 for 159 passing yards and a 48-yard pass to Bryan Dunlavey, who bounced back from offseason shoulder surgery with four catches for 153 yards. Wolf, however, was not as impressed with his opponents as much as he was disgruntled with his own squad's mishaps. "We just have to stop making the mistakes we made," Wolf said "We're full boat next week, no excuses."