Story
By Lonnie Stevenson
The 15th ranked lady Knights hosted the Bulldogs from Sierra Linda Thursday night, lighting up the scoreboard with 84 points and improved their record to 8-4 on the 2026 season.
The first quarter was the McKenna Nutt show as the junior quarterback started the scoring with a 9-yard pass to senior Vivian Velazquez to put Havasu up 7-0 just a little over two and a half minutes into the game.
A few minutes later, Nutt connected with junior Skye Light and Havasu was up 14-0. Nutt would also connect with junior Bryn Farshler, increasing Havasu’s lead to 21-0. Nutt would then call her own number after a Velazquez interception and scramble into the endzone to put Havasu up 28-0.
Before the end of the first quarter, Velazquez would return her second interception of the first quarter into the endzone and Havasu led 35-0.
In the second quarter, Nutt would continue her brilliant performance, first with her second touchdown pass to Farshler and then right at the end of the quarter with Velazquez for a second time and Havasu led 49-0 at halftime.
The halftime break did little to slow down the Lady Knights. An interception by Light was quickly turned into another touchdown by freshman Piper Bently. A few minutes later, Light would intercept her second pass of the quarter. A few plays later, another freshman, Carlie Levine, found the endzone and Havasu was rolling 63-0.
“I installed a couple of new defensive looks this week,” said head coach Charlie Stickney after the game. “We wanted to try them out and they worked like a charm.”
Stickney’s new scheme then resulted in a pair of interceptions returned for touchdowns. The first by Levine and the next one by Velazquez, her second of the night, and Havasu rolled into the fourth quarter with a 77-0 lead.
“Vivian Velazquez was showing out tonight,” Stickney said. “She had two pick sixes, and a couple of offensive touchdowns. She was making plays at receiver, she was our center tonight, she just did and incredible job.”
“I couldn’t be more proud with how well they executed tonight.” Stickney said. “Sometimes it’s easy to get complacent when you’re up big, but the girls stayed focus, locked in the whole time and they executed the game plan.”
In the fourth quarter, Havasu was able to rotate some different players in with Light getting some snaps at quarterback and then connecting with junior Amaiyah Smith for Havasu final touchdown.
Havasu next travels to Desert Edge High School in Goodyear for a Tuesday night game against the Scorpions before returning home on Nov. 5 for the regular season finale game against Carl Hayden and senior night. Game time is 6 p.m.
“Desert Edge, (2-9) hasn’t had the most stellar season this year but anything can happen on any given day.” Stickney added. “So we’re going to come prepared and ready to rock and roll when it comes time. Thursday, we have Carl Hayden. They’re who we are competing with for a playoff spot right now.”
At press time, Carl Hayden is 6-3 on the season with a home game against Paradise Valley, (3-8) on Monday before coming to Havasu on Thursday. The Falcons currently sit 17th in the state 5A rankings.
Final rankings and the playoff brackets will be revealed on Nov. 6, with first-round playoff games on Tuesday, Nov. 10, for the top 16 teams.
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