Havasu Drops Home Opener

By Lonnie Stevenson

The Lake Havasu High School Fighting Knights came out on the short end of a 45-0 score in Friday night’s game against the visiting Titans Thunderbird High School from Phoenix.

Friday night was the home opener for the gridiron Knights who’s first four games were on the road, although technically, the game on Sept. 6 was a home game, even though it was played in Flagstaff at the Northern University Walkup Skydome.

Havasu came into the game fresh off a road win at Youngker’s last week, shutting out the Roughrider’s 28-0.

This week however, was a different story. Thunderbird, fresh off a 42-0 win at Greenway the previous week, came in and immediately took control of this game on its very first offensive play, scoring on a 30-yard pass from senior quarterback Andrew Cohill to freshman wide receiver Daryl Little II, just 1:59 into the game.

After that, Thunderbird relied on their senior running back Elijah Little, who would score touchdowns on runs of; 1-yard, 15-yards and 5-yards, before Cohill connected again with Little II from 42-yards out to take a 36-0 lead at halftime.

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Havasu was able to move the ball against Thunderbird and twice got deep into Titan territory but just was never able to come away with any points.

Senior quarterback Eric Nieblas was hurt on a play late in the second quarter and did not return.

Havasu’s leading running back, senior Gavin Briggs was able to break off a couple of nice runs but for the most part, Briggs was never really able to get into any rhythm.

On defense, the Knight’s youth was tested all night as only two seniors played significant minutes, giving the underclassmen a chance for some valuable minutes as well as learning opportunities.

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After the game, Coach Karl Thompson praised his Knights but also recognized the team’s youth.

“Our guys played hard, and they never gave up,” Thompson said. “I’m proud of them but with only two seniors on defense, we just were not experienced enough against a tough, skilled offensive group like Thunderbird.

“We’ll get into the film room, make adjustments and be ready to go next week against Northwest Christian,” Thompson added. “This will be another big test for our group, but I know they will be ready.”

With the loss, Havasu drops to 3-2 on the year, 3-1 in conference play.

Next Friday’s home game starts at 7 p.m., against Northwest Christian, who come into the game with a 5-1 record, having won against Buckeye this week, 49-28.

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