Havasu Celebrates Senior Night with a 27-21 Win Over Estrella Foothills

By Lonnie Stevenson

For the second straight home game, the Lake Havasu Knights varsity football team was able to win a game in the final minute, this time against the visiting 14th-ranked 4A Estrella Foothills Wolves.

Friday night, with less than 45 seconds left in the game and with fourth down at the 1-yard Havasu turned to senior Luke Johnson. Who was able to reach the end zone and put Havasu up 27-21.

“When the whole team can just trust me to get the fourth and one, that’s means a lot to me,” said Luke Johnson after the game. “When I have the whole sideline and the whole huddle yelling and encouraging me, that was great. It was a whole team effort tonight.”

Estrella was able to tie the score at 21 with only 4:14 left in the game. On the ensuing kickoff the Havasu offense spurted and initially couldn’t do much. Facing fourth down in their own territory, junior punter Dominic Bailey  set up to initially punt the ball back to Estrella. But as Bailey received the ball, he saw an opening on the right side and was able to scramble for the first down, keeping the Havasu drive alive.

From there the Havasu offense was able to drive down to the Estrella 1-yard line setting up the dramatic touchdown by Johnson.

“We tossed around three or four different plays there,” said head coach Tanner Kelly. “We talked about some trick plays and some other things, some roll out stuff but then we gotta trust our guys. We talked during the timeout that we needed all 10 guys to push hard and get Luke in, which they did and came out with a big score there.”

Havasu led 14-0 at halftime thanks to an 80-yard interception for a touchdown by junior Khi Nunno  who was returning after missing the last couple of games with an injury.

After senior Koen Taylor  intercepted an Estrella Foothills pass late in the 2^nd quarter, Havasu was able to get a touchdown right before halftime when senior quarterback Keilor Pizarro was able to connect with Johnson from three yards out, giving Havasu it’s 14-0 halftime lead.

To start the third quarter, Estrella was able to hold Havasu on its first series and their offense was then able to get- on the board with 9:00 minutes left in the quarter cutting the Havasu lead to 14-7.

On the ensuing kick-off, Taylor raced 95 yards and into the end zone, putting Havasu up 21-7.

Estrella Foothills was then able to score a pair of touchdowns, one late in the third quarter and another with 4:14 left in the game to tie the score at 21-21, setting up the dramatic finish.

Havasu improves to 5-4 on the season and keeps its playoff hopes alive with a final game of the regular season Oct. 30,  at Somerton High School against the 2-7 Toros.

Despite their record, Coach Kelly is not taking the Toros lightly.

“Somerton is a much improved program,” Kelly said. “We’ve got to make sure that we’re getting healthy and we’re taking care of business all week long preparing ourselves for this game. Ultimately though, it’s Max Preps that will decide after next week who’s in the playoffs. Hopefully this win against a top team helps catapult us a little bit but first we have to take care of business at Somerton.”

Playoff seeding will be determined on Nov. 1, at the conclusion of the regular season. The top eight teams in the 4A division will receive a first-round bye with teams ranked 17^th thru 24^th playing at those ranked ninth through 16. Havasu entered Friday night’s game 28′^th, four spots outside a playoff spot.