Tanner Tortorella is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Campo Verde High School for AZPreps365.com.

Campo Verde entered Friday night's matchup with Williams Field depleted, missing starters on both sides of the ball, and it showed in a 21-0 loss. They did not have critical starters suit up like tackle leader Matthew Reising and rushing leader Amado Santiago for the Coyotes 21-0 loss.

Already coming off a 13-7 loss last week to Cactus Shadow, the Coyotes entered with some urgency for a win this week. However, the Black Hawks were able to hold the reduced Campo offense to zero points effectively. Campo Verde head coach Ryan Freeman talked about the adjustments needed because of the injuries.

"We put in a new offense this week to adjust with Amado [Santiago] out, [and] we had two starting offensive lineman out," Freeman said. "So we had to make an adjustment, and the boys did a great job with it, and they battled."

While Freeman commended the player's effort, he pointed out that the offense had trouble finishing drives. There were opportunities early for the Coyotes, but miscues like turnovers and penalties held them back from capitalizing.

"We just gotta be better," Freeman said. "We gotta take off the ball and not give the opportunities to our opponents."

Williams Field (3-0) took advantage of their opportunities, firstly towards the end of the first quarter when Junior quarterback CJ Tiller threw a 19-yard touchdown pass in the corner of the endzone to put the Black Hawks up early. 

The Coyotes (1-3) got the ball back and started to make plays down the field. On third down, senior quarterback Reilly Garcia recovered a fumbled snap and rolled out of the pocket to find junior wide receiver Alston Garcia for a 26-yard gain. However, one step forward, two steps back as Garcia would be pressured into throwing an interception close to the Blackhawks sideline. 

Williams Field would continue to take advantage of the opportunities as they drove down the field quickly, thanks to senior running back Kaden Cloud, who would finish the night with 85 rushing yards. Senior running back Aziya Jamison would run it from the three-yard line to extend the lead 14-0 with 6:54 left in the first half.

The rest of the second quarter would play out much of the same for the Coyotes' offense, unable to find a rhythm as they would have a fumble lost the next drive. However, the Campo Verde defense would come out next possession aggressive as they caused a sack-fumble, which junior defensive end Clayton Hughes recovered.

"Our defense, when we play as a group, we're pretty good," Freeman said. "Not having Matt Reising tonight, not having Colby Atkins, not having Rob Buturla it poses challenges, but those guys rose to the occasion."

Williams Field came into the game averaging more than 40 points a game, and the Coyotes defense was able to hold it to only 14 as the teams headed into halftime.

The second half was much more defensive focus from both sides as the Campo offense remained struggling while the Black Hawk offense was stalling. The Coyotes defense was able to stop Williams Field on a fourth and goal to keep them in striking distance as they entered the fourth with the score still 14-0.

The momentum caused by the defense was not enough to jumpstart the offense, even with Garcia's continuous attempts to extend the play with his feet. One such effort caused an injury after an awkward landing that saw him limp back to the sideline.

"He dropped on the ball, knocked the wind outta him, and had a little bit of a throw-up session," Freeman said.

Garcia continued to stay in the game and give the offense their biggest play with a 48-yard pass. The drive concluded on a 4th and 5 attempt inside the red zone they they did not convert and put an end to any hope for the Coyotes. 

The Black Hawks went down the field to score one final time on a 25-yard touchdown pass by Tiller, his second of the day and ending the night with 145 yards in the air. While the offense failed to put up points, Garcia was proud of the effort displayed by the offense.

"Today, we played together," Garcia said. "I was really proud of all of the lineman, the right guard, the right tackle cause our starters were out. I was just proud of them."

He continued to say that they have been playing like individuals for the last few weeks, but tonight was different, and they played as one team. 

"We just gotta keep playing as one cause tonight we really came together," Garcia said. "The outcome wasn't what we wanted, but we gotta keep playing."

Freeman shared the same thoughts as Garcia that the team needs to focus on self-growth. He believed they played a cleaner game tonight than past games. While the turnovers are nothing to be proud of, there were fewer penalties and mental mistakes, which showcase this Coyotes team's growth.

Campo Verde was riddled with injuries but put up a solid effort against Arizona's No. 10 ranked football program, according to MaxPreps. Next week, the Coyotes travel to Vail, Arizona to play Cienage, trying to stop their two-game skid.