Austin Hepola is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Desert Vista for AZPreps365.com

The Desert Vista Thunder have lost their third straight game to open the season, falling 56-14 Friday night to Centennial. 

Desert Vista had everything going their way early in the first quarter.

After blocking Centennial’s first punt of the game, the Thunder scored a quick touchdown as quarterback Braxton Thomas found wide receiver Jackson Sanders on their first offensive play of the game. 

Thomas threw a second touchdown in the first quarter, this time to wide receiver Roan Martinez for 85 yards. The Thunder had a decent lead, 14-3, but that did not last long. 

The Coyotes cut the lead to 14-10 late in the first quarter and begin to take charge as they blocked Desert Vista’s next punt for a touchdown to take their first lead of the game, 17-14. 

Centennial blocked a second Desert Vista punt early in the second quarter. The Coyotes took advantage of a great opportunity and scored a third straight touchdown to give them a 24-14 lead. 

To make matters even worse for the Thunder, Thomas limped off the field late in the first half.

The backup quarterback, Will Phelps, checked into the game and fumble the ball on the next play, which led to Centennial scoring yet another touchdown to go up 34-14 at halftime. 

Centennial had full control of all the momentum.

Thomas returned to the game to start the second half. He delivered an amazing throw to wide receiver Victor Sosa for a gain of 26 yards on their first drive of the third quarter.

Unfortunately for the Thunder, the offense was unable to score any points in the second half. 

The momentum would only continue to grow for the Coyotes and their running back Kavaughn Clark.

Already with two touchdowns in the first half, Clark added two more rushing scores in the second half.  

With the victory, Centennial improved to 2-1 while Desert Vista dropped to 0-3.

“Our team understands that we have played some good football teams," Thunder head coach Nate Gill said. "We have a new regime and there are a ton of things that haven’t stuck yet that we’re still working towards. We know we are talented, we just have to continue working on gelling. Instead of the snowball effect being downwards, let’s turn into an elevator and head the right way.” 

Desert Vista linebacker Antonio Delgado reflected on this loss but remained in good spirits.

“Defensively I feel like we came out pretty strong," he said. "Coming into the second half I feel like we lost our momentum… it was mainly just that mental piece of playing on our heels, instead of playing on our toes and playing forward.”

Even after the tough loss, Thomas is moving forward and focuing on next week’s opponent, Verrado (2-1). 

“We just need to stay focused," he said. "It’s a team that’s very beatable and it’s our homecoming week so we know we’ll get a good crowd. It will be rowdy and we just need to stay focused, stick to the game plan and execute it.”