Reggie Wright is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Peoria High School for AZPreps365.com.

The Peoria Panthers gave up three unanswered touchdowns in the first quarter and were unable to recover as they fell to the section rival Youngker Roughriders in a 62-35 loss Thursday night.

Youngker (4-2) was able to get off to an explosive start in the first quarter when it received the ball for the game’s first possession. 

The Roughriders moved down the field at an aggressive pace, and before the home crowd knew what had happened, senior running back Jantzen Ginger found his way into the end zone to give Youngker a 6-0 lead early into the game. 

Then, Roughriders senior punter Aaron Vasquez was able to force a muffed punt from the Panthers’ special teams, which saw the visitors regain possession of the ball and shortly after double their lead over Peoria (3-3), thanks to Ginger’s second touchdown of the night, a 3-yard rushing effort. 

With another muffed punt, Youngker gained possession for the third consecutive time, allowing Ginger to score yet another touchdown in the first quarter. 

“Our defense was out there for a long time,” Peoria head coach Jason Golden said. “Once they [Youngker] got on us, 21-0, it was a big letdown.” 

Peoria’s sophomore quarterback Dominic Kramer finally took the field with three minutes remaining in the first quarter in an effort to come up with a response to Youngker’s unanswered points. 

However, Youngker’s early rampage continued into the second quarter, as senior quarterback Jacob Lira found senior wide receiver Landon Edwards for a 1-yard pass into the end zone.

The Panthers finally found their way on the board after sophomore running back Javon Bell barged his way through Youngker’s defense from the 1-yard line. The rest of the quarter saw the Roughriders and the Panthers go back and forth, scoring on three consecutive possessions. 

The final touchdown for Youngker saw them go into halftime with a 28-point lead.

In the second half, Peoria held its own, with Bell scoring his second and third touchdowns of the night, as well as senior wide receiver Quintin Sullivan being on the receiving end of a 22-yard pass from Kramer to narrow the score margin. 

However, the visitors continued to be merciless going forward, scoring three more touchdowns, one from senior wide receiver Jesus Ordonez, another from sophomore running back Isaiah Hargrove, and a fourth touchdown from Ginger on the night to seal the win for Youngker.

“It starts in the weight room. At the beginning of the season, we were going hard for our team and working hard. However, we got lazy,” Peoria's Bell said. “Our performances off the field weren’t the best, and it showed on the field.”

Despite the loss, there is still an optimistic outlook for the remainder of the season for the Panthers. 

“We have a bye week next week, which is an extra week to prepare for our next opponent. We should just keep on working, honestly,” Kramer said. “There’s nothing else to do but just keep on working.”

Following the bye week, Peoria travels to Phoenix to play section rivals Greenway (3-2) on Oct. 13 in the hopes of returning to winning ways. Meanwhile, Youngker will be looking to make it three wins in a row when it plays section rivals Carl Hayden (0-5) next Friday at home.