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

The Sunnyslope Vikings stunned Campo Verde Coyotes in a come-from-behind 31-21 win on Thursday night.

A late-game fumble and some crucial injuries proved to be the difference for Campo Verde, which fell to 2-5 overall.

With Campo Verde leading 21-17 with the ball, the Coyotes main focus was to run as much clock as possible through the run game, something that had been successful all game. But with 6:41 left in the fourth quarter, the Coyotes fumbled the ball and the Vikings recovered it.

Eventually, Sunnyslope’s Luke Moga scored on a run to make it 24-21 for the lead it would never give up. Sunnyslope added a late score to make it, 31-21.

"We just got to fix mistakes, you know, we got to stop yelling at each other and start coaching each other out and get on it, " said Gavin Sione, Coyotes linebacker and defensive captain.

Said coach Ryan Freeman: "We got to make sure that we can, and we got to, we got to get better. We got to get better on the basics."

After falling behind early – Sunnyslope scored on its first possession – Campo Verde’s ground game took over and eventually scored to make it 7-3.

Campo Verde had 249 rushing yards. The Coyotes had 325  total yards.

Despite some mistakes and two unsportsmanlike penalties on a Vikings drive, the Coyotes survived, forcing Sunny Slope to punt.

Again, Campo Verde’s running game was strong behind Athan Ferber, who scored in the second quarter to make it 14-3.

"It's just the whole line is blocking beautifully in my H-back blocked beautifully,” said Athan Ferber, who had 154 rushing yards. “And I'm just following my blocker.”

Before halftime, the Vikings marched down to the field, and Luke Moga found Mack Kump for a touchdown, cutting the lead to 14-10 at the half.

Midway through the third quarter, the two dynamic running backs, Ferber and Bobby Blackburn for Campo Verde, are nowhere to be found on the field both players are on the sideline and limping around. Campo's offense starts to slow down for a second until the third-string running back Andrew Mask scores a touchdown, pushing the lead to 21-10.

In the 4th quarter, the Vikings led a drive down the field and scored a touchdown, making the game even closer to 21-17.