Kevin Michael is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Ironwood for AZPreps365.com

In a Friday night clash between the Ironwood Eagles and the Verrado Vipers, the visiting Vipers stole the show and cruised to a 55-7 victory.

The ball was spread throughout the air, and on the ground as the Vipers showcased a quarterback committee of three, who tossed five scores through the air. While the rest of the team rushed for three between the tackles. The Eagles had a few lucrative opportunities in the second half, but watched them slip away as turnovers plagued the offense and the team fell to 3-2 on the year.

Ironwood quarterback KhaVontae Paul after the game told reporters, “It’s just a matter of playing through the whistle, they were tougher than us during the game, you have to beat a tougher team.”

Despite playing hard, the theme of the night rested in a forty-nine unanswered point streak through 4-quarters for Verrado. The Vipers started off red hot with back to back touchdown drives ending in passes from senior quarterback Chase Gieszler to wide receiver’s Jordan Hiller and Roman Alicea, both in the first quarter. 

Gieszler’s night was over quickly, outside of one more drive in the middle of the second quarter. It was junior quarterback Malachi Wilt who came in and immediately threw a strike to senior receiver Caden Gingg just a minute after play had resumed.

The Eagles best sequence of the first half came after their quarterback KhaVontae Paul recovered his own fumble deep in the second quarter and pushed a drive that resulted in a 35-yard field goal attempt, which was unsuccessful. After a Verrado rushing score, Paul and company got to work. Paul tossed a 30 yard dime to a receiver down the field, but a facemask penalty took 10-yards off of the play. From the 50-yard line, the Eagles pushed all the way down to the 25, but a lost fumble ended their attempt at a last second score in the half.

Throughout the second half, the Vipers turned their 28-0 lead into a 49-0 lead, but a rushing touchdown from Ironwood running back Isaiah Trejos with 8 minutes left in the fourth gave the Eagles their first and only points of the game. Verrado pushed one more rushing score over the line with 4 minutes to play, and after a failed 2-point conversion, the final whistle blew.

Ironwood head coach Tony Stillings highlighted after the game the importance of this year, but had hopes that the last non-region game that the Eagles played this season would’ve ended on a higher note. 

“It’s nice, we’d rather have hit region play on a little more of a high but exceeding last year's win total is a good first step. We always say it’s a little bit of a reset to get into region play anyway so we kinda throw this one away. We’re 0-0 going into region (play) and we’re hitting the main part of the season now,” said Stillings. 

The Ironwood Eagles will take on Agua Fria in their first region play game of the year at home next Friday, October 4th. They’ll look towards winning the region in an attempt to make the playoffs, but middle linebacker Jerry Ibanez knows it’s all about the next game and their mentality.

“We’re gonna keep the same mentality going in, we’re ready for any team- whether they’re bigger or smaller we’re ready. We know how we come and we know what our team brings, we’re ready at all times, anybody and any moment, we want revenge on all the teams that beat us in the last few years,” said Ibanez.