Lily Saba is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Campo Verde for AZPreps365.com

 

Campo Verde scored on a last-second touchdown to beat Sunnyslope with 10 seconds left in the game, winning 23-20 to move its record to 4-3 overall.

The win comes on the heels of a big 48-3 win over Dobson before fall break last week.

“The boys have been really focused the last few weeks,” head coach Ryan Freeman said. “We had a really rough first five games that put a lot of stress on us and we could have fallen apart, but thanks to the senior leadership we were able to stick together and hopefully turn a corner.”

Campo Verde pulled out the win in front of a packed Sunnyslope Homecoming crowd.

In the the final 10 seconds left of the game, Bobby Blackburn hauled in a catch to make the score 23-20.

The score capped off a huge last-minute drive, one that included a key fourth-down play with the Coyotes on their own 34-yard line. Campo Verde moved the ball to the 8-yard line before scoring with just seconds left.

“The last touchdown was definitely stressful, but with guys like Wyatt Rauch and Jacob Pullman on the last play of the game … there's no one else I would trust more,” senior captain Bobby Blackburn says said. “We need to keep that momentum going, like we had that last play, throughout the last three games of the season.”

Campo Verde’s Jacob Coleman put the Coyotes up first with a 13-yard rushing touchdown late in the first quarter, 7-0.

Sunnyslope followed up with a rushing touchdown near he end of the 2nd quarter.

Shortly after, Karsten Lee scored a 14-yard rushing touchdown to make it 14-7 going into halftime.

Lee has been a standout for Campo Verde recently, having two rushing touchdowns in their last game against Dobson.

“I think we have to just keep practicing hard, obviously the wins are good,” Lee said. 

The third quarter wasn’t kind to Campo Verde.

Sunnyslope scored early in the 3rd but missed the extra point,  making it14-13.

A stress-inducing 4th fourth quarter began with a fumble recovered by Campo Verde on their own 40-yard line.

After multiple scoring attempts, Campo Verde kicked a field goal to make it, 17-14. On Sunnyslope’s next possession, Sunnyslope answered back with a touchdown on a kick return.

With the score 20-17 with four 4 minutes remaining in the 4th fourth quarter, Campo Verde knew its time was running out, setting up its final score in the waning seconds.

“I’ve got a lot of faith in these young men, pulling together after a rough start," coach Ryan Freeman said. “I’ll go to battle with these boys any week.”

Campo Verde (4-3) goes up against Skyline High School (3-4) next Friday.