North Teams Square Off Tonight In Second Week Of League Action

By Greg Perkins
   After the first week of North region play, Winslow, Window Rock and Tuba City have the early lead, with all three teams winning last Friday night. Ganado, Monument Valley and Chinle are on the bottom, and Holbrook, having sat out region action last week, sits in the middle.
   This week the Roadrunners will have their conference opener on the road at Tuba City. Even though the Roadrunners should be the better team on the field, they are going to have to overcome the classic “trap” game. With a tough, hard played, emotional overtime loss at Alchesay last week, and a huge emotional game at home against Winslow next week that could determine the conference championship, the Birds need to be careful not to overlook the Warriors tonight (Sept. 26). Tuba City really struggled in the first three games, losing big to Page, Cortez and Chino Valley. The Warriors were outscored 151-14 in those match-ups. Last week they had their break through win, pitching a 39-0 shutout on the road at Ganado.
   Both Holbrook and Tuba City faced Chino with similar outcomes, so on paper this could be a close game. Despite being winless in both of their home games this year, the Warriors are usually a better home team than a road team. Last year Holbrook took care of business with an easy 45-6 win. If the Birds can stay focused on the task at hand tonight, they should start league play with a win. If they get caught looking too far ahead, it could be a long ride back from Tuba City.
   Winslow easily played the toughest non-league schedule, going winless in the first three weeks. Last week the Bulldogs saw their hard work begin to pay off as they crushed Monument Valley’s hopes of an early season upset with a 42-0 dusting of the Mustangs. Monument Valley had played well early in the season and looked to have a team to possibly take advantage of a young Winslow squad. However, by bat-tling tough teams from the East region in the early part of the season, Winslow’s youngsters have grown up quickly and they showed they are ready to stake their claim on yet another North crown.
   Tonight they get a Ganado team that has dropped three straight after picking up a win over Sanders in week one. Last Friday the Hornets were shut out by Tuba City on their home field, which really makes to-night’s Homecoming game in Winslow look like a far reach. Like the Roadrunners, if the Bulldogs don’t get caught looking ahead to next week’s big showdown in Holbrook, they will come to town with a 2-0 league mark.
   Window Rock is the only team from the North region with three wins on the season, posting a 3-1 re-cord after dismantling Chinle 40-10 last week. The Scouts have feasted on lesser opponents, with their only loss coming at home to Alchesay by 20 points.
   When they host Monument Valley in tonight’s contest, they will have a chance to catch a Mustang team that is reeling from last week’s big loss to Winslow. If the Scouts win this game, they will have won half of the projected four conference games it is going to take to claim third in the region. If the Mustangs have aspirations of making the playoffs, they need to win this game. If this game were in Kayenta, the edge would go to the Mustangs, but since it will be played in Window Rock, the Scouts could have the upper hand.
   Chinle has a bye this week, and will have two weeks to prepare for their home game with Tuba City on Friday, Oct. 3.
   The Joseph City Wildcats suffered their first loss of the year last week, but it was nothing for them to hang their heads about. Their 11-point loss to Scottsdale Christian, a 2A team, was actually a good show-ing against the highly ranked Eagles. Tonight they host Estrella, another larger school with good ath-letes. Facing the team from Avondale the Cats will have altitude on their side as the flatlanders have to come play at over 5,000 feet. Combine that with the fact that the Cats having a very good team and you can look for Joseph City to resume its winning ways.