Paradise Valley star quarterback Ben Finley was ruled out of Friday’s contest against Cactus Shadows due to concussion protocol, and the Falcons took advantage with a 42–0 road win.

The Trojans dropped to 5-2 on the season after Cactus Shadows handed them their second straight loss.

Paradise Valley got hit early in the game with the injury bug. Starting wide receiver Caleb Diaz came out of the contest with a lower body injury after his first reception within the first two minutes of the first quarter. Early in the second quarter, Finley was ruled out for the game after landing on his head leaping for the end zone.

Finley was unconscious for a few moments but eventually was able to walk off the field without assistance.

Officials marked Paradise Valley short of the end zone after the Finley injury. The Trojans were unable to cap off the drive and turned it over on downs. It was the closest Paradise Valley came to scoring on the night.

The Trojans were unable to move the ball up the field with any consistency throughout the game. Paradise Valley running back Kyle Krautstrunk was trying to get momentum off the line of scrimmage but couldn’t find the holes necessary to break open any scoring plays.

Through the air, the Cactus Shadows corners locked up the Trojan receivers for the entirety of the matchup. Paradise Valley was only able to manage one reception over 20 yards on the night, and that was before Finley came out of the game.

There were many plays in which the Paradise Valley sideline was looking for pass interference calls, but the team only one got called all night.

Cactus Shadows started off the game hot with a 45-yard run to the end zone by running back Matthew Macdonald on their first possession of the game. The Falcons took flight from there. Cactus Shadows rattled off three more rushing touchdowns and two touchdowns through the air to total six on the night.

Paradise Valley athletic director Brock Heykoop felt the momentum immediately switched against the Trojans right after Diaz went down on the first offensive play of the game. Heykoop said that the Diaz injury is “where it all started” and that it was also “unfortunate” that Finley went down so early in the game.

“It was just a tough night for us,” Heykoop said.

Head coach Greg Davis said there is plenty of room for improvement. Davis said there is “a lot to fix” and that a lack of confidence from his team also led to the final result of Friday’s game.

“Right now self-doubt hits because we had success and now we’ve lost two in a row, so the biggest thing for us now is coming out and making sure we put the time and effort in," he said. "We have to make sure we pick the right way and not the easy way."

The Trojans will visit McClintock High School to take on the Chargers on Oct. 18 for their next matchup.