The struggles continued for Flagstaff High School on Friday as the Eagles fell 60–7 to the Mohave Thunderbirds, a loss that highlighted the growing pains of a team still trying to find its rhythm in regional play.

This is the third 4A Grand Canyon Region game for the Eagles, bringing their overall record to 0-3 and 1-6 overall. Flagstaff is still trying to make ends meet after many injuries have set their season up for a less successful year than they had planned.

“Mohave found some momentum and we were not able to take it away,” Eagles head coach Mickey Clements said. “When you are giving them a short field to play with, it makes it so much more complicated.”

The early moments of the first quarter looked very promising for the Eagles, allowing only one touchdown, but that quickly changed as the second quarter started. Mohave quarterback Joe Yoney was doing it all, rushing for a touchdown, then throwing one a few minutes later to the Thunderbirds' top receiver, Pedro Marentes, making it 20-0 in the early stages of the second quarter. 

Most of the scoring from Mohave wasn’t precisely the Eagles defense's fault, starting with quarterback AJ Valdez, who couldn't find his groove early in the game. Valdez had four of his passes intercepted, setting up the Thunderbirds in excellent field position multiple times throughout the game. 

As mistakes and turnovers continued for Flagstaff, Mohave led 34-0 heading into halftime. The Eagles got on the scoreboard when AJ Valdez connected with Eagles receiver Will Carpenter for a 79-yard passing touchdown to make it a 34-7 game.

That was all the scoring for the Eagles on Friday. Interceptions continued to haunt this team as Mohave led 54-7 in the closing seconds of the game, when everyone thought the Eagles would make a last-play score to change the deficit, it was spoiled as Mohave intercepted it at the goal-line and ran it all the way back for a pick-6 to make it 60-7. 

Yoney was the star of the game for Mohave, doing it all on the field and having multiple interceptions, a pick-6, rushing, and passing touchdowns. Yoney set the tone right out of the tunnel and made the Eagles pay for their mistakes. 

“Morale, momentum, and meaning, find some meaning in the adversity we're facing, find a little momentum here in these last three games,” Clements said. “Right now, we don’t have it, but it’s something we need to grab and hang on to.” 

The Eagles (1-6) have lost four straight games and are averaging just 4.3 points per game over their last three contests. They will try to change that narrative against the Prescott Badgers (3-4) on Thursday.