Cibola rallies to edge Lake Havasu, 19-17

August 25, 2018 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365


Cibola coach Lucky Arvizo praises his team's effort in a postgame chat after their 19-17 come-from behind win over Lake Havasu. (AzPreps365 photo)

Cibola was bound and determined Saturday afternoon to notch its first win of the 2018 season. The  Raiders' patience toward that end paid off.

Cibola scored a pair of second-half touchdowns -- the last with 7:40 left for its only lead of the game -- and defeated Lake Havasu, 19-17, at  NAU's Walkup Skydome.

Cibola senior quarterback Ethan Arvizo had a hand in all three of the Raiders scores. He rushed for one touchdown and threw for the other two.

"We made a few adjustments in the second half and our kids just fought back and took advantage, of things," Cibola coach Lucky Arvizo said. "(Lake Havasu) has great skill guys and speed. We had to figure how to deal with it., and we overcame some adversity."

Cibola, which lost its season opener last week to Imperial, Calif., appeared headed for a second loss after trailing 17-6 at intermission. Lake Havasu prevailed in a rout in its opener vs. Lee Williams and seemed like it might be ready to duplicate the feat vs. the Raiders.

But Cibola used up nearly half the third period on its first possession. The Raiders moved the ball and even scored, but had a touchdown called back due to an illegal man down field. They continued the drive only to be stopped on downs at Lake Havasu's 3.

The defense took its turn lifting Cibola by forcing a three-and-out. Cibola got the ball back at midfield and marched that distance in four plays with Arvizo throwing a 35-yard TD to Jacob Gettings. It cut the deficit to 17-13.

Cbiola forced a turnover near midfield to halt Lake Havasu's next possession and that miscue turned into the game-winning drive -- a 50-yard, 12-play possession capped by Ethan Arvizo's 5-yard TD toss to Jesse Chavez. Ciboa had its first lead (19-17) and managed to halt two more Lake Havasu drives on downs. Arvizo was 8-of-15 passing for 131 yards in the second half.

Lake Havasu's Johnathan Perez figured in two of the Knights' scores. He rushed three times for 68 yards, scoring on one run from 17 yards out in the second quarter and setting up his 22-yard field goal before halftime with a 48-yard run out of punt formation.