Is Canyon del Oro back? It’s hard to say. The Dorados beat Prescott 35-23 Friday night at home in an important 4A clash but the game also rang the bell on what will be very difficult region schedule for both squads.

Canyon del Oro (4-1) has to survive a gauntlet in the 4A Kino Region that includes Catalina Foothills (2-3), Sahuaro (5-1), Salpointe (5-0) and Casa Grande (4-1). With little room for error, The Dorados will be living on the edge the rest of the way while Prescott (3-2) has to survive Coconino (4-1), Bradshaw Mountain (6-0) and Mingus Union (4-2) in the Grand Canyon Region. How difficult is that? The Badgers have won seven games three times since 2014 and it still wasn’t enough to make the playoffs.

To be fair, the Badgers finished the 2014 season ranked 16th in Division III but Sabino bumped them out of the playoffs based on a region title from the Sabercats that year. That scenario is still in place this year with the region champion claiming an automatic playoff berth in the 4A Conference.

“This was a difficult loss for us for sure,” said Prescott senior quarterback Austin Clark. “We need to win our section games this year and that means we will have to execute and improve our passing game.”

Clark came into the game at CDO with 844 yards rushing and 11 touchdowns and left Tucson with 970 yards and 13 TDs thanks to 126 yards on 16 carries. His 94 yards passing on the night was a good compliment to the running game but the team missed on several key chances through the air.

The Dorados jumped out to a 7-0 lead after Zach Eidenschink hit Cory Bonstrom on a 77-yard strike one minute into the game but a 22-yard field goal from Bryce Peters cut the lead down to 7-3 two minutes later. The Dorados went without the legs of standout rusher Stevie Rocker after the sophomore tweaked his ankle early on and the team decided to rest him as a precaution for the stretch run.

It turned out to be a good decision with Diego Munguia stepping up to have a career night with 171 yards rushing on 24 carries and it all started on a 16-yard blast to put the Dorados up 14-3 with 7:39 left in the first. Another field goal from Peters cut the lead down to 14-6 and then back-to-back fumbles led to a 46-yard TD run from Clark to make the score 14-13 CDO with 3:35 left in the half.

Eidenschink drove his team down the field and he dove in from 2-yards out to give the Dorados a 21-13 lead at the half. Eidenschink threw for 193 yards against the Badgers but he was also damaging with his feet and he finished with 77 yards rushing to help lead the Dorados to 511 yards of offense.

Another pair of fumbles opened up the second half and Peters connected on his third field goal to cut the lead down to 21-16 but Munguia added a 15-yard scoring run to make it 28-16 with 7:48 left in the game and Bonstrom intercepted a Clark offering with 5:08 left to seemingly put the game away after Munguia followed that up with another score to make it 35-16.

Clark wasn’t finished. The Badgers got the ball back and Clark ran one in from 20 yards out to cut the lead down to 35-23 with 3:03 left but the Dorados were able to run out the clock the rest of the way to preserve the victory.

For his important stop, Bonstrom was awarded the defensive belt after the game and it was something he has been looking forward to all year.

“It’s one of those things where you see others get the award and you hope to one day be able to get it also,” Bonstrom said. “It’s the best feeling.”

When asked about his team and how far they have come and how far they still need to go, Bonstrom turned to his teammates. “We’ve gotten a lot better this year and this season proved the importance of a brotherhood,” he added. “We’ve had great teams in the past but this is also a great team.”

The game was rescheduled from earlier in the year thanks to a heavy downpour in Southern Arizona that saw multiple games rescheduled due to the weather conditions. The game was rescheduled during a common bye week for both teams which means a quick jump to region play as mentioned before. There is no time to rest now.