Jonah Krell
ASU Student Journalist

Northwest Christian football struggles after key injury in 35-0 loss to Poston Butte

October 9, 2021 by Jonah Krell, Arizona State University


Junior wide receiver turned emergency backup quarterback Ashton Kamp prepares to take the snap in an offensive sequence in Northwest Christian’s 35-0 loss to Poston Butte on Friday night. (Jonah Krell/AZpreps365.com)

Jonah Krell is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Northwest Christian High School for AZPreps365.com.

Three plays and a couple first downs. It was a promising start for Northwest Christian football (1-5, 0-0 4A West Valley) Friday night against Poston Butte (4-2, 0-0 4A Black Canyon). However, the life was sucked out of the Crusader’s stadium at the end of the third play when junior quarterback Judah Huisman ripped off a first down with a 5-yard run. Huisman was holding his leg and down for an extended amount of time. Head coach David Inness said his players “freaked out a little bit.” Quickly, he was forced to make the change to sophomore quarterback Logan Fagerlie, making his third appearance as the backup this season. Three plays later, Fagerlie threw an interception.

That was one of the few grooves for the Crusader offense, and the injury and turnover set the tone for a long night in a 35-0 loss to the Broncos. 

“We’re playing schools that are crazy,” Inness said. “What the AIA wanted to do to us two years ago, they’re getting it. We told them what was going to happen. The size is just killing us right now. But you lose your best player three plays into the game and things get crazy, you know.” 

With Northwest Christian being moved up by a conference two years ago, it has resulted in Inness having to continue to scramble his lineup. While Fagerlie originally came in to relieve Huisman, Inness tested his emergency backup Ashton Kamp, who usually plays wide receiver. The junior also struggled, throwing two interceptions and making six completions for 50 yards. 

On the other end, Poston Butte was delivering blow after blow on defense, with some of its hits being heard as pops from the stands. A Crusader’s helmet was taken off during one play, while senior running back/wide receiver Alex Jeffries immediately was hit following a reception and stayed on the ground for a long while after. 

The Broncos’ intimidating physicality could also be seen with their bruising running game. Three running backs – Octavious Joe, Aidan Contreras and Gavin Thrower – gashed Northwest Christian’s defense on several occasions, with Inness saying the defense got “pushed around.” Even senior quarterback Drew Dalmacio got in on the action with three rushing touchdowns, while Joe pitched in for the rest of the Broncos’ points with two scores of his own. 

“We were taught to always be ready, like not get hit first, always punch first,” Kamp said on the physicality. “But at times it will happen. Our mentality should be once we get hit, get back up [and] hit them back. In this case tonight it wasn’t so much that, but I believe that we’ll get better this week and [in] the following weeks and we’ll learn from our mistakes.”

With Huisman’s availability for next week’s game against Gila Ridge still in question, Kamp said that he expects him and Fagerlie to get equal reps in practice this week. 

The other Crusader in the backfield when Huisman went down was senior running back Grant Gibson, who had to lead the way after feeling immediate shock from the injury. 

“I’m trying to help them (Fagerlie and Kamp) stay focused, not let all the yelling and noise get in their heads,” Gibson said. “Just helping them make the right play call, know what they’re doing, make the right reads.”

Gibson, who rushed for 44 yards on the night, also admitted that Poston Butte’s swarming defense made it difficult for the Crusaders’ blocks to hold long enough to create chunk gains, as well as make a defender miss at the second level. 

Inness was pleased with the performance of sophomore wide receiver/defensive back Kyler Thruston, saying he was “all over the place” with some key tackles and plays in the rushing and receiving game. 

With the Crusaders entering section play next week, Inness says it becomes far more important now to get back into the winning column. At the same time, the challenge of injuries and the level of competition cannot be used as excuses, he said.

“We don’t take the injury factor into the process,” Inness said. “This program is too strong, and we’ve worked way too hard for what we’ve had. So we’re going to just have to fight and see if we can get better.

“But the problem is we’re running out of bodies. That’s how it is.”