Raymundo Frasquillo Photo/Gila Herald: Duncan players practice their offense. The team will only have three days of practice this week as they will head to Flagstaff on Thursday in preparation for their 10 a.m. game in NAU’s Walkup Skydome against Fredonia on Friday.
By Raymundo Frasquillo
DUNCAN – Duncan is scheduled to host the Fredonia Lynx Friday morning in the Walkup Skydome on the Northern Arizona University campus. It is the initial pairing for the two programs.
“We’ll be leaving Thursday morning for Flagstaff,” first-year head coach Eric Bejarano said. “That means we’ll only have three days of practice.”
The 13 Wildkats returned from Winkelman with a 24-0 loss to the Ray Bearcats on Aug. 17. The venue was changed because of an electrical problem at the Kearny facility.
“There was no wind and it was humid at Hayden,” Bejarano said. “We had good clock management and it was a really good game. I’m proud of the boys and happy with the effort. It could have been worse.”
“We changed the offense,” he said. “The boys have to be patient and learn how to manage their time.”
Duncan won the opening coin flip, elected to receive, and was following the game plan.
“We had seven runs and then it went south,” he said. “We threw a pass and it was intercepted.”
The Wildkats managed to hold the Bearcats to eight points through three quarters, a 16-yard pass and the first of three conversions.
“They changed their offensive line in the second half,” Bejarano said. “It really helped (to get the fresh legs in). Their last two touchdowns were scored in the final three minutes, a 57-yard pass and on an interception.”
On the evening, Duncan totaled seven first downs, 167 offensive yards on 40 carries and 0-7 passes with four interceptions. The Wildkats also netted 58 return yards, averaged 28.7 yards for three punts, lost a fumble, and drew 20 yards on three penalties.
Junior Lucas Basteen averaged 6.4 (15-96) yards per carry, senior Wesley Conyer 5.0 (16-80) yards, junior Cesar Contreras 0.25 (4-1) yards, sophomore Jason McGrath minus 4 yards on four carries, and junior Chris Smith minus 6 yards on one carry. McGrath was 0-7 with four interceptions.
Defensively, Contreras and junior Cliff Hansen both recovered a fumble.
