Picking up their first victory of the season, Boulder City High School football routed 4A Sunrise Mountain 33-0 in their home opener on Aug. 22.
“This is what I expect of our team,” head coach Bubba Mariani said. “I think we have some playmakers on offense who can make things happen and a really good defense who should keep us in ball games. We played to our abilities on Friday.”
Getting things going offensively, freshman quarterback Asa Mariani completed 11 of 17 passing for 204 yards and three scores, twice hooking up with Ghavyn Cartier for touchdowns.
Cartier finished the game with 74 yards, while Anthony Eby made three catches for 84 yards and a touchdown.
Gavin Robinson added three catches for 26 yards, as one of six different receivers to get involved in the passing attack.
“The guys are starting to understand that Asa’s going to put the ball where it needs to be,” Coach Mariani said. “He’s doing a lot of audibles and switching sides of the field to put us in the best position to make a play. He’s building confidence, building a rapport with his receivers and getting the ball out on time.“
Adding a balanced offensive attack, Nathaniel Lewis rushed for 50 yards and a touchdown, while Coen Burrows added 20 yards on two carries.
Dynamic on defense, the Eagles generated a pair of takeaways against the Miners, an encouraging sign early after not making many big plays defensively last season.
“We haven’t gotten a lot of turnovers the last few years, but we got some tonight and showed we’re doing the right things,” Mariani said. “We know that we have a young offense and as a defense we need to do everything we can to make the game easier.”
Grabbing interceptions each were Aiden Armstrong (five tackles) and Colton Lewis (four tackles), while Cameron Matthews generated nine tackles with a sack.
Seth Kirby made five tackles on the defensive line, while Brandon Hobbs made three tackles.
Looking to challenge themselves this week, the Eagles will host 4A Clark on Friday, hopeful to build a winning streak.