Brandon Cadiz is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Canyon View High School for AZPreps365.com 

WADDELL – One night after suffering their first loss of the season, the Canyon View Jaguars returned to their winning ways with a 28-0 shutout victory over Lake Havasu.

The Jaguars (4-1), who lost to Hamilton, 17-7, on Monday, recorded a season-high eight sacks from five different contributors on Tuesday. Senior rusher Avi Kubus recorded three sacks and senior rusher Maddie Smith had two.

“Tonight it was all about the pressure on the quarterback,” Canyon View coach Cory Beal said. “I think that pressure put the quarterback in desperation mode. And I think that’s what really led to the three interceptions because they could not get set because our blitz was pretty effective tonight.”

In the loss to Hamilton, Canyon View recorded zero sacks.

Lake Havasu used three different quarterbacks: freshman McKenna Nutt, senior Anna Anderson and freshman Skyle Light. Senior quarterback Kylee Gallo was not available due to concussion protocol.

“They were reading the defense a little better tonight,” Lake Havasu coach Charlie Stickney said. “Believe it or not, this was actually the growth and progress that we’re looking forward to, as we’re getting them reps on the field. Tonight, even with the three interceptions, we’re making good decisions on the offensive side of the ball, but we still had a lot of missed opportunities.”

Nutt, Anderson and Light each threw an interception. Safety Makenzie Pope recorded the first two interceptions. 

The first came from Nutt during the Knights’ first offensive possession. Pope then returned Anderson’s interception 24 yards as time expired in the first half. The Jaguars led 14-0 at the break.

The final interception of the evening came late in the fourth quarter when Light dropped back from her own 28-yard line and freshman safety Zariyah Odom returned her interception for 20 yards.

Jaguars senior quarterback Katelyn Jewell threw for 234 yards and three touchdowns, but she credited her defense for picking up the win.

“We have a ton of athletes on this team,” Jewell said. “Our defense is what keeps us in all of these games. They give us good field position. The pick-sixes keeps us off the field and we don’t have to do too much sometimes with our defense. So them giving us good field position is super helpful. We owe a lot of our credit to them.”

Jewell spread the ball and found seven different receivers.

It was a slow offensive start for Canyon View as the first quarter ended scoreless.

The Knights tried to take the middle of the field out of the game for the Jaguars.

“At first we were struggling with that offensively,” Jewell said. “And then we learned some combinations that beat that and we had to adjust. That’s when we started scoring and moving down the field. So making those audibles down the field, helped us get down the field and score.”

The game’s first touchdown came at 11:05 in the second quarter as Jewell connected with senior wide receiver Liz Wetherington on an 11-yard pass for her fourth touchdown of the season. 

Jewell found junior wide receiver Arri Richardson for a 3-yard touchdown pass with 5:30 in the second quarter to make it 14-0.

Pope scored her fourth receiving touchdown of the year as Jewell rolled out right and found her in the back of the end zone from two yards out to make it 21-0.

Canyon View (4-1) will travel to Copper Canyon (0-7) on Thursday at 6 p.m. Lake Havasu (2-2) will host Lee Williams (2-1) on Thursday at 6 p.m.