The Thatcher Eagles used a dominate rushing attack and the big game of a backup quarterback to move past the Valley Christian Trojans 56-35 on Friday night at Eastern Arizona College.
Thatcher trailed early after Valley Christian struck first on a touchdown pass from Hunter Heeringa to take an early 6-0 but on the ensuing kickoff Thatcher’s Kody Bingham answered back with a 95-yard return for a touchdown to give the Eagles the 7-6 and they never trailed after that.
Quarterback Brandon Napier added a 70-yard touchdown run before he left the game with a lower leg injury in the 2nd quarter. He was replaced by sophomore Brett Jones who added a rushing and a touchdown pass to Wyatt Nicholas to his resume.
Aiden Bingham found the endzone three times as well as the Eagles rushing game couldn’t be stopped.
Thatcher (12-0) will face #4 Show Low (9-1) on Saturday at 6pm at Mountain Pointe High School in Phoenix. The winner moves into the 3A Championship game on November 26th against the winner of the Eastmark/Pusch Ridge matchup.
This will be the first postseason meeting between the Eagles and the Cougars. Thatcher owns a 3-1 record in their regular season meetings.
