East Valley holds off North Central in wild football opener

East Valley head coach Adam Fisher was out of breath Friday after his team’s 58-57 nonleague victory over the North Central Indians at Albi Stadium.

You would be, too, if you just watched your team stop NC’s two-point conversion try with a minute left to secure the victory.

It ended an offensive shootout that showed no lead is safe.

The Knights held what seemed to be a comfortable 58-43 lead as the fourth quarter wound down. The Indians’ Quataveous Mason then hauled in a 43-yard touchdown pass to cut into the Knights’ lead. A successful two-point try moved NC to within seven points.

The Knights fumbled the ensuing kickoff, and NC’s Michael Stacy ran in from 1 yard out to put his Indians within one.

NC head coach Tom Griggs decided to go for two and the win, but quarterback Jake Healy was chased and couldn’t connect with his receiver in the end zone.

“We were trying to shorten the game, ideally, because we have a lot of guys playing both ways,” Fisher said. “With the heat and the amount of plays we were going to have to play, we knew it was going to come down to the very end and it literally did.”

The heat seemed to affect both squads. EV running back Aledre Bracey limped off a number of times because of cramping. He wasn’t too hampered, though, and finished with 138 yards and three touchdowns on the ground, and 69 yards and one touchdown through the air.

Bracey teamed with Rodrick Fisher to lead the way for the Knights, the latter finishing with 156 receiving yards and three touchdowns.

“He’s an explosive player,” Fisher said of Bracey. “At least we have a game under our belt now and we can see where we go from there.”

EV quarterback Christian Johnston finished with 344 passing yards and five touchdowns in the shootout.

Mason led the charge for the Indians, finishing with 212 yards receiving and two touchdowns. Stacy had 121 yards on the ground and three touchdowns.

The teams combined for 1,064 total yards.