PRESCOTT — Elijah Little ran for three touchdowns, Will Clark caught two scores and Thunderbird used a 29-point first half to stay perfect on the young season with a 50-30 win on the road over Prescott on Friday night.

“We game planned all week. We wanted to come out here and dominate, and that’s what we did,” Little said after the game.

Clouds filled the skies early above Badger country with light rain falling all the way up until kickoff, but Thunderbird (2-0, 0-0 4A West Valley) wiped off their helmets and buckled their chinstraps to come away with an impressive win on the road.

“Everything is mental with our team. We have the skills, we have the pieces to win a championship,” Little said. “We want to win the whole thing.”

Thunderbird running back Elijah Little (7) avoids a few defenders Friday, Sept. 1, 2023, in Prescott. Little had three rushing touchdowns in the 50-30 win for the Titans. (Brian M. Bergner Jr./AzPreps365)Titans’ defensive back Brian Costa intercepted Prescott quarterback Jaxon Rice on their first possession of the game Friday night after he lobbed it up into double coverage, setting up Tyler Woods’ 5-yard touchdown run to quickly make it 7-0.

On Thunderbird’s next possession, Little scored his first touchdown of the night on a 12-yard run to make it 14-0 with 5:15 to play in the first quarter.

Prescott would get back into the game after Rice found Uriah Tenette down the right sideline for a 30-yard touchdown pass, then minutes later, Tenette scored again on a 70-yard punt return to tie it, 14-14.

“He’s unbelievable. He’s one of the best basketball players in the state, one of the best football players in the state,” Prescott head coach Cody Collett said of Tenette. “We haven’t really found anything he can’t do.”

Tenette had three touchdowns on the evening.

In the second quarter, Thunderbird would score twice more, with fullback Greg Smith scoring on fourth and goal from the 1-yard line midway through the period and Little adding another score with 57 ticks left before halftime.

In the second half, quarterback Andrew Cohill hooked up with wide receiver Clark twice on scores, and Little added his third score of the night to begin the fourth quarter to seal the deal.

“Our defense played a lot better than what you see on scoreboard, 30 points up there,” Thunderbird head coach Matt Nalette said. “But they (Prescott) made some good plays on special teams, and No. 1 and No. 2 are just great athletes. They gave us trouble, and they’ll give everyone trouble. Our guys kept fighting.”

Thunderbird, the defending 4A Southwest region champs and Elite 8 performer at state a season ago, now play in an ultra-competitive 4A West Valley region that is 10-2 collectively to start the fall, including four teams at 2-0 (Northwest Christian, Yuma Catholic, Buckeye Union and Thunderbird).

“We’re going to try and keep this momentum going into next week. Our guys, our goals to win championships. Region and state championships,” Nalette said. “The West Valley region is pretty darn tough, and if we can win it, we’ll be up there with the best teams in the state.”

Despite the loss, Collett was more than pleased with what he saw out of his Badger club Friday night.

“That’s a quarterfinals team that had a lot of starters back. And quite frankly, we have five guys who played extensive varsity football last year. So, I was really happy with our fight,” Collett said, adding that although things didn’t go his team’s way Friday, it’s part of the game.

“Our kids battled the whole time. You can’t be discouraged by that; they fought their tails off every second so I’m proud of that. This isn’t a week-long process, we’ll have most of this team back over the next two seasons. So if we can improve every day, we’ll get there.”

UP NEXT

The Titans head back home to host Apollo in Week 3 action Friday, Sept. 8. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

Prescott (1-1, 0-0 4A Grand Canyon) stays home to face another tough West Valley region club, Northwest Christian. Kickoff Sept. 8 is set for 7 p.m.

Brian M. Bergner Jr. has covered professional, collegiate and high school sports for more than 20 years. Follow him on Twitter @AzPreps365Brian. Have a story idea? Email Brian at bbergner@azpreps365.com.