The Sand Devils improved to 3-1 after their 48-20 victory over Monument Valley Friday night. The Sand Devils were coming off a bye week and they looked rested and hungry. The offense came out firing on all pistons.

Page had the ball first and scored on its first possession on an 85-yard touchdown pass and run from Joseph Benally to Shaine Begay. Cole Tate increased the score to 7 after kicking in the extra point.

The Sand Devils defense made a big stop on Monument Valley’s first possession when Matthew Bishop forced a Mustangs fumble and Page recovered the loose ball.

The Sand Devils offense quickly added seven more points to the board on a 60-yard pass to Deegan Sparks, followed by a 25-yard touchdown pass to Tyree Stingley.

Page scored again on its third possession after another 40-yard pass, followed by a 10-yard touchdown run by Renato Littleman. Leading 21-0 with 11:32 remaining in the second quarter, the Sand Devils looked like they were going to run away with the game.

But Page took its foot off the gas in the second and third quarters, allowing the Mustangs to score three touchdowns. With 1:12 remaining in the third quarter, the Mustangs were within one point, trailing 20-21.

The fourth quarter, though, belonged entirely to the Sand Devils. A large amount of the Sand Devils’ scoring production was set up by their defense. The fourth quarter started with a 50-yard touchdown pass to Sparks. A minute later, Patrick Bennett intercepted a Mustangs pass and returned all the way to the land of paydirt. After Bennett’s pick-six the Sand Devils led 34-20 with 11 minutes left in the game. Stingley followed this by jumping on a Mustangs fumble. Bennett capitalized on the fumble recovery and scampered into the end zone a few plays later. Following a successful PAT from Tate, Page led 41-20.

On the ensuing kickoff, Page recovered the ball on their 24-yard line. A few plays later, Joseph Benally found the end zone on a designed quarterback keeper for the final score of the game.  The final score read Sand Devils 48, Mustangs 20.

“We didn’t really make any big adjustments, we just had to stop hurting ourselves with penalties and errors,” said head coach Ty Bennett.

The Offensive Player of the Week was Deegan Sparks, who had 150 yards receiving and two touchdowns.

The Defensive Player of the Week was Tyree Stingley, who had three tackles, one tackle for loss, 1.5 sacks and a forced fumble.

The Overall Player of the Week was Patrick Bennett, who had 10 tackles, four tackles for loss, one sack, one interception for a touchdown and one fumble recovery.

Benally had four passing touchdowns and one running touchdown. He also passed for 404 yards, breaking the school record for passing yards in a game.

The Sand Devils return to Sand Devil Stadium this Friday, where they will take on the Wickenburg Wranglers. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.