Arbor View falters late in loss to Hamilton (Ariz.)

Kyle Graham came off the line hard, cut toward the middle of the field and caught the pass from his quarterback in stride against Hamilton on Friday night.

The Arbor View senior weaved through traffic, taking the ball 37 yards to give the Aggies a chance with a first-and-10 at the opposing 11-yard line.

Arbor View had 1 minute, 27 seconds left and trailed at the time by six points to the visitors from Chandler, Ariz. From that point, though, the Aggies only went backwards, eventually failing on a 4th-and-25 from in a 23-17 loss.

“These seniors had only lost once (in the regular season),” Arbor View coach Dan Barnson said. “And they lost to Gorman. This was No. 3.”

Graham did his best to prevent the latest loss. The 37-yard catch from Logan Bollinger was his only reception of the game, he ran for 190 yards on 26 carries.

Arbor View (2-1) stayed in control for the better part of three quarters despite failing to build on an early lead.

“We were moving the ball,” Barnson said. “And we were doing what we do. But we kind of shot ourselves in the foot a few times.”

Namely on the final series, when three consecutive negative runs put the Aggies in the fourth-down situation. Bollinger threw an early pick, too, and Graham fumbled on Arbor View’s first play of the second quarter.

Just five plays earlier, Bollinger had capped an eight-play drive with a 1-yard plunge on a quarterback sneak to extend the Aggies early lead to 10-0.

After the fumble, the Huskies drove 70 yards, capped by Peyton Poe’s 12-yard touchdown pass to Brenden Rice.

“Peyton Poe did a great job of managing the game for us,” Hamilton coach Mike Zdebski said. “And we finally played a little defense.”

Rice is the son of NFL legend Jerry Rice, and caught s a 28-yard strike with 1:56 left in the third quarter that gave the Huskies their an insurmountable lead.

Poe finished 18-for-34 for 228 yards and three touchdowns.