No. 2 Arbor View rolls past Basic following lightning delay
The boisterous sound of the home crowd passionately sporting red could be heard at Arbor View on Friday night.
Playing in front of a “red out” crowd for homecoming, the Aggies, No. 2 in the Review-Journal’s Class 5A rankings, made sure Basic saw red all game to secure a 35-7 victory in their Class 5A Division I league opener.
After the game was delayed 55 minutes because of lightning, the inclement weather subsided enough to not fully rain on the Aggies’ parade.
Sophomore quarterback Thaddeus Thatcher threw three touchdown passes for Arbor View (4-0, 1-0 5A Division I), and the Aggies intercepted the Wolves four times.
But Basic (1-4, 0-1) struck first. On the Wolves’ second drive, senior quarterback Jayveon Rose hit senior receiver Donovan Glover for 42 yards on third-and-10. A few plays later, Rose connected once again with Glover on a 27-yard touchdown strike on third-and-17 to put the Wolves up 7-0 with 5:30 left in the first quarter.
Thatcher, who has several notable Division I offers, answered back swiftly with a 33-yard touchdown pass over the top to sophomore Zac Fares to tie the game at 7-7 with 3:19 left in the first quarter.
“The first drive, we started off really slow, just a bunch of mistakes. And then, after we got off the field, I had to go talk to some of our guys, just get us right, and then come back on the field and go down and score,” Thatcher said. “My reading wasn’t really good in just being able to see the field today. It wasn’t our best day.”
After two more Thatcher TD passes, Arbor View defensive back Kent Bell III returned an interception 52 yards for a touchdown to put the Aggies up 28-7 with 6:30 left in the second quarter.
“It was really just an alignment, assignment technique that we did through coaching all week. So it played out how we planned it to,” Bell III said. “We’re really just practicing on that one specific thing.”
The second half seemed to end for Basic as soon as it started with its fourth interception.
A 27-yard rushing touchdown from junior running back Nylen Johnson with 42 seconds left in the third quarter put the Aggies ahead 35-7 to start the running clock.
Contact Jacob Powers at jpowers@reviewjournal.com. Follow @jaypowers__ on X.