Horizon Blanks Desert Mountain for 5th Consecutive Win

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Horizon shuts out Desert Mountain to extend their win streak to five games.

Tuesday night, the Horizon Huskies shut down the Desert Mountain Wolves to come away with a 13-0 win.

The entire game, Horizon’s defense came to play and basically suffocated the Wolves all night long on that side of the ball.

Horizon head coach Marino Lee said his team has now gone 17 quarters without giving up a point on defense.

“I think we’re 17 quarters without allowing somebody to score on our defense,” Lee said. “We’ve played some pretty good teams that can move the ball.”

On one of the game's first possessions, the Huskies' defense forced a turnover.

Coming out of nowhere to create a huge play, Horizon 2028 athlete Lilia Motolenichvarna was able to come away with an interception.

Following the interception, the Huskies were set up deep into Desert Mountain territory.

Not only did Motolenichvarna get the team rolling on defense, but she also provided on offense.

A few plays after the interception, 2027 quarterback Sydney Puma lofted a pass to Motolenichvarna, who came down with a 4-yard touchdown grab.

Puma said the most growth she’s seen so far this season in herself is her confidence.

“I think I just gained a lot of confidence in my teammates,” Puma said. “Then my teammates gained confidence in me.”

With one quarter down, Horizon led 7-0.

In the second quarter, it was much of the same for the Huskies.

The defense kept coming through with big plays.

A star for Horizon was 2028 rusher Amani Thompson.

Thompson not only had a few sacks on the day, but she also had roughly five passes deflected and overall was causing chaos in the backfield.

As the second quarter dwindled, Horizon put together one last drive to extend their lead.

With around three minutes to go in the first half, the Huskies started to march downfield.

Puma kept delivering strikes to her wide receivers, and the main target she had during the drive was 2028 wide reciever/kicker Arabella Wickstrom.

Wickstrom made two crucial catches during the drive to get into field goal range.

Not only did Wickstrom move the chains with her receiving abilities, but she was also the one to kick the field goal for the Huskies.

From 30 yards out, Wickstrom drilled the field goal to give Horizon a 10-0 lead at halftime.

Opening up the second half, the Huskies started with the ball and marched right back down the field.

Once again, Puma kept delivering key passes and helped the offense move down the field.

Helping the drive keep pushing forward was 2027 wide receiver Nikki Slager, who had three catches during the drive.

Desert Mountain was able to keep Horizon out of the end zone again, and the Huskies settled for a field goal.

The 7:23 drive was capped off with Wickstrom hitting a 21-yard field goal to extend the Huskies' lead to 13-0.

Rounding out the third quarter, Horizon came away with another takeaway.

In similar fashion to her first interception, Motolenichvarna jumped a route to come away with her second interception of the night.

For the rest of the game, Horizon was able to chew up a majority of the clock, and on the defensive side, they kept dominating.

Horizon would go on to win 13-0 and move to 5-1 on the season.

After losing their season opener to Chaparral, Horizon is now on a five-game winning streak and looks to continue that success in the second half of the regular season.

Horizon isn’t focused on looking too far ahead, though, as they are just ready to face whoever is in front of them.

“It’s one game at a time; every week we’re 0-0,” Lee said. “Couldn’t tell you who’s at the end of our schedule; all I care about is who’s next.”

Next up: 5-1 Horizon looks to continue their win streak going when they face 0-4 McClintock. 4-3 Desert Mountain looks to get back in the win column when they face 3-1 Notre Dame Prep.