The Sedona Venom football team took a major hit in its chances to win a conference championship Saturday, Oct. 1, losing to the Williams Bengals, 40-13.

Star linebacker Chase Saczalski was having one of his best games of the season, recording 10 tackles before stopping a Williams runner at the 1-yard line in the third quarter of a close game.

Unfortunately for Saczalski, he broke his arm on the play and had to be escorted off the field by the training staff and was taken directly to the emergency room.

“He’ll be OK. The X-rays were gnarly though, man; he broke the ulna bone in two,” Sedona Head Coach Todd Saczalski said Sunday, Oct. 2.

At the time, Sedona trailed 13-6, and when play resumed, defensive tackle Allejandro Medina forced a fumble and Sedona recovered, giving them the ball on their own 1-yard line.

“The boys stepped up. They did it for Chase [Saczalski],” Todd Saczalski said.

Sedona was unable to capitalize on its possession and Williams found a way to score later in the quarter as Bengals running back Chance Pearson put his team up 20-6 with 1:08 to go in the period.

In the fourth quarter, backup quarterback Winston Cox took over for starter Hayden Bruce to get some repetitions in, according to Saczalski.

Bruce connected with Cox in the second quarter on a fourth down 56-yard touchdown play with 44 seconds to go in the period to make it a 13-6 game. It was the only scoring play of the first half for Sedona.

In the fourth, Cox scored his second touchdown of the afternoon, finding a seam on a quarterback keeper play and running for 37 yards and a score.

The touchdown brought Sedona closer at 20-13, but from then on, Williams would score 20 unanswered points to put the Venom away, 40-13.

“It was a lot closer than it looked out there,” Saczalski said.

With the loss, Sedona is 3-2 overall this season and is 3-1 in its conference with the Northern Arizona Youth Football League.

Next up, Sedona travels Saturday, Oct. 8, to play the Cottonwood Colts, who are the conference leaders after this weekend at 4-0.

Kickoff is at noon.