Central Section: No. 1 Clovis West fights back from 13-point deficit to knock off No. 9 Clovis East

Ryan Markarian throws five touchdowns as the Golden Eagles defeat Timberwolves in battle of unbeatens

CLOVIS, Calif. — After falling behind 20-7 with 1 minute, 25 seconds left in the first half, the No. 1 ranked Clovis West Golden Eagles scored 29 of the next 32 points to key a 42-30 win over the No. 9 Clovis East Timberwolves Friday at Lamonica Stadium.

The victory lifted the Golden Eagles to 7-0 overall and 2-0 in the rugged Tri-River Athletic Conference. Clovis East dropped to 6-1 and 1-1. 

Five touchdown passes from Ryan Markarian — three to Marshel Sanders — led the comeback charge for Clovis West, which was coming off an emotional 29-22 win over Buchana-Clovis the week before in a battle of No. 1 versus No. 2 in the SBLive Central Section Fab 15 rankings. 

A Markarian to Sander last-second 45-yard touchdown connection led Clovis West to the victory over Buchanan. 

The Eagles offered no letdown excuse against Clovis East. How could they? The Timberwolves entered unbeaten and were taking it to Clovis West early. 

“Our guys had to battle," Clovis West coach Eric Brown said. "The TRAC is tough, and we know that. That is a good team over there. 

"We had to deliver the first loss to a lot of teams this year. It takes heart and it takes battling and showing grit in the second half and our team did that.”

Ryan Markarian (8) threw for five touchdowns. Photo: Bobby Medellin

The Eagles scored on their final possession of the first half and the first possession of the third quarter to take the lead for good.  

Clovis East got on the board first when sophomore quarterback Tyus Miller connected with Carson Sandoval on a 43-yard touchdown pass to make it 6-0 with 8 minutes, 55 seconds left in the first quarter.

Markarian connected with Sanders on a 29-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the second quarter to go up 7-6.

The Timberwolves retook the lead with 7:41 remaining in the first half after an 18-yard touchdown run by Miller. They extended the lead with 1:25 remaining in the first half when Lamaj Travis raced into the end zone from 33 yards away to give the Timberwolves a 20-7 lead.

Clovis West's TD right before the half — a 56-yard pass from Markarain to Landon Wright — was key, Brown said. That cut the lead to 20-14.

“That sparked us going into halftime where we had a tough conversation,” Brown said. “Our team wasn’t awake, and we weren’t playing to the best of our abilities. We lit it up at halftime and got the team ready to roll and played aggressively in the second half.”

Clovis West took a 21-210 lead on their first possession of the second half when Aidan Fortenberry scored from 5-yards out. 

The Eagles extended the lead to 28-20 later in the third quarter on a 28-yard touchdown pass from Markarian to Sanders with 5:29 remaining in the third quarter.

Clovis East hit a field goal early in the fourth quarter to make it 28-23, before Clovis West took full command with 4:48 left in the game on a Markarian to Wright touchdown pass. 

Miller added his second rushing touchdown with 1:34 left to make it 36-30, but Markarian connected with Sanders for a third time with three seconds left to seal the game.

Tyus Miller (7), Clovis East. Photo: Bobby Medellin.  

“We knew coming into the game that the only way they were going to lose is if we beat ourselves,” Sanders said. “When we were down, I was just telling the team to keep their heads up. We came out like dogs in the second half.”

The Eagles will play Clovis North next week while Clovis East hosts Central. 

All photos by Bobby Medellin