Keegan Brown is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Peoria High School for AZPreps365.com

PEORIA — With both a receiving touchdown and a pick-six, Marcell Colenberg stepped up for Peoria in a tight 21-16 win over Northwest Christian on Friday.

The Panthers were without star receiver Dontay Tyson Jr. for the second consecutive week, with Colenberg slotting in as wide receiver as well as cornerback.

“Any time I can get on that field, I like to stay on that field,” Colenberg said.

Peoria quarterback Dominic Kramer threw for 54 yards and a touchdown while completing three of eight attempts. Running backs Cristian Zarate and Javon Bell combined for 218 yards and a touchdown.

Peoria’s first drive ended with a punt, but the first of two interceptions thrown by Northwest Christian quarterback Laki Wallwork let the Panthers’ offense rush 48 yards down the field for the first score of the game. After completing his first pass, Wallwork threw his second interception which Colenberg returned for a touchdown, putting the Panthers up 13-0 with 3:33 left in the first quarter.

“He’s a ball hawk. He’s just a really, really good kid that has a desire and a hunger to win,” Peoria  coach Jason Golden said.

Wallwork threw for 195 yards, completed 16 of 31 attempts and threw one touchdown and two interceptions in the loss. The early turnovers settled down for the Crusaders as Wallwork was able to lead his team down the field in a 13-play, 80-yard touchdown drive that took 5:17, bringing the score to 13-7.

“We’re better offensively than what we showed. We got a couple guys nicked up, but we’ll bounce back,”  Northwest Christian coach David Inness said. “Just get us into the playoffs. We’ll play anybody.”

On the following drive, Bell fumbled the ball, which was recovered by the Crusaders and resulted in a field goal with 5:58 left in the first half. After trading punts, the Panthers fumbled again due to a bad handoff. With 44 seconds remaining on the clock, the Crusaders couldn’t score and went into halftime trailing 13-10.

“Our key to success on this five-game winning streak has been being in the plus,”  Golden said. “After last week we were plus-13 on turnover differential, and tonight at halftime it was two to two. We’ve been getting good field position with our defensive turnovers, so that helps control the game.”

Northwest Christian began the second half with possession, but three pass breakups from Peoria’s front seven forced a punt. A scoreless third quarter ended with a 22-yard run from Zarate, setting up an 11-yard touchdown pass to Colenberg in the back corner of the end zone.

With 8:06 left in the game and down 21-10, the Crusaders quickly drove down the field for an eight-play, 60-yard touchdown drive capped by a 18-yard pass to receiver Landon Beckman. With an unsuccessful two-point conversion try the Crusaders trailed 21-16 with 5:31 remaining.

After Peoria turned the ball over on downs with 2:29 on the clock, Northwest Christian was unable to convert on fourth down, ending the game.

Peoria (6-3) will host Thunderbird (6-4) next Friday at 7 p.m. 

Northwest Christian (5-4) will host Paradise Honors (5-4) next Thursday at 7 p.m.