Desert Vista tops rival on miraculous play
Parker Navarro was just trying to escape a sack on third-and-9. He rolled left, ran up the field and, just before crossing the line of scrimmage, fired a pass between two defenders.
Dominic Shepardson caught it, shed a tackler and broke loose down the sideline for a 36-yard touchdown that ended up being visiting Phoenix Desert Vista’s winning touchdown to end a six-game streak of losing to Phoenix Mountain Pointe and take the Ahwatukee Bowl trophy.
“I felt like it was a fair throw,” Navarro said after the 28-27 victory.
Shepardson knew Navarro’s scrambling abilities would lead to something big.
“I knew I had to make a play,” he said.
That play came with 4:12 left, enough time for quarterback Nick Wallerstedt to perform some of his own magic.
But after a stop, Desert Vista got pinned at its 1yard line on a punt with 2:30 left. Navarro was thinking he couldn’t take negative yardage with a safety that would give Mountain Pointe the victory.
Colby Humphrey’s 13-yard run on third down gave Desert Vista a chance to work the clock down to 1:06 before punting the ball away.
This time, Wallerstedt got Mountain Pointe to the Desert Vista 27 after an 18-yard pass to Ahmen Williams. With no timeouts, Wallerstedt spiked the ball with 11 seconds left.
Wallerstedt was signalling to the sideline with a kicking gesture, but coach Rich Wellbrock didn’t think Ben Abercrombie was in range to make a gamewinning field goal.
Instead, Wallerstedt launched a deep pass that Kaleo Bright intercepted, and the white-clad Desert Vista students stormed the field as the game ended, swallowing up Bright.
“It’s wild,” Bright said. “Honestly, it’s the greatest experience in Arizona, really.’’