Depleted Cactus Shadows team keeps playoff hopes alive with win

With 13 of its original 22 starters out, Cave Creek Cactus Shadows easily could have laid down and played out the string, limping through the final three weeks of the season.

But instead it decided to keep fighting, and its efforts paid off with a convincing 35-20 Division II, Section VII win over visiting Phoenix Paradise Valley on Friday.

“We’ve gone through so much adversity in the last three weeks,” Cactus Shadows coach Greg Davis said. “We tried to make this week about having fun and playing football again. Our kids were loose, and I think they did a great job of responding to a game that not many thought we had any business winning.”

Davis said his team is without so many starters because of injuries and disciplinary reasons. He would not elaborate.

Sophomore running back Antonio Marchica rushed for 285 yards on 31 carries for Cactus Shadows (5-3, 1-1). Marchica ripped off a pair of 60-yard touchdowns in the first half and added a 44-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter that provided the final margin.

“We needed to win this game to get into the playoffs, since we’re playing (Scottsdale) Chaparral (next week),” Marchica said. “We didn’t want to rely on that game for a win. So this win gives us a lot of confidence.”

Both teams entered Friday’s contest on the Division II playoff bubble, as Cactus Shadows came in at No. 20 in the power rankings while Paradise Valley (5-3, 0-2) was No. 17.

Paradise Valley also has Chaparral remaining on its schedule, and coach Donnie Yantis didn’t seem optimistic about his team’s postseason chances after the loss.

“We’re probably out,” Yantis said. “I don’t think in this 43team division that a 6-4 team is going to get in. But there’s no excuse. We got to make plays on the field and we didn’t.”

Paradise Valley sophomore quarterback Daniel BridgeGadd completed 27 of 37 passes for 337 yards and two touchdowns.