High schools: Chandler, Saguaro QBs come of age on big stages.
Two games into their varsity football careers, quarterbacks Jacob Conover and Max Massingale came of age on Saturday in two different states on the national high school stage.
Conover, 6-foot-1, 185 pounds, passed for 465 yards and three touchdowns, completing 16 of 26 passes, in Chandler’s 56-49 loss in Norco, Calif., to Corona Centennial, a team that went 14-1 last year and reached the CIF Open Division championship game.
Massingale passed for more than 100 yards and ran for more than 100 yards, upstaging ESPN’s No. 2-rated senior pocket passer Dylan McCaffrey on ESPN at Highlands Ranch (Colo.) Valor Christian, in Scottsdale Saguaro’s 49-28 win.
In his first varsity start, a 34-10 win over Mesa Red Mountain, Conover was 19 of 28 passing for 255 yards and a TD. He has yet to throw an interception. Conover won out in a three-quarterback battle for the job during the spring, summer and camp. Coach Shaun Aguano had so much confidence that he made Conover the first sophomore to begin the season as the starting quarterback at Chandler for at least 12 years. Not even Brett Hundley and Bryce Perkins started at QB when they were sophomores.
Massingale, 5-11, 180, in his second career varsity start, showed what coach Jason Mohns had envisioned of him against Valor Christian. He completed 10 of 11 passes for 159 yards and two touchdowns and ran 16 times for 178 yards and two more scores.
ESPN was enamored by McCaffrey in pregame but ended up impressed by Massingale, who was on nobody’s national radar before that game.
Massingale possess abilities similar to past Saguaro state championship quarterbacks Teddy Ruben and Luke Rubenzer.
“He did things we knew he was capable of doing,” Mohns said. “It was cool to see him doing that. He’s got a Luke Rubenzer and Teddy Ruben thing about him. We wanted to hold him back a little in the first week (the 35-20 win at home against Gardena, Calif., Serra). We let him go a little bit and he had success. If he gets hit a little, it gets him going. It gets the juices flowing. I had to let him loose.”
Mohns had to adjust the offensive line on the fly after All-Arizona senior Corey Stephens (an Arizona State commit) suffered an injury in the first half and left the game for good.
Stephens may miss at least the next two games, Mohns said. Junior Ruben Pimbert, 5-10, 230, was moved to left guard.
Senior Sean Seawards, 6-4, 337, who came from Anthem Boulder Creek, where he primarily was a defensive tackle, had a great game on the offensive line.
Saguaro ran for more than 300 yards against Valor Christian. Senior tailback Stone Matthews had 144 yards and three TDs on 19 carries.
“We didn’t do it with tricks,” Mohns said. “We ran power.”
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