Rattler hurt, but Pinnacle routs Mtn. Pointe
Star QB suffers ankle injury early in 1st quarter
Phoenix Pinnacle lost quarterback Spencer Rattler late in the first quarter with an ankle injury. With four minutes left in the half, tailback Matt Goodlow needed help off the field after scoring a touchdown.
There went Pinnacle’s starting backfield, spending the rest of the night from a trainer’s table on the sideline.
But this may be Pinnacle’s best team. Certainly, it is coach Dana Zupke’s deepest.
Backup quarterback J.D. Johnson threw for 218 yards and two TDs in the first half, threw another scoring pass early in the second half, and No. 1 Pinnacle rolled past visiting No. 4 Phoenix Mountain Pointe 56-34 on Friday night in a big early season 6A showdown.
Pinnacle became ranked No. 1 in 6A by azcentral sports for the first time in school history after last week’s 59-33 win over then No. 2 Gilbert Perry.
Against a big, athletic, fast Mountain Pointe team that was beginning the Rich Wellbrock coaching era, Pinnacle showed that last week was no fluke.
“Crazy talent on this team, as you can see,” said Rattler, who quickly dissected Mountain Pointe’s defense in the opening series, completing all five of his passes for 64 yards and a touchdown. “Me and Matt weren’t even in there and we put up 60 on them.”
Rattler, who is rated the No. 1 2019 high school prostyle quarterback in the nation and is being followed by a film crew this season from Netflix’s “QB1: Beyond the Lights,” cheered his understudy on after he rolled his right ankle and hobbled off in a 14-14 game. He said he doesn’t expect to be out long, missing maybe the next game, before returning. Zupke said that Rattler will have an X-ray on his ankle on Saturday.
Before the Oklahoma commit could even find a seat on the bench, Johnson tossed a quick pass to Goodlow, who ran 63 yards for a touchdown. On his third pass, the 6-foot-4 Johnson found Marcus Libman for a 15-yard score and it was quickly 28-14.
Johnson, who has football scholarship offers from Arizona, Colorado State and UNLV without ever starting a varsity game, completed all seven of his passes in the half for 218 yards and the two scores.
“Playing behind the best quarterback in the nation, it helped me get ready for this,” Johnson said. “(Spencer) said, ‘When you go on the field, just do your thing.’ That’s what he always tells me.”
Even after Goodlow came out with a knee injury after a five-yard run gave Pinnacle a 35-14 lead, there was no slowing the team in the camouflage uniforms on Military Appreciation Night.
Zupke not only has the luxury of coaching the best high school quarterback in the nation but maybe the best backup quarterback in the country.
“I never want to see Spencer or any of my players go down, but there was a part of me excited for J.D.,” Zupke said. “Get in a game early this year to prove to everybody. We knew. I honestly knew he was going to perform well. And he knew it, too.”
So did Rattler, who shouted out instructions to Johnson from time to time as Rattler had his right leg propped up with ice on his ankle from the trainer’s table on the sideline.
“I’ve been with him every day and we make each other better,” Rattler said. “I knew once he got in, he’d do his thing. I’m happy for him.”
Meanwhile, Mountain Pointe quarterbacks Nick Wallerstedt and backup Ahmen Williams showed flashes of brilliance but also struggled against an improved Pinnacle defense. Wallerstedt fumbled a shotgun snap that Pinnacle recovered and was intercepted. But he also scored on a 54-yard keeper after faking a hand-off and found the elusive Dominique Davis for a 59-yard pass play that led to a score.
Williams took over after Wallerstedt’s interception midway through the third quarter.
He struggled at first, throwing an interception on a deep ball. But he showed off a strong arm, hooking up three time with Davis, once for a 54-yard score with 2:45 left for the final touchdown.
It will be interesting to see what Wellbrock does moving forward with the quarterback situation.