St. Mary’s good as gold in first round
There were big comebacks. Heartstopping endings. Thrill rides up and down the state in the first round of the playoffs for the big schools in Arizona high school football.
Let’s look back and ahead:
Biggest takeaway
There is something magical about the gold pants. For the second year in a row, Phoenix St. Mary’s leaned on tradition and came away with a playoff win. Since 1967, the Knights, under coach Ed Doherty, started the gold playoff pants tradition. It’s never gone away. But, until alum Jose Lucero took over as coach last year, those gold pants were tucked away in St. Mary’s equipment room for 21 years. What Lucero has done this year, changing the offense after senior quarterback Nick Martinez suffered a broken collarbone early in the season-opening 49-0 loss to Brophy Prep, is remarkable. He moved to the Double Wing T and handed the offense to his middle linebacker, tenacious David Galindo, who was a bulldozer in Friday’s 34-31 firstround 4A playoff win at Buckeye Union. He ran for a couple of touchdowns and threw a TD pass. But it was his second, third, fourth efforts on run plays that looked like scrums that were most impressive. The Knights have an overachieving offensive line and players who simply grind. It may not be pretty. But it’s effective. And it’s gotten the Knights to the quarterfinals and a trip to play unbeaten Casa Grande (11-0) next week.
Biggest push
Poston Butte, the top seed in 4A, got a big-time scare from No. 16 Phoenix Northwest Christian, trailing 37-33 with the ball on the Crusaders’ 6-yard line and a few ticks left. But as time ran out, Justin Evans carried the ball with help from teammates into the end zone to give the Broncos a 39-37 victory to avoid an epic upset. It capped an 80-yard drive with Octavious Joe the main weapon, running six times for 50 yards. For Northwest Christian, a team counted out before it showed up in San Tan Valley, it was a character check with a team reduced to multiple backups, including a third-string quarterback, junior Ashton Kamp, because of an injuryriddled season. Kamp simply threw for more than 300 yards and three TDs. The Crusaders may have had their worst record under coach David Inness at 3-8. But they didn’t go out quietly.
“Our kids are awesome,” Inness said.
“We overcame double-digit injuries and had the No. 1 seed on the ropes the entire night. Just a sign of their character and courage and our faith. There’s no quit in the kids. It’s the Crusader way. Never been more proud of any team I’ve coached. They never quit, even when times were bleak.”
Best switch flip
Glendale Mountain Ridge waited 17 years to win a playoff game. It happened with the Lions’ flipping a switch defensively to limit No. 6-seed Mesa Mountain View to one first down in the second half, as they continued a 26-0 run to win 40-35 after being down 35-14 in the 6A playoff game. Junior quarterback Brendan Anderson threw for 411 yards and five TDs, three of those going to fellow junior Terrance Hall, who also had a rushing score. This is a resilient team with an offense that can score in nanoseconds. But the defense just turned it on in the second half to keep the Toros from doing any damage. Defensive end Christian Madoski stepped up, and outside linebacker Christian Aguilar was all over the field, making stops. Cornerback Corey Johnson moved to safety and was stellar. Now they get to have something at Mountain Ridge not seen since 2004— a Thanksgiving Day practice. Mountain Ridge (8-3), which plays at Gilbert Williams Field in the quarterfinals, is in the midst of its first winning season since 2010.
It got third-year coach Doug Madoski an ice-water bath from his players after the game.
“We talked about being the first,” Madoski said. “Mountain Ridge had been down for so long. We get a chance to make some of those moments happen.”
Best one-man crew
It’s impossible to live up to big brother Jake Smith’s legacy, after he was named the Gatorade National High School Football Player of the Year his senior season at Scottsdale Notre Dame Prep. But senior athlete Gavin Smith had a night to remember in the Saints’ 56-21 5A first-round rout of Glendale Apollo. He had three touchdowns of at least 50 yards in three different ways — rushing, receiving and returning a punt. He amassed more than 200 all-purpose yards. Can he keep that up against at No. 2-seed Tucson Salpointe Catholic, which missed the Open playoffs for the first time?
Best unknown team
There’s a little team in Kingman called Lee Williams. And guess what? The Volunteers are in the 4A quarterfinals after traveling to Apache Junction and blowing out the Prospectors 55-32, setting up a showdown against twotime defending champion Mesquite in Gilbert next week. This is the first time Lee Williams made the playoffs since 2014, its second year competing in the AIA. And it was their first playoff win. A remarkable job by coach Patrick O’Boyle in getting his player to believe. The Vols had gone through five straight losing seasons, before going 4-3 last year when COVID-19 made a mess of the season.
Biggest weapon
Brophy Prep relied on the leg of Marcus Lye to beat Mesa Desert Ridge 22-9 in the 6A first-round win. Lye connected on three field goals and he was five of six on touchbacks on kickoffs. His only punt of the game went for 36 yards and was downed inside the Desert Ridge 2. Now it’s onto Mesa Red Mountain, which reached the 6A final two years ago and stopped Peoria Centennial 2019 in the first round.
“They look very balanced on offense,” Brophy coach Jason Jewell said about Red Mountain.
“Definitely have to try and contain No. 5, Jakobi Lane, and No. 13, Lenox Lawson makes a lot of plays, too. Defense causes some chaos. They have 19 INTs (prior to last night) on the year. Impressive.”
This will be a big challenge for QB Elijah Warner and his offensive line.
Best discovery
Oro Valley Canyon del Oro has been a tailback factor since Ka’deem Carey’s glory days. Stevie Rocker was huge the last few years.
Now, say hello to sophomore Kayden Luke. He ran 26 times for 193 yards and three TDs and had a two-point conversion, along with piling up 10 tackles at middle linebacker, in No. 12-seed CDO’s stunning 35-21 win at No. 5 Lake Havasu. It made the long road trip back worth it.
“Might be one of the most physical kids we have ever had,” coach Dustin Peace said. “If we had time to do it, yards after contact, had to be at least two-thirds of that total.”
Best breakthrough
Phoenix Horizon is the top seed in 5A, but Friday’s 49-0 win over Cave Creek Cactus Shadows a huge for the program. It was the first time since 2005 that the Huskies won a playoff game. And it ended a streak of nine first-round exits. This also was the first season Horizon beat Phoenix Pinnacle. And it’s all come in coach Andy Litten’s first season in charge of the program.
“The kids talked about it last night,” Litten said of finally breaking through in the first round. “I honestly wasn’t aware of it before they said it in the pregame talk right before we went out.”
Co-captain Dylan Murray told the team before the game, Litten said, that they wanted to play this game for every Horizon Huskies player since the ‘05 team.
The current Horizon players were babies in 2005.
“Our kids have an edge about them since they beat Pinnacle, because they believe in themselves and the coaching staff and I think they truly care about school history and where this team will finish among the great.”
That includes those great Doug Shaffer-coached teams in the 1990s.