Arizona high school football roundup: Casteel win upends Open rankings; ALA-QC, Higley post victories

Here is a roundup of key Arizona high school football games played on Thursday night. The final week of the regular season wraps up Friday and AIA playoff brackets will be released on Saturday.

Casteel downs Corona, upends Open rankings

By Ben Stapley

Corona del Sol traveled to Casteel High School Thursday night with a No. 7 ranking in the Open Division football seedings and a legitimate shot at crashing the elite post-season party.

The Casteel Colts (ranked No. 11 in 6A) had other plans.

Thanks to a stingy defense and bruising ground game, Casteel most likely knocked the Aztecs out of the Open playoffs with a convincing 31-14 victory in a 6A non-region contest.

Casteel (7-3, 1-3) and Corona del Sol (8-2, 4-0) will both await their 6A playoff seedings this weekend. Most, if not all, of the eight teams to make the Open likely will come from 6A, meaning those that miss the Open cut and stay in the 6A playoffs will be seeded higher than their current ranking suggests.

Key Playmakers 

Casteel senior Austin Young anchored his team on both sides of the ball. Young scored Casteel’s first touchdown on a two-yard run and gave Casteel critical yardage on the ground in the first half.

From his linebacker spot, Young led the way defensively, as Casteel shut down Corona’s offense most of the night.  A 50-yard interception return for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter provided Casteel’s final points and officially sealed the game as it gave the Colts a 31-7 lead.

Senior quarterback Landon Jury ran for a short touchdown and threw a 15 yard touchdown to J.J. Newcombe in the second half as the Colts took control.

Sophomore tailback Zeke Rodriguez led Casteel’s offense on the ground with 91yards.

Key Stats

Casteel forced two turnovers, which converted to 14 points. Outside of quarterback Drew Swearingen’s 56 yard touchdown run in the second quarter, Corona del Sol netted 11 rushing yards through the first three quarters.

Quote

“It was a solid win and we played efficient on both sides,'' — Casteel head coach Robert Newcombe

Up next:

Casteel and Corona del Sol both will make the playoffs. They will find out their seedings and next opponents on Saturday when the AIA releases its brackets for 2A through 6A conferences, as well as the state's top eight overall teams in the Open Division.

ALA QC rolls over Horizon in 5A clash

By Lucas Gordon

In a matchup between playoff-bound top-5 team in the 5A conference, American Leadership Academy-Queen Creek breezed past Horizon, 45-19.

ALA-QC (9-1, ranked No. 1 by the AIA in 5A, won the 5A San Tan region championship and likely will enter the 5A Conference playoffs as the No. 1 seed. Horizon (6-4) was ranked No. 5 by the AIA coming into the game.

Key Plays

After a scoreless first quarter, ALA Queen Creek built a large lead by scoring 17 straight points to end the half. The Patriots first points were put up by the foot of Draysen Hatch who nailed the short field goal.

The scoring was set up by running back Bubba Agne, who made a highlight-reel 32-yard catch to get ALA Queen Creek into the red zone.

On the following defensive possession, senior Ryker Scott recovered a fumble by Horizon's running back and brought it all the way back to the Horizon nine-yard line. Two plays later ALA Queen Creek would get its first touchdown with a one-yard run from running back Mitch Jensen.

Horizon came out of halftime looking like the same offense that didn't score in the first half. That all changed when the Huskies converted a fake punt that put them on ALA Queen Creek's side of the field for the first time in the second half.

This trick play set Horizon up for its first touchdown of the night, a nine-yard fade pass to tight end Matthew Klopfenstein. The touchdown to the senior made the score 24-6 after a failed two-point conversion by the Huskies.

Horizon would never get back within 18 points for the rest of the game. ALA Queen Creek's offense could not be stopped in the second half.

Key Players

ALA Queen Creek's quarterback Drew Cowart had a solid day under center. The senior threw for 188 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for 52 yards.

The running backs for the Patriots led the offense. As a team ALA Queen Creek had 220 yards and four touchdowns on the ground. Agnee led the way as the primary back with 112 yards and a touchdown.

The Patriot's defense was dominant from start to finish. In the first half the defense gave up 52 total yards. They also tacked on a fumble recovery and two sacks. Scott was the most dominant player on that side of the ball for ALA Queen Creek.

For Horizon, quarterback Kaden Zordani came into the game in the second quarter. In his time in the game Zordani was responsible for two touchdowns and threw for 108 yards.

Key Quotes

Heading into next week's 5A playoffs, ALA Queen Creek is guaranteed a home game to start the postseason. Head coach Ty Detmer is ready for the challenge that the playoffs bring.

"It's the playoffs, you never know what's going to happen. We have a great team, a great group of seniors who are stepping up and making plays. You're never overconfident going in you still have to play... Anything can happen."

Central makes playoff case with win

By Howard Schlossberg

Phoenix Central has a message to the AIA and to all of Arizona football.

Give us a playoff spot," the Bobcats screamed after finishing the season 9-1 with an impressive albeit nervous 27-19 Thursday night at home over Camelback. The Spartans (6-4) had hoped a win and a 7-3 record might propel them into the playoffs as well.

After running 61 plays from scrimmage to Central's 34, the Spartans were left wondering how they lost.

A pick 6, a key lost fumble and an inability to finish in Central's red zone had a lot to do with it.

Key plays

The game was still in doubt with Camelback driving at the end of the third quarter. Tben things turned completely as Breon Ballard read a Max Martin pass perfectly, stepped in front of the intended receiver in the middle of the field and never slowed down 60 yards later in stretching the lead to 27-13 as the third quarter ended.

Coach Chandler Hovik called it the play of the game.

But with a minute left and an opportunity to make it 30-19, Central had a 25-yard field goal try blocked and Camelback still had a chance.

Until, that is, Max Martin's final pass of a stellar career wound up complete for what would've been a first down, except Central forced and recovered a fumble on the play to end the game and set off a raucous celebration.

Central never trailed In game full of scoring flurries. The first quarter ended with 2 TDs in the final minute.  Camelback tied the game on a 73-yard slant from Martin to Jaylen Gillis followed 19 seconds later by Dominik Bagchi's 70-yarder to Kohnor Roque Brown.

The quick strikes were Central's big weapon, just like Ballard's pick. But so was his 69-yard TD dash on which Camelback clearly thought he was out of bounds, but, urged on by his team, he sprinted home.

Camelback pulled within 27-19 after Ballard's pick 6 on Martin's power plunge in the 4th. But four times in Central territory, the Spartans were turned away by brilliant secondary play, lead by Ismael Fox, and the pass rush lead by Josiah Fowlkes.

Key players

Camelback dominated the stats but couldn't convert. The Spartans had 354 yards in total offense, 153 on Martin's arm and a combined 165 on the ground from the determined running of Shawn Pereira and Amos Handyieh Slokan.

Two picks and a lost fumble hurt though.

Bagchi, limited by Camelback's ball control, still had 200 yards passing as Central totaled 291 on offense. Quentin Conley helped him out with 3 catches for 82 yards.

Key quotes

Hovik called his team resilient, their theme for the season. "We bend but don't break," he said of keeping Camelback out of the end when they had to.

"These kids are so resilient. I'm so happy for them," he said after finishing 9-1 for the first time since 2006.

Camelback's Brandon McNutt, almost at a loss for words, praised the effort of both teams, noting the significance of the game.

"You had two teams playing for a region title and maybe a playoff spot," which would be good for Phoenix football, he said.

Cactus beats Desert Edge, wins region

By Alex Suarez

Cactus squared off against Desert Edge Thursday night in a 5A matchup to determine who wins the Desert West region. Polo Banuelos stepped up and took on the running back duties after Damian Jiles went down with an injury. Banuelos would score the go-ahead touchdown run to give Cactus a 20-14 lead. The Cobras then got the game-sealing turnover as Nikko Boncore-Montoya came up with the interception with a minute left in the game. With the win, Cactus claimed the 5A Desert West region title.

Key plays

Down 12-0 early the second quarter, Hezekiah Millender threw a 63-yard touchdown pass to Kezion Dia-Johnson to bring Desert Edge within five.

Nikko Boncore-Montoya sealed the game with his interception in the fourth quarter.

Standout performers

Rudy Gonzales threw for one touchdown and had another touchdown rushing.

Polo Banuelos caught a touchdown pass and also had a rushing touchdown that wound up being the game winner.

Key quotes

"It feels great," said Banuelos. "I had to step up because the running back went down. I knew I had to put him on my back. I couldn't have done it without the o-line."

"It feels great," said Banuelos. "We prepped for them all week. We knew we had to step up and make big plays."

O’Connor defeats rival Mountain Ridge

By Anthony Perez

It was a slow start for Phoenix Sandra Day O’Connor (7-3) on senior night, but once it got going it really got going as the Eagles scored 29 points in the second and third quarters combined to earn its sixth consecutive victory over rival Glendale Mountain Ridge (5-5), 38-21, at Mountain Ridge on Thursday night.

Standout performers 

Quarterback Cooper King was the catalyst for O’Connor’s win as the senior was responsible for three of his team’s six scoring plays. King threw a 60-yard pass to senior Ben Currence to help give their team a 10-7 lead with 5:16 left in the first half.

Just under two minutes later he threw a 51-yard touchdown pass, and in the second half he found Rovelle Smith for his third touchdown pass of the night.

Senior Terrance Hall was impressive for Mountain Ridge in the losing effort as he scored all three of his teams touchdowns. He caught a 21-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Brendan Anderson to give Mountain Ridge their lone lead of the game early in the second quarter.

Hall then followed that up with two late touchdowns in the fourth quarter, one on a 35-yard run and another one off a pass from Logan Fagerlie.

Highlight of the game

With Mountain Ridge driving down the field and holding a 7-2 lead with under six minutes remaining in the second quarter, junior Parker Munier intercepted a pass from Anderson, which led to O’Connor's first touchdown of the night. This would be the first of 35 unanswered points for O’Connor as they picked up their sixth consecutive win in this rivalry series.

Quote of the game 

“This gives us a lot of confidence, but we still got to work hard to do, but it’s a lot of confidence. We’re really excited about the postseason because we haven’t been big in the postseason, so, it’ll be really cool to make history.” - Sandra Day O’Connor quarterback Cooper King on how he and his teammates are feeling as they head into the playoffs

Up Next

O'Connor came into the game ranked No 10 in 6A by the AIA and will find out its playoff opponent when the brackets are announced on Saturday. Mountain Ridge was ranked 17, but, most of the Top 8 teams that will go into the Open playoff will come from 6A, which likely will result in the Mountain Lions elevating into the 16 playoff teams.

Higley survives Williams Field

By Damian Adams

A popular phrase about the game of basketball is, "it's a game of runs." Higley and Williams Field proved that the same can be said for football.

After allowing Williams Field to score 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter, Higley would keep their composure and take control of the game, going on a 10-0 run to end the game, winning the battle, 31-21.

Higley looked as if they were going to run away with the game early on as they were up 14-0 in the first quarter. Then to start the second quarter, Higley caught an interception and returned it for a touchdown. Higley was up 21-0, with 11 minutes left in the second quarter.

Williams Field started to climb back into the game behind their massive offensive line. They were able to run and use play-action off of the success of the run, but Higley rediscovered their early form to squelch the rally.

Higley is now 8-2 and Williams Field is 4-6.

Player of the game

Higley's defensive unit deserves recognition as they were very good in this game. They not only put points on the board but came up with huge stops as it seemed that Williams Field had all of the momentum.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona high school football roundup: Casteel win upends Open rankings; ALA-QC, Higley post victories