Arizona high school football Week 3 roundup: Chaparral, Casteel, Notre Dame among winners in openers

Notre Dame rolls over Horizon

By Howard Schlossberg

Crisp. Efficient. Dominant.

Notre Dame was all that and much more in a 48-21 season-opening win Friday night over defending 5A champ Horizon on the Huskies' field.

How did they do it?

Was it the defense that held Horizon in check all night? Was it the decision-making of junior quarterback Noah Trigueros? Was it the big-play production of Jameson Bush and Cooper Perry or the impressive blocking of guys like Coleson Hoy, Ty Berowski, Max Leach, Dylan Bennett and Costa Demoss?

How about all of the above.

Key plays

When Notre Dame needed it, the fade to Cooper Perry (two TDs) and the bubble screen to Jameson Bush were there all night. The fade was there on fourth and 23 in the second half for a score. The bubble became a 95-yard score on Bush's catch and spectacular run in the second quarter.

Trigueros laid the ball in perfectly every time, his receivers hardly having to break stride as he threw them open like a quarterback is supposed to.

Cole Linyard was Horizon's best answer with a 91--yard kickoff return for a score and a 53-yard TD reception from Roman Funk.

But three interceptions, including key ones by Joseph Francis and Hudson Stych, lead to scores that Horizon could not overcome.

Key players

Trigueros, perhaps the game's MVP,  was picture perfect, laying in fades to Perry like they were on a string. More impressive was his decision-making: no mistakes, no picks and giving up his body to cover miscues in the backfield that could have become turnovers for a defense led by Carson Kolb. He was 19 of 26 as his offensive line played in mid-season form.

Key statistics

The numbers don't lie:  The Saints had 28 first downs, Horizon 11. Notre Dame had 548 yards of total offense. Horizon had 225. Notre Dame generated three turnovers, Horizon none.

Key quotes

"When you win the turnover battle like that, you're usually going to win the game," said George Prelock, the ND head coach whose Saints have now put up 40-plus on Horizon the last two times they've faced them.

And as for Trigueros, the coach added: "He didn't look like a junior making his first start, did he?"

Up next

Notre Dame hosts Ironwood on Thursday night. Horizon has a week off before a Sept. 16 game at home against Cactus Shadows.

Hamilton takes down Centennial

By Lucas Gordon

After an hour long delay due to weather, Hamilton football seemed to not be fazed by the late start time in their season opening game against Centennial.

The Huskies dominated on all three sides of the ball on their way to a 38-14 win.

After going into halftime up 10-0, Hamilton decided to show how good their special teams are. Within the first 30 seconds of the second half, Hamilton took back the opening kickoff for a touchdown and then recovered an onside kick on the next play. This sequence of events put Hamilton up 17-0.

After a shaky first half from the offense, senior quarterback Roch Cholowsky found his groove as the No. 1 guy for the first time in his high school career. In the third quarter alone he set the offense up inside the 5-yard line with a well placed 35 yard pass to senior Logan Krei. Cholowsky would end up finishing the drive with a 5-yard touchdown pass to Legend Bernard to put the Huskies up 24-0.

The defense also came showed out for Hamilton. As a team, the Huskies had two pick sixes, a fumble recovery and multiple sacks. Centennial was unable to get inside the red zone until the final minutes of the game when Hamilton's starters weren't in the game.

Key players

The player of the game for Hamilton was senior linebacker Alex McLaughlin, who had a "pick-six," blocked a punt and forced a fumble. McLaughlin was everywhere on the field racking multiple tackles and recording a sack.

Senior safety Genesis Smith was also important in the team's victory. Smith scored the first touchdown of the game on a tipped ball on Centennial's side of the field. The display of good eye-hand coordination put Hamilton up 10-0 at the time.

For Centennial, senior running back Kavaughn Clark provided much of the offense. Clark racked up 84 yards on the ground.

Key quotes

Hamilton players were happy with the way the game went. Smith said it took a lot of teamwork to get the victory.

"It was a good victory for us. We came together as a team and did good on defense. We just got to improve day-by-day."

As well as Hamilton played, head coach Michael Zdebski saw some flaws in his team's game.

"The pre-snap penalties and the dead ball fouls. Those two things slow the game down. We have to clean those things up cause when we play a team like Bishop Gorman they have too many athletes."

Up next

Hamilton is off to Las Vegas where they will take on nationally ranked Bishop Gorman in an out-of-state battle. Centennial will be back home as they will take on Brophy Prep.

Chaparral edges Salpointe in OT

By Anthony Perez

A field goal by Tucson Salpointe’s (0-1) Carson Fiske in the closing seconds of regulation was upstaged by Gavin Mesa’s overtime touchdown -- his third of the night -- for Scottsdale Chaparral (1-0) as Chaparral prevailed in their home opener, 23-20, Friday night in 6A Conference action in Scottsdale.

Standout performers

Fiske nearly stole the show for Salpointe Catholic with his first successful field goal of the night, a 45-yard attempt in the closing seconds of regulation that forced overtime. His second attempt, from 24 yards out, came in Salpointe Catholic’s first possession of overtime and was nearly the game winner.

The chemistry between sophomore quarterback Miles VandenHeuvel and sophomore wide receiver Gavin Mesa was strong in Chaparral’s season debut as the the duo connected on three touchdown passes. The first one opened up the scoring in the game with 3:19 to play in the opening quarter, the second one came early in the third quarter, while the final one was the game-deciding score in the extra period.

Highlight of the game

Merely moments after Salpointe Catholic took the lead in overtime, Chaparral scored on their first play in overtime when VandenHeuvel looked to his right and found Mesa in the corner of the end zone. He reached up, grabbed it, and sealed the victory for the host squad.

Quote of the game

“It’s the first week. We told them, you’re going to make a bunch of mistakes. Everybody in that room, we told them, you’re going to make mistakes tonight. Just make a play hard tonight and have fun. We’ll clean it up. It’s a long season. Win lose, or draw, at that point you got to go out there and get better and compete next week. So, I’m really proud of our guys’ fight. We fought tonight. Defense really hung in and played tough in the first half, physically. (We) held them to seven (points) when we were struggling offensively, and gave the offense time to kind of get going a little bit more in the second half.” - Chaparral head coach Brent Barnes’ takeaways from this game

Up next

Salpointe Catholic will return to the Valley to visit Anthem Boulder Creek next Friday, while Chaparral plays their first road game of the season at Gilbert Williams Field.

Casteel dominates Mountain Ridge

By Alex Suarez

The Casteel Colts rolled into Mountain Ridge Friday night and controlled the game throughout all four quarters in the opener for both teams. The Colts were making plays on both sides of the ball and capitalizing on the field position they had. Casteel defeated Mountain Ridge 54-28.

Key plays

Ryder Kost was able to snatch a pass out of the air while rushing the QB and returned the interception all the way for a touchdown.

Lionel Clay grabbed an interception for Mountain Ridge. Two plays later Brendan Anderson completed a 19-yard pass to Terrance Hall for the touchdown. Clay later in the second half was able to get his second interception of the game to start the half. Anderson would later drive down the field and hit TE Conrad Curley for the 1-yard touchdown pass.

The Colts' Landon Jury completed a 16-yard touchdown pass to Jeremiah Newcombe, for his third touchdown pass on the night.  The Mustangs' Brendan Anderson was able to connect with Conrad Curley twice for two touchdowns.

Standout performers

Jury was able to march the Colts offense down the field multiple times throughout the night. Finishing the game with three touchdown passes and one rushing touchdown.

Ryder Kost was all over the field for the Colts. Big tackles, QB pressures and an interception that he was able to return for a touchdown.

Lionel Clay led the Mountain Lions with 2 interceptions.

Key quotes

"We have three straight road games to start," said Casteel head coach Robert Newcombe. "Three really good football teams. Mountain Ridge is a fantastic football team, it's tough. I liked how resilient our guys were and they competed till. the end. That's what we want.

"I just want to see the good energy," added Newcombe. "I want to see them having a ton of fun. I want to see them play hard throughout a whole game and play to enjoy the football season."

Up next

Casteel will go on the road to play Upland (CA), while Mountain Ridge will play their first road game of the season at Shadow Ridge.

Highland dusts off Desert Ridge

By Ben Stapley

Defending 6A state champion Gilbert Highland used a timely special teams play and huge goal line stand to turn a close game into a blowout Friday night.

Highland took care of Desert Ridge by a final score of 34-3 in a 6A season opener for both schools.

The first half was much closer. However, a few key sequences ignited Highland’s powerful rushing attack, which put the clamps on Desert Ridge.

Players of the game

Highland’s Cooper Scott and Carson Mullenaux.

Scott gave Highland a huge boost going into halftime. With the Hawks clinging to a 6-3 lead and 10 seconds left in the second quarter, Desert Ridge had to punt deep in their own territory in hopes of running out the clock. A low snap enabled Scott to block the punt before he recovered the ball in the end zone.

Just like that, Highland led 13-3 and deflated Desert Ridge going into halftime.

Goal-line stand

Desert Ridge was down but not out.

On its first possession of the third quarter, junior quarterback Major Wootan found Angelo Jones Gutierrez deep over the middle for a 78 yard gain before Highland defenders dragged him down at the two yard line.

The Desert Ridge sideline thought Gutierrez had scored, and was then penalized five yards.

After reaching Highland’s 1 yard line, the Hawks held Desert Ridge on a huge fourth down goal line stand.

Five plays later, the floodgates opened. Mullenaux — the senior running back — struck from 49 yards out midway through third quarter. He scored again on Highland’s next possession, this time a 12 yard run and a 27-3 lead.

Alexander Falagrady and Jay Martin added rushing touchdowns for Highland.

Wootan finished with 171 passing yards for Desert Ridge.

Delay of game

Kickoff was delayed until 8:15 because of lightning.

Quotes

“We just had to suck it up and keep fighting,” Highland senior Chance Cauthen said of the slow start.

“Luckily Cooper (Scott) made a huge block score halftime and our defense came up big when we needed to.”

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona high school football Week 3 roundup