The Brophy College Prep Broncos drove across town to east Mesa's Red Mountain High School and leveled "the Mountain," 47-17.
Broncos running back, Max Leonesio, ran through, over, and around the hapless Lion defense for more than 200 yards and four touchdowns, a Lions' defense coached by the legendary Jesse Parker.
Red Mountain took the opening drive the length of the field but had to settle for a field goal. And that was pretty much it for the Lions. The Broncos quickly answered with a field goal of their own as kicker Alex Garuette booted a 47 yarder against a fairly stiff wind. Garuette would go on to kick two more field goals of 45+ yards in addition to touchback after touchback forcing the Lions into perpetual poor field position.
The ASU Sun Devils could use Garuette with All-American Thomas Weber sidelined for a month with a groin injury. Garuette is as talented a kicker as there is in the state, but it was Leonesio who, run after run, demoralized the Lions.
This has been a remarkable season for high school football in Arizona. What appeared to be two givens, the Hamilton Huskies and Centennial Coyotes utter domination of their respective divisions, no longer seem certain. A few weeks ago the Broncos traveled to Centennial and lost to the Coyotes in an ugly, mistake-filled, turnover-riddled game. It would be unfair and inaccurate to say that Centennial was lucky to win, but it is true that the Coyotes looked quite beatable.
Brophy then hosted a solid but largely unheralded Chandler High team and needed a miracle to overcome the Wolves in double overtime. Sophomore quarterback Chase Knox threw a game-tying touchdown pass with time expiring to rescue the Broncos.
Red Mountain, on the other hand, cruised to a perfect 5-0 record most recently dominating a good Mesa Jackrabbits team. Ranked second in the state, the Lions looked to solidify their position by defending home turf and beating the Broncos.
But it didn't turn out that way.
Red Mountain was without its top two rushers, Derek Molina and Dominic Smith. Their fans can point to their absence as a factor in the loss but their absence had no real bearing on the result. In fact, their replacement starter, Xavier Parsons, ran hard and effectively. Wearing a decidedly un-runningback-like number, 48, his punishing running style was reminiscent Miami Dolphins' legend, Larry Csonka. Parsons did his part, the rest of the team did not.
In post-game comments, Red Mountain head coach Jim Jones suggested that he was ultimately to blame for the loss, that he didn't put his players in position to be effective.
Coach Jones' mea culpa notwithstanding, the lopsided result had more to do with too much Leonesio, than poor coaching or missing starters.
While the Lions were being kicked around by the Broncos, the Hamilton Huskies were hosting bitter rival, Chandler High and found themselves down 13-0 at the half. Hamilton would go on to narrowly defeat the Wolves with a finish reminiscent of the Broncos' miracle finish against Chandler a week ago. In the wake of two heartbreaking losses, Chandler stands as probably the best 3-3 team in the state.
Last week a beaming Brad Cezmat declared that Red Mountain could hang with Hamilton. Having seen both teams, I scoffed at the notion. But in the wake of the Huskies' baffling performance versus Chandler, maybe Cezmat is correct after all.
In other action, Centennial throttled Tolleson High 48-0. But for their aforementioned sloppy victory at home over the Broncos last month, Centennial would appear to be the last relatively sure thing in Division 5A.
With Hamilton playing both Brophy and Red Mountain back to back later this month, this season appears to be headed for an interesting finish.
And finally
The state's longest winning streak held by Scottsdale Saguaro at 38, came to an abrupt, ignominious, humiliating end tonight as the Sabercats were steamrolled by Canyon del Oro, 44-0. It is likely that these two programs will meet again in the play-offs. That should be interesting.
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