By Jon Johnson
PIMA – Usually, a penalty against a team in the waning seconds of a trailing game is not beneficial. In the case of the Pima Roughriders game against the visiting Scottsdale Christian Academy Eagles on Friday, Pima would have lost if they hadn’t been penalized.
Down 14-17 with 19 seconds left on the clock and facing a 4th and 11 from the 20, Pima lined up for a potential game-tying 36-yard field goal. However, just as the ball was snapped and kicker Rhiley Good went through the motion and made the kick, the referee blew the play dead and called Pima for delay of game as the ball – which was on target – fell a few yards short of the goalpost.
The penalty was accepted by Scottsdale Christian and moved Pima back five yards. With that, the decision was made to put the game back into the hands of sophomore quarterback Cedrick Grimes’ for one last play.
Scottsdale rushed three linemen and a linebacker and Pima’s offensive line held and gave Grimes time in the pocket. Grimes looked deep to his right while dropping back but didn’t like what he saw. He switched to his safety valve in the flat, but with time ticking down and no timeouts left, just getting the first down from there and out of bounds would be a tough ask.
The Grimes turned his eyes back down the center of the field and chucked one deep just before a defender got to him.
The ball hung high in the air as it traveled nearly 40 yards, passing over the heads of the Scottsdale defenders. Pima receiver Preston Russell was navigating the back of the end zone and leaped at the perfect time to meet the ball coming down at the apex of his jump. He secured it with two hands and his left foot came down just inside the line. Now, all you need in high school and college football is one foot down in bounds for the catch to be good, but Russell left no doubt in the catch by contorting his body and giving an NFL-style two-toe tap right in front of the official, who immediately signaled it as a touchdown, ultimately giving the Roughriders the win, 20-17.
“We don’t kick a lot of field goals and we thought we had the leg and then when we lost the five yards we just had to come up with something,” said Pima head coach Josh Wilkins. “Thanks to the coaches for helping me draw that out and it just worked perfect. Cedrick threw a great ball and Preston went up and battled for it. That’s what he’s gonna do. That’s why we’ve got a 6’3” guy out there. He just went up and battled for it. Great ball, great protection. Everything worked out.”
With the win, Pima (5-0 conference, 6-1 overall) remains unbeaten in the 2A Conference and atop the 2A Black Region. The game was also a bit of payback for Pima, which, as the defending 2A Champions, fell in the 2023 Championship game to Scottsdale Christian, 24-41.
The game was dedicated to Pima sophomore player Eli Rogers who was recently in an automobile accident and is reportedly undergoing treatment at a hospital in Phoenix.
“We’d like to send a shoutout to Eli and his family and hope that everything is going good down in the Valley and I hope to see him back soon,” coach Wilkins said.
Pima 20 Scottsdale Christian Academy 17
For the game, Pima had four turnovers and three punts against its three touchdowns, while Scottsdale Christian had three turnovers and three punts, with two touchdowns and a field goal.
Pima’s offense was led by its quarterback, Cedrick Grimes, who completed 10 passes for 78 yards, 1 TD, and 1 INT, and its cadre of running backs.
Jeremiah Martinez led the way rushing with 109 yards on 20 carries for a 5.5 per carry average and 1 TD. Martinez has rushed for at least 100 yards in every game this season.
Aiden Alder ran for 64 yards on 8 carries and had 1 TD as well.
Scottsdale was active in the air and its quarterback Sean Helgeson threw 17-28 for 229 yards, 2 TDs, and 2 INTs for a quarterback rating of 80.8.
The bulk of those throws went to Harrison Gurash and Ethan Davidson. Gurash finished with 8 receptions for 111 yards and 1 TD, and Davidson finished with 5 catches for 70 yards and 1 TD.
The game was competitive throughout, but Scottsdale opened up moving up and down the field well, and dominated the time of possession in the first quarter.
After its first drive stalled on a turnover on downs, Pima’s offense had a quick 3-and-out and Scottsdale had its second possession start at mid-field.
The Eagles made the most of their good fortune and Sean Helgeson threw a deep bomb to the corner of the end zone. Pima’s Joe Palmer was there to defend and deflect the ball, which bounced off Scottsdale Christian’s Ethan Davidson’s facemask twice before he secured it for the touchdown. The PAT by Max Pflederer was good and SCA was up early, 7-0 with 4:19 left in the first.
Pima then turned the ball over on a fumble and an interception on its next two possessions.
Scottsdale Christian converted the interception into points when Pflederer hit a 20-yard field goal on 4th and 3 from the 5 to give SCA a 10-0 lead with 5:45 left in the first half.
Pima’s offense needed to respond and it converted on multiple third downs on its next drive, which culminated with a 13-yard Martinez touchdown. The extra point by Rhiley Good split the uprights and cut into the lead, 10-7 with 1 minute left in the half.
The Eagles didn’t let up, however, and drove the ball inside the 10 with about 17 seconds left. Helgeson fired a shot on 1st and goal from the 8 but it bounced off Isaiah Steffen’s chest incomplete. Then, with just 3.5 seconds left in the half, Scottsdale chose to go for the touchdown instead of a field goal and Helgeson’s pass fell incomplete and Scottsdale took a 3-point lead into the break up 10-7.
Pima received the ball in the third quarter and marched down the field. Aiden Alder got free on a handoff and took it 40 yards to the house to give Pima its first lead of the night. The extra point by Rhiley Good went through and Pima was up 14-10 with 9:25 left in the third.
The defenses for both teams then stepped up as Pima’s Gilbert Bryce and Jaxon McBiles both snagged interceptions in the quarter, and the Eagles goal line defense stopped Pima on a 4th and 6 from the 10 and recovered a fumble on the next possession.
The Eagles made the most of the fumble recovery and moved big chunks of yards behind carries by Caleb Randall.
After being pushed back by a penalty, SCA scored when Helgeson launched a deep pass that Gurash went up and got for a 33-yard TD. The extra point was good and the Eagles were back up by a field goal, 17-14, with 10 minutes left to play.
Pima’s offense then faltered and the Roughriders punted the ball back to SCA with 7:37 left to play.
The Roughriders’ defense bent but didn’t break and after an incomplete pass on 4th and 4, Pima got the ball back at its own 34 with 4:32 left in the game.
Facing a 4th and 5 from their own 39 with 3:25 left on the clock Grimes drops back and after not finding anybody open took off. Not known for his wheels, but with the game on the line, Cedrick put his head down and just got enough for the first down.
That led to the field goal try and ultimately 25-yard winning touchdown pass to Preston Russell to put Pima up 20-17 with 11.5 seconds to play.
Scottsdale Christian got a quick reception and then tried the old hook-and-ladder play on its last snap from scrimmage, but Randall was run down by Joe Palmer and Aiden Alder and the Roughriders celebrated the victory over the Eagles, 20-17.
“We’ve had a lot of adversity and we tend to put ourselves in hard situations sometimes, so for them to keep battling – not ever quit – keep battling back and saying, ‘Hey, we got this.’ No one ever got down on each other. We just knew that we could do this and they just kept battling. With all we had going on this week and today to have the guys come out and play like that it was just awesome,” coach Wilkins said.
Pima will next travel to battle regional foe the Alchesay Falcons on Friday, Oct. 18, starting at 7 p.m.
In other local prep action:
The Thatcher Eagles (6-0 conference, 6-1 overall) defeated the Sabino Sabercats 41-12 on Thursday. Thatcher will next travel to face Safford on Friday, Oct. 18, starting at 7 p.m.
The Safford Bulldogs (2-4 conference, 4-4 overall) fell to the Round Valley Elks, 6-36. Safford will next host Thatcher on Friday, Oct. 18, starting at 7 p.m.
The Morenci Wildcats (1-4 conference, 2-5 overall) fell to the Pusch Ridge Lions, 0-29. Morenci will next travel to face the Fountain Hills Falcons on Friday, Oct. 18, starting at 7 p.m.
The Fort Thomas Apaches (2-6 conference, 2-6) overall fell to St. David, 6-50, in their last regular-season game on Thursday.
The Duncan Wildkats (1-5 conference, 1-6 overall) fell to the Valley Union Blue Devils, 14-57. Duncan will next travel to face the Lincoln Prep Lightning on Friday, Oct. 18, starting at 7 p.m.
