Jon Johnson Photo/Gila Herald: Pima QB Rhett Hughes signals to his tight end Preston Russell before hitting him on a quick pass. Pima was firing on all cylinders Friday night in a 62-0 drubbing of the visiting Globe Tigers.
By Jon Johnson
PIMA – With 4:31 left in the opening quarter of play, the Pima Roughriders were up 39-0 over the visiting Globe Tigers and they had run just three offensive plays from scrimmage – all for touchdowns. Yup, it was one of those nights. Although, Pima has outscored its last four opponents 222-0.
“We’ve been kind of slow starting in most of our games, so we just wanted to come out and establish a rhythm, put points up early, and score as fast as we can,” said Pima head coach Josh Wilkins. “I think we accomplished that tonight. That’s the way we need to play. Rather than refusing to lose we want to get up and start winning games from go.”
Defensively, Pima scored twice on two safeties in the opening quarter and forced four punts. The Roughriders then made five straight interceptions on Globe’s ensuing possessions.
“Our defense is just tough,” Wilkins said. “We’ve been telling them all year long that our front five are the best in the state. That’s where it all starts right there.”
The Roughriders (3-0 region, 5-0 conference, 7-0 overall) would have scored on their opening kickoff but a (poor) crackback block penalty set them back. Not to worry, they had to wait just one play for Hayden Blair to take the handoff the distance 25 yards on his only carry of the night.
Jaxon John then returned the first of two consecutive kicks for touchdowns – the first was a punt return for 50 yards and the second was a kickoff return after a safety that he brought back 60 yards.
John had quite the stat line for the night. He had a punt return for a TD, a kick return for a TD, and a receiving TD; he went 7-7 on extra point attempts, hit a 47-yard field goal, had 161 all-purpose yards, and had a sack/fumble that went uncredited but was featured in the Gila Herald’s highlight video.
The initial safety was provided by Brock Haws and the Roughriders got a second safety in the quarter from Blair to go up 25-0 on just one offensive play from scrimmage.
“We were a little worried,” Wilkins said. “We had some stuff to work on tonight and we needed some offensive plays to do that. We got a few reps to work on that. I liked what we saw with what we have.”
Globe hit the ball out of bounds on the ensuing kickoff after the second safety, and Pima accepted the penalty to run some offense. It only got one play in, however, as Rhett Hughes handed off to Jeremiah Martinez and he went straight up the middle 35 yards for a touchdown.
After Pima’s defense stifled Globe into a punt, Rhett Hughes got a chance to toss the pigskin and hit Ryker Shupe on a crossing route. Nobody was within seven yards of Shupe, who took that as a sign to head into the end zone and his teammates celebrated with him being up 39-0 with 4:31 left in the first quarter.
Hughes would finish the night 6-7 for 128 yards and 3 touchdowns. He hit Jaxon John on a deep route for a 28-yard TD in the back of the end zone to start the mercy-rule running clock up 46-0 with more than 3 minutes left in the first. His last score was a 20-yard TD to his tight end Preston Russell, who dodged a tackle for the score in the third quarter.
Pima had five straight interceptions against two different Globe quarterbacks, and Sam Ray took one of those back 52 yards for a pick-6. Aidan Barnard hauled down two INTs, while the others were caught by Wyatt Bingham and Emmet McBiles.
To top off the night, Pima ran its starting unit back on the field for one play as Jaxon John hit a 47-yard field goal in the fourth to end the night’s scoring, 62-0.
Pima (3-0 region, 5-0 conference, 7-0 overall) is ranked No. 1 in the 2A Conference and is No. 1 in Power Points. The Roughriders will next host the Alchesay Falcons on Friday, Oct. 13, starting at 7 p.m.
