By Jon Johnson
GLENDALE – A season full of highs, lows, thrills, and battles with adversaries came to a conclusion in Glendale on the field of Mountain Ridge High School on Saturday for the Arizona 2A State Conference Football Championship game between the Pima Roughriders (12-2) and Scottsdale Christian Academy Eagles (10-4). After 48 minutes of football, one solitary point separated the teams as Scottsdale Christian celebrated a repeat victory over Pima, 28-27, after getting the winning score off a trick double pass with receiver-turned-running back Harrison Gurash hitting a wide-open-Lawson Lavallee in the end zone.
It wasn’t quite the ending Pima head football coach Josh Wilkins wanted in his third straight championship appearance, but he couldn’t have been prouder of how his team played.
“I just love these guys to death,” Wilkins said. “They battle so much and make up for a lot of my shortcomings by the way that they fight through situations and keep battling.”
“I really do hope these guys realize what an achievement that is. In June, we were really wondering what we had, and I kept telling them guys, ‘You’re a state championship team, you just gotta become it.’ And all year they just kept getting better and better and really came together as a team and really put on a great show. I mean, we had a lot of entertainment factor for the crowd this year. This one just didn’t go our way.”
Scottsdale started the game with two punts and three turnovers but closed it out with four straight touchdowns and four extra points to repeat as state champs.
After a shaky game as a freshman last year, Pima sophomore quarterback Cedrick Grimes started his second state championship game in a row, and this year, he was more poised in the pocket and didn’t turn the ball over.
Grimes went 7-13 for 107 yards and 3 TDs through the air for a superb quarterback rating of 120.8. When times were tough, he ran for the chains and finished with 36 yards on seven carries.
Senior Jeremiah Martinez led the rushing cadre with 18 carries for 91 yards and 1 TD; junior Rooster Alder had nine carries for 44 yards, and sophomore Joe Palmer had seven carries for 43 yards.
Senior Preston Russell led the receivers with 2 TD catches for 41 yards; Keegan Corona had his spectacular TD catch, and running backs Jeremiah Martinez (2 catches for 33 yards) and Joe Palmer (1 catch for 10 yards) made significant contributions.
Defensively, Russell had two tackles for losses and shared a sack with Brock Haws, who also had one tackle for loss. They both finished with seven total tackles and six assists. Joe Palmer led with 12 tackles (2 solo, 10 assisted). Rooster Alder and Jonny Bryce also recorded quarterback sacks, and Jaxon McBiles and Rooster both had interceptions.
For Scottsdale, junior quarterback Sean Helgeson went 6-10 for 105 yards and 1 TD with 2 INTs for a quarterback rating of 89.6. Harrison Gurash went 1-1 for 21 yards and 1 TD on a double pass.
Senior Caleb Randall led Scottsdale with 24 carries for 152 yards and 2 TDs. Lawson Lavallee had two catches for 61 yards and 1 TD, and Isaiah Steffen had two catches for 29 yards and 1 TD.
Defensively, Joseph Kassiseh and London Olsen had a sack, Caleb Randall and Ethan Wilt had fumble recoveries, and Martin Perez blocked an extra point attempt.
Scottsdale Christian Academy 28 Pima 27
After forcing SCA into 3-and-out, Pima unleashed its running barrage, starting with a 27-yard pickup by Joe Palmer into Eagles territory.
A penalty set them at a 3rd and 15. Grimes lobbed one to the corner for Keegan Corona, who was interfered with but still managed to use his free hand to pin the ball on his shoulder pads and come down with it in the end zone for one of his best catches of the year to open the scoring for Pima with the 18-yard TD.
Here’s where it gets hazy: Rhiley Good kicked the extra point, and the official on the right signaled good while the left disagreed. Our video can’t definitively tell if it was good by just following the ball, but as it leaves the frame, its shadow can be seen splitting the shadow of the uprights. After a discussion, the Referee appeared to make the signal the attempt was good to clarify. However, the scoreboard never added the point, and when questioned at the quarter break, an official reportedly ruled it no good on radio communication with the scorer, keeping it 6-0.
SCA’s threatened on their next possession, but Jaxson McBiles made a diving interception at the Riders’ 18 to take back the ball.
Pima made another outstanding defensive play to start the second quarter when Rooster Alder dropped back into coverage and made an exceptional play on the ball for the Riders’ second consecutive interception.
The Riders forced their third consecutive turnover when the Eagles failed to convert on fourth and one from their own 40. Grimes soon made them pay as he beat the blitz to hit Preston Russell for the 31-yard TD pass. Rhiley Good’s extra point was good, and Pima had a 13-0 lead late in the second.
Scottsdale Christian just got on the board before halftime when Helgeson launched a sky ball on a fourth and eight from Pima’s 26 that came down in the end zone in the hands of the Eagles’ Isaiah Steffen. The extra point by Max Fflederer was good, but Pima still led 13-7.
However, that changed quickly at the start of the third when Ethan Wilt knocked the ball out of Joe Palmer’s hands, and Caleb Randall recovered it for the Eagles deep in Riders’ territory. Two plays later, Randall did it on offense with a 23-yard touchdown run. Pflederer’s extra point gave Scottsdale its first lead of the night, 14-13.
Pima answered in kind, with quarterback Grimes leading the charge, getting first downs on scrambles and throws. Then, on fourth and nine from the 10, Grimes found Russell for his second TD of the game to retake the lead. Martinez ran in a 2-point attempt, and Pima was up 21-14 with 2:20 left in the third.
Like two prizefighters exchanging punches in the center ring, Scottsdale answered right back with a deep pass from Helgeson to Lavallee, who was tackled just short of a touchdown at the four-yard line. Randall finished the drive with a 1-yard TD run on fourth down, and Scottsdale tied the game at 21-21 with 8:15 left to play.
While chewing the clock, Pima methodically moved the ball downfield like its previous drive. Facing a fourth and two from the 12 with the game on the line, Wilkins dialed up a pass play. Grimes dropped back and bought time for Martinez to cross. Martinez caught the pass on the run and took it to the 3 for a first and goal.
He then finished the drive with a 1-yard plunge on second down. However, Martin Perez blocked the ensuing extra point attempt, leaving Pima up only 6, 27-21, with 2:21 left to play. It ended up being a minute more than Scottsdale needed.
Taking advantage of field position at mid-field following a squib kick, the Eagles drew up a screen pass that drew the Riders’ fearsome foursome deep into the backfield before Helgeson tossed it to an awaiting Harrison Gurash, who took it 22 yards down to the Riders’ 27.
Then, on third and four from the 20, Gurash went into motion, and Helgeson threw him the ball backward on a lateral to the 30. From there, Gurash took one step and threw to a wide-open Lavallee in the end zone to tie the game at 27-27 on a successful double pass.
With ice in his veins, Pflederer just kicked the extra point past the Riders’ defense for the go-ahead point, giving SCA the lead 28-27 with 1:14 left in the 2A Conference season.
The Riders had one more shot at it and were driving, but a mishandled handoff between Grimes and Martinez caused a fumble, and Ethan Wilt recovered for Scottsdale to end the game. For the second year in a row, the Scottsdale Christian Academy Eagles repeat over the Pima Roughriders for the Arizona 2A Conference State Championship.
“Things just happened there at the end that didn’t go as planned,” Wilkins said. “It’s hard to refocus and regather yourself when you give up something that you thought should be so routine. And I know these guys just kept battling.”
