Some teams having no trouble ‘playing up’ this FB season

Art Preuss

        Maybe Chaparral High School should have moved up two levels of play
instead of one.  The Firebirds, who moved up from 4A-I to 5A-II this
year, routed Mountain View HS on just the second week of the Arizona
high school football season, 42-10.  Mountain View came into the game
ranked No. 3 in the 5A-I division.
    The only other top
five-ranked team in 5A-I to fall was Basha HS, which lost to Mountain
Pointe by 11 points.  But Mountain Pointe, behind a backfield tandem of
De’Andre Currie and Davon Jones
that has been chewing up real estate, has been a bit of a surprise
early as they have run their record to 3-0 — a team that last year
finsished 2-8.  Jones scored the first TD to open the scoring and
Currie added two more in the fourth quarter to put the game away
    Another team ‘playing up’ with success was Santa Rita HS (Tucson), as Cameron Gaddis
contributed a 97-yard interception return in the fourth quarter to put
Santa Rita on top for good and eventually come away with a 27-16
victory over Sabino.  Santa Rita was ranked No. 3 in 4A-II and Sabino
No. 3 in 4A-I.
    Other notables from week two include Paradise
Valley HS continuing to stay unbeaten by setting a single-game state
rushing record during its 49-35 win over Arcadia HS and Florence HS,
1-9 last season, getting off to a 3-0 start by beating South Pointe HS
40-6.
    Outstanding individual efforts came from games scattered throughout the state… Quarterback Chase Knox throwing to three different receivers for scores in the Brophy Prep-St. Mary’s HS rivalry – A.J. Steimel, Josh Dennard, and Peter Kelly – as he piled up 170 yards on 12-for-15 passing Mountain Ridge HS quarterback Cougar Beaubien going 22-for-31 for 228 yards and one TD in 23-21 win over Gilbert HS… Hayden McClellan, who racked up the first 3 touchdowns and 193 yards rushing for Deer Valley HS to put them ahead for good in a 36-13 win over South Mountain HS… Zander McKean piling up 271 passing yards in a losing effort as his Greenway squard lost to Cactus Shadows 28-21… a couple of busy receivers, with Jesse Brantley of Gilbert HS pulling down four passes for 190 yards and a TD and Perry HS’s Cody Weisenberger with five catches for 111 yards and a score… a sophomore running back, Jordan Becerra, stepping up and carrying a heavy load for Desert Ridge HS with 145 yards on 23 carries… Pinnacle HS quarterback Alex Cappellini completing just 10-for-26 – but two of those completions going for touchdowns – while running back Conner Jeffries carried 26 times for 119 yards and two more scores to secure the double-overtime win over Desert Vista HS… and Desert Vista’s senior running back, Anders Battle, giving it all he had on both offense and defense in the losing effort, scoring on a 83-yard interception return and another time rushing for a 77-yard score enroute to a 104-yard evening.