ALA West Foothills, Pusch Ridge in 3A final; Pima, Scottsdale Christian in 2A

With 18 of their 22 suspended players back for the 2A semifinals, the 12th-seeded Scottsdale Christian Eagles pulled the biggest upset of the small-school state football playoffs Saturday.

They avenged their season-opening loss to No. 1-seed Gilbert San Tan Charter with a 34-21 victory at Mesa Westwood High School.

Scottsdale Christian (9-4) will face No. 3 Pima (12-1), which stunned No. 2 Tonopah Valley 40-34 in the earlier semifinal on Saturday.

SCA and Pima will play next Saturday at Glendale Mountain Ridge High School at 2 p.m. It is a rematch of last year’s state championship game that Scottsdale Christian won 41-22. The teams met in Week 7 this year with Pima winning 20-17.

Scottsdale Christian had 22 players suspended for leaving the sideline in the final minute of its first-round upset of No. 5 Eloy Santa Cruz, after a fight broke out.

The Eagles were able to escape Phoenix Veritas Prep 26-24 with a depleted roster, before getting most of their players back for San Tan Charter, a powerful team led by Arizona State-bound Uriah Neloms, a wide receiver who played quarterback in his final high school season.

SCA quarterback Sean Helgeson passed for three touchdowns, including a 70-yarder to Lawson Lavallee that broke a 14-14 tie late in the third quarter. Midway through the final quarter, Caleb Randall, a top small-schools linebacker who added running back duties this season, scored on a 2-yard run to give the Eagles a 27-14 lead.

On STC’s ensuing possession, sophomore Caleb Murphy intercepted a pass and returned it 40 yards for a score, sealing the win.

“This time we just concentrated on us,” SCA coach Mike Sheahan said. “We have had so much adversity the last couple of weeks and, honestly, all season, that we had to slow down and just do our thing.

“All attention was inward and the opponent just happened to be 12-0 and the No. 1 seed. These boys played for each other and the SCA community with heart.”

In the August loss to San Tan Charter (12-1), SCA was without its best player, Randall. He’s been a difference maker since returning from an injury that caused him to miss the first three games.

3A final set

The 3A football championship game is set between No. 2 ALA West Foothills of Waddell and No. 4 Tucson Pusch Ridge at 6 p.m., Saturday at Mountain Ridge. This is the American Leadership Academy school’s first trip to the championship in only its third year.

ALA West Foothills has been The Arizona Republic’s No. 1-ranked 3A team since preseason. Coach Chad Mitton’s team got past No. 3 Thatcher 34-22 in Saturday’s semifinal at Mesa High. But the Guardians will be without their best player, two-way star J.J. Brutus, who suffered a broken leg in the final quarter. Brutus, a running back/edge rusher, had two first-half rushing TDs. He also had a fumble recovery.

The Guardians (13-0) led by as much as 27-9, before Thatcher (10-3) scored two touchdowns to become the first team to score more than three touchdowns against ALA West Foothills this season.

Pusch Ridge (12-1) avenged its only loss this season to Benjamin Franklin Queen Creek with a 24-13 win.

Since losing to Benjamin Franklin 31-7 on Sept. 6, Pusch Ridge has reeled off 11 wins, giving up no more than two touchdowns in any of those games.

Pusch Ridge led 14-0, before Talan Speir scored on a 16-yard run with five minutes left in the third quarter to cut it to 14-7. In the final minute of the quarter, Pusch Ridge increased its lead to 21-7 on Blake Reed’s 4-yard scoring run.

After Benjamin Franklin (11-2) scored with a minute to play, Pusch Ridge recovered the on-side kick and ate up the remaining time.

Richard Obert has been covering high school sports since the 1980s for The Arizona Republic. He also covers Grand Canyon University athletics and the Arizona Rattlers. To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert at richard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-316-8827. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @azc_obert