Here is a roundup of key high school football games covered by The Arizona Republic’s sports staff on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024.

Brophy routs Notre Dame in battle of unbeatens

By Mohana Holloway

A shutout game between two 4-0 teams saw the 6A Brophy Broncos top the 5A Notre Dame Prep Saints and further establish themselves as top contender for the Open Division playoff with a 40-0 win. 

Key plays 

Brophy first found the scoreboard with a rushing touchdown by quarterback Case Vanden Bosch. At 7:55, Brophy linebacker Dominic Woods earned a safety to make the score 9-0.

A 61-yard run by wide receiver Devin Fitzgerald brought the Broncos up to the 15-yard line. Vanden Bosch, behind the help from his O-line, struck again with a second rushing touchdown just before the end of the first quarter with the score 16-0 Brophy.

The second quarter started with yet another Broncos touchdown – a 35-yard run by running back Harrison Chambers. Two minutes later, Brophy running back Carlos Estrada scored again, to widen the lead to 30-0. Once again, with the help of the Broncos’ offensive line, Vanden Bosch struck once more, with a successful pass to wide receiver Fitzgerald, who ran for a 29-yard touchdown. The quarter ended Broncos 37,- Saints 0.  

The Saints showed a brief sign of life two-thirds of the way through the third quarter with an interception by Dylan Lavinia. Nothing came of it, though, and a running clock commenced. Brophy scored once again, capping off the game with a 30-yard field goal by kicker Ryder Hampton.  

Key players 

Broncos QB Case Vanden Bosch: Accounted for five TDs total rushing and passing; Broncos WR Devin Fitzgerald: 1 TD; Broncos RB Carlos Estrada: 1 TD 

Quotes: 

“We have weapons on the outside… but it really comes to our offensive line though. They’re paving the way for what we really want to accomplish. Not just for the offense, but it’s for the rest of the team.” – Brophy Prep Broncos Head Coach Jason Jewell 

“We have the best O-line in the state, and I can just rely on them and my receivers to make it easy for me.” – Brophy Prep Broncos Quarterback Case Vanden Bosch 

“If it wasn’t for the O-line, we wouldn’t be 5-0 right now. Their ability to protect the quarterback, and influence a great run game, makes our receivers and running backs thrive.” – Brophy Prep Broncos Running Back Carlos Estrada  

Next up: 

Brophy (5-0) will take on Basha (4-1) on Oct. 4, in a battle of top 6A teams. Notre Dame (4-1) has a bye week then will host the Horizon Huskies (4-1) on Oct. 11.  

Horizon offense rolls in win over Millennium

By Howard Schlossberg

Horizon is doing just fine, thank you. 

Rebounding nicely from what could’ve been a hangover defeat, the Huskies piled up 457 yards of total offense and scored a 38-8 win Friday night over visiting Millennium, moving to 4-1 in the process.

Head coach Tyson Ditmore admitted he had a slight twinge inside over how his team might respond after last week’s difficult loss to Pinnacle, but his Huskies laid that to rest immediately and authoritatively. On their first possession, they held the ball almost six minutes and ran 15 plays before Johnny Issitt bolted over from 3 yards out and Ryker Floyd put the exclamation point on it with a 2-point conversion run.

The rout was on.

Key plays

Issitt paced the thumping, gaining 155 yards, but everyone pitched in, especially the defense. Millennium only snapped the ball on Horizon’s side of the 50 once in the first half, so dominant was the Huskies D. And that snap, early in the second quarter, resulted in a Colton Becker leaping interception of a Donovan DeLong pass into the end zone.

Two plays later, Horizon was on the board again, this time on speedy Adam Wagner’s catch and run of 80 yards of a Jase Ashley perfectly tossed easy post.

Was there anything Horizon would do wrong? Not really. It was 21-0 by halftime as Floyd added two field goals, easily hitting from 30 and 32, the latter as time expired in the second quarter.

The second half was a carbon copy, except throw in Issitt’s 56-yard dash for a score. Millennium finally scored on Isaiah Whitfield’s 59-yard dash in the closing minute against Horizon’s No. 2 defense. 

Key players

Issitt was the standout, with 155 yards on 18 carries. Ashley threw for 193 more on 12 of 23, including the TD to Wagner. Jordan Partridge, had 52 yards on five carries and two receptions for 20 more. Horizon’s defense chased alternating quarterbacks for Millennium all over, recording 10 tackles for loss and limiting the Tigers to 131 total yards, 59 on Whitfield’s late TD run.

Key quotes

“I’m really pleased with how we played, how the defense played,” Ditmore said. “We need to continue to get healthy,” and clean up the 11 penalties for 105 yards. He also noted the team has a ”gauntlet” of a schedule after next week’s bye.

Up next

Horizon is at Notre Dame on Oct. 11 after next week’s bye. Millennium is home to Desert Edge next Friday. 

Mountain Pointe defeats Cesar Chavez in chippy contest

By Anthony Perez

Laveen Cesar Chavez came into Friday night’s Week 5 contest looking for a signature win against a Phoenix Mountain Pointe program that’s become a rival of sorts to them. Mountain Pointe though was ready to make a statement and they certainly did, picking up 13 points off of turnovers in the first quarter en route to a comfortable 43-13 home win that proved to be a chippy, penalty-filled game. 

Key plays

With Cesar Chavez moving down the field on its opening drive of the game, Mountain Pointe set the tone for the night when junior linebacker Jaylyn Colter picked off a pass around midfield, he took it back the other way for the touchdown to give his team an early 7-0 lead and the early momentum, both of which it would not give up the rest of the night.

Key players

Mountain Pointe never surrendered the lead and momentum in large part to Jamarlon “Bobo” Otis. The senior running back had an impressive game, scoring four touchdowns, including a 54-yard run early in the second quarter that gave his team a comfortable 19-0 cushion. 

Cesar Chavez’ biggest attempt to get back into the game came with 8:09 left in the first half when sophomore quarterback Mason Penrod had a one-yard run into the end zone to cut the Mountain Pointe lead to 19-7. 

Key quote

“We started out rocky the first couple of games but we just had to get it right to make the plays that can work for me and that’s really it.” – Bobo Otis on his progression over the first half of the season 

Next up

Cesar Chavez (3-2) hosts Mesa Desert Ridge next Thursday, while Mountain Pointe (4-1) visits American Leadership Academy-Queen Creek next Friday. 

Arizona College Prep downs Yuma Catholic

By Jackson Shaw

Summary

Arizona College Prep receiver Ashton Sanchez caught three touchdowns and led the Knights to a 43-29 win at home against the Yuma Catholic Shamrocks Friday.

Key Plays

On fourth down of the Knights’ opening possession, Evan Heinrich found Sanchez down the middle to put ACP up early. 

Alec Grant broke free for a big gain that set the Knights up at the one-yard line, then finished off the drive with a touchdown. Knights went up 14-0 in the first. Nash Ott got things going early in the second for the Shamrocks with a 26-yard pass placed right in the arms of WR Sir Stokes in the end zone. 

With three minutes to play in the half, Yuma’s Hunter Hancock returned a kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown. Then Max Sasso decided he wanted in on the fun and did the exact same thing on the very next kickoff for the Knights. 99-yard house call.

Sanchez caught his second touchdown of the night to end the half off a perfect ball from Ott. The halftime score read 36-14.

A huge connection from Ott to Sir Stokes set up the Shamrocks at the four-yard line, which Rocky Stallworth turned into a touchdown on a short pass. 

But Ashton Sanchez was not done yet. He caught a short pass from Heinrich and took it 43 yards to the end zone for his third touchdown of the day.

The Shamrocks would find the end zone one last time off of a 20-yard throw to Stokes once again.  

Key Players

Ashton Sanchez was huge for the ACP Knights, finding the end zone three times. Evan Heinrich connected on big throws deep all game and rushed in a touchdown to add to his two through the air. 

Despite the loss, Sir Stokes caught two touchdown passes on the night for the Shamrocks, his second and third for the year. 

Quotes

“Our players were extremely motivated. [Yuma] got us in a close game down at their place last year, so some of our message was kind of getting revenge from last year’s game.” – ACP head coach Steve Vaught

“The mindset was honestly just to dominate. Not let their name get to us. They’re a great team, obviously, but we just wanted to play a hard game, do our thing. We worked hard in practice all week long and that translated to the game.” – ACP receiver Ashton Sanchez

Next Up

AZC Prep will travel to Vista Grandebfor a region matchup next Friday (Oct. 3). Yuma Catholic also has its first region game when they host St. Mary’s.

YUMA, AZ (AZFamily) — The bust of a human smuggling ring based in Yuma has resulted in 18 indictments, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said on Friday.

The suspects are allegedly part of the organization named La Mesa, which worked on behalf of the Mexican crime organization Los Rusos.

Investigators say the group is responsible for smuggling, or trying to smuggle, hundreds of people across the U.S.-Mexico border and further into the U.S.

Twenty-four-year-old Carlos Moreno-Serrano from Yuma was the leader of Le Mesa, prosecutors said.

Other alleged members coordinated the smuggling runs, scouted for drivers, ran stash houses, distributed the money for the drivers, rented cars and ran enforcement for La Mesa.

Detectives said as drivers got arrested, members started to take smaller groups of illegal immigrants to Southern and central California to avoid law enforcement.

Leaders in La Mesa would kidnap, threaten and beat up members and drivers who had been arrested.

The 18 suspects were federally charged with conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens, harboring illegal aliens for profit and conspiracy to transport illegal aliens. They are:

1. Victor Eduardo Araiza-Ponce, 24, of Yuma;
2. Antonio Aparicio III, 24, of Somerton;
3. Alonzo Esparza, 27, of Yuma;
4. Carlos Moreno-Serrano, 24, of Yuma;
5. Xasiel Noriega-Gonzalez, 21, of Somerton;
6. Joshua Guillermo Leon-Fuentes, 21, of Somerton;
7. Angel Rodriguez, 23, of Yuma;
8. Crystobal Figueroa, 23, of Somerton;
9. Saul Ponce Jr., 23, of San Luis;
10. David Leon-Pallanes, 23, of Yuma;
11. Manuel Uriel Alvarado, 26, of Yuma;
12. Elian Lopez, 24, of Yuma;
13. Raymundo Delgado-Diaz, 35, of Yuma;
14. Isreal Zeveda, 23, of Salinas, California;
15. Francisco Javier Esparza-Macias, 21, of Somerton;
16. Alex Chiquete, 25, of Yuma;
17. Hector Eduardo-Valdez, 31, of Yuma; and
18. Jose Gabriel Marquez-Mendiola, 32, of Yuma.

The maximum penalty for each charge is up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

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Fossil fuels, emissions, electricity rates and other energy topics headlined a debate among candidates seeking seats on the Arizona Corporation Commission. Six contenders are vying for three openings.

Six candidates vying for three open seats on Arizona’s utility-regulatory panel sparred on Sept. 26 over the state’s long-term energy policy, with the three Democrats urging a more rapid embrace of solar power and their three Republican counterparts stressing the need for a broader mix including natural gas to ensure reliability.

Democrats including Ylenia Aguilar attacked the current Republican-dominated Arizona Corporation Commission for allowing electricity bills to increase. One of the commission’s most visible actions earlier this year was approving a rate hike for Arizona Public Service that boosted electric bills for the utility’s residential customers by around 8% on average.

“People are suffering and can’t pay their bills,” Aguilar said.

But Republicans including Lea Marquez Peterson, the only commissioner seeking re-election in the Nov. 5 vote, said the commission sliced APS’ funding request by more than $200 million from what was requested. She also stressed the need for high energy reliability, along with the investments needed to ensure it.

Arizona can’t afford temporary power disruptions that, she said, have plagued neighboring California. “If we lost power in Arizona in the summer, it would be a life-or-death issue,” Peterson said.

Fellow Republican Rene Lopez endorsed an “all-of-the-above” approach. The energy-mix debate largely focused on natural gas plants that can run well into the evening, after the Sun sets. Aguilar complained about air pollution around metro Phoenix and said the natural-gas plants aren’t desirable near any neighborhoods. But Republican Rachel Walden noted that these generating stations can be turned on quickly, at any time of day or night.

Energy policies and APS’ rate hike dominated the debate, though the discussion also veered into water availability and the struggles facing many small water utilities in rural parts of Arizona that have been hiking rates yet, in many cases, have not made necessary infrastructure improvements. Democrat Joshua Polacheck said the dire conditions of many of these companies shows the need for “change, a different approach,” at the Commission.

Candidates from both political parties spoke out in favor of solar energy, but the enthusiasm from Republicans was more measured.

“Solar doesn’t work at night, and the wind doesn’t always blow,” Peterson said.

That drew a rebuke from Democrat Jonathan Hill, who advocates for storing solar energy during low-demand periods of the day in industrial-scale battery parks for release later, as APS, Salt River Project and other utilities are doing. “Of course we know the Sun goes down at night,” Hill remarked, sarcastically.

The hour-long program sponsored by Arizona PBS and moderated by Ted Simons, host of “Arizona Horizon,” was more cantakerous, with more interruptions, than a Sept. 2 debate involving the same six candidates and sponsored by the Arizona Clean Election Commission.

Republicans hold a 4-1 edge currently on the comisssion, with Republicans Nick Myers and Kevin Thompson not up for re-election this November. Democrats urged voters to set a new course by electing candidates from their party.

Democrat Joshua Polacheck implied that Republicans on the panel are too cozy with “rapacious corporations that are picking our pockets.” Arizona residents, he said, “know their rates have been going up.”

Republican candidate Lopez said Arizonans pay the second-lowest rates in the nation, but Hill criticized that finding because it came from WalletHub, a personal finance app that, he said, “most people have never heard of.”

Walden said it’s important to embrace a broad energy mix and to let market forces dictate prices, as that will lead to the “cheapest options.” She also said it’s important for voters to realize that utilities like APS, in their rate-application cases, are largely seeking to recoup costs on investments they already have made. And because rate cases come up only every few years on average, the increases seem larger compared to more, minor adjustments along the way, she explained.

Both sides have focused on the need to keep rates affordable for consumers and businesses while ensuring that Arizona has the power-generation capacity to support population increases and economic growth. Much of that is coming from relatively new entities such as semiconductor-plant expansions and data centers, a power-intensive industry where metro Phoenix has emerged as a national leader.

The Arizona PBS date was held on the same day that SRP and NextEra Energy Resources unveiled a new wind farm on private land halfway between Flagstaff and the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. All of the clean energy from that project, enough to power around 40,000 homes, has been allocated to a new Google data center in Mesa.

Candidates from both parties largely steered clear of presidential politics, though Walden in her closing statement blamed the Biden-Harris Administration for regulations and other policies that, she said, have worsened pricing pressures in the utility industry.

Reach the writer at russ.wiles@arizonarepublic.com.