The football season has officially ended for the Arizona Wildcats.

Coming into Saturday, they knew that the Territorial Cup would be their final contest of the campaign after they failed to secure six wins that would have qualified them for a bowl game.

Considering the expectations that were placed upon this Wildcats team coming into the year with some of their best players choosing to stay in Tucson despite the head coaching change, not even playing a postseason game was nothing short of a disaster.

The final exclamation point was put on things for Arizona.

Despite having nothing to play for outside of pride when facing Arizona State, the Wildcats could have shown up at home to beat their archrivals and potentially eliminate the Sun Devils from College Football Playoff contention.

Instead, Arizona was destroyed, 49-7.

Things went off the rails immediately for the Wildcats when the Sun Devils took the opening kickoff and went down and scored a touchdown nine plays into the contest. Then after forcing a punt on Arizona’s first four plays from scrimmage, Arizona State was able to score another touchdown to take a 14-0 lead.

The misery didn’t stop there, though.

Arizona State continued to dominate by forcing two more punts, a missed field goal and a turnover on downs while they scored touchdowns on five of their six possessions to go into halftime up 35-0.

Coming out of the locker room, Arizona was able to get on the board when they drove 75 yards in eight plays to score a touchdown on a Noah Fifita to Tetairoa McMillan completion.

That was it for the Wildcats.

Their next four possessions resulted in three punts and an interception, while Arizona State scored two more touchdowns to give themselves even more space on the scoreboard.

It was a brutal ending to what was a tough season in Tucson.

In what was likely the final game of his collegiate career, McMillan caught six balls for 68 yards and the lone touchdown.

Arizona will have a lot of soul searching to do this winter and spring as they try to get things going under Brent Brennan after his first year as head coach of the Wildcats was a disaster.

Here are the final scores from Friday night’s AIA high school football playoff games and the schedule for Saturday’s games. Scores are added as they become available.

Friday’s games

6A Conference semifinals

Mountain View, 28, Brophy, 27

Centennial, 37, Queen Creek, 32

5A Conference semifinals

Cactus, 38, ALA Gilbert North, 35

Desert Edge, 27, Verrado, 14

4A Conference semifinals

Mica Mountain, 24, Yuma Catholic, 14

AZ College Prep, 59, Snowflake, 21

Saturday’s games

3A Championship

No. 2 ALA West Foothills vs. No. 4 Tucson Pusch Ridge, 6 p.m., Mountain Ridge High School

2A Championship

No. 3 Pima vs. No. 12 Scottsdale Christian, 2 p.m., Mountain Ridge High School

Open Division semifinals

No. 4 Liberty vs. No. 8 Hamilton, 6 p.m., Mountain Pointe High School

No. 2 Basha vs. No. 3 ALA Queen Creek, 6 p.m., Dobson High School

The holiday spirit has arrived on the steps of the Arizona Capitol.

San Carlos Apache Tribal Chairman Terry Rambler gifted a 40-foot ponderosa pine tree to Gov. Katie Hobbs on Monday. The tree arrived at the capital on Friday.

“We know this tree will be used to spread holiday warmth and cheer, and it is our hope that it will further serve as a reminder of the natural beauty that exists within our great state and the deep roots the San Carlos Apache have in this region,” Rambler said.

The San Carlos Apache Tribe and the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management picked out the enormous tree from the Point of Pines area, northeast of Globe. Together, they harvested it on Nov. 22.

“The Capitol Christmas tree from the San Carlos Apache Tribe is a beautiful gift to Arizona,” Hobbs said in a statement. “We are honored to receive a tree from a Tribal nation for the second year in a row. As we deepen relationships with Tribal communities, this tree celebrates the vibrant cultures that make Arizona so special.”    

Due to its enormous size, the now decked-out tree was cut down to 20 feet to fit within the Capitol Rotunda.

A lighting ceremony will be held on Monday.

The ponderosa pine, a type of yellow pine, lives at elevations typically above 5,000 feet along the Mogollon Rim and other higher elevations in Arizona. The San Carlos Apache Tribal Reservation is noted for one of the largest contiguous stands of this evergreen conifer in the world.

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