Arizona high school football roundup: Pinnacle, Highland, Hamilton, Desert Mountain win

Pinnacle makes statement in blowout over Chaparral

By Howard Schlossberg

How good is Pinnacle?

Maybe we find out next week, when they host powerhouse Liberty.

But the Pioneers (5-1) will go into that 6A headliner off a convincing 47-6 win Friday night at Chaparral. And they dominated in every category of every statistic that they keep in football, which was the icing on a total team effort.

Key Plays

The Pioneers made all the key plays and did it start it finish.

With the defense continually giving Wyatt Horton and the offense generous field position, the points piled up quickly en route to a 38-0 halftime lead. Only the initial scoring drive was as long as 80 yards, but in less than 2 minutes and just 5 plays, Horton doing the honors from 25 yards out after Mason Hughes and Xavier Sanders, as they would all.night, carried the ball down the field.

Xavier Valdivia finished a 9-play, 52-yard drive after that, scoring from the 1 after Keenan Johnson made a diving grab to push the possession along.

A great defensive play by Cooper King forced Chaparral to turn the ball over 3 plays later, and 6 plays and 45 yards after that, Horton dashed in from the 6.

After Dean Vincent made a diving interception, Horton's run set up a Valdivia TD from 4 yards out with just 20 seconds left in the half.

A relatively quiet second half included Miles Stephney's 6-yard TD run and King's 30-yard field goal in what became a rehearsal for Liberty.

Key Stats 

Dominant doesn't do justice to Pinnacle's performance. Horton was 11 of 20 for 202 and a TD. He ran for 41 yards and 3 TDs. The offensive line, anchored by Nathan Munoz, Jayson Turner and Rai'jon Jones, powered Pinnacle to 519 yards of total offense.

The defense was overwhelming, with King, Vincent, Cole Thornton, Ian Garcia and friends limiting Chaparral to 133 yards of total offense, 44 on a last play TD pass from Lucciano Maddo to Tyler Gomez.

Pinnacle rushed for 317 yards while Horton saved his arm, throwing for 202 on just 11 completions.

Key Quotes

Horton was all things complimentary to his offensive line and the total defense. Head coach Dana Zupke, meanwhile, knows his team "has its work cut out,"  against Liberty, No. 1 in The Republic's Super 10 rankings. He's hoping for another super performance against Liberty.

He repeated himself in saying, "they did a good job," referring to his 'O' line and his defense. "I'm really proud of the defense," and as to Horton, "He was pretty efficient tonight."

But Liberty, he knows, "is one of the best teams in the state."

Up Next

Liberty comes calling at Pinnacle next Friday. Chaparral travels south in Scottsdale to face rival Saguaro.

Highland rallies to hold off Red Mountain

By Eliya Herriott

It took a while for Highland (4-2) to get going against Red Mountain (4-2) on Friday night. The Hawks eventually made some big plays in the fourth quarter to win 25-15 at home over the Mountain Lions.

The first quarter was low scoring, as Red Mountain’s quarterback Simon Lopez connected with Gunner Moore for the only touchdown of the quarter. Defensively in the first, both teams made crucial stops. Red Mountain took a 6-3 lead into the second quarter.

At the half, the Mountain Lions maintained the lead 12-10. The Hawks were able to find the end zone behind a Jay Martin 1-yard rushing touchdown. Red Mountain’s kicker, Kai Evans made three field goals on the night for his team.

Key Play

Highland struggled offensively all night. In the third quarter, the Hawks were held scoreless. Penalties and Red Mountain’s defense were factors, but the Hawks came alive in the fourth quarter, bringing the life back into the crowd.

After Kalen Fisher connected with Greg Toler Jr. for a Highland touchdown, the Hawks went for the two-point conversion, and it was successful to go up 18-15.

Kody Cullimore came up with a huge interception in Red Mountain’s territory to give Highland great field position. This then led to a Jay Martin touchdown in the later part of the fourth quarter to close out the scoring.

Standout Performances

Highland’s Kash Cullimore was all over the place on defense. Cullimore recorded a big sack in the third quarter and was involved in several tackles for the Hawks.

Running back, Jay Martin found the end zone twice on the night, including the big touchdown in the fourth quarter to give the Hawks a 25-15 lead. Martin was steady on the ground for the Hawks.

Quote of the Game:

“Halftime we talked about a few things we were going to do scheme wise, but really it just came down to Red Mountain played really good,” Highland head coach, Brock Farrel said. “We had some crucial penalties that hurt us, and we just cleaned that up in the third quarter. It wasn’t anything magic our kids just finally did what we asked them to do a little bit better and we got players that made plays in the second half.”

Up Next:

Highland will have a bye week then will play at Williams Field on Oct.13. Red Mountain has another tough test on Oct. 5 at ALA Queen Creek.

Hamilton deals Perry first loss in 6A clash

By Damian Adams

In a game full of firepower, the contest was flipped in the fourth quarter as Hamilton took control back and closed the game on a 21-0 run.

Chandler Hamilton beat rival Gilbert Perry, 59-34.

The Huskies came out fast to start the game. They were able to run the ball very well which helped them get out to a 14-0 run.

Perry was able to get back in the game by spreading the field and passing the ball down the field. It was 24-17 after back to back 80-yard touchdowns.

Hamilton then went on a 14-point run to end the half. At halftime the score was 38-24.

Perry controlled the third quarter completely by playing great defense and taking chances. They scored two touchdowns on trick plays. At the end of the third quarter, Hamilton lead 38-34.

Players of the game

The running backs were essential to the victory for Hamilton. Avery Knight scored three touchdowns and Breylon Blount scored two touchdowns.

Up next

Next week Hamilton will be home against Basha and Perry will be on the road against Casteel.

Desert Mountain edges Horizon in tense affair

By Anthony Perez

What began as a giant chess match on Friday night between Scottsdale Horizon (4-2) and Scottsdale Desert Mountain (6-0) turned out to be anything but that as both teams combined for 43 points in the second half and four lead changes in the fourth quarter.

But once the final whistle sounded and the dust settled, Desert Mountain (No. 6 in The Republic's Super 10, No. 1 in 5A rankings) was left standing, 24-22, in a physical affair at home that even included some words exchanged by both coaches and players after the contest. Horizon was ranked No. 4 in The Republic's 5A rankings.

Standout performers 

Both teams’ defensive units played at a high level for much of the game, but a few offensive stars tried to steal the spotlight in the second half. One of those was Horizon senior Anthony Segura. He opened the second half scoring with a short but powerful run into the end zone to extend his team’s lead to 10-0 with 7:41 left in the third quarter. He also opened the scoring in the fourth quarter with a short run that gave his team a 16-14 advantage.

After the game, Desert Mountain Head Coach Conrad Hamilton named senior Dillon Hipp the player of the game for his work on both sides of the football. He made a number of key stops throughout the evening and then punctuated his night with a with the game-winning touchdown catch when quarterback Brady McDonough connected with him for 18 yards.

Highlight of the game 

It looked like Horizon might’ve had the game put away when junior Jax Markovich caught the go-ahead touchdown pass with 2:10 to play in the game, but Hipp and his Desert Mountain teammates had other ideas. They meticulously moved down the field on a drive and cashed in when Hipp caught a short pass from McDonough, and he was able to beat a defender and score the eventual game-winning touchdown with :16 left in the game.

Quote of the game 

“If we couldn’t stop their run they were going to be consistent with it and we were getting a lot of three-and-outs, so the game plan was working. The game was slow, it was 3 to 0. The scoring picked up a little bit just because of field position. They had a short field on one of the touchdowns, and then we flipped the field a couple of times from turnovers.” - Desert Mountain Head Coach Conrad Hamilton on the type of game that unfolded in the first half

Up next 

Next week, Horizon will return home to play Scottsdale Notre Dame Prep, while Desert Mountain travels to Cave Creek to square off against Cactus Shadows.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona high school football roundup: Pinnacle, Highland, Hamilton among winners