Canyon View guts out 6-0 win vs. Millennium, advances to 5A flag football state title game

What happens when two unstoppable forces meet head on?

Usually a stalemate.

That’s what happened on Wednesday evening in Goodyear for the 5A flag football semifinal matchup between No. 2 Millennium and No. 3 Canyon View as the Jaguars won 6-0 in a defensive battle to advance to the state title game.

The Jaguars will face No. 4 Gilbert Campo Verde at 3 p.m., Saturday in the AIA's first-ever 5A flag football championship game at 3 p.m. Saturday, at Mountain View High School in Mesa. The Coyotes defeated No. 9 Higley, 24-21 on Wednesday, to advance.

or Canyon View, it will play No. 4 Gilbert Campo Verde on Saturday at 3 p.m. for the state title.

Each team came in on a scoring tear in the postseason, averaging 41 points per game, but when they met one another, the end zone became hard to find.

A quiet first half for both Millennium and Canyon View

Neither team scored in the first half.

It wasn’t until with 10:59 left in the fourth quarter when the first, and only, touchdown on the evening came on a 6-yard hard-nosed run from Nyjah Green to put Canyon View up 6-0, who barreled her way in to score.

“We had a lot of opportunities to score, and we didn’t,” Green said. “I was just taking out my aggression from the plays before.”

That would be all the Jaguars would need as Green also provided the winning play on defense later on in the quarter with less than two minutes remaining, stopping Millennium quarterback’s Breana Saunders pass attempt on the Tigers' final drive to give the ball back to Canyon View. After the play, Green celebrated as if she was putting on a seat belt – she had clamped down her opponent.

“That could’ve been the end of the game,” Green said. “My coach told me to put it out all on the line. That’s what I did.”

From there, Canyon View milked out the clock en route to the state championship berth.

It was an all-around effort from Green, who also plays cornerback on defense, as it was her who propelled the team with the lone touchdown of the game and the key defensive stop.

“Nyjah Green is a force,” Canyon View coach Corey Beal said. “When you put the ball in her hands, something electric is going to happen every single time. The funny thing is – every team in the state knows it, and you still gotta stop it.”

After the win, Beal told his team to enjoy the night and soak it in. This is a special moment. It’s the first season of the sport in the state.

And the Jaguars are playing for a shot to win it all. Beal was so excited after the game that he threw his right shoulder out – literally. He had to be placed on the ground and was helped by Millennium’s athletic training staff to put it back in place. The whole process delayed his victory speech. Not to worry though, it’s a common occurrence for Beal.

“I do have a tradition of being over-exuberant,” an iced-up Beal said in the postgame interview. “I pumped my fist a little too high and I overextended my fist pump, and it popped out. There had to be some kind of fun tonight.”

In all seriousness, the moment was very special for Beal.

Buying into Beal, Canyon View's vision

“We started this entire process in January not knowing what the sport was going to look like, what the rules were going to look like,” Beal said. “We had a team that came in and said, ‘Whatever it takes.’ We had girls that were committed to the process, listened intently, got better.”

“You don’t have 8 shutouts and score 40 points a game because the coaching’s that good,” Beal added. “You have to have girls who are bought into the process. They bought into the process these last 10 months and they’re reaping the benefits of those 10 months.”

Although the hype is building with a shot at a state title on the line and such a big win against a great team like Millennium, Beal is doing his best to keep things level.

You don’t want to get too high or too low.

“We have won 14 games in a row now,” Beal said. “We said this is just another football game. We try not to magnify games. These girls have never played before. They’ve never had anybody before them play. The mindset is literally, ‘Don’t do anything different than you’ve done 14 times in a row.’ The opponent, with all due respect, that’s not important to us. When we play Lady Jag Canyon View football, it doesn’t matter. That’s what we preach: Just play football.”

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Canyon View earns win over Millennium in 5A flag football semifinals