Kody Cullimore's TD with 9 seconds left helps Highland shock Open champion Basha
As Chandler Basha desperately searched for a miracle, the clock down to :00, pitching the ball back to anybody in the clear, Gilbert Highland patiently waited.
Finally, top-ranked Basha ran out of room to run on a play that seemed to take five minutes, and it was over. The sideline erupted in cheers. Coach Brock Farrel was mobbed by players. A wild celebration on Basha’s field ensued and the Hawks came away with the stunner of the Arizona high school football season in Week 2, taking down the defending Open state champions 22-21 before an overflow crowd Friday night.
It happened with Highland (ranked No. 9 by The Arizona Republic in 6A and unranked in the Super 10) shutting out Basha (1-1) in the second half, Farrel using a trick play to convert a two-point conversion early in the second quarter and the Hawks controlling the line of scrimmage in the second half, going heavy with the power game, feeding 6-foot, 200-pound Jay Martin over and over for big chunks, wearing down Basha at the end with the drive of the year.
Here are takeaways:
Brilliant clock management
Out of timeouts, Highland got the ball back with 7:51 left, trailing 21-15. A fumbled snap set the ball back to the 19. Martin then tore off runs of 11 and 12 yards. Jalen Cross ran eight yards. Martin ran for seven more yards. Quarterback Kalen Fisher then dropped in a nice pass to Gavin Priest for eight yards, before finding Kody Cullimore along the sideline for a 12-yard gain to the 15 with 1:21 to play. Martin got the call again, gaining 10 yards. Cullimore ran to the 1, before Fisher quickly got to the line and spiked the ball with 13 seconds left.
Farrel left it up to his best player, Cullimore, to win it. Cullimore, out of the shotgun, in 'Wildcat' formation, took the snap, found a crease and was in the end zone.
"I just stuck my head down and ran, and I knew the O-line would do the rest for me," Cullimore said.
Kicker Hudson Schambach knocked through the extra point for the 22-21 lead. All Highland had to do from there was stop Basha once with nine seconds to play.
"In the end, we just had the game plan," Cullimore said. "We believed in us. Nobody believed in us. But that's how we like it. We like being the underdog. We knew if we stuck to our game plan, and trust in our coaches, we could pull it out. It was amazing."
Pulling out the stops, and tricks
Out of time outs, Basha managed to get the ball to midfield after an offsides penalty and a late hit on quarterback Demond Williams Jr.'s short run that stopped the clock with 2 seconds to play.
With Cullimore, a safety, back deep and calling other defenders to come back with him, Williams fired a pass in the flat to Darron Dodd. Dodd ran down the sideline, but seeing defenders start to converge, ran back towards Williams. He pitched it to Williams, who then pitched the ball back to Gio Richardson, who sprinted down the sideline 30 yards, before being tackled.
"At that point, you just got to tackle and make sure the band doesn't come on the field like Stanford," Farrel said. "For those of you who are not old enough to know, Cal-Stanford, the band came on the field and messed with everything.
"Our kids kept battling. Maybe nervous for a little while. Demond Williams is just an explosive play waiting to happen. So we did what we needed to. Congrats to Basha. That's a great football game."
It was an epic battle between the defending Open champion and the two-time defending 6A champion that for three years thought it was good enough to be part of the eight-team Open playoff but was left out.
In the Open spotlight
This early win puts Highland (2-0) in the Open, if it doesn't mess up the next eight weeks.
"I told the kids everything that we want is still in front of us," Farrel said. "Our goal was to make the Open. We were short the last three years. We won a game that could get us in. Now we can celebrate it for like two hours and get on to the next one, because we've got Lone Peak coming from Utah next week."
For Basha, next up is a trip to Scottsdale Saguaro, another team looking to take down the champs after falling short 28-21 in last year's Open championship game.
Martin did a lot of the heavy lifting, slashing and pounding his way for yardage that kept moving the chains. But Cullimore was clutch every time Farrel needed to call up a big play in the red zone.
With 10:26 left in the first half, down 7-0, Highland scored on a trick play, as Cullimore, showing run out of the 'Wildcat' from the Bears' 10, fired a pass to Gavin Priest for a touchdown. Cullimore then was involved in an option pass for the two-point conversion and an 8-7 lead.
'They were warriors tonight'
Basha quickly answered behind Williams, who got the Bears down to the 1, before Miles Lockhart scored.
Two series later, Fisher found Ty Smith benind the secondary for a 33-yard score. But Williams wasn't done. He drove Basha down, before scoring from a yard out with three seconds left in the half to give Basha a 21-15 lead.
Highland's defense turned it up in the second half, eating clock with the run game and keeping Williams off the field for all but three series, the last of which began with nine seconds to play.
"Jay Martin stepped up big," Farrel said. "We were missing some shots early. I couldn't do it without guys like Jay Martin, Kody Cullimore, (linebacker) Kash Cullimore. They were warriors tonight. They deserve the credit."
How big is this win on Sept. 1?
Farrel resonded, "How big is LSU-Florida State tomorrow?"
It was a no-brainer down near the goal line on whose number to call. It was No. 2 Kody Cullimore all the way.
"Get my best player the ball," Farrel said. "He was our best player on the field tonight, overall best player. Get him the ball, put it in his hands, and let him find a way."
To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert atrichard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-316-8827. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter:@azc_obert
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Highland shocks Open state champion Basha with late score
