Red Mountain scores late in win over Mesa Mountain View to remain undefeated in flag football
Mesa Red Mountain’s flag football team (11-0) stayed perfect on the season, scoring its first touchdown of Tuesday's game in the final seconds to secure a 10-7 win over rival Mesa Mountain View (8-3).
Red Mountain came into the game ranked No. 1 by the AIA in 6A. Mountain View was No. 8.
It was all defense from both teams for much of the game, but it was Korey Roberts’ pass to Cadence McCanless with just under 30 seconds left in the game that gave Red Mountain the win on their home field.
With the win, the Mountain Lions have won the 6A Fiesta Region outright in the first season of flag football as an AIA-sanctioned sport.
Red Mountain head coach Julian Madison knows how impactful this region title is for himself and his players, but the Mountain Lions are hungry for more. Red Mountain could end up the No. 1 seed in the 6A playoff tournament that begins next Tuesday.
“That means everything,” Madison said of winning the region. “We talked about it in the basketball gym today like hey we are going to hang something up and it starts tonight. It means a lot we are really excited about it.”
The big story for Red Mountain was its defense, as it has been all season. Including this game, the Mountain Lions have only allowed their opponents to score 47 points and hasn't allowed any team more than 7 points in a game.
Junior, Didrika Valentin came up with an interception for Red Mountain in the first quarter, which led to a Mountain Lions field goal for the first points of the game.
The Toros responded whenTierah Metcalf found Sadie Garnder for a touchdown pass. Metcalf’s pass went over two defenders and Garnder was able to hold on to it for the score. 7-3 was the score at the halftime break.
Red Mountain’s Trisha Stine shined defensively in the second quarter. The defensive back got to the quarterback a couple of times for a loss of yardage. When the Mountain Lions offense struggled, the defense stepped up as it has all year.
“Our defense has been the heart and soul of our team the whole season,” Madison said. “When we lost our original starting quarterback, we kind of had to come together and tell them, ‘Listen we are going to depend on you every game.’
The final moments of the fourth quarter went down to the wire. Late in the fourth, Isabella Misquez caught back-to-back passes from Roberts for big gains. This gave Red Mountain the ball in the redzone, but Mountain View’s safety Tessa Christensen had other plans. Christensen intercepted the ball with just under three minutes left in the game.
It looked like the Toros could possibly get the upset, but once again the Mountain Lions defense was clutch, giving its offense another shot at winning the game.
On the Mountain Lions last drive of the game, Roberts connected with McCanless in the endzone to seal the deal.
As the regular season winds down, Red Mountain looks to continue its winning streak and make a deep playoff run.
“These girls have a lot of heart and grit, and I am just super proud of them for that,” Madison said.
Red Mountain’s last regular season game will be played at Mesa on Thursday. Mountain View will look to bounce back in its last regular season game before playoffs at Dobson on Thursday.
More: Chandler dominates Hamilton in clash of top 6A flag football rivals
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Red Mountain wins over Mesa Mountain View to remain undefeated in flag football
