Saguaro beats Red Mountain 40-20 in 6A final to secure its 14th state championship title

Scottsdale Saguaro never wavered.

Not even when it was looking at its worst regular season in 18 years.

Not even after a tough 63-6 loss to Sierra Canyon in southern California in September.

Not even as its hopes of an Open Division playoff berth slipped away in October, the first time the team had missed the bracket since its inception in 2019.

The Sabercats remained steadfast in their pursuit of winning a state championship, even in the hardest of times.

And it paid off on Saturday afternoon at Mountain America Stadium as No. 3-seed Saguaro took down No. 12-seed Mesa Red Mountain 40-20 in the 6A championship game. With the win, Saguaro now has 14 state titles – one behind the state record for all-classifications held by Blue Ridge.

In his first year as head coach, after Jason Mohns left for Arizona State University, Zak Hill has lived up to the lofty expectations that came with being at the helm of the Saguaro football program. It wasn’t easy, but now he can breathe an exhale of relief.

“It’s been great,” Hill said about his first year. “It’s a long season. There’s a lot of effort and energy that gets put into the season. It means a ton, to be able to finish the season off. Not many teams get the chance to do that.”

Despite the final score, Red Mountain came to play.

They started the game with an onside kick, which didn't work out as planned, as Saguaro junior Fred Parsons returned the ball to the Red Mountain 20-yard line. Three plays later, senior wide receiver Jaci Dickerson – playing in his first state title game on his birthday nonetheless – scored on a 17-yard pass from senior quarterback Mason Bray to go up 7-0.

Red Mountain fights back fast

But Dickerson muffed the punt after Saguaro forced a three-and-out on the ensuing drive, giving the ball to Red Mountain at its opponents’ 38-yard line. Senior running back Isaiah Savoie scored on a 1-yard run to tie it with 3:34 left in the first quarter.

Saguaro quickly responded, engineering a nine-play drive to score on the first play of the second quarter. Bray connected with senior wide Reiss Rinaldi for a 21-yard pass to go ahead 14-7.

After Dickerson fumbled again, this time at the 1-yard line, Red Mountain was able to get out its of end zone after a targeting penalty on Saguaro. Two plays later, junior quarterback Simon Lopez hit senior wide receiver Gunner Moore for an 83-yard touchdown to level the game at 14-14. It was a huge momentum shift.

That didn't matter to the Sabercats.

Saguaro, with less than 4 minutes on the clock, put together an efficient drive just before the half to go up 21-14 on a 17-yard run from senior running back Jaedon Matthews, playing in his third title game.

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That’s when Dickerson made one of the plays of the game, overcoming his earlier mistakes. The first play of the second half for Saguaro was a 68-yard pass from Bray to Dickerson.

“He does a great job,” Hill said. “There’s up and downs in the game. You gotta have that next play mentality. If good things happen, stay calm and cool. Bad things happen, stay calm and cool. He did a good job of making some plays for us and then rebounding from some miscues and staying with it."

Bray then connected with senior wide receiver Kamden Segall for a 2-yard pass to push the lead to 27-14.

The Red Mountain offense — which struggled to find any big plays outside of Savoie and besides the long pass to Moore for the whole game — stalled out again on the next drive, giving the ball back to Saguaro.

Then sophomore running back Jacob Brown, his first year on varsity, came right back with a 4-yard run to go ahead 33-14 with 1:00 left in the third quarter.

Mountain Lions wouldn't go out easy

Red Mountain, like they have the whole postseason, made another run at it when Lopez hit senior wide receiver Bode Wagner for an 11-yard touchdown on 4th & 7 with 9:14 to go in the game. For the second time, Red Mountain attempted an onside kick – and recovered it.

Shades of the semifinal game against Phoenix Brophy Preparatory last week began to emerge, which Red Mountain erased a 21-0 deficit to win it in overtime.

But the offense was unable to muster any late-game magic, and turned it over on downs after a bad snap pushed the ball way back.

Brown delivered the nail in the coffin with 1:42 left as he dashed his way to a 55-yard touchdown to go up 40-20. He finished the day with 10 carries for 116 yards.

For the game, Bray was extremely efficient – he was 20 of 22 passing for 210 yards and 3 touchdowns. The moment is a long time coming for Bray, who sat behind Devon Dampier for three years. In a world where transferring is the norm and with Arizona’s open enrollment, Bray bucked the trend. Now he’s a state champion.

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“It shows that Mason Bray can be a leader,” Matthews said. “He was a leader since the beginning. He hasn’t been the starter for the past three years, and he came in this year and showed that he deserved it. That’s exactly what he did. He led us to the state championship. I don’t think without Mason Bray we would have been here.”

Hill wasn’t here for those years while Bray sat, but has watched closely from the sidelines as the senior developed into a team leader.

And it is all coming to fruition for Bray, in his final game in a Saguaro uniform.

“Mason’s a true compeititor,” Hill said. “He’s one of those guys that comes to practice every day and puts in the work. He’s got great football talent and he’s got a ton of heart. He’s been a huge leader for us and he’s done a great job. We’re here, at this stage — a big reason is because of him.”

As the sun began to set on Mountain America Stadium, Bray did his media interviews. There was a line for players to take photos with the state trophy.

It’s only fitting that the man responsible for getting that golden ball into that already stuffed Saguaro trophy case was the last one to take a photo. He reflected upon everything that got him to this point.

“All the work, all the decisions, everything going through my mind the last four years, it paid off,” a teary-eyed Bray said. “I’m glad I got to go out there and show off for my boys. I had a good time. It was fun. It’s crazy, it’s been the bumpiest ride I’ve been on. It shows what football is. We were 4-5, everybody was counting us out — we’re going to lose this game, we’re going to lose the state title game. Look at us now. I think it’s important to not really worry about what other people are saying and just worry about yourself, and control the things that you can control. Everything else will take care of itself.”

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Saguaro beats Red Mountain in 6A final to secure its 14th state title