Thursday high school football takeaways: Chandler blows out Mountain Ridge ahead of showdown
Fourth-ranked (Super 10) Chandler wasn't looking ahead to next week.
With senior tailback Ca'lil Valentine leading the way, the Wolves took care of rebuilding Glendale Mountain Ridge 49-9 on the road Thursday night and now can focus on next week's monster showdown.
They'll take on Orange Lutheran (2-0), the No. 4-ranked high school football team in California at Chandler's Austin Field.
Valentine dashed 65 yards for a touchdown on the opening series. He finished with 123 yards and three TDs on eight carries, as Chandler (2-0) built a 42-0 halftime lead in a game that saw no weather delay.
Quarterback Blake Heffron was 7 of 8 passing for 118 yards, including a 60-yard scoring pass to tight end Kaden Anderson.
Jeremiah Young led Chandler's staunch defense with three sacks. The Wolves had six sacks.
There were 11 varsity high school football games in Arizona on Thursday night but not all of them were played. Here are some takeaways:
Great warmup
Maricopa Desert Sunrise was pumped for its first-ever home game, facing Phoenix Alhambra.
"It was the best pregame warm-up I've seen from our team," coach Jonathan Clark said. "There were no mental mistakes. Kids were flying around and excited for their first-ever home game. Unfortunately, a storm came through and postponed the game."
Clark said the game will be made up on Oct. 13, which was supposed to be his team's bye week.
Big bounce-back win by Round Valley
A week after losing its season opener to Morenci 24-6, Eagar Round Valley defeated host St. Johns 37-8 in one of the best small-school rivalries.
Ryker Marble had 200 yards total offense and threw a touchdown pass. Kyle Clark had more than 100 yards and three TDs rushing for the Elks.
Jeffrey Cochran intercepted a pass in the end zone and recovered a fumble in the end zone to lead Round Valley's defense.
Republic special: Basha High School: Beyond the Gridiron
Heritage Academy Laveen rolls in storm-shortened game
With 7:40 left in the third quarter, the game was called due to the storm with Heritage Academy Laveen given a 42-3 win over visiting Phoenix Valley Lutheran.
Quarterback Kaleb Burras was 5 of 8 passing for 45 yards and two TDs and ran five times for 104 yards and a score.
Carlos Garcia returned a punt 50 yards for a touchdown for the Heroes, who are 2-1 with a showdown in two weeks against 2-0 American Leadership West Foothills. Heritage Academy Laveen has a bye next week.
"Being 2-1 at this point is good but we need to continue to get better for region play," coach Anthony Johns said. "We are healthy and that's huge in 2A, where most of the guys are two-way starters."
Related: Arizona high school football Week 3 schedule, The Republic's picks to win
Payson wins 2nd straight
Payson improved to 2-1 after beating Page 43-6 for its second win in a row, as the Longhorns fan for more than 200 yards.
Hunter Bowman led with 121 yards and a TD. It was the second straight week that Payson held its opponent to six points. It beat Winslow 34-6 last week.
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: Thursday takeaways: Chandler rolls ahead of showdown
