Jared CohenMarcos de Niza is eyeing a return to the state championship game for the second consecutive season and Buckeye was standing in their way for round one. It was a matchup of two coaches that are very familiar with postseason action with Kelley Moore at Buckeye and Paul Moro for Marcos.
Marcos got off the a great start on defense forcing a fumble and senior Anthony Nicastro returned it for a score on the first offensive play of the game.
Buckeye did not panic and showed why they finished the regular season with eight wins. Quarterback Joseph Perez did a great job managing the offense and Buckeye had things rolling offensively early after the turnover. They would tie the game at seven on a Perez touchdown run.
Marcos de Niza’s offense got off to a slow start but you knew they would settle in. They got things going offensively on the ground with some great runs from Zyayre Moss. That opened things up for Naz Greer and the highly powered passing game.
Marcos would get all they could handle in the game from Buckeye but were too much in the end as the move on with a 41-36 win. The number five seeded Padres have now one four of their last five games and will travel down to Tucson to face Salpointe Catholic in round two next Thursday.
