Eric Sorenson
First Friday Night Rewind of October looks something like this…
Breakthorough Debut
At Chandler High the rich appear to be getting richer as the Wolves unleashed their newest offensive weapon Friday in yet another lopsided win over Perry. Transfer junior running back Eli Sanders went off scoring four touchdowns in Chandler’s first six offensive possessions as Rick Garretson’s team remains perfect, improving to 6-0.
Mikey Keene finds Eli Sanders for the 6-yard TD. That’s Sanders’ 3rd of the game and we are still in the first quarter.
28-14 Wolves | :58 #VXLive pic.twitter.com/eChNzzhHNF
— Zach Alvira (@ZachAlvira) October 5, 2019
The 6-foot, 185-pounder rushed for nearly 900 yards and tallied 11 total touchdowns last year as a sophomore at Mountain Pointe.
Could Chandler have three potential 1,000 yard rushers by the end of the season in Dae Dae Hunter, Nicolas Neswbitt and now Sanders?
Best wishes to all upcoming opposing defensive coordinators.
Chasing A Legend
Always good catching up with Notre Dame Prep head coach George Prelock who continues to do a remarkable with the Saints. Although tonight clearly wasn’t one of their best performances, the 30-7 win at McClintock will certainly do the trick with Horizon coming up next week.
Before the game we were talking about one of Prelock’s former players…you remember Jake Smith, right?
Well, he reminded me that Smith is on pace to break the Texas Longhorns’ all-time record for freshman touchdowns. The slot receiver/running back has four.
Heisman Trophy winner Ricky Williams holds is UT’s all-time leader with eight.
The Texas WRs are putting up numbers thru 4 games. #ThisIsTexas #HookEm pic.twitter.com/fppLOJwEzn
— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) September 26, 2019
The future in Austin is quite bright for Mr. Smith, who many are already comparing to another Horns’ great: Jordan Shipley.
Gritty Over Pretty
It’s rare to stroll into a high school stadium with a game being played in the second half and have the scoreboard read like this.
Second game of the night: QC & Corona. Take the under…#FridayNight360AZ pic.twitter.com/Dgfy4j2h6g
— Eric Sorenson (@EricSports360AZ) October 5, 2019
However, that was the case in south Tempe where visiting Queen Creek and Corona were knotted in a defensive stand off where the most offensive thing seen on the field were the sprinklers showering the band’s halftime presentation and leaving pools of water between the hash marks for the second half (no joke!).
The Bulldogs took a late lead thanks to a Trey Reynolds’ short touchdown run and withstood one last Corona push for a 7-0 win to improve to 6-1.
“I always say a win is a win is a win,” head coach Joe Germaine said to Sports360AZ.com after the game. “Hopefully we can look back in this experience, [say] we’ve been in a dog fight and we’ve made plays to win a game.”
QC is young at nearly every position, returning a total of just three starters on both sides of the ball entering 2019.
The good news is a much-needed bye week awaits.
The potentially bad news the schedule ramps up to end the regular season. After hosting Desert Ridge (keep reading), the Bulldogs travel to Highland and then finish the slate with a home contest against Desert Vista.
Three and Out
Three scores which caught my eye from Week 6.
1. Desert Ridge upsets Desert Vista 41-24.
There were plenty of media members, myself included, who believed DV (even with one loss) was headed for Open 8.
Well, you can put that to bed after Jeremy Hathcock’s team exploded for 22 fourth-quarter points and sent the Thunder back to Ahwatukee with their first in-state loss of 2019.
2. Brophy gets biggest road win of the year, knocking off Hamilton 27-14.
Although I picked Hamilton in this one I figured Brophy’s front, on both sides of the ball, would come to play. Judging from blocks like this from USC-commit Andrew Milek, the Broncos controlled both lines of scrimmage.
.@AndrewJMilek anchoring a stong Brophy o-line performance tonight. #fridaynight360AZ @jason247scout pic.twitter.com/LDyXnaqfiE
— Jordan Hamm (@JordyHamm) October 5, 2019
Next week is a completely different animal in the above-mentioned Chandler Wolves but BCP is sitting pretty right now at 7-0.
3. Desert Mountain gives Paradise Valley their first loss 38-36.
The undefeated ride ends for PV as the Trojans’ late rally falls short in north Scottsdale.
Wolves 38
Trojans 36#DenInOctober pic.twitter.com/gdAFmJDMsk— Desert Mountain Wolves Football (@DMWolvesFB) October 5, 2019
It’s just Desert Mountain’s second win of the season as the Wolves improve to 2-5. Paradise Valley is now 5-1 with pesky Cactus Shadows making the short trip south down Tatum Blvd. next week.
