Brophy 49
Desert Mountain 15
By J.P. Hajjar ’16
THE ROUNDUP
For the first game of the regular season, the Brophy Broncos took on the Desert Mountain Wolves Aug. 29 looking to overcome a lopsided loss the previous week.
Brophy played against Nevada’s Bishop Gorman Aug. 22 in the Arizona Interscholastic Association’s annual Barry Sollenberger classic. Bishop Gorman, USA Today’s No. 1 team in the country, outmatched the Broncos with a 44-0 final score.
“We really wanted to come out and bounce back from the Bishop Gorman game,” said Isaiah Oliver ’15.
So that’s exactly what they did.
Ryan Velez ’16 started the game with a 72-yard kickoff touchdown return to take a quick seven point lead.
After two four and outs by Desert Mountain and one by Brophy, the Broncos received the ball again.
A gain of one yard on first down took them to the 29-yard line.
From there, Cade Knox ’16 threw Oliver a deep 71-yard pass for a touchdown to open the lead by 14.
After the first quarter the score stood 14-0 Brophy.
In the second quarter Knox connected with Oliver again for 46 yards and a touchdown.
Just before the end of the half, Desert Mountain put their first points on the board, making it 21-7 Brophy at the half.
Desert Mountain started the second half with the ball.
Sean Roberton ’15 quickly intercepted a pass from the Wolves and Brophy moved the ball down field for 80 yards.
Velez finished off the drive with a 10-yard touchdown run to widen the lead back to 21 points.
After another four and out from Desert Mountain, Brophy took possession to start the fourth quarter.
A 68-yard run by sophomore Noah Pittenger ’17 helped move the team downfield.
Knox threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Streator Bates ’15 for his first touchdown of the year to make it 35-7 Brophy.
Desert Mountain got a first down on their next possession; however, could not get much farther against the Brophy defense.
Brophy took over on downs on their own 47 yard line.
An 18-yard run by Velez and a 29-yard touchdown run by Knox pushed the lead to 35 points.
Desert Mountain would score on their next possession and execute a two-point conversion.
As the Wolves kicked off, Pittenger and Velez stood waiting for the return.
Pittenger received the ball at about the 15 yard line and returned the kick for a touchdown, his first of the season.
The score stood at 49-15 Brophy as the clock wound down.
According to Maxpreps.com, the Broncos are ranked 12th in the state of Arizona; however, players said felt they still had something to prove.
“We knew that we can be a better team than Desert Mountain, so we tried to come out here and prove it and show the state of Arizona that we’re ready to go,” Oliver said.
Although the team played well on both sides of the ball, they also have to work on a few things for next week against the Hamilton Huskies.
“We are going to need to play a whole lot better,” said defensive coach Mr. Gary Galante. “We have to be a little more aggressive and we always play them (Hamilton) tough, because the guys rise up to it. Bottom line is it’s a whole different league … They are a talented team with a lot of skilled kids, so we just have to make sure we play a lot of good football and good defense.”
Mr. Galante said that they are only going to get better since this is just the beginning.
Brophy has a 1-1 record on the season and 1-0 in the state.
Their next game is Friday, Sept. 5 at Phoenix College against the Hamilton Huskies.
