Brophy 14
Red Mountain 13
By Chase Bayless ’15
THE ROUNDUP
The Broncos survived a low scoring affair on Friday, Nov. 9 at home against Red Mountain in a game that came down to the last minute.
In the matchup earlier this year between these two teams Red Mountain came away with a touchdown with just under a minute to go in the Broncos 33-31 loss.
This time it was Brophy who pulled off the 14-13 win in the second round of the playoffs.
Last week in their first round games these two teams combined for 99 total points.
But this game was about the defenses.
“Our defense played tremendous,” said head coach Mr. Scooter Molander. “Last week against Chandler the offense had the defensive’s back and this week the defense had our offensive’s back.”
Both offenses struggled in the first half and the score at halftime was 0-0.
After a touchdown by Red Mountain in the beginning of the third quarter, Clarence Clark ’13 returned the kickoff to the opponent’s 40-yard line.
The ensuing drive led to a seven yard touchdown run by Will Edwards ’14.
Receiver Matthew Auran ’13 made a catch on third down and 12 which kept the drive alive.
Edwards carried the ball for a total 40 yards in the game while Marche Dennard ’13 ran for 41 yards.
Edwards also had a pair of catches.
Receiver Devon Allen ’13 did not play because of an ankle injury.
“Having Devon Allen out was a big thing to overcome and I’m proud of our guys for stepping up.” Mr. Molander said
Red Mountain scored another touchdown near the end of the third quarter, but missed the extra point making it a one possession game.
With eight minutes left in the fourth quarter Clark caught a 16-yard touchdown pass from Tyler Bruggman ’13.
The extra point was good, giving Brophy a 14-13 lead.
With Red Mountain driving, linebacker Connor Martinez ’13 came away with a sack on third down and long forcing a field goal attempt.
The attempt was then blocked and the Broncos held on to their slim lead with five minutes to go.
On Red Mountain’s next drive they were just short of field goal range when they were faced with a fourth and 15.
D’Amani Grayer ’13 broke up the pass giving the ball back to the offense.
“We had to run some clock down and keep control of the ball,” Bruggman said of the last couple minutes of the game.
The Broncos offense left just more than 1 minute in the game for Red Mountain to make a last chance scoring drive.
Two Red Mountain false start penalties and a delay of game led to a fourth down with 25 yards to go.
The pass was incomplete forcing a turnover on downs and Brophy kneeled the ball to run out the rest of the clock.
“It was playoff football,” Mr. Molander said “I’m proud of our guys”
Notes:
- Brophy plays Mountain Pointe, who the Broncos beat 54-28 on Sept. 28, in the semifinals next Friday.
- “We expect Devon to play next Friday,” Mr. Molander said of Allen’s returns.
- Bruggman went 17-29 with 195 yards passing
- This was the fourth fewest points Brophy has allowed in a game all season.
- The Arizona Republic quoted Red Mountain coach Ron Wisniewski on the Brophy crowd during the last drive: “We didn’t handle their sound and their noise well. That’s something we’ve got to be able to do. They’ve got a great home-field advantage.”