Brophy 44
Corona del Sol 6
By P. Erik Meyer ’14
THE ROUNDUP
After losing four games in a row, the Broncos came out Friday night firing on all cylinders.
“It puts a smile on everyone’s face
,” said head coach Mr. Scooter Molander. “I’m proud of our team for staying purposeful, for staying intentional.”
The Broncos’ defense never allowed the Aztecs to run a play in the Brophy red zone and held their offense scoreless until late in the fourth quarter.
“We had some things that we wanted to do, we wanted to set the edge,” Mr. Molander said. “We communicated very effectively so it was a huge improvement and a huge win for our school this week.”
Corona del Sol’s quarterback, RJ Rhiner, tends to be pretty mobile, but the defense held him to well under 100 yards rushing.
“Our D-ends did a great job setting the edge,” Mr. Molander said. “We were able to contain him and make him set his feet, that’s not what they’re used to doing and so it was a big part for us.”
Defensively, Michael Ward ’14 racked up four tackles and two sacks and Walker Adams ’15 recorded six tackles.
Despite a 43-yard touchdown pass late in the game, Brophy’s secondary also held their ground.
Defensive back Leonard Gutierrez ’14 had one tackle and helped recover a fumble off of a botched punt early in the first half that resulted in the Broncos first touchdown.
Isaiah Oliver ’15 had an interception and Zack Kotoske ’14 forced and recovered a fumble to go along with his two tackles.
Brian Woodward ’14 returned to play quarterback this week after an arm injury had limited his play to just defensive back the past few games.
Woodward completed three of his eight passes for twenty-three yards and a 10- yard rush.
“We’re happy to have ‘Woody’ (Woodward) back and get him back in the rhythm,” Mr. Molander said. “He brought some energy, he made a couple good runs.”
Cade Knox ’16 received the majority of snaps at quarterback and finished with 138 yards on five of eight passes and a one-yard touchdown rush.
The leading receiver for the night was Oliver who finished with three receptions for 89 yards including a 63-yard touchdown reception.
The offense primarily relied on the running backs Friday night.
Ryan Velez ’15 ran for 144 yards on 13 carries with two touchdowns and a reception that went for 24 yards.
“We’ve got a great offensive line, we got a great push and you can’t ask for anything more than that,” Velez said. “All my success comes from them.”
Will Edwards ’14 also ran for 38 yards on three carries with a touchdown and 20-yard reception.
The offense only scored six points in the first quarter, but after that they took off.
“We fell into a rhythm, Phil Mourikes ’14 did a tremendous job kicking for us this evening,” Mr. Molander said.
Mourikes went 3-3 on field goals of 30, 32 and 37 yards and four of his six kickoffs were touchbacks.
“We stalled on three drives early and came away with nine points, which is what you want and he kicked the ball out of the endzone everytime,” Mr. Molander said.
“Today the vibe was just great, the whole entire week we practiced hard,” Mourikes said.
