By Tyler J. Scott ’12
THE ROUNDUP
First Down: Brophy advances to second round of the playoffs
On Nov. 12 the Brophy Broncos defeated the Mountain Ridge Mountain Lions to advance to the second round of the playoffs.
This was a rematch of last year’s first round playoff game where the Broncos beat Mountain Ridge 24-0 at home. This time, however, the game was played on the Mountain Lions’ field.
This year also led to a Broncos win, 24-17.
“We just kept battling,” said coach Mr. Scooter Molander.
The Broncos will face the Mountain Pointe Pride, who beat Red Mountain 21-17 in their first round game on their field, Friday, Nov. 19 in the second round of the 5A-1 playoffs.
Second Down: Defense shuts down Mountain Ridge in the second half
After allowing 17 points and 200 yards to the Mountain Lions in the first half the Broncos held them to zero points and 137 yards in the second.
The Broncos also didn’t make any ball-handling mistakes in the second half following two turnovers in the first.
They intercepted Mountain Ridge quarterback Hunter Young twice on Mountain Ridge’s last two drives to ice the game.
“We just felt like if we kept battling we would get those turnovers back that we caused in the first half ourselves,” Mr. Molander said.
Defensive Coordinator Mr. Gary Galante saw to that.
“Coach Galante did a great job of making some adjustments at halftime and we ran to the football,” Mr. Molander said.
A prime example of this was when the Mountain Lions tried a halfback pass in the fourth quarter and Matt Cahal ’12 locked down the receiver, resulting in the halfback getting tackled for a loss of yards.
Also, Jordan Graves ’11 and Paul Wirth ’11 sealed the game for Brophy with two timely interceptions in the late fourth quarter.
Third Down: Offense out-gains Mountain ridge 393 to 337
The Broncos had 256 yards of total offense in the first half and 137 in the second. With 393 yards for the game, the Broncos out-gained the Mountain Lions 393-337.
Josh Dennard ’11 had 141 rushing yards on 19 carries including two touchdowns and one reception for no yardage.
Allen had nine catches for 129 yards including a touchdown grab.
Marche Dennard ’13 had 37 rushing yards on seven carries and Matt Auran ’13 had five catches for 62 yards.
Casey Skowron ’11 hit a 32-yard field goal and went three for three on extra points.
Both Graves and Wirth had one interception.
Fourth Down: Kicking new comer helps Broncos
Skowron, normally a soccer player, made his debut on the football field against Yuma two weeks ago. The new comer was perfect against Mountain Ridge.
He had a 32-yard field goal and went 3-3 on extra points.
“He was tremendous tonight. Not only extra points and the field goal but kicking the ball into the end zone. Their Sparks kid is explosive, very dangerous, they have a lot of speed and that was a big factor,” Mr. Molander said.
P.J. Sparks, the Mountain Lions’ explosive kick returner, has averaged 37 yards per kickoff return but in this matchup he never had a chance to return it.
