Ironwood Ridge coach Matt Johnson addresses his team after the Nighthawks overpowered the Mountain View Mountain Lions 42-14 in the Coaches for Charity Kickoff Classic on Thursday night.
(Javier Morales/AllSportsTucson.com)
The Nighthawks are coming off an 8-3 season in 2017 in which they advanced to the second round of the 5A state tournament.
Junior quarterback Octavio Audry-Cobos made his first varsity start, replacing last year’s starter Heath Beemiller, who exhausted his eligibility. Audry-Cobos was impressive engineering the offense along with senior back Nathan Grijalva, both of whom gained big chunks of rushing yards.
Great night for these @irhsfbbooster offensive standouts — 19 WR Andrew Cook, 12 RB Nathan Grijalva and 5 QB Octavio Audry-Cobos. pic.twitter.com/qOdfRjA341
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) August 17, 2018
Ironwood Ridge next hosts Goodyear Millennium on Aug. 31.
Mountain View, a young team that has only 30 juniors and seniors and 18 sophomores, starts the season 0-1 with a daunting season ahead. The Mountain Lions host Gilbert Higley on Aug. 31 before traveling to play Queen Creek Casteel and Tucson High School before returning home to face powerhouse Cienega.
One positive note for the Mountain Lions: They started with a 34-0 loss at home to Salpointe last year in the opener and went on to reel off seven straight wins before finishing 7-4 with a loss in the first round of the 5A state tournament.
Here are some videos from tonight’s game:
Ironwood Ridge starts the 2018 season on a winning note. …
Ironwood Ridge senior receiver Drew Cook after a big game with a 73-yard scoring run and a 46-yard touchdown reception …
Ironwood Ridge junior quarterback Octavio Audry-Cobos, starting his first varsity game, showed some maturity, bullish running style and soft pass, connecting with Cook on the long scoring play. He is 6-3 and 208 pounds. …
Mountain View senior running back/linebacker Calib McRae was heavily involved with much of the Mountain Lions’ production on both sides of the ball …
Mountain View coach Clarence “Bam” McRae, a former Arizona Wildcat, and Calib’s dad, weighs the positives with the negatives after the loss …
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon.
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