Special to AllSportsTucson from Brittany Bowyer
Brittany Bowyer is a freelance journalist who started her career as an intern for a small sports website back in 2015. Since then, she’s obtained her master’s degree in Sports Journalism from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at ASU and is in her fourth year of covering various levels of sports across a broad range of platforms in Arizona. You can follow her on twitter @bbowyer07
Salpointe Catholic football closed out the regular season by stomping the Desert Mountain Wolves 31-3 on Friday night on the road to remain undefeated. With a perfect 6-0 record, the Lancers hope the statement win over the Wolves proves once and for all that the Lancers deserve one of the coveted eight spots of the Open Division playoffs.
Desert Mountain defense came out ready to play at the beginning of the game, sensing the magnitude of the game. The Wolves held the Lancers to only a field goal in the first quarter of the game, making it 3-0 Salpointe Catholic at the end of one.
However, the Wolves were able to answer with a field goal of their own about a minute into the second quarter to tie it up at three, but unfortunately those would be the lone points Desert Mountain put up tonight.
“We knew coming in this week that we wanted to really crank up the intensity,” Salpointe Catholic coach Eric Rogers said. “I thought the kids responded unbelievably. We talked about coming up here and reaping our rewards, and they did.”
On the first snap of the following drive, Lancers quarterback Treyson Bourguet found Kamden Gambrell for a 60-yard touchdown. The extra point was good, putting Salpointe Catholic on top 10-3 with 10:44 left in the first half.
.@SCLancerNation strikes again. @treysonbourguet finds @KamdenGambrell, who is almost able to get it in, but they rule him just short. Bourguet keeps it on the next play and the extra point is good to put the Lancers on top 31-3 with :10 seconds left in the 3rd #DMvsSC pic.twitter.com/BTeOPnmLpE
— Brittany Bowyer (@bbowyer07) November 21, 2020
After the Lancer defense forced a quick three and out, it took almost no time for the offense to strike again after taking the field. Salpointe Catholic was able to make it 17-3 following a 67-yard touchdown run by David Cordero and an extra point by Owen Lynch.
Desert Mountain got the ball to start the second half, but all the wind was taken out of their sails on a pick-six by Antonio Martinez with 9:42 left in the 3rd. The kick was good, extending the Lancers’ lead to 24-3.
“We watched a lot of film, so we knew all week what we were going to do and we just prepared all week in practice and showed it on the field today,” Martinez said.
Salpointe Catholic had its fourth and final touchdown of the night on another pass from Bourguet to Gambrell, this one for 33-yards, with ten seconds left in the 3rd to put the Lancers on top 31-3.
A fumble by Desert Mountain with less than two minutes left was recovered by Cruz Rushing, allowing the Lancers to kneel it down to close out the game and secure the win.
“We came out here tonight trying to put ourselves in the Open Eight and to show that we’ve still got it,” Gambrell said.
Desert Mountain’s offense was only able to generate 205 total yards tonight with one fumble and one interception, with quarterback Aiden Cerullo completing 11 of 24 pass attempts.
Meanwhile, Bourguet completed 11 of 20 passes for 196 yards and no interceptions. On the ground, the Lancers racked up 124 rushing yards, making for 320 total offensive yards.
“They’ve got a defense over there not a lot of high school teams run,” Bourguet said. “They prepared really well, but what we were doing during practice is exactly what they did during the game so we were prepared, it was just about executing and making the plays,” Bourguet said.
Bourguet credited his teammates with a lot of his success.
“It makes it easy when you have receivers like Michael Aguirre, Julian Robles, Kam Gambrell and Elijah Barclay. I’m just throwing it up, they’re going and getting it and scoring. Same thing with the running backs, they did an amazing job,” Bourguet said.
Now, the Lancers are anxiously waiting for when the playoff brackets are announced Saturday morning.
“They’ve earned the right to play with the best teams in the state in the Open Eight,” Coach Roberts said. “The fact that it’s a committee that’s picking it, who knows if there’s anyone from Tucson that’s on that committee, I don’t know. I don’t have any idea, I don’t have any control over it, and because of that I don’t spend a whole lot of time thinking about it, but we’ll roll up our sleeves and play football. You’re gonna have to play the best at some point.”
No matter where they end up being seeded, the young team of up and coming athletes are hungry to show what they’re made of.
“This year we’re just looking to come out with a big bang,” Gambrell said.
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