Kickoff: 7 p.m.
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When Notre Dame Prep has the ball:
Run percentage: 57.7 percent (295 rushes)
Pass percentage: 42.3 percent (216 passes)
Scottsdale Notre Dame Prep senior quarterback Braden Wells has completed 134 of 202 pass attempts for 1,832 yards with 21 touchdowns and five interceptions. Wells has thrown the ball to 14 different receivers with his primary target senior Gavin Smith, who has 46 catches for 773 yards. Brock Narveson, a senior, has caught 20 passes for 293 yards and six touchdowns. Andrew Vines, a senior, is the Saints’ featured back with 1,062 yards on 159 carries with 10 touchdowns. Four other rushers, including Wells, have combined for 662 yards on 99 carries and 13 touchdowns. Salpointe’s defense is loaded with college prospects with leading tackler Joey Sumlin, Kevin Sumlin’s son, a force at middle linebacker. He leads the Lancers with 71 tackles, five for loss, and he has three interceptions. Defensive end Elijah Rushing, a sophomore who has offers from Arizona, Utah, Washington and ASU, has 60 tackles, eight for loss (6.5 sacks), and his brother Cruz Rushing, a senior free safety, has 52 tackles. The defensive backfield is solid with senior cornerback Antonio Martinez (four interceptions) and junior cornerback Jaxson Greene (who has scored touchdowns on interception and fumble returns this season). The Raetzman brothers — junior Conner, a linebacker, and senior Cody, a safety — have combined for 75 tackles, four for loss. Salpointe has 13 interceptions this season.
When Salpointe has the ball:
Run percentage: 60.9 (348 rushes)
Pass percentage: 39.1 (223 passes)
Senior quarterback Treyson Bourguet evolved into more of a dual quarterback this season for coach Eric Rogers passing for 1,566 yards while completing 123 of 201 pass attempts with 24 touchdowns and only two interceptions. He has shown a good burst of speed rushing for 393 yards on 61 carries (6.4 yards a carry) with six touchdowns. The Lancers incredibly have used 18 receivers his season. The top four are junior Gage Felix (28 catches for 397 yards and five touchdowns), senior Michael Aguirre (26 receptions for 312 yards and three touchdowns), Dylan Dreis (25 catches for 322 yards and four touchdowns) and Martinez (18 receptions for 265 yards and two touchdowns). Anthony Wilhite III, a senior, has continued Salpointe’s tradition of top-flight running backs rushing for 1,160 yards on 177 carries with 17 touchdowns. The next in line are junors Dailan Goodman (469 yards on 61 carries with five touchdowns) and junior Elias Roberts (36 rushes for 230 yards and three touchdowns). Notre Dame Prep’s defense is led by senior linebacker Wyatt Harris, who has 82 tackles (5.5 for loss). Ben Roberts, a junior defensive end, has totaled 11 tackles for loss (including six sacks). Senior linebacker Dillon Jones has five sacks. Narveson leads the Saints with four interceptions. Notre Dame Prep has accumulated 10 interceptions this season.
Common opponents
Marana Mountain View — Notre Dame Prep won at Mountain View 42-9 on Oct. 1 and Salpointe defeated the Mountain Lions 38-14 at home on Nov. 5.
Scottsdale Saguaro — Salpointe lost at Saguaro 49-21 on Oct. 1 and Notre Dame Prep lost 42-28 at home against the Sabercats on Nov. 5.
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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. He became an educator five years ago and is presently a special education teacher at Gallego Fine Arts Intermediate in the Sunnyside Unified School District
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