2024 High School Football

FROG & FIRKIN FOOTBALL FRIDAY: Pusch Ridge’s Newborn one of many local prolific QBs

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Pusch Ridge QB Jacob Newborn is a significant reason why the Lions are off to a 5-1 start (Gilbert Alcaraz/AllSportsTucson.com)

Southern Arizona continues its progression to be with the times on offense with more prolific passers than at any time in memory.

Pusch Ridge senior quarterback Jacob Newborn is an example of the many at his position locally who are producing at a high rate at the midway point of the 2024 season.

Newborn completed 15 of 19 pass attempts for 288 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions in No. 10 Pusch Ridge’s 42-14 win over visiting No. 21 Sabino in the Lions’ first 3A South game of the season.

He also rushed for 54 yards on six carries, including a 48-yard scoring burst that gave the Lions (5-1, 1-0 3A South) a 35-7 lead with 7:38 left in the third quarter. Another long run of 60 yards by Newborn was nullified in the fourth quarter because of an illegal-shift penalty.

Defensively, Newborn exhibited his athleticism at safety, returning an interception 30 yards for a touchdown in the first half when he eluded a group of tacklers from Sabino (2-4, 0-2) to reach the end zone.

“Jacob is a true dual-threat quarterback; he has great wheels,” said Pusch Ridge coach Kent Middleton, who is 39-12 in his fifth season as head coach. “And the passing attack is starting to come along. He throws a great ball.”

Making the most of his opportunity at quarterback following Bubba Mustain’s graduation, Newborn is now 61 of 105 for 882 yards with 11 touchdowns and four interceptions six games into the season.

He is among a current group of quarterbacks in Southern Arizona who can reach at least 1,500 passing yards and potentially accumulate 2,000 or more.

The list includes Marana junior Colten Meyer (who had 1,767 passing yards entering Week 7), Casa Grande junior Luke Keeton, Catalina Foothills senior Jacob Ford, Buena senior Nash Moore, Ironwood Ridge junior Julian Martinez, Cienega junior Julian Hainley, Bisbee senior Sebastian Lopez, Tucson junior Derek Mesa, Tanque Verde junior Rocco Haggard and Safford junior Jervyn Elliott.

Times have certainly changed in Southern Arizona, which was once a running back haven with the likes of Fred Sims, Vance Johnson, David Adams, the Bates brothers (Michael, Mario and Marion), Jon Volpe, Xavier Smith, Nathan Wize, Kevin Schmidtke, Ka’Deem Carey, Bijan Robinson and many others.

WHAT A TALENT: JACOB NEWBORN, BABY

Newborn opened Friday’s game completing his first 10 passes for 179 yards that included a 42-yard scoring strike to Elliott Lovett, son of former Arizona receiver Lamar Lovett, and 57-yard touchdown to Dominic Painter.

When Pusch Ridge scored a touchdown on Sawyer Allen’s 2-yard run to cap the game’s opening possession, Newborn set the tone going 4 of 4 for 56 yards in that 80-yard, 12-play drive.

The touchdown pass to Lovett increased the lead to 14-0 with 2:59 left in the first quarter.

His pick-6 then occurred on Sabino’s ensuing possession.

“Shout out to the team, great team effort,” Newborn said. “The line balled out all night. I’m nothing without the line, so I give credit to the line.

“Receivers blocking, receivers running routes … today was a culmination of all the hard work put together. We’ve been working hard all season and we feel like it was clicking tonight. This team can only get better. We know we can get better.”

PUSCH RIDGE’S PASS DEFENSE EFFECTIVE

Sabino junior running back Zachari Haley continued his impressive season as the Sabercats’ feature back, rushing for 139 yards on 16 carries with two touchdowns.

His 71-yard touchdown burst on a fourth-and-1 situation cut the lead to 21-7 with 11:49 left in the second quarter.

Pusch Ridge was able to put the clamps on Sabino’s passing game with four interceptions, including two by senior linebacker Noah Miller and another by Allen in addition to Newborn’s pick-6.

The Sabercats amassed only 48 yards in the air.

“The defense played really well; we’ve played great defense all year,” said Middleton, whose team is allowing only 11 points a game. “We’ve played really good shut-out defense all year. Tonight was a challenge with that running back (Haley) and they have some quality athletes that we had to pay attention to and we did a good job of that.”

Pusch Ridge senior linebacker Tyler Shoaff led the team with 52 tackles, including nine for loss, entering the game.

He credits his leadership to Newborn and former standout safety Tyler Mustain, who is now in his second season with the Arizona program as a preferred walk-on.

“Tyler Mustain’s had a huge influence on me; he was a tremendous leader,” Shoaff said. “Jacob is the leader of our offense, our team. He’s tremendous.”

UP NEXT FOR PUSCH RIDGE: LONG TRIP TO MORENCI

After Haley’s 71-yard touchdown run, Pusch Ridge answered with a scoring drive that was capped by three straight completions by Newborn for 73 yards. The possession culminated with the 57-yard pass to Painter that gave the Lions a 28-7 lead with 9:27 left.

That was the score at halftime.

Newborn’s 48-yard touchdown run, ending Pusch Ridge’s first possession of the third quarter, started to put the game out of reach.

Pusch Ridge did not celebrate the victory over Sabino long before Middleton discussed the next task at hand — a trip to Morenci, where many attend Wildcat games of the 1,400 population in the mining town in eastern Arizona.

The trip from Oro Valley on the upper northwest side of Tucson to Morenci is close to 200 miles and it takes about 3 hours to get there. Pusch Ridge will likely depart Friday early afternoon and return home in the early-morning hours Saturday.

The Lions have never played at Morenci, which joined the 3A South last season.

“We know it’s a tough place to play,” Middleton said. “It’s really important to the Morenci town. They’re good. They’re well-coached. It means a lot to them. It’s going to be a tough trip.”

Morenci (2-4, 0-1) has lost three straight games to Pima, Blue Ridge and Safford by a combined 21 points.

PALO VERDE INVOLVED IN ACCIDENT ON WAY TO BENSON GAME

Quite an adventure for Palo Verde interim coach Keith Smith, who coached the Titans in Friday night’s game at Benson because head coach Jamal Chatman had prior obligations with his wife attending a wedding in Mexico.

The Titans’ bus was side-swiped a vehicle near Broadway and Kolb on the way to Benson, where they lost 48-6 to the Bobcats.

Smith mentioned that players handled the minor accident well although “they were shook up a little bit.”

Palo Verde had to wait for a new bus to continue the trip. The Titans did not arrive in Benson until 6:40 p.m.

DESERT CHRISTIAN PLAYS FIRST GAME IN ITS STADIUM

New 1A program in Tucson — Desert Christian — lost its first game at its new stadium by a score 30-8 against Mohave Accelerated on Friday night.

No. 4 Desert Christian (4-2) is an independent team. No. 7 Mohave Accelerated (6-1) is still in the hunt for the automatic berth from the 1A West Region but No. 3 Bagdad (6-1) and No. 11 Salome (4-3) are ahead of the team in the standings with Salome defeating Mohave Accelerated 24-18 in the third week of the season. Salome hosts Bagdad next week.

 No. 6 St. David (6-1) claimed the 1A South title with a 49-0 win over No. 17 San Manuel on Friday at St. David.

Desert Christian’s Cooper Payne had a 97-yard fumble return for a touchdown against Mohave Accelerated.  

“I like that we came out aggressive,” Desert Christian coach Jason McKibben told AllSportsTucson.com’s Andy Morales. “I liked how our defense looked in the first three quarters. There’s a lot of stuff I liked. I liked I liked that we didn’t quit. I liked that we didn’t give up. We get to leave this game with our heads up.”

BISBEE REMAINS UNBEATEN IN 2A SAN PEDRO AFTER WILD OT WIN OVER WILLCOX

Bisbee celebrated its homecoming with a 42-40 overtime win over Willcox on Friday night.

Bisbee scored first in overtime after the teams were tied at 34 at the end of regulation.

Lopez scored a touchdownd and was on the way to the end zone on the 2-point conversion attemt. A hit by a Willcox tackler caused a fumble but Bisbee’s Hunter Wright landed on the ball in the end zone to give Bisbee a 42-34 lead.

Willcox quarterback Joseph Sanchez scored a touchdown run on the Cowboys’ possession, making the score 42-40. The Puma defense stopped Willcox on a rushing attempt to convert the 2-point conversion attempt.

The Pumas are 5-1 overall and 3-0 in the 2A San Pedro heading into Friday’s game at Palo Verde.

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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 in 2016 and is presently a special education teacher at Sunnyside High School in the Sunnyside Unified School District.

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