2024 High School Football

No. 1 Marana continues undefeated season with shutout win over Casa Grande

Posted on
Share
Dezmen Roebuck returns a 99-yard interception for a touchdown in Marana’s 45-0 victory over Casa Grande. (Lexie Fegan/AllSportsTucson.com)

Being undefeated, ranked No.1 in 5A and the Open Division could add an extra layer of pressure to any team.

Many teams let that extra pressure get to them.

Not the Marana Tigers.

No. 1 Marana (7-0, 2-0 5A Southern) shut out No.17 Casa Grande (4-3, 0-2) by a score of 45-0 on Friday night at home to keep its undefeated season alive.

“The first half we did have some struggles. I guess it was communication but once we got it communicated in the second half I think we was able to clean up some penalties and we was able to finish the game the way we did,” Tigers coach Phillip Steward said.

Holding a team scoreless takes a locked-in defense and the Tigers were indeed locked in.

“My defense gets a little upset because nobody gives them any love. They are the reason why the offense is able to put up a lot of points because they’re constantly getting three and outs, constantly getting the ball back to the offense. So, the defense has been playing well the last few weeks with shutouts,” said Steward.

Prior to kickoff, Marana recognized the 1964 team that won the school’s first state championship.

Marana’s1964 state championship team and family (Lori Burkhart/AllSportsTucson.com)

Marana’s first touchdown came at the 8:17 mark in the first quarter when quarterback Colten Meyer threw a screen pass to Dermain Linen Jr., who dove over the right side of the goal line.

In the first quarter, Casa Grande recovered a fumble and intercepted Meyer, but the Tiger defense stepped up preventing the Cougars from capitalizing on those turnovers.

Marana scored 24 points in the second quarter and went into the half with a 31-0 lead.

The second quarter points were a result of a safety by linebacker Greg Webb, a two-point conversion caught by Darian Dewitt, a touchdown pass to Dominic Cillitto, a touchdown pass to Desmend Roebuck and a 99-yard interception returned for a touchdown by Roebuck.

Roebuck, a Washington commit, has been a big part of the Tigers’ success. Headed into the Casa Grande game, Roebuck had 655 receiving yards on 48 catches, averaging 13.7 yards per catch and notching nine touchdowns.

Casa Grande had a chance to put points on the board in the third quarter, but missed a short field goal.

Marana took over at its own 20 and marched down the field, culminating with a Jeffrey Smith III rushing touchdown.

Smith, who is a freshman, has played all season at the running back position, but on Friday night, he saw his first game on the defensive side of the ball as a safety.

“They were talking about putting me in for a while on defense and it’s just high school being a new speed of football,” Smith said about playing defense for the first time. “Coming from middle school to high school was a big jump, but I was prepared. I watched film. I studied and my teammates helped me out with it.”

With 10:45 left in the game, Marana scored its final touchdown of the game.

Meyer scrambled and completed a pass to Jaxsun Sharp, who ran into the end zone.

The offense can’t put up the big numbers it has this season without workhorses like left tackle Tyler Evans leading the way up front.

“We were able to run the ball which opened the passing game for us,” Evans said. “It was a big statement game for us. It showed that the offensive line, I’m an offensive line guy so I’m going to talk about the O-line, but we made a statement that we can run the ball so it was a really big win for us.”

Marana will next travel to Cienega (3-3, 1-0) on Friday.

Media highlights:

print
Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Related Items:, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Recommended for you

Comments
To Top