No. 9 Tucson picked up its third straight region win on Friday, defeating Mountain View 34-21 on the road to help solidify its playoff chances with one game remaining in the regular season against a winless Nogales.
Tucson entered the game trailing Mountain View in the 5A Sonoran standings. The Badgers’ lone blemish in region play came in a 30-27 loss to No. 5 Ironwood Ridge on Oct. 11.
Mountain View fell behind by three possessions in the third quarter on Friday but made it a one-possession game in the fourth quarter. Tucson head coach Zach Neveleff credited Mountain View head coach Matt Johnson for keeping the Mountain Lions in the game. Neveleff played against Johnson as a fullback at Salpointe and coached against him as an assistant with the Lancers before taking the job at Tucson.
“Tremendous, tremendous respect for him, his staff and his players,” Neveleff said. “When it all seemed over, when certain teams would quit out of the half like that, they find a way to bounce back… They played a tremendous game. Hats off to them for making it close at the end, but once we got composed and settled back in, we were able to make sure we finished with a ‘W.'”
Tucson High head coach Zach Neveleff credits Mountain View coach Matt Johnson for making it a game late in a 34-21 win for the Badgers. @AllSportsTucson pic.twitter.com/tRbYegiE8M
— Kevin Murphy (@KevinMurfee) November 2, 2024
The game looked to be well in hand for Tucson when a 4-yard rushing touchdown from Kevin Bruns put the Badgers up 27-7 with 7:49 left in the third quarter. But looks can be deceiving.
Mountain View immediately answered on the following drive when a 45-yard touchdown pass from Damien Wallace to Diego Gomez made it a two-possession game. After Tucson (7-2, 3-1) drove the ball into the red zone late in the third quarter, Nico Franco came away with an interception for Mountain View (5-4, 3-1). Tucson forced a turnover on downs near midfield early in the fourth quarter, but on the first play of the ensuing possession, Noah Chanez fumbled, and Mountain View recovered. The Mountain Lions cut the deficit to 27-21 after Michael Davis recovered a fumble in the end zone that had been popped loose out of a teammate’s hands.
Despite relying on officials to manage the clock because the clock on the scoreboard wasn’t working, Tucson extended its lead with around a minute to go on an 8-yard rushing touchdown from Chanez to put the game out of reach.
There were issues with the scoreboard clock on multiple occasions throughout the game, but the clock issue became more nerve-wracking for Neveleff and the Tucson coaching staff as the Badgers tried to milk the clock and extend the lead in the final minutes.
Neveleff commended the referees for keeping him updated on the amount of time on the clock regularly as the game winded down.
“It was crucial for me to be in the ref’s ear, and great job to our referee staff tonight,” he said. “They did an amazing job with keeping me informed of how much time was left on the field.”
Tucson sits in second place in the 5A Sonoran Region behind Ironwood Ridge which is undefeated in region play and owns the tiebreaker. Still, the Badgers are in the driver’s seat to make the state playoffs.
“We knew we would be here. We’ve been talking about this for a long time now,” Neveleff said. “The goal was to make it to the playoffs. The goal is to win the region… I think we underperformed in a few games this season. We should have had the lead going in, but I’ll take it, you know, it doesn’t matter. Win the region or not, we want to go to the playoffs and we want to win a state championship.”
Zach Neveleff and the Tucson High coaching staff had a stressful task trying to manage the clock late in the fourth quarter in a one possession game without a working clock on the scoreboard. @AllSportsTucson pic.twitter.com/agaKGGnSeU
— Kevin Murphy (@KevinMurfee) November 2, 2024
Chanez, a junior, says Neveleff has led the program in the right direction since becoming the head coach before last season and leading the team to a 5-5 record, an improvement from a 3-7 season under interim head coach Malcolm Nelson. Nelson replaced legendary coach Richard Sanchez who resigned a month before the 2022 season after coaching the program for a season.
“Zach (Neveleff) came here, of course, and completely changed around the culture. Completely changed around this Tucson High football team, and we just follow his way, and we’re really a family now,” Chanez said.
Noah Chanez returned the opening kickoff back for a TD, and scored a late rushing TD to seal the deal in a 34-21 win for Tucson High over Mountain View. @AllSportsTucson @ChanezNoah pic.twitter.com/5yoht7PntW
— Kevin Murphy (@KevinMurfee) November 2, 2024
Bruns praised Neveleff and the Tucson coaching staff for keeping the team poised to come away with the win late in the game.
“It’s an amazing feeling, changing our culture and really changing this whole team around,” he said. “The main thing is leadership and composure. Keeping that composure no matter what happens.”
Kevin Bruns had two rushing TDs in a 34-21 win over Mountain View. @AllSportsTucson pic.twitter.com/W5dTZ4gZHM
— Kevin Murphy (@KevinMurfee) November 2, 2024
Tucson jumped out to a 6-0 lead after Chanez ran the opening kickoff back 84 yards for a touchdown. A quarterback keeper from Wallace gave Mountain View a 7-6 lead with 5:29 to go in the first quarter. The Badgers regained the lead on a 1-yard rushing touchdown from Derek Mesa later in the quarter and extended its lead to 21-7 with a 1-yard rushing touchdown from Bruns with about eight minutes left in the second quarter.
Mesa completed 10 of 17 passes for 197 yards with two interceptions and a rushing touchdown.
Chanez had eight carries for 33 yards and a touchdown. He had three receptions for 56 yards.
Tucson plays at Nogales (0-9, 0-4) next Friday at 7 p.m.
Mountain View plays at Ironwood Ridge (8-1, 4-0) next Friday at 7 p.m.
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com writer Kevin Murphy was born and raised in Tucson, and has followed Arizona Wildcats athletics since childhood. Murphy is a journalist product manager with the Green Valley News & the Sahuarita Sun. He has a bachelor’s degree from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at ASU.
