No. 5 Phoenix Thunderbird (10-1) at No. 4 Mica Mountain (11-0)
Date: Friday
Kickoff: 7 p.m.
Thunderbird coach: Matt Nalette (38-26, sixth season at Thunderbird and overall). Coached Titans to quarterfinal round last two seasons.
Mica Mountain coach: Pat Nugent (31-9, fourth season at Mica Mountain; 169-66, 22nd season overall). Nugent attempting to advance to his sixth trip to the semifinals in his career. He reached the championship game with CDO in 2007, when the Dorados lost a close one to Scottsdale Saguaro 23-21.
When Thunderbird has the ball:
Run percentage: 67.3 percent (353 rushes)
Pass percentage: 32.7 percent (171 passes)
Thunderbird is certainly run-oriented with senior Elijah Little the second-leading rusher in the state with 2,146 yards on 231 carries, an average of 9.3 yards per rush. He has rushed for 33 touchdowns. In last week’s 49-20 victory over Prescott Valley Bradshaw Mountain in the first-round game, he ran 22 times for 283 yards (226 in the first half) with five touchdowns. … Senior QB Andrew Cohill has completed 97 of 169 pass attempts for 1,513 yards with 14 touchdowns and five interceptions. His top target is Little’s little cousin, Daryl Little II, a freshman who has 524 yards on 25 catches with nine touchdowns. … Mica Mountain’s strength is its defense, which has given up only seven touchdowns all season and has allowed the Thunderbolts to outscore the opposition 430-50. … Mica Mountain, led by defensive coordinator Brett Darling, has an incredible eight players with at least 30 tackles. LB Broden Schmidt, a junior, is the leader with 68 tackles. DE Jimmy Leon is next with 53, 19.5 for loss. Leon has 13 sacks this season and 35 in his career. … Junior S Riley Carson leads the Thunderbolts with five interceptions. … Mica Mountain has forced 30 turnovers (14 interceptions and 16 fumbles recovered).
When Mica Mountain has the ball:
Run percentage: 60 percent (274 rushes)
Pass percentage: 40 percent (183 passes)
Mica Mountain senior QB Jayden Thoreson has passed for 1,204 yards after compiling 2,304 last season but Thoreson has played mostly clean with only two interceptions and 19 touchdowns. He has completed 86 of 162 pass attempts. … The Thunderbolts’ running game took a hit with Conner Hangartner suffering a season-ending knee injury in the season opener. RB Josiah Thornwell has stepped up to gain 745 yards on 99 carries with 12 touchdowns. RB Jordan Perry has contributed 468 yards on 76 carries with five touchdowns. … Leon is also the starting tight end, and he leads the Thunderbolts with 300 yards on 22 receptions with 11 touchdowns. … Thunderbird’s defense also has eight players with at least 30 tackles, including four with at least 60. LB Ryan Kavalami leads with 65 tackles, 21 for loss. LB Lex Galaviz (62), DE Mason Fosu (62) and LB Talan Flores (61) each have at least 60 tackles. … Flores, Kavalami and Fosu each have eight sacks. … The Titans have only six interceptions this season, led by two by senior S Tucker Fogelson.
Series record
First meeting between the schools.
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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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