Salpointe tackle football’s second half turnaround wasn’t enough for the Lancers after Phoenix Sandra Day O’Connor posted a dominant first half.
No. 13 O’Connor (3-1) beat No. 11 Salpointe (2-2) 36-7 after jumping out to a 29-0 lead at the half at Ed Doherty Stadium on Friday night.
“Well obviously in the first half they came out and punched us in the mouth there,” said Salpointe head coach Pat Ryden. “And we weren’t ready to play, that’s a good football team though.”
However in the second half, Salpointe cut the Eagles’ lead to 29-7 before O’Connor senior quarterback Brodie Moore ran for a 28-yard touchdown.
“We told the guys at halftime, you either come out and play and have some fight and have some pride or they’re going to blow us out,” Ryden said. “So, I think our guys picked it up in the second half.
“We did some good things, but we can’t spot teams a 29 point lead and expect to win games.”
Moore also passed for touchdown and O’Connor senior running back Jeremy Adeyanju ran for scores of 7 and 2 yards.
Sophomore tight end/defensive end Ilijah Kee caught a 9-yard touchdown for Salpointe, from sophomore Drew Paglinawan. Senior Aiden Robinson relieved Paglinawan for a couple drives before Paglinawan returned to pass for the score.
Kee said the second half was more representative of the Lancers but they still could have played better.
“I feel like second half, we just picked it up and we just played better as a team,” Kee said. “And if we would have started the way we came out second half, I think would have had a way better game.”
It was Senior Night at Salpointe, whose class of 2027 boasts 22 members. The Lancers won the 6A Central in 2024, going 4-0 and last season they reached the 6A semifinals.
“Our senior class has been terrific,” Ryden said. “There’s a lot of guys in that senior class, great leadership.
“Yeah, they’ve done a tremendous job, can’t say enough about them.”
Next week the Lancers close out their four-game home stand when they host Gilbert Highland (1-3) for Homecoming.
SHORT READS
— Salpointe debuted new yellow helmets, the first time they have worn that color lid in years.
“It was just something that we talked about over the summer and really, we were hoping that these would be here for our first game and obviously they weren’t,” Ryden said. “We thought (Friday night) would be a good night to roll them out, but who knows, maybe it was a distraction.”
— According to AZFootballArchives.com, it’s the first meeting between O’Connor and Salpointe and it was the Eagles’ first game against a Southern Arizona team since they beat Tucson 47-0 in 2019.
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