Cienega controlled the game on both sides of the ball to defeat Mountain View 35-6 on Friday night, giving the Bobcats a much-needed win after losing consecutive games that went down to the last possession against Salpointe Catholic and Campo Verde.
“The kids did a tremendous job tonight,” Cienega coach Justin Argraves said. “Our main goal was coming in and putting together a solid first half, that’s something that we’ve struggled with the last couple weeks.
“That was our big focus, is coming on fire in the first half. Our kids executed well offensively, defensively, and special teams; in all three facets of the game, they did a tremendous job, so I couldn’t be more proud of them for tonight’s performance.”
When Cienega running back Cole McFarland scored a 7-yard rushing touchdown to put the Bobcats up 35-0 with under six minutes remaining, it was just icing on the cake for a win that was already in their pocket.
Cienega led 14-0 after its opening two possessions in which quarterback Brayden Cherry and the Bobcats’ offense marched down the field and scored on a 20-yard rushing touchdown from McFarland and a 15-yard touchdown on the ground from running back Ritchie McCormack.
It wasn’t just the offense that was clicking for Cienega. Two interceptions in the first half from Josiah Parker and Elias Santana paved the way to more opportunities on offense for the Bobcats.
“The offense was clicking today – the line was doing great, the receivers came down with a couple of really good catches, and our defense stood out. They were so good today,” Cherry said.
Cherry found tight end Brody Kallman in the end zone twice on a 28-yard completion in the second quarter, followed by a 14-yard connection midway through the third quarter to put the game well out of reach.
Mountain View running back Lloyd Johnson scored the Mountain Lions’ lone touchdown with under three minutes remaining in the game.
After the game, Argraves was satisfied with the win but made it clear that he was focused on taking the season one step at a time.
“We play every game week to week,” Argraves said. “We don’t want to look ahead, and we don’t want to look in the past. Right now, our focus was on Mountain View this week. We came out and were lucky enough to come out with the win against a great coached team.
“Come tomorrow morning, we’re looking forward to Ironwood Ridge — that’s our next opponent — we’ll enjoy tonight and get back to work tomorrow.”
Cherry completed 14 of 22 passing attempts for 229 yards and two touchdowns.
Kallman had three catches for 46 yards and two touchdowns.
McFarland rushed for 97 yards on 16 carries and had two touchdowns.
McCormack rushed for 52 yards on eight carries and had one touchdown.
Cienega (2-3) plays next at home against Ironwood Ridge (2-3) on Friday. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. Mountain View (1-4) plays Flowing Wells (3-3) at Tucson High on Saturday at 6 p.m.
ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com writing intern Kevin Murphy was born and raised in Tucson, and has followed Arizona Wildcats athletics since childhood. He is currently attending Pima Community College where he writes for the Aztec Press. Next semester he will be attending the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at ASU where he will work towards a Bachelor’s degree in Mass Communication and Media Studies.
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