2024 High School Football

Canyon del Oro notches shutout win over Amphitheater on Homecoming

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Cash Dickey and David Luke run off the field after Dickey had an interception in CDO’s 27-0 win over Amphi on Homecoming (Lori Burkhart/AllSportsTucson.com)

Friday Night Lights took on an elevated meaning in Dorado Stadium as fireworks lit the night sky for Canyon del Oro’s homecoming game against the Amphitheater Panthers.

The Dorados (3-1) returned home after consecutive wins over Bradshaw Mountain and Desert View.

By the end of the night, the winning streak was extended to three games as CDO’s defense was dialed in all night, resulting in a 27-0 victory over Amphi (1-3).

“They’re special, that group is really good you know it’s well coached on that side,” new CDO coach Scott McKee said. “Everybody’s hands on over there and those guys are experienced, so playing well defensively, which is what you want.”

One of the defensive stars for the Dorados was senior Eli Unsworth, who plays on the offensive line as well as the defensive line. Unsworth had some big stops and caused a fumble that the Dorados recovered.

“Our defense didn’t let up, we did have some scroll passes going but on the ground, when they ran the ball they couldn’t get much,” Unsworth said

CDO received the opening kickoff after Amphi won the coin toss and elected to defer.

With eight minutes to go in the first quarter, Reece Douglas hit a field goal to give CDO a 3-0 lead.

At the two-minute mark in the first quarter, CDO quarterback Gavin Bower found receiver Jayden Smith cutting up the middle for a touchdown, putting the Dorados up 10-0.

After Cash Dickey recorded an interception, Bower threw a perfect pass to Douglas, who ran through the corner of the end zone for another Dorados touchdown, giving CDO a 17-0 lead as the first quarter ended.

With 8:03 left in the half, CDO went up 24-0 after running back Nick Mondragon ran around the right side for a Dorado touchdown.

“Amphi was changing a lot during the defense, so the guys up front like last time were talking, were trying to relate to what we were seeing and they were playing really hard so it was a tough decision to make up front, hitting inside out and just banging up,” Mondragon said. “But you just gotta trust your linemen. You gotta make sure that they are doing their job. You’ve just gotta trust ’em and just keep going forward. Every yard is a positive gain.”

As time ran out in the first half, Douglas split the uprights, hitting a 46-yard field goal giving the Dorados a 27-0 lead — a lead that would hold for the rest of the game.

Douglas doesn’t just kick field goals and extra points, he also kicks off and catches touchdowns.

Douglas ended the night 3-for-3 on point-after attempts, made two field goals and caught a touchdown pass.

“The field goal before the half, that was big for us because we were trying to work a two-minute drill there,” McKee said. “We thought we could get one more play off before the timeout. We didn’t manage that as well as we would like to but to get the three points before the half is great.

“Then the other part is (Douglas is) kicking off the ball great. He was hitting five different plotted zones and he’s able to do that. Very special young man fortunate to have him.” .

“It’s more of a soccer kick than it is anything,” Douglas said. “(I am) making sure guys are all on the same line and making sure we all know what kick we are going to do because we have different kick packages.

“It’s really an offensive play, just I kick the ball, so I’m really just the quarterback in that set and that’s the way we all think about it. It’s just go hit a guy, go get the ball back if we can or just kick it in the end zone.”

Amphi, playing without injured quarterback Imanol Silva and running back Jacob Espinoza, was able to put together a drive in the third quarter that ended with a missed field goal.

If there was one dark spot in the game for the Dorados, it was the amount of penalties.

“We wanted to be a little bit more efficient in the game, (and) having the 12 penalties, that’s pretty bad.” McKee said.

“We weren’t a very clean football team. Winning football games is what the goal is so it’s good that you can get a win and you can go back to the room tomorrow and we can go get some things straightened up, which is really good for us.”

Next up: Canyon del Oro will host undefeated Marana (4-0) on Friday.

Amphi will host Cholla (1-3).

Both games start at 7:00 p.m.

Media Highlights:

With Arizona on a bye week, the Wildcats’ freshman fullback Kayden Luke was able to visit his old stomping grounds for the first time since he graduated. The Dorados’ state-champion running back and wrestler was happy to be back in Dorado Stadium.

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