Two 40-yard touchdown receptions by Dezmen Roebuck in the first half opened up the floodgates for the offense, and the defense wreaked havoc all evening in a 48-0 shutout road win for Marana over Canyon del Oro on Friday night.
The Tigers remain undefeated at 5-0.
It was yet another statement win for Marana this season in a gauntlet near the top of the schedule that has squared the Tigers off with multiple perennial powerhouses.
Marana opened the season with a win against Salpointe at home, snapping the Lancers’ 27-game winning streak against Southern Arizona teams, and beat defending back-to-back 5A state champion Gilbert Higley earlier this month in Marana.
Friday’s opponent, CDO, went undefeated last season, including a 49-21 win at Marana, on its way to the 4A state championship — the program’s fourth state title in school history. While CDO graduated 29 seniors last season, the Tigers coming on the road to shut out the Dorados in a commanding fashion was nothing to scoff at.
“It means a lot to us. The boys, they want a revenge tour. Everybody that beat us last year, we’re going back after them,” Marana head coach Phillip Steward said. “I’m proud of the boys to want to come out and fight each week. Our motto each week is to go 1-0, and this week we were able to go 1-0. That’s going to be our theme going forward, and hopefully, we can keep getting some wins.”
Roebuck stressed the significance of winning at CDO but said it’s on to the next game. Marana’s next opponent, Sunnyside, beat the Tigers 17-6 last season.
“Going into the season, we knew what we wanted to do, and we knew what it would take to do this. It just feels good, and we need to keep going,” he said.
Dezmen Roebuck had two 40-yard TD receptions in the first half that got the offense going in a 48-0 win for Marana at CDO. @AllSportsTucson @MaranaFB pic.twitter.com/Qo63MGqLI7
— Kevin Murphy (@KevinMurfee) September 28, 2024
Roebuck’s 3,521 career receiving yards entering the game ranked him eighth in state history, needing only 17 yards to surpass Cameron Denson (3,537 yards, Salpointe Catholic, 2010-13) in seventh place and a close distance behind Gunner Romney, who had 3,629 with Chandler from 2015-17.
John Henderson, who tallied 3,665 yards with Yuma Catholic from 2016-18, is next.
Roebuck also entered the game with the state’s career receiving record with 291 receptions.
Game stats for Marana had yet to be released at the time of publication of this story.
The game against CDO was scoreless for most of the first quarter. An interception by CDO’s Brenden Lawrence on the game’s opening drive and three penalties stalled out Marana’s next possession.
Junior quarterback Colten Meyer connected with Roebuck for a 40-yard touchdown pass with just over a minute remaining to get Marana on the board. The pair connected again from 40 yards out to extend Marana’s lead to 14-0 midway through the second quarter. Following the touchdown, Marana recovered an onside kick, and soon after, Darian Dewitt extended Marana’s lead to 21-0 with a 19-yard rushing touchdown. With 37 seconds remaining in the half, Dewitt’s 5-yard rushing touchdown gave the Tigers a 28-0 lead over CDO (3-2) at half.
“We started off with a lot of flags. The penalties is what was killing us in that first half,” Steward said. “I think once we settled down into the game and got to running our offense, I think we were fine after that… I think we did well as a whole — special teams, defense and offense.”
Marana head coach Phillip Steward talks up the defense first after the Tigers shut out defending 4A state champions CDO 48-0 on the road to move to 5-0. @AllSportsTucson @MaranaFB pic.twitter.com/UHDzqUPAYo
— Kevin Murphy (@KevinMurfee) September 28, 2024
An interception by Dominic Olivas on CDO’s opening drive of the second half eventually led to a 1-yard quarterback keeper from Meyer to extend Marana’s lead to 35-0 on the ensuing possession. Meyer threw his third touchdown of the game later in the quarter when he connected with Dominic Cillito on a 32-yard completion, and Moses Miller capped off a drive with a 2-yard touchdown run with just over 6 minutes remaining.
“It was a great win to come here to CDO. We know we had targets on our back from all the stuff we’ve done at the beginning of the season and beating all the big teams,” Meyer said. “So, we know we were going to get their best here, but we came out with the dub.”
Colten Meyer talks about what it means to be 5-0 and his big night leading the team on offense in a 48-0 win at CDO. @AllSportsTucson @MaranaFB pic.twitter.com/76cfvnT5j6
— Kevin Murphy (@KevinMurfee) September 28, 2024
Steward was particularly impressed with the run defense and the defense as a whole, as he has been of late, saying the Tigers must depend on it to have a chance at winning a state title this season.
Marana beat Mountain View 46-13 last week and held Tucson High to seven points in a road win on Sept. 6.
“Our defense has been dominant. It’s been dominant for the past few weeks, and it’s given our offense an opportunity to keep putting up points,” he said.
Marana next plays at Sunnyside (2-3) on Friday at 7 p.m.
CDO has a bye next week and hosts Catalina Foothills (0-5) on Oct. 11.
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