2024 High School Football

The Mooney Team High School Football Report: Ironwood Ridge rides momentum of blocked field goal return to 38-17 win over Flowing Wells

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Grant Dooling, center, runs toward a blocked field goal he recovers and returns for a touchdown on Friday night. (Lexie Fegan/All Sports Tucson)

Ironwood Ridge scored the go-ahead touchdown on a blocked field goal to close out the first half and scored 21 points in the third quarter, running away to a 38-17 road win over 5A Sonoran foe Flowing Wells on Friday night.

With the game tied 10-10 in the waning seconds of the second quarter, Flowing Wells attempted a 38-yard field goal that Samuel Kleving blocked, and Grant Dooling recovered and returned for a touchdown after time expired to give Ironwood Ridge a 17-10 lead and lots of momentum going into halftime.

“It was huge. The locker room was hyped after that, and it really changed the game around for sure,” Dooling said.

The Nighthawks had tied the game on the team’s previous possession when Matthew Kroner scored a 52-yard touchdown on a sweep play.

Ironwood Ridge head coach Dale Stott said the blocked kick returned for a touchdown just before half was a crucial boost but credited Kroner with lighting a spark under the team.

“The play that set that up was the jet sweep that we scored on that put us tied, and then that blocked kick was just gravy,” he said. “So, that was a huge momentum swing for us, and we came out and rode that momentum in the third quarter.”

An interception by Corbin Crosby early in the third quarter kept things rolling for the Nighthawks. Later in the quarter, Ironwood Ridge quarterback Jaiden Martinez connected with Dooling for an 11-yard touchdown pass on a broken play to extend the Nighthawks’ lead to 24-10.

Corbin Crosby intercepts a pass in the third quarter. (Lexie Fegan/All Sports Tucson)

Ironwood Ridge (5-1, 1-0) finished the third quarter with two rushing touchdowns from Martinez — a 30-yard quarterback keeper and a 4-yard run set up by a fumble by Flowing Wells (3-3, 0-1) on a kickoff return deep in its territory.

“Going into half with that field goal block, that brought us a lot of intensity. We came out, and we came out really strong,” Martinez said.

Jaiden Martinez had two rushing touchdowns and one touchdown pass on Friday night. (Lexie Fegan/All Sports Tucson).

Kroner says the way Ironwood Ridge pulled away from Flowing Wells in the second half was a testament to the team’s resilience.

“Flowing Wells is a good team, and we really came out here and made a statement against them,” he said.

Stott gave kudos to his defense, which forced multiple turnovers and began to stifle the Flowing Wells offense in the second half.

He said the Flowing Wells triple option-heavy offense was hard to replicate in practice.

“We don’t see it very often,” he said. “It was hard to adjust to the speed that they run that, and our defense took a little while, but when they caught on, they did a really good job.”

Ironwood Ridge took a 3-0 lead in the first quarter on a 26-yard field goal before a 2-yard rushing touchdown from Jayden Simmons gave Flowing Wells a 7-3 lead early in the second quarter.

A 39-yard field goal later in the second quarter gave Flowing Wells a 10-3 lead.

Alfredo Guzman scored on a 4-yard rushing touchdown for Flowing Wells late in the fourth quarter.

Ironwood Ridge next plays at Tucson High (4-1) at 7 p.m. on Oct. 11. Flowing Wells hosts Mountain View (2-2) at 7 p.m. on Oct. 11.

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