2024 High School Football

Frog & Firkin Friday Football: Buena-Marana clash exemplifies surge in Southern Arizona football

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Marana’s Rigo Perez does his customary flip entering the field with the Tigers (Javier Morales/AllSportsTucson.com)

The drama Friday night involving No. 1 Marana’s tussle with No. 10 Buena — two talented teams coached as well as any teams can be coached — is the kind of game that is the norm among Phoenix-area powerhouses week to week.

Southern Arizona coaches and players are embracing this type of high-level competition that makes teams in these parts believe they can stack up to teams up north.

“Hats off to Buena, they played us good and we needed that,” Marana coach Phillip Steward said after his team emerged with a 51-38 victory in a game that was in doubt with less than 2 minutes left. “I think both teams needed that going into the playoffs — a game like that, because that’s how the games are going to be going forward.”

Marana, 9-0 overall, claimed the 5A Southern title with the win at 4-0 heading into the regular-season finale Friday at Desert View. Buena is 6-2 and 2-1.

The Tigers are the No. 1-rated team in the whole state of Arizona, atop the Open Division, much to the chagrin of some in the Phoenix area, although Marana is measured the same as any other 5A or 6A team in the state by the Arizona Interscholastic Association.

Legendary coach Jeff Scurran said during the “Eye on the Ball” radio show Wednesday that he is hearing coaches in the Phoenix area questioning Marana’s legitimacy as the No. 1 team in the Open Division “because of who they play.”

Well, here’s a look at some of the best Southern Arizona schools that do not take a backseat to many teams up the road:

– Salpointe, rated No. 14 in the state among 6A teams, dominated a Phoenix team rated higher — No. 12 Mountain Pointe — in a 29-7 win on the road Friday night.

– Southern Arizona’s 5A contingent is impressive in the power ratings with nine teams among the top 25, including four top 10 teams — Marana (No. 1), Ironwood Ridge (No. 5), Tucson (No. 8) and Buena (No. 10).

– CDO dominated the state last year en route to a 4A state title at 14-0. Mica Mountain is a strong contender for the 4A championship this year at 8-0 overall and rated No. 5 at that level. Walden Grove has won six straight games and is No. 10 in the 4A. The Red Wolves host the Thunderbolts on Friday in one of the top games in the state.

– No. 7 Pusch Ridge is a top challenger for the 3A state title at 8-1 after upsetting No. 1 Thatcher 22-7 in a dominating win on the road Friday night.

– Bisbee is at 8-1 and ranked No. 6 among 2A teams behind dual-threat quarterback Sebastian Lopez, who if he played at the 4A to 6A level would be a favorite to win the Ed Doherty Award.

– Desert Christian, in its first year of football, has advanced to the quarterfinals of the 1A (eight-man football) state playoffs after routing Williams 56-16 in a first-round game Friday night.

“They can play with anybody, whether it’s the rest of the season or the playoffs,” Buena coach Joe Thomas said about his message to the team after Friday night’s game. “We just have to know we can come out and get it done. Just come out and leave no doubt.”

MARANA OWNS FOURTH QUARTER AGAIN

Marana trailed entering the fourth quarter for the third time this season. The Tigers trailed 24-17 against Salpointe before prevailing 27-24 in the season opener. Marana was down 28-13 to Higley before a 23-point outburst in the fourth quarter carried the Tigers to a 36-28 win.

Buena led Marana 35-28 when the fourth quarter started Friday night.

Four plays into the quarter, Colten Meyer connected with Dezmen Roebuck on a 14-yard touchdown pass with 11:09 left to tie the game at 35.

“We’ve all been in this moment — Salpointe, a little bit for Higley. None of us had our head down,” said Meyer, who completed 27 of 43 pass attempts for 363 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. “We all knew that we were going to go down and get that score and win.”

Andres Bonilla’s 19-yard run in Buena’s subsequent possession helped the Colts get in position for a 38-yard field goal by Alan Marturello, who made all five of his PATs and nailed this field goal to put his team ahead 38-35 with 6:29 remaining.

Colten completed all three of his attempts in Marana’s next possession, including a 33-yard connection to freshman sensation running back Jeffrey Smith III. Two plays later, Smith scored on his fourth rushing touchdown of the game, a 1-yard run to give Marana a 42-38 lead with 5:21 left.

Smith scored on a 59-yard run on the second play of the game and finished with 117 yards on 23 carries. He also had six receptions for 85 yards.

Although only a freshman, Smith’s performance symbolizes how all of Marana’s players rise to the occasion.

“We said that at halftime, most of the boys, the seniors were like, ‘Hey, we’ve been in games like this,'” Steward said. “We came back in the second half roaring. We settled down and realized, ‘Hey, this is a game.’ They (Buena) gave us their best shot and we just relaxed and played football the second half.”

After Marana’s defense forced Buena into a three-and-out, placekicker Andres Taylor made a 26-yard field goal to increase the Tigers’ lead to 45-38 with 1:31 left. Taylor also made all six of his PATs.

Marana shut the door after a sack by Hayden Utley forced a fourth-down situation at Buena’s own 10. After a pass interference call on the Tigers, safety Moses Miller intercepted a pass and returned it 35 yards for the pick-6 with 20.1 seconds left for the 51-38 margin.

“I dropped a pick before, so in my head I was like, ‘I have to make a play,'” Miller said. “Big players make big plays … if it was coming to my vicinity, I was gonna go pick it.”

BUENA RALLIED FROM A TWO-TD DEFICIT IN THE FIRST HALF

Buena trailed 14-0 after Marana scored on its first two possessions — on the 59-yard run by Smith and Smith again running it in from 4 yards following a 16-yard completion from Meyer to Roebuck.

The Colts cut the lead to 14-7 on Nash Moore’s 10-yard completion to Jayden Thomas (Joe Thomas’ son) with 10:32 left in the second quarter.

Meyer completed 5 of 7 passes for 57 yards in the next possession, capped by Thomas’ 8-yard touchdown run that put the Tigers ahead 21-7 with 6:42 left in the half.

The last three minutes of the half had a scoring barrage of four touchdowns.

A personal foul call against Marana on a third-down play aided Buena in a drive that resulted in a 10-yard touchdown run by Moore with 2:54 remaining in the second half.

After Marana had a three-and-out, Buena scored on a 2-yard run by Michael Lujan following a 35-yard pass from Moore to Jayden Thomas. The game was tied at 21 with 1:32 left in the half.

Marana’s first play in the next possession was a 65-yard touchdown pass from Meyer to Chris Acuna with 1:23 remaining.

Moore was 5 of 6 for 55 yards in Buena’s last possession of the half, capped by a 10-yard pass to Bonilla to tie the game with 12.3 seconds left.

Buena had possession to open the second half and scored on Moore’s 27-yard pass to Anthony Rivera to take a 35-28 lead with 9:31 left in the third quarter.

The Colts then mustered a field goal the rest of the way. Buena was forced to punt on three other possessions and Miller ended the Colts’ last meaningful drive with the pick-6.

“We’re upset right now,” Joe Thomas said. “We’re going to get after it. The teams that come play us the next couple of weeks, they better be ready to go because we don’t like this feeling.”

MARANA’S D WAS THE DIFFERENCE

The Tigers’ defense adjusted to Buena’s onslaught at the end of the first half and the early part of the third quarter.

At one point in the second half, Buena completed one of 13 pass attempts for 10 yards. The Colts also had only 44 yards rushing in the second half.

“For us to be good like that, our defense has to be great,” said Steward, who played linebacker at Houston under former Arizona coach Kevin Sumlin before playing with the St. Louis Rams of the NFL. “For us to win a state title, we have to have a good defense. For us to have them give us extra possessions and the key stops, it’s key for us on offense.”

On Friday, Marana will end the regular season at Desert View (2-6, 0-3) while Buena hosts Sunnyside (3-5, 0-3) in what will be the return to Sierra Vista of former Buena standout Thomas Romack — now the Blue Devils’ head coach.

ROEBUCK RECORD WATCH

Roebuck’s unofficial count of 10 receptions for 103 yards puts him at 323 career receptions (building on his state record) with 3,980 yards.

He is now second in state history with his career receiving yards, surpassing NFL receiver Christian Kirk (3,943 yards at Scottsdale Saguaro from 2011-14). Arizona freshman Brandon Phelps amassed 4,971 yards at ALA-Gilbert North from 2020 to 2023.

“It means a lot to me knowing when I came here to Marana, it wasn’t really known,” Roebuck said. “To put Marana back on the map means a lot to me.”

Roebuck undoubtedly could have chosen to transfer to a Phoenix-area school to get noticed with more resources, people and media in that area. Thankfully, for Marana and Southern Arizona, he chose to stay with the Tigers’ program.

“I’m so blessed to have these coaches and all of these guys around me,” he said. “I thank the Lord every day that I came here and didn’t go somewhere else.”

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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon. He became an educator in 2016 and is presently a special education teacher at Sunnyside High School in the Sunnyside Unified School District.

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