No. 4 Pusch Ridge (11-1) vs. No. 1 Queen Creek Franklin (11-1)
Date: Saturday
Site: Mesa High School
Kickoff: 6 p.m.
Pusch Ridge coach: Kent Middleton (45-12, fifth year at Pusch Ridge and overall). Coached Lions to their third semifinal appearance in his five years as coach. Only fourth Pusch Ridge team to reach 11 wins in the 28-year history of the program.
Franklin coach: Danny Norris (18-5, second year at Franklin; 55-30 overall in eighth season with previous stops at Phoenix North Pointe and Gilbert Christian). Coached Franklin to its third semifinal appearance in the 12-year existence of the program.
When Pusch Ridge has the ball:
Run percentage: 61 percent (339 rushes)
Pass percentage: 39 percent (217 passes)
When Pusch Ridge suffered its lone loss, 31-7, at Franklin on Sept. 6 (second game of the season), the Lions had only 106 yards of total offense, by far its worst performance of the season and likely worst of the Middleton era. … Senior QB Jacob Newborn is one of the top dual-threat players at his position in the state, passing for 1,787 yards (128 of 207 with 26 touchdowns and six interceptions) and leading the Lions in rushing with 610 yards (91 carries, 13 touchdowns). … Senior RB Blake Reed, a physical back at 5-foot-11 and 200 pounds, has rushed for 530 yards on 94 carries and has 10 touchdown runs. … Newborn does not rely heavily on one target — Nata Campa (40 receptions, 534 yards, seven touchdowns), Elliot Lovett (27 catches, 496 yards, eight touchdowns) and Dominic Painter (28 receptions, 460 yards, eight touchdowns) are all viable options. … Franklin senior LB Ashton Grant has amassed a phenomenal 115 tackles, 22.5 tackles for loss with 7.5 sacks. He also has three interceptions. He led the Chargers with seven tackles, two for loss, in the win over Pusch Ridge in September. … Senior DE Chase Judd leads Franklin with 11 sacks and has 12.5 tackles for loss and fellow senior DE Tyler Davison has 18.5 tackles for loss. … Senior LB Jono Wilcox also has 12.5 tackles for loss. … S Ty Sather leads the Chargers with four of their 17 interceptions.
When Franklin has the ball:
Run percentage: 63.2 percent (306 rushes)
Pass percentage: 36.8 percent (178 passes)
Sophomore QB Gavin Wyler has completed 110 of 165 pass attempts for 2,001 yards with 27 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He threw for 232 yards while completing 17 of 25 pass attempts with two touchdowns and no interceptions in Franklin’s win over Pusch Ridge in September. … Senior RB Ridge Allen is one of the 3A’s top rushers with 1,486 yards on 182 carries. He has 20 rushing touchdowns. In the win over Pusch Ridge two months ago, he rushed for 154 yards on 14 carries. … Four receivers have at least 300 yards, led by junior Talan Speir’s 594 yards on 17 receptions with seven touchdowns. … Pusch Ridge’s defense is stout allowing only 34 points in the Lions’ 10-game winning streak since the loss to Franklin. The Lions have six shutouts this season and could have earned another in last week’s 38-6 first-round win over Surprise Paradise Honors but the Panthers scored a touchdown as time expired. … The defensive front has three players with at least 20 tackles for loss, led by 26 each by senior defensive ends Aaron Kenworthy and Charles Palmer. Kenworthy has seven sacks and Palmer 6.5. … Senior LB Tyler Shoaff, who leads the team with 117 tackles, has 20 tackles for loss. … Pusch Ridge has made 19 interceptions, led by five from senior LB Noah Miller and four from Lovett, a cornerback.
Series record
Pusch Ridge leads 2-1 with the schools splitting meetings the last two years — 34-7 win for Pusch Ridge at home and this year with Franklin winning 31-7 at Queen Creek — and their 3A semifinal game in 2017 with the Lions winning 47-7. Pusch Ridge lost to Queen Creek Casteel 35-28 in the championship game the following week.
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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 five years ago and is presently a special education teacher at Gallego Fine Arts Intermediate in the Sunnyside Unified School District
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