Tucson earned its first win of the season, 27-16 over host Walden Grove, in a gritty defensive battle Friday night.
“Going 0-2 the first two weeks was not the best feeling, and we know we could produce better games, so we knew coming out here and getting that W felt good as a team,” Tucson senior wide receiver Noah Chanez said.
Things weren’t clicking for Tucson’s offense in the first half. On the first drive, Walden Grove senior linebacker Angel Armenta intercepted a pass, setting up the Red Wolves at Tucson’s 30-yard line.
Angel Armenta picks off Derek Mesa.
The Tucson defense did not allow the interception to keep it down.
On a third-and-long, senior linebacker Dominic Drow and senior defensive tackle Taysean Romero would get to junior quarterback Gauge Abalos for the combined sack. That forced Walden Grove (1-2) to punt instead of kick a field goal.
Tucson’s second drive made it all the way to midfield before the Walden Grove defense swarmed senior running back Makoa Pena, stopping Tucson on fourth down. Walden Grove took advantage of the great field position by scoring on a 35-yard pass by Abalos to junior wide receiver Jordan Dobson, giving the Red Wolves a 7-0 lead to end the first quarter.
Gauge Abalos connects with Jordan Dobson for the first points of the game.
Starting the second quarter, Walden Grove attempted a fake punt. Tucson’s special teams were all over the fake, setting up their offense on Walden Grove’s 36. On the drive, Tucson (1-2) slowly got Chanez, a returning all-region player, involved, starting the drive with an 18-yard run up the middle.
Walden Grove’s defense had a bend-but-don’t-break mentality, forcing Tucson to settle for a field goal attempt.
Tucson ran a fake instead with Chanez, who ran sideline-to-sideline to get the first down for Tucson. With a new set of downs to work with, Tucson capitalized with a touchdown run from Pena to even the score.
Noah Chanez’s big plays against Walden Grove
Walden Grove answered back, marching down the field by pounding the line with the running game, eventually scoring on a 29-yard pass from Abalos to senior wide receiver Kylian Knight. The Red Wolves retook the lead.
Tucson tried to respond and force a tie at halftime, but the physicality Walden Grove brought in the first half was too much. Walden Grove was efficient in all three phases of the game, giving it a 13-7 lead going into the locker room.
Abalos launches it to Kylian Knight for Walden Grove’s second touchdown.
Both defenses continued to hold strong in the second half. Walden Grove looked like it was going to put some separation from Tucson after blocking a punt deep in Tucson territory. Tucson held strong again, forcing Walden Grove to kick a field goal, extending the lead to 16-7.
As the third quarter wound down, the Tucson offense started to wake up.
Derek Mesa hit Chanez on a short route that ended up going for 51 yards, thanks to the speed and agility of Chanez, putting Tucson at Walden Grove’s 30. One play later to start the fourth quarter, Mesa used his legs, running it in from 30 yards to cut the lead to 16-14.
Derek Mesa runs it in to start the 4th quarter.
In the next series, the Tucson defense got the stop it needed to get the ball back to its offense. As it looked like Walden Grove would get a stop on 4th and 2, Mesa threw a floater to Chanez for a 55-yard touchdown, giving Tucson its first lead of the night with over eight minutes to go in the game.
“Derek Mesa does a great job. He sees that they’re blitzing, calls the hot, Noah’s one-on-one with a linebacker. I’ll take Noah Chanez all day one-on-one over a linebacker,” Tucson coach Zach Neveleff said.
Walden Grove tried to respond and retake the lead, but a huge pass breakup by the senior cornerback Kenzy Couch on fourth down gave the ball back to a Tucson offense that started firing on all cylinders.
Kenzy Couch breaks up a potential touchdown on 4th down.
To secure Tucson’s first win of the year, Mesa handed the ball off to Chanez, who took off from 65 yards for the score, putting the game out of reach for Walden Grove.
“I kept telling them to stay focused on the main goal, which is always to have more points on that board. The first half, they had more, but you just got to keep going and fighting. At the end of the day, we were able to put up more,” Chanez said.
Tucson will look to build off the win next week, traveling to Sierra Vista to play Buena.
Walden Grove will also hit the road to play Vista Grande in Casa Grande.
Both games take place on Friday at 7 p.m.
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