QUEEN CREEK — The No. 17 Salpointe Catholic Lancers had a joyous bus ride back to Tucson on Friday night after defeating the no. 16 Queen Creek Bulldogs 23-8 in the first round of the 6A playoffs. It was a gritty game, coming down until the final minutes when Salpointe was eventually able to secure the win.
“We had a great week of practice,” Salpointe coach Pat Ryden said. “Our defensive coaches did a great job right there and obviously our offense came alive right there and got us some yards when we needed to.”
“We came in locked in,” senior running back Alon Deon said. “We were ready, prepared. We studied a lot and we just came out today ready to play.”
“The coaches spend hours studying the other team and they really put us in a great spot,” senior Axel Martinez said. “We knew everything, kinda had the answers to the test.”
Breaking Down the Game
Queen Creek won the opening toss and elected to defer, putting Salpointe’s offense out on the field first.
The Lancers were able to start out with a bang, with quarterback Rayce Alvarez finding David Rushing for a 41-yard reception on just the second play of the game. From there, Alvarez and Chris Chaney were trading off on runs to move the chains before Alvarez was able to reach the end zone on a 9-yard run. The extra-point attempt was blocked by Ty Hill, making it 6-0 Salpointe with 8:29 remaining in the first quarter.
Feeding off the offensive energy, Salpointe’s defense went out and forced a quick three-and-out for Queen Creek.
On Salpointe’s following possession, the Lancers were making their way down the field, but a fumble was recovered by Queen Creek’s Tustin DeWitt, giving the ball back to the Bulldogs at the 32 yard line with 4:18 remaining in the first quarter.
The Bulldogs weren’t able to progress with the ball, settling for a field goal attempt, but the kick was no good.
Salpointe took over at its 20 with just around 30 seconds left to play in the first quarter, but its possession would be short-lived, as the Lancers were forced to punt with 10:35 left before the half.
Queen Creek took over at its 44 and started making its way down the field, but a pick by Martinez was nearly returned for six before being fumbled into the end zone and recovered by Deon for a touchdown. The kick from Troy Kuhlman was good, making it 13-0 Salpointe on top with 7:38 remaining before the half.
“From my view, my boy Axel Martinez got that ball and he started running, and once we get the ball back we’ve got to go help him,” Deon said. “We picked up some blocks, he fumbled at the end but I had to go get the ball and we still made a play.”
The next three possessions all were three-and-outs, but Queen Creek put an end to the punting with Colton Cox picking off Alvarez.
Salpointe answered with an interception of its own, though, as Jake Bondi came down with the ball at the 1 with just 7.6 seconds remaining before the half, preventing Queen Creek from putting any points on the board.
The Bulldogs got the ball coming out of the half, but Salpointe’s defense was hungry for another stop. Despite letting Queen Creek reach the red zone, the Bulldogs fumbled and tackle Noah Banhie was able to jump on the ball for the recovery.
Salpointe took over at its 19 with 5:20 left in the third quarter and began its push down the field. While the Lancers weren’t able to reach the end zone, they were able to tack on three more points with a field goal from Kuhlman to make it 16-0 with 2:07 remaining in the third quarter.
Queen Creek’s following possession saw some spark that seemed to be lacking in previous drives, as it knew it needed to act quickly if it wanted to keep its season alive. Reaching the end zone, quarterback Sawyer Hales connected with Brody Chapman for the touchdown before also connecting with Bear Fisher for a successful two-point conversion. With 11:22 remaining, it was 16-8 Salpointe on top.
The Lancers got the ball back and made their way down the field, but not without having to overcome a slew of penalties setting them back. Despite the flags, the Lancers were able to prevail, reaching the end-zone on a run by Deon with 3:02 remaining. The kick from Kuhlman was good, making it 23-8 with 3:02 remaining in the game.
“That was a great job by Alon to come in, you know, as Alon hasn’t played running back in a couple weeks, but he’s different when he’s healthy,” Ryden said.
“I’m just ready to help the team in any way, so I’m grateful,” Deon said.
Queen Creek had a small window remaining to strike back, but the Bulldogs struggled to execute, with Martinez coming down with his second interception of the night with 2:20 remaining in the game.
“Defense has been playing good all year,” Martinez said. “We’ve always created takeaways and tonight was my turn, so it felt good.”
From there, the Lancers were able to run out the remaining time left on the clock before kneeling it down to end the game.
“They’re a very well-coached football team,” Ryden said about Queen Creek. “They’re huge up front and physical, and we knew it was going to be a very physical game and they did a great job. Hats off to them.”
What’s next
Salpointe will hit things hard this week starting with putting in work over the weekend. Coach Ryden said he was planning to give the kids the day off on Saturday, but the kids want to be there so they’re going to practice.
“We’re gonna come in at 8 a.m.,” Ryden said. “I was going to give them the day off tomorrow, but kids want to come in at 8 a.m. and watch video and get ready for next week, so we’re just going to get back going tomorrow.”
Ryden says the kids desire to be there shows how hungry they are for the work still to be done this season.
“You know, we finished the season 5-5, they know there’s a couple games out there we probably should have won and we’re a little disappointed about that, so I told them, ‘It’s a new season and you’ve gotta win four [games] and it’s one week at a time,’ and they’re excited.”
“We just want to get better,” Martinez said. “Offense, defense, special teams; All of us as a group just want to get better and that’s what we’re going to do.”
The Lancers, who have now been re-seeded as No. 8, will take on the top-ranked Phoenix Pinnacle Pioneers in a rematch from earlier this season in the 6A quarterfinals.
Last time the two faced off, Pinnacle got the best of the Lancers, picking up a 28-21 win in a close game.
The 6A quarterfinal game will be played Friday at 7 p.m. at Pinnacle High School.
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