No. 4 Marana secured a dramatic 34-27 home win over No. 20 Yuma Catholic in the second round of the 5A state playoffs Friday night, thanks to a 56-yard touchdown pass from Colten Meyer to Jaxsun Sharp with only 48 seconds remaining.
The final score capped a chaotic fourth quarter where the lead changed hands twice in the final two minutes.
Marana head coach Phillip Steward chalked the gritty win up to the team’s resilience under pressure.
“That defense, the offense, everybody, coaches — We didn’t stop fighting, we were going to be in a dog fight, because this is playoff football. You’re not going to beat people by 40, you’re not going to beat people by 60.”
Marana head coach Phillip Steward praises his team’s resiliency and Colten Meyer, who picked up his first high school playoff win. @AllSportsTucson pic.twitter.com/GFfovM3bZX
— Kevin Murphy (@KevinMurfee) November 15, 2025
Marana head coach Phillip Steward talks about the Tigers breaking through in second quarter, byes in the playoffs and a 10-game winning streak. @AllSportsTucson pic.twitter.com/GN0sX1GKBn
— Kevin Murphy (@KevinMurfee) November 15, 2025
Marana (10-1) had scored 17 unanswered points by halftime, but Yuma Catholic (7-5) chipped away at the lead and was trailing by five points when it recovered an onside kickoff with about two minutes to go. The recovery set up a 29-yard touchdown run from Jose Polk that gave the Shamrocks their first lead of the night at 27-26 with about 90 seconds on the clock. The Shamrocks’ two-point conversion attempt failed.
Starting from Marana’s 40-yard line, Meyer quickly engineered the final scoring drive that resulted in his third touchdown pass of the game to Sharp.
“It was a play that we’ve been running a lot at practice,” Sharp said of his game-winning touchdown catch. “We ran it earlier in the game and it worked, so I knew that it was going to come to me that play, and it ended up being successful.”
While Yuma Catholic managed to reach midfield on its final possession, Marana’s defense held firm to seal the victory.
Following a scoreless, back-and-forth first quarter, Meyer threw Sharp a 20-yard touchdown with about nine minutes to go in the second quarter. The Tigers then exploded in the final minute before halftime. Meyer found Sharp again for a 70-yard touchdown with 12 seconds left, followed soon after by a 33-yard field goal from Lucas Delgado, pushing Marana to a 17-0 halftime advantage.
Sharp’s success in the first half gave him lots of confidence going into halftime.
“I knew we were going to kind of run the same plays going into halftime and going into the second half,” Sharp said. “I was very confident. I think I played a really good first half.”
Jaxsun Sharp had 3 touchdowns including the game-winner against Yuma Catholic. @AllSportsTucson pic.twitter.com/pgn2LYs5Ir
— Kevin Murphy (@KevinMurfee) November 15, 2025
Yuma Catholic scored its first points of the game in the third quarter when Wesley Porter hauled in a 23-yard touchdown catch on the opening drive of the half to cut Marana’s lead to 17-7. Delgado opened the scoring in the fourth quarter with a 24-yard field goal to make it 20-7 game with about eight minutes remaining.
The Shamrocks then mounted their comeback when Yuma Catholic quarterback Nash Ott threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to Brody Amon, shrinking the deficit to 20-14 midway through the fourth quarter.
Meyer responded immediately, connecting on a 39-yard pass to Sean Roebuck, setting up a 44-yard touchdown throw to Jesse Howell to extend Marana’s lead to 26-14 after a failed two-point conversion attempt. But Yuma Catholic refused to quit. Ott’s 38-yard touchdown pass to Amon made it a five-point game at 26-21.
The Tigers have won 10-straight games since losing at Salpointe 20-18 in their regular season opener. Steward said the primary factor in the win streak is the team’s ability to stay locked in and avoid distractions, something he hopes will carry the team through the postseason.
“I told them, if we are able to stay focused, we will continue to play through these playoffs,” he said. “This week, we had some ups and downs, some things going on at school. We were able to stay focused, and they put it all together tonight, and we got out of here with a win.”
Yuma Catholic upset No. 13 Millennium 35-28 last week in the opening round of the playoffs.
“They were coming in this week to do the same thing, and our boys just fought all the way,” Steward said.
Marana beat Yuma Catholic 47-14 in week three of the regular season.
Marana hosts No. 5 Scottsdale Horizon in the quarterfinals of the 5A state playoffs next Friday at 7 p.m.
FOLLOW @KEVINMURFEE ON TWITTER! ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com writer Kevin Murphy was born and raised in Tucson, and has followed Arizona Wildcats athletics since childhood. Murphy is a journalist product manager with the Green Valley News the Sahuarita Sun. He has a bachelor’s degree from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at ASU.
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