The Aztecs had a great reason to celebrate Friday night. After defeating Desert Ridge 26-19, and then Westview, 20-19, they not only had a back-to-back winning streak but won more games—three—than they had the last two years.
Jasper “Jazzy” Schineller’s two PAT kicks demonstrated why every point is important when her kicks proved to be the difference in the one-point win, 20-19, over Westview on Sept. 27.
After Westwood took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter, the Aztecs came on strong in the second quarter with two rushing touchdowns, one by sophomore sensation Anyale Velazquez, the other by junior Scott Musgrave.
Schineller made both PAT kicks to put the Aztecs up 14-7 at the end of the first half.
In the third quarter, Westview scored a touchdown but failed to tie the game after the Knights’ kicker missed the PAT.
Entering the fourth quarter, behind 13-14, the Knights scored a rushing touchdown to take a five-point lead at 19-14 but did not make their two-point conversion attempt.
The rest of the fourth quarter was a defensive battle until the Aztecs’ Bryce Douglass caught a 13-yard pass from Corona’s quarterback Quade Swearingen to give the Aztecs a 20-19 win.
The Westview game was not Swearingen’s best passing game but he still managed to pass for 113 yards, 53 of those to senior Eric Blackwell.
Velazquez was the leading rusher with 19 carries for 98 yards and one touchdown.
On special teams, Jean Boyd III had a 41-yard kickoff return and Jack Farley had a 25-yard kickoff return.
Swearingen punted the ball five times with an average of 37 yards a punt.
Miles Sheppard was the leading tackler for the Aztecs with seven solo and three assisted tackles for a total of 10 tackles followed by Jake Schmitt with nine tackles, Tyson McLain with seven and Boyd III with six.
Alex Rafalski had the only interception.
The Aztecs had a 3-3 record heading into their conference game at home on Oct. 4 against Queen Creek.
Corona’s eighth game of the season will be another home conference game, this one against Highland, on Oct.18. The game is supposed to be a live broadcast on the NFHS Network but check maxpreps.com to verify when it gets closer to date.
Marcos de Niza football
The Padres, with a 3-2 record, are on a two-game winning streak after defeating Tempe, 28-7, on Sept. 20 and then crushing Moon Valley, 49-15, on Sept. 27.
The Padres’ junior quarterback, Antonio Hernandez, only passed the ball 92 yards against Moon Valley, but it seemed unnecessary to pass the ball when Marcos had seven players carry for a total of 430 rushing yards.
The offensive player of the game had to have been senior running back Yakeen Baylis, who gained 202 yards on 14 carries with two rushing touchdowns, one of those a 50-yard run.
Baylis was not the only one to carry the ball for long yardage. Anthony Brown returned a kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown just before the half.
Brown also carried the ball eight times for 42 yards and scored an additional five points as the team’s PAT kicker.
Senior Matt Canada rushed 51-yards to score a touchdown, and junior Jayden Calderon carried the ball seven times for 117 yards and one touchdown.
Canada was also the leading receiver on the team, gaining 52 yards on just two receptions.
On special teams, senior Julius O’Banner had a 62-yard and a 33-yard kickoff return.
The Padres’ defense played well against the Rockets, with 65 total tackles, six quarterback sacks, nine passes defensed and one caused fumble and one recovered fumble.
If Baylis was the offensive player of the game against Moon Valley, then junior Schofar Hill had to be the defensive player of the game.
Hill was the leading tackler on the team, with six solo and six assisted tackles for a total of 12 tackles. He was credited with three tackles for a loss and 2.5 quarterback sacks. Hill also caused one fumble with Ayden Tuchfarber recovering one.
Senior Dante Kircher-Myton had four solo and on assisted tackle for five total, along with two sacks, while Durham Goodman had one sack and Jakob Vandorn was credited with .5 sacks. Senior Malaki Corella was credited with two points for a safety.
Marcos will play at home the last four games of the season.
Up next, the Padres were due to play their sixth out of 10 regular season games on Oct. 4 in a conference game against Seton Catholic, which is 4-1 on the season.
On paper, the Sentinels have the edge in the passing game, but the Padres more than make up for it in their rushing game making the average total yards per game about the same.
No defensive statistics were available for Seton so it’s impossible to predict that aspect of the game.
After Seton, the Padres will play Poston Butte on Oct. 11, Saguaro on Oct. 18 and Mesquite on Oct. 25.
Cross Country
Corona, and often McClintock, have been competing in cross country meets every weekend since Aug. 31, when the Aztecs competed at the Two- Mile Time Trial, then Sept. 7 at the Chandler Invite, Sept 14 at the Ojo Rojo Invitational, Sept. 21 at the Doug Conley Invite and Sept. 27 at the Nike Desert Twilight XC Festival.
Some of the highlights from Corona and McClintock results follow.
At the Chandler Invite, Corona’s boys freshman team took first place with a score of 10 while McClintock’s freshman boys placed second with 17 points.
Corona’s Tyler Tisinger placed second in this race, bested only by McClintock’s Taven Sanders, who won the 5,000-meters freshman race.
The rest of Corona’s freshman racers included Andrew Davies-Boerner, third place; Diego Frausto, sixth place; Grant Murad, 16th; and Ben Brower.
McClintock’s other freshman racers included Cole Bolen in seventh; Andrew Rodriguez in 12th; and Mario Menchaca.
Corona’s girls team finished fifth in the 5,000-Meters Sophomore event with 49 points.
Ashlinn Aguayo crossed the finished line in ninth place, followed by Sachiko Devine, Leah Gunter and Tatum Cobles.
McClintock’s girls team placed third in the 5,000-meters junior event, with Selema Ortiz
as the first Charger to cross the finish line. Ortiz placed 10th, followed by Ella Zeiders in 11th. Other McClintock racers included Olivia Fisher, Rachael Pabst and Alexia Moreno.
Corona’s junior girls took fourth place behind the McClintock team, with Jade Bare crossing the finish line first for both teams, with a fourth-place finish. She was followed by Peyton Burnside, who was 15th, then Teadora Zawilak, Tienna Thomas and Audrey Ritzert.
In the senior boys division, Corona’s team placed second with 30 points behind Perry High School.
Zachary Johnson was the highest place finisher for Corona in second place, with a time of 16:33.37. He was followed by Dominic Arellano in fifth place, Conner Zook, Daniel Nichols and Riley Welch.
At the Ojo Rojo, Corona’s freshman boys and Corona’s varsity boys runners both finished in third place.
In the freshman race, Davies-Boerner took second place followed by Frausto in fourth, Murad in 12th, Brower and Cole Zook.
In the varsity division, Johnson was the second runner to cross the finish line. He was followed by teammates Arellano in 10th place, Tisinger, 25th, Conner Zook and Callum Rohrer.
The Doug Conley was held at Shalimar Golf Course this year, at which Corona’s boys team took sixth place in the 5,000-meters Elite division. Johnson took fifth place, followed by Arellano, Conner Zook, Tisinger and Bennett Gunning.
McClintock’s girls team took third place in the 5,000-meters Invitational division, with Zeiders beating out Ortiz to take 10th place. Ortiz finished 13th with Mariska Bogaard in 18th place followed by Amelie Land and Fisher.
