Sabino 26, Sahuaro 7
A safety, of all things — one that came as a result of a penalty 16 minutes into the game — was all that Drew Dixon and the Sabino football team needed to come to life on Friday night.
The visiting Sabercats erupted for 21 points in the third quarter after a quiet first half and held off east-side rival Sahuaro for a 26-7 victory. (See box score below).
Dixon rushed 12 times for 63 yards and two touchdowns and completed 9 of 10 passes for 110 yards and a score.
“We were a little nervous in the beginning but once we ran a few sets, we just started clicking,” said Dixon, a junior who was making his second start at quarterback. “It’s a really great win because the seniors hadn’t beaten Sahuaro yet and us juniors helped beat them so we felt really good about that.”
The Sabercats earned a bit of revenge Friday, a year after losing to the Cougars.
They also gained some credibility. Sabino notched a power-point win and improved to 2-0. The Sabercats play at Buckeye Verrado next Friday while Sahuaro (1-1) is off until it hosts Canyon del Oro on Sept. 11.
“This puts us in a good position,” Sabino coach Jay Campos said. “Obviously we have an even bigger challenge next week up at Verrado but this is young team. (Players were) relatively inexperienced coming into the year, but we’re getting better each and every week.”
The Sabercats have now won their showdown against Sahuaro 11 times in the last 12 years. Meanwhile, Sahuaro hasn’t won consecutive meetings since wrapping up a three-win run in 1991. Since then, Sabino has won all but four meetings, two of which came in the state playoffs. The victory on Friday night was a first for several Sabino seniors.
“We lost to them freshman year, sophomore year and junior year and we finally got them back,” senior wide receiver/defensive back Jake Gormally said.
Sabino went up 2-0 after Sahuaro quarterback Stephen Miller was flagged for intentional grounding in end zone; the play resulted in a safety.
On the second play of Sabino’s ensuing possession, Dixon broke loose for a 25-yard gain, giving the Sabercats a first down at the 3-yard line midway through the second quarter. Until that point, they had not recorded a first down.
Consecutive negative rushes moved Sabino back to the 5 and it was ultimately forced to settle for a 21-yard field goal by Bennett Nottingham. However, the stage was set for the next half with Sabino leading 5-0.
“They were playing it pretty much on our side of the field and we couldn’t get any breaks,” Campos said. “All of the sudden we get that safety and that flipped the momentum of the entire game.”
Gormally returned the opening kick of the third quarter to Sabino’s 33 before a pass inference call on third down gave Sabino new life at its own 44. On the next snap, Dixon flew up the middle for a 56-yard touchdown, giving the Sabercats a 12-0 lead after the extra point by Nottingham.
“That was big,” Dixon said. “I feel like that got us a lot of momentum our way.”
Sahuaro, which also couldn’t get much going offensively in the first half, ended up punting away its first possession of the third quarter. Just when the Cougars were about to get the ball back, a botched punt return gave Sabino the ball inside the 20.
Despite being slowed by cramps, Dixon ran for an 8-yard touchdown four plays later, pushing Sabino’s lead to 19 points.
Sahuaro got back in the game when Nikolas Fountain returned the ensuing kickoff 67 yards for a touchdown.
But the Sabercats were quick to respond, this time on a 47-yard aerial connection between Dixon and Nottingham.
“It was a rough loss, plain and simple,” said Alec Valenzuela, a senior who led Sahuaro with 82 rushing yards.
“We killed ourselves mentally; we didn’t practice the way we should have and we didn’t come out the way we should have played.”
Daniel Gaona
