Nov. 6: No. 4 Ironwood Ridge 34, No. 13 Sunnyside 30
The stage was set for another monumental first-round upset.
Sunnyside took its first lead against host Ironwood Ridge on a 51-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the fourth quarter Friday night. The Nighthawks had yet to score in the second half and it looked like the Blue Devils had pulled all the momentum to their sideline (see box score below).
But then Jared McKemy pulled it right back.
The I-Ridge senior receiver and defensive back caught a go-ahead 44-yard touchdown pass — his third of the night – less than 90 seconds after the Devils scored.
Then, the fourth-seeded Nighthawks pulled away from there and held off a late rally to beat No. 13 Sunnyside 34-30 and notch their first postseason victory since the 2012 Division II state championship game.
Ironwood Ridge (10-1) hosts fifth-seeded Tempe Marcos de Niza next Friday with a trip to the Division II state semifinals on the line. The Nighthawks rallied for a 35-24 road win against the Padres back on Oct. 16.
“It’s hard to play a team twice but we’ll be in the film room, we’ll study it,” said senior Harrison Beemiller, who passed for a touchdown and caught another. “We’ve got to come out hard and play tough.”
Sunnyside quarterback Nick O'Hagin (3) gets some comfort from a teammate after the Blue Devils fell 34-30 to Ironwood Ridge in the first round of the DII state playoffs at Ironwood Ridge High School, Friday, Nov. 6, 2015, Oro Valley, Ariz. Kelly Presnell / Arizona Daily Star
Until junior quarterback Cole Gerken rolled to his left and found McKemy wide open for score with 10:08 left in the fourth quarter on Friday night, it looked like I-Ridge was doomed for a third straight first-round elimination. Sunnyside stunned the Nighthawks 35-14 last fall and I-Ridge lost at Marcos de Niza 28-16 in the opening round of the 2013 postseason.
“To be honest, it was pretty scary,” McKemy said about Sunnyside taking the lead. “That’s what happened pretty early in last year’s game. So as soon as they got up, we got a little scared. But, with out backs against the wall, we started to fight and got lucky.”
Gerken completed 10 of 13 passes for 237 yards and four scores while McKemy finished with 152 yards on four catches, including two first-half touchdowns to help I-Ridge take a 21-8 lead.
“I wanted it bad,” McKemy said about getting redemption. “Since the day we saw we were playing them, as soon as we lost last year I wanted it.”
Behind senior quarterback Nick O’Hagin, Sunnyside (6-5) inched its way back into the game. O’Hagin scored on a 1-yard plunge with 3:20 left in the third quarter and hit Ruben Figueroa for the two-point conversion to make the score 21-16.
After a three-and-out by I-Ridge, O’Hagin needed just five plays before he found Daniel Hernandez open for a 51-yard touchdown pass. Then his run on the two-point attempt put the Blue Devils up 24-21
I-Ridge took it from there.
Gerken and the Nighthawks needed just four plays to retake the lead. And an interception by Beemiller on Sunnyside’s next possession set up a 15-yard touchdown pass from Gerken to Daniel Peabody, putting I-Ridge up 34-24 with 5:09 to play.
“It’s a great win but we have to go on to next week and stay hungry,” Peabody said. “The first round is the first round. We want to go to the state final, that’s our goal.”
O’Hagin, who had a career day with 150 yards rushing and 137 yards passing, connected with Jorge Dabdoub for a 9-yard touchdown with 2:20 remaining but the Blue Devils were unable to get the ball back again.
“I didn’t execute my job at a high level,” said O’Hagin, who had a hand in all four Sunnyside touchdowns but threw three interceptions. “Yeah, I had some plays here or there but I had some mistakes as well, which were costly turnovers. They’re a great team; I wish I could be happy but we expected more.”
Daniel Gaona
