Sabino rolled to its second straight win over East-side rival Sahuaro on Friday night.
The Sabercats (4-2) jumped out to a 20-0 lead in the first quarter at Sahuaro and held on to win 34-22.
“We knew all the way through the week that it was going to be a four-quarter game,” said Sabino coach Ryan McBrayer. “This a tough-nosed team over here. They’re not just going to lay over and let us take a win at their house. This is a lot of pride over on the East side when these two teams meet so we knew we were going to have to fight all the way through.”
The Sabercats have won five of the last seven in the rivalry series.
“It felt pretty good,” said Sabino sophomore quarterback Cameron Hackworth. “We came out here really confident. We knew what we had to do, get our assignments done and i feel like we got that done.”
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Hackworth led the way for Sabercats, going 11-for-15 passing for 224 yards with four touchdowns and one interception. He also led Sabino in rushing, running for 49 yards on eight carries.
“Cameron’s a stud,” McBrayer said. “He made his reads that he needed to, got the ball to where they wanted and it showed.”
Six Sabercats caught passes, led by senior Isaiah Aguirre, who three catches for 77 yards and two touchdowns.
After two losses in a row, the Sabercats have won two consecutively, including a 48-0 win over Phoenix Bourgade Catholic 48-0 last week.
McBrayer said Tucson public schools are behind due to their very short 2020 seasons and their players not gaining much experience last year, but that Sabino is catching up.
“We’re starting to find our sledding,” McBrayer said.
Sahuaro dropped to 0-3. The Cougars’ original first game of the season, a home game against Pueblo, was postponed to Oct. 29 from Sept. 2. Then last week their road game at Desert View was canceled.
Sabino was No. 12 in the first AIA rankings, which were released Tuesday. The Class 4A and above rankings will debut Oct. 12.
Next week Sahuaro hosts Catalina Foothills (1-4). Sabino travels to No. 10 Pusch Ridge (5-1).
“I think we have a pretty dang tough schedule all the way through,” McBrayer said. “Pusch Ridge is the real deal.”
