High School football: CDO, Ironwood Ridge, Salpointe, Amphi among 7 area teams eying region championships

The Eastern Arizona kids showed their Tucson counterparts a little something yet again Friday night.

Morenci (Class 3A, No. 11) upset Sabino (3A, No. 4) 31-28, while Thatcher (3A, No. 16) held off Pusch Ridge Christian (3A, No. 8) 16-10 in local high school football action featuring teams from Tucson and surrounding areas.

The wins for Morenci and Thatcher came two weeks after the pair defeated the opposite Tucson 3A counterpart (that night it was Morenci over Pusch Ridge and Thatcher over Sabino).

All four teams are at 6-3 overall on the year with a singular regular season game left each, but Thatcher and Morenci have separated themselves in the race for the 3A South region crown. That region’s standings after Friday night:

1. Thatcher (6-3, 3-0)
2. Morenci (6-3, 3-0)
3. Sabino (6-3, 2-2)
4. Safford (4-5, 1-2)
5. Pusch Ridge (6-3, 0-3).

Even with Pusch Ridge falling for the third time in four games, the Town of Oro Valley’s aggregate win-loss percentage is still a whopping .840 on the year; the teams are 21-4 combined thanks additionally to Canyon del Oro (4A, No. 2; 8-0 overall) and Ironwood Ridge (5A, No. 8; 7-1 overall). Both are unbeaten in region play and with 4A Kino and 5A Sonora crowns, respectively, within reach.

On Thursday, Canyon del Oro dispatched Pueblo (4A, No. 34; 3-5 overall) 46-7, while Ironwood Ridge shutout Nogales (5A, No. 45; 0-8) Friday, 45-0.

In one of the more anticipated matchups of the week — a game that included University of Arizona football coach Jedd Fisch and UA assistant coaches in tow on the sidelines with the Wildcats’ on a bye week — Salpointe Catholic (6A, No. 12) defeated visiting Phoenix Mountain Pointe (6A, No. 16) 35-26. Salpointe improved to 7-1 on the year in a bounce-back effort after being blown out a week ago by nationally-ranked Peoria Liberty in the Phoenix region’s West Valley.

Upsets were marginal overall this time around, but in additional Morenci’s win over Sabino, there were still a couple in terms of how teams came in ranked via the Arizona Interscholastic Association’s calculations. Those included Palo Verde (2A, No. 40) defeating Catalina (2A, No. 34) 34-14, while Sahuarita (4A, No. 52) defeated Rincon/University (4A, No. 44) 21-0.

The biggest upset of the night, in terms of those AIA rankings, was Cienega (5A, No. 27) knocking off Buena (5A No. 7) 17-6.

With all teams having either one or two games left, area teams currently in first place in their respective regions include:

• 6A Central: Salpointe (7-1, 3-0)
• 5A Sonoran: Ironwood Ridge (7-1, 3-0) or Mountain View (4-4, 3-0)
• 4A Gila: Amphitheater (6-3, 4-1)
• 4A Kino: Canyon del Oro (8-0, 3-0) or Walden Grove (6-2, 3-0)
• 2A San Pedro: Tanque Verde (7-2, 4-1).

The entire scoreboard of Tucson-area results from this past week:

Class 6A

• No. 12 Salpointe Catholic (7-1) 35, No. 16 Phoenix Mountain Pointe (5-3) 26

Class 5A

• No. 13 Casa Grande (6-2) 14, No. 19 Sunnyside (4-4) 12
• No. 27 Cienega (4-4) 17, No. 7 Buena (6-2) 6
• No. 34 Tucson High (3-5) 35, No. 41 Flowing Wells (1-7) 28
• No. 21 Marana (3-5) 49, No. 26 Desert View (3-5) 8
• No. 28 Mountain View (4-4) 42, No. 35 Maricopa (3-5) 14
• No. 8 Ironwood Ridge (7-1) 54 at No. 45 Nogales (0-8) 0

Class 4A

• No. 2 Canyon del Oro (8-0) 46, No. 30 Pueblo (3-5) 7
• No. 11 Walden Grove (6-2) 49, No. 20 Catalina Foothills (3-5) 34
• No. 38 Empire (4-4) 21, No. 39 Cholla (4-5) 10
• No. 5 Mica Mountain (7-1) 55, No. 34 Sahuaro (2-6) 20
• No. 28 Amphitheater (6-3) 38, No. 35 Rio Rico (3-5) 7
• No. 52 Sahuarita (2-6) 21, No. 44 Rincon/University (2-6) 0

Class 3A

• No. 11 Morenci (6-3) 31, No. 4 Sabino (6-3) 28
• No. 6 Thatcher (6-3) 16, No. 8 Pusch Ridge Christian (6-3) 10

Class 2A

• No. 8 Tanque Verde (7-2) 30, No. 17 Peoria Glendale Prep (6-3) 3
• No. 40 Palo Verde (2-7) 34, No. 34 Catalina (3-6) 14

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Local Highlights

Canyon del Oro 46, Pueblo 7 (Thurs.)

Canyon del Oro leapt up to No. 2 in the Class 4A conference, and somewhat surprisingly No. 3 in the AIA's "Open" rankings after the Dorados' win last week over Mica Mountain. CDO kept that unbeaten train running down the tracks on a short week this week, dispatching Pueblo 46-7. At 8-0 overall, CDO may just find itself missing out on the 4A playoffs — but only because the Dorados may be considered strong enough to match up wiht 5A and 6A powers in the Open bracket. 

For dozens of images from this game, a full photo gallery from Star photographer Kelly Presnell:

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