GOODYEAR — A couple of failed fourth downs might have changed the way the game went but as it was, Desert View’s historic season ended on Friday night.
The No. 6-seeded Jaguars, who won 10 games for the first time in school history, had a hard time getting their offense going and fell to third-seeded Goodyear Desert Edge 31-13 on Friday in the Class 5A quarterfinals.
Desert View couldn’t convert late in the first half, allowing Desert Edge to score before halftime and then were stopped on fourth-and-goal at the 5 in the second half when a touchdown would have turned the game into a one-score deficit.
“The play was good, it was a just a good effort,” Desert View coach Robert Bonillas said of the fourth-down play with 2:40 left in second quarter and the Jaguars down 13-7. “Had it gone our way then we are not talking about being down by two scores.”
The Scorpions (10-2) — whose only losses this year have been to to No. 1 Scottsdale Horizon and Glendale Cactus, who was the fourth seed in the Open Division — advance to the semifinals to play at Salpointe Catholic.
“I think we just made a few more mistakes than the other team, we could have capitalized a little bit better,” Desert View quarterback Oscar Barraza said.
Despite a slow start, Desert View (10-2) had a chance to turn the game around late in the first half after dodging a bullet as Desert Edge missed a 32-yard field goal attempt. But the Jaguars failed to convert a fourth-and-4, Oscar Barraza’s pass going incomplete, intended for Jah-Li Govan. Desert Edge used the short field to score before halftime, regaining momentum and taking a 19-7 lead at intermission.
“I don’t regret anything we did, I think there was a little bit of miscommunication with me and the receivers,” Barraza said. “That’s it.”
Desert View did cut the lead to 19-13 in the third quarter, taking advantage of good field position after a shanked punt. Carlos Alvarez ran it in from the 4 with 4:36 left in the third quarter for the Jaguars.
But a long run back on the ensuing kickoff gave Desert Edge another short field and then again went up by two touchdowns just 1:24 later.
Desert View then drove the length of the field and had a fourth-and-goal at the 5 but Serge Gboweiah could only get a couple of yards on a run play and the Jaguars couldn’t recover.
The Jaguars’ only other loss this year was to Salpointe, the second seed in 5A.
Desert View had not had a home playoff game in two decades before last week’s win over another Goodyear school, 11th-seeded Millennium.
Desert Edge has been in final stages for the last four years, losing in the first round of Open Division tournament last season, was the state runner up in 4A in 2019 and lost in the 2018 semifinals.
“Just a great group of kids that worked together to the end, we just fell short of the goal,” Bonillas said.
