Salpointe Catholic is one win away from playing for a state championship.
No, it’s not the prestigious Open Division tournament, which features the best teams of Classes 4A through 6A, but being in the 5A state semifinals is still an incredible opportunity.
No. 3-seeded Goodyear Desert Edge stands in the way of the No. 2 Lancers reaching that 5A title game.
The Scorpions (10-2) travel to Tucson this week after defeating Desert View in the quarterfinals. In that 31-13 victory, running back Christopher Cordero racked up 154 yards and quarterback Adryan Lara threw for 185 passing yards, hitting receiver Gavin Parks for two touchdowns.
To shut down that balanced attack, the Lancers (10-2) will need to build off their performance in the 45-42 quarterfinal win over No. 7-seeded Scottsdale Notre Dame Prep. The defense had a brilliant first half, holding an explosive Saints offense to just seven points.
“We’ve got some really strong seniors on that defense and the underclassmen do everything they can,” quarterback Treyson Bourguet said. “Everybody works together, putting together a team effort to achieve a team goal.”
Receiver Dylan Dreis turned in one of his best performances, hauling in four catches for 94 yards and two touchdowns. He’s been a go-to option for Bourguet, even though Dreis is new to the position this year.
Scottsdale Notre Dame Prep's Gavin Smith is tackled by Salpointe Catholic's Cruz Rushing, left, during the Lancers' win last week. Salpointe will face a balanced offense in the semifinals when it faces Goodyear Desert Edge on Friday.
A converted quarterback, the 6-foot-4 senior still serves as Bourguet’s backup, which might be why there is such a strong connection between the two.
“Me and Treyson have worked on it a lot,” Dreis said. “We’ve worked on it every practice, every game, and he just trusts me to throw it up. I’ll get it.”
Next man up
Anthony Wilhite topped the 1,000-rushing yard mark earlier this season, becoming just the third Salpointe running back to do so in the past nine years.
Of course, now-Texas Longhorn Bijan Robinson topped the mark three straight years from 2017-19, and Robinson replaced Mario Padilla, who as a sophomore, ran for 1,427 yards in helping the Lancers reach the state title game in 2015.
When Salpointe won the state title in 2013, it had a stable of backs, including future Arizona Wildcat Cam Denson, Jay Williams and Zach Dorame. So can Wilhite, now up to 1,305 rushing yards with 18 touchdowns, be enough?
His teammates seem to think so.
“He’s such an amazing person off the field, that when he comes onto the field, it surprises you,” Bourguet said. “Like ‘Dang, someone can be someone can be so awesome off the field and even better on it.’ That’s the type of athlete he is.”
Bright future
For a moment, it seemed like Canyon del Oro’s Cinderella season had at least one more chapter.
But with 26 unanswered points, No. 4 Glendale wiped out the No. 13 Dorados’ 14-0 first-quarter lead and ended their season in the 4A state quarterfinals. Still, coach Dustin Peace had to return to Oro Valley happy.
His young, inexperienced group went from 0-3 start to 7-5, and found some key future contributors along the way. Junior quarterback Caden Dawes completed 11 of 16 passes for 151 yards and sophomore running back Kayden Luke topped 180 rushing yards for the second straight playoff game.
“Throughout the season we were like hey we’re good and we’re going to be good if we just do this or that,“ Peace said. “But there it started clicking and it showed for them.”
Special seniors
This senior class at Desert View will have a place in school history.
When they arrived as freshman, the program went 3-7 for the second consecutive year, but as sophomores, they helped the Jaguars to a winning record. After COVID-19 led to just three games last fall, two of which Desert View won, the Jaguars (10-2) responded with a magical 10-win season in 2021 and their first playoff victory since at least 2003.
The team’s 17 seniors were at the heart of that turnaround. Quarterback Oscar Barraza developed as a passer, finishing well over 1,000 passing yards despite being struggling against Buckeye Verrado and Salpointe earlier in the year.
Safety and wide receiver Enrique Cancio controlled in the air on both sides of the ball, and running backs Serge Gboweiah, Carlos Alvarez, and Abdulahi Yusuf fueled a rushing attack that could dominate the line of scrimmage. Defensive end Alvaro Chaparro anchored the defensive line with nine sacks and Carlos Arvizu racked up 74 tackles as a linebacker.
Steady improvement
Cienega began coach Justin Argaves’ first season by losing 49-6 at Peoria Sunrise Mountain.
From there, all the Bobcats (8-4) did was improve, winning at Verrado in the first round of the 5A state playoffs before losing 45-21 at No. 1-seed Scottsdale Horizon in the quarterfinals. In fact, after that disappointing season opener, Argraves’ offense scored 21 or more points in 11 straight games.
“The offense has just done a great job of getting better and better each week,” Argraves said. “Just as a whole, they’ve done a tremendous job.”
