Sahuaro’s defense stood its ground, but in the end, it could only slow, not stop, Canyon del Oro’s three-headed monster in the backfield.
Quarterback Montana Neustadter and running backs Stevie Rocker and Gavin Davis combined for 207 rushing yards on 44 carries in Friday’s 21-7 victory for the Dorados. While Davis had the fewest yards of the trio, 62 on 12 carries, he had the most important ones, punching in a 2-yard touchdown on third down with 3:19 left to seal the win.
“It’s a pretty simple package, I get the ball, find a hole and plunge in,” Davis said. “It worked well I think.”
As the final whistle blew, CDO coach Dustin Peace let out a sigh of relief.
One of the program’s biggest victories in the last decade, which puts the Dorados at 7-0, looked far from certain after a mistake-filled, scoreless first half.
Neustadter had a costly fumble at the 1-yard line, scooped up by Sahuaro safety Izaiah Grisby with less than two minutes left. It seemed like a devastating blow, but CDO got the ball back just four plays later when defensive end Chase Randall brought down Sahuaro punter Julian Atilano, who fumbled the snap for a turnover on downs at Sahuaro’s 15.
The Dorados couldn’t capitalize in the 28 seconds left before half as receiver Cory Bonstrom dropped a pass in the back of the end zone, Rocker was tackled for an 8-yard loss and confusion on the final play resulted in an unblocked Jordan Bunting crushing Neustadter for a 3-yard sack.
Peace spiked his headset in frustration.
“Once I came off the field, everybody just told me to shake it off,” Neustadter said. “I was still upset about it. It’s really tough. In the locker room we came together as one and just said, ‘If we keep our heads up, we’ll be fine.”
Aside from two runs, where Izaiah Davis hurdled a defender and raced for 39 yards in between the hashmarks and Jamir Gasaway eluded everyone on a 69-yard touchdown, Sahuaro’s explosive offense was rather quiet. The Cougars (6-2) were held to just 119 yards on their other 33 plays, which played into coach Scott McKee’s decision to punt from his own 38-yard line, facing fourth-and-7 with 4:55 left.
“We weren’t moving them well enough up front to just dictate when you were going to do that,” McKee said. “In years' past, we’d lineup and have the confidence we were going to (go for it). Right now, it’s a helter-skelter thing up front.”
The play turned into a complete disaster as the ball was snapped over Atilano’s head, and CDO tracked him down at the 10-yard line. Davis took over and guided the Dorados to their best start since winning the state title at 14-0 in 2009.
“I had no idea that year we were going to be 14-0,” Peace said. “This resembles that a little. Our defense is so solid that we just stay in games and eventually, we’re able to open it up.”
CDO visits fellow unbeaten Salpointe Catholic (6-0) next week, while Sahuaro is off before visiting Casa Grande on Oct. 25.
