Few high school running backs in Arizona have put up the early and late-season numbers that Queen Creek American Leadership Academy’s Jermiah Boyd has.
The slight sensation, who measures just 5 feet 9 inches and 160 pounds, had 100-plus yards in four of his first five games, and four of his last five games, too, piling up 638 rushing yards since Oct. 21.
In fact, in the midst of a 1,439-yard campaign, there has been just one week in which Boyd has truly been stuffed, and that came way back in Week 2, when Sabino limited him to 83 yards on 20 carries.
And now, the top-ranked Sabercats have to figure out a way to do it again on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. at Scottsdale Chaparral High School.
“He’s very explosive; he had one big play, broke one for 40 for a touchdown,” Sabino coach Jay Campos said. “He’s going to get some big ones. We have to make them drive down the field. That’s going to be the key.”
Campos has been around the block a few times; he knows that when it comes down to the title fight, there are more keys than a locksmith.
Another one: contain the other Boyd, Jermiah’s brother Bujon, who had five catches for 106 yards and a score in the team’s first matchup.
“They’ve got some fantastic athletes, let’s face it,” Campos said. “Their skill level is off the chart. They’ve got a kid going to BYU (defensive end/tight end Donovan Hanna), the Boyd brothers, and the quarterback is a phenomenal athlete.”
That quarterback, senior Dallin Edwards is back in the saddle for this go-round after missing the first matchup because of a broken collarbone.
The Sabercats will counter with Alex Bell, who has surged late in the season after a mid-year swoon. Bell has 566 yards and six touchdowns passing the last two weeks to carry Sabino into the finals. He helped engineer a major comeback last weekend, as the Sabercats found themselves down two scores early to Show Low. Sabino scored 23 points in the second and third quarter, respectively, to pull out the win.
“Last week, a lot of teams would’ve folded up,” Campos said. “But no one panicked, no one lost composure. We found a way to get it done.”
Can they do it again this week, and send Campos off to coaching mini-retirement on a good note? Campos is shifting to an administrative role as assistant principal and has agreed to relinquish the coaching reins for at least the near future.
He’s got one game left, for now, and against a team he anticipated playing way back at the beginning of the year.
“The top two teams in 3A are playing on Saturday night, he said. “It’s not like somebody had an easy bracket. They were a good team then and we knew it. I told Coach Edwards after the game, and I said my guess is we’ll see each other again. It was no question at the time.”
