High School football: CDO/Mica Mountain lives up to hype; Dorados last unbeaten Tucson-area team

And then there was one.

Canyon del Oro stuffed late a two-point conversion try by previously-unbeaten Mica Mountain Friday night, sealing a 17-15 win over the visiting Thunderbolts in Oro Valley — and propelling the Dorados into next week as the only Tucson area high school football team still unbeaten this season.

Entering Friday, the Class 4A Dorados and Thunderbolts, as well as 6A Salpointe Catholic, were 6-0.

CDO is now 7-0 while Mica Mountain fell to 6-1 with the loss in what was correctly billed as the game of the week going in; Salpointe, meanwhile, also lost for the first time in 2023, dropping to 6-1 after being blown out 49-0 on the road at Peoria Liberty.

CDO’s Sa’Kylee Woodard getting into the backfield for a sack on Mica Mountain’s late two-point try proved the biggest play in a game that had a number of key moments, even despite the relatively low score.

“Man, there’s so many, just, feelings running through my body. That was a very emotional game,” Woodard said. “Vengeance. We had a lot on our slate. We’ve been preparing since we took the “L” last year.

“For me to get a moment and an opportunity to make a play, it feels surreal,” he added. “I felt it coming. I was telling myself — I was shaking on the line — I was like, ‘I’m about the make the play. I need to. I need to.”

The Dorados and Thunderbolts traded first-quarter touchdowns (CDO’s a 4-yard run by Kayden Luke; MM on a 10-yard catch by Jack Bradley) and went into the half with Mica Mountain up 7-6.

With the Thunderbolts leading 10-7 (thanks to a 22-yard Landon Hubbard field goal late in the third) heading into the fourth, that’s when CDO coach Dustin Peace went into his back of tricks. Reece Douglas would kick a 21-yard field goal to put the Dorados up, 10-9, but only after that was set up by a 46-yard halfback pass from Chase Laux to Chance Cassell.

“I’m not a trick play kind of guy. You just kind of have that one tucked away. Sometimes you never even use it all year. We thought we’d use it on that,” Peace said. “Worked out. Kind of opened up the game a little bit for us and got us closer to where we needed to be.”

A few minutes later, Luke scored for a second time, putting CDO up 17-9 after the Douglas extra point.

Down eight, Mica Mountain pushed the ball into CDO territory, eventually putting six on the board after Jayden Thoreson threw a 3-yard touchdown to tight end Jimmy Leon.

That’s when Woodard and the CDO defensive front put an end to the Thunderbolts’ efforts to tie the game in the waning seconds, stuffing that fateful two-point try to send the Dorados winners at 7-0.

Thoreson ended the night completing 15 of 24 passes for 202 yards and a pair of touchdown throws in defeat for the Thunderbolts, while Luke carried the bulk of the load for the Dorados, finishing with 151 yards on 27 carries and those two touchdowns.

“It kind of lived up to that close game that we thought it was going to be,” Peace said of the matchup of teams both likely to have something to say about how the Class 4A championship will play out later this season.

In Salpointe’s loss in Peoria, the Lancers fell behind 28-0 late in the first quarter against Liberty, the No. 1 team in the Arizona Republic’s Super 10 ranking for much of the 2023 season.

Facing one of the best pair of edge-rushing duos in the state in Salpointe’s Keona Wilhite and Elijah Rushing, Liberty allowed zero sacks in the shutout of the overmatched Lancers.

Here’s the entire high school football scoreboard (compiled from the Arizona Republic, MaxPreps and other sources), representing teams from Tucson and surrounding communities in play during Week 9:

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• Liberty (6-1) 49, Salpointe Catholic (6-1) 0
• Tucson (2-5) 28, Maricopa (3-4) 14
• Mountain View (3-4) 60, Nogales (0-7) 7
• Sunnyside (4-3) 12, Cienega (3-4) 3
• Amphitheater (5-3) 47, Rincon/University (2-5) 13
• Canyon del Oro (7-0) 17, Mica Mountain (6-1) 15
• Sahuarita (1-5) vs. Cholla (3-4), score not reported
• Douglas (4-3) 21, Rio Rico (3-4) 7
• Walden Grove (5-2) 42, Pueblo (3-4) 7
• Pusch Ridge Christian (6-2) 31, Coolidge (4-5) 20
• Sabino (6-2) 42, ALA West Foothills (6-2) 21
• Benson (4-4) 56, Catalina (3-5) 6
• Willcox (4-4) 47, Palo Verde (1-7) 13
• Tanque Verde (6-2) 26, Bisbee (5-3) 8

— James Kelley contributed to this report.

Local Highlights

Canyon del Oro 17, Mica Mountain 15

There was no bigger game in Southern Arizona — likely statewide — Friday nigth than the Dorados and Thunderbolts in Oro Valley.

These teams entered the season on a collision course to this Week 8 matchup, and likely are still on a similar course with a possible Class 4A state playoff rematch hardly impossible.

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

Photos: Canyon del Oro edges Mica Mountain in matchup of 4A high school football unbeatens

The Dorados hold on in the final seconds to go 7-0 and drop the visiting Bolts to 6-1, with a 17-15 home win, Tucson, Ariz., Oct. 13, 2023.

And videos of each scoring play (in addition to CDO's Laux-to-Cassell halfback pass and Woodard's game-saving sack) via Star sports correspondent James Kelley:

1st quarter:

3rd quarter:

4th quarter: