WEEKLY BLOG: 12/6/19

With his team having surrendered an early 16-0 lead, Mesquite junior quarterback Ty Thompson was calm, cool, and collected as he brought the play in with the Wildcats on their own 30-yard line. Less than three minutes remained and Mesquite trailed Desert Edge, 23-22 in the 4A Conference championship game at Willow Canyon HS in Surprise.

Six plays and just 26 seconds later, Mesquite had the lead as Thompson completed a pass to senior Michael Sterling across the middle, who had a clear path to the end zone. Desert Edge battled back and advanced the ball inside the Mesquite 30-yard line, but Jordan Wollangk's interception sealed the victory for the Wildcats.

Mesquite corralled its first conference championship and Thompson played a prominent part with 380 yards and three touchdown passes.

"I just trust my team," Thompson said. "After everything we've done all year, I trust my defense."

It was a complete team effort for these Wildcats in this 20th anniversary season, who finished the year at 11-3. Thompson came out and led Mesquite to scoring drives in its first three possessions, Jacob Walker caught 11 passes for 200 yards, Sterling went both ways, intercepted a pass, and registered a sack, and the defense shut down the Scorpions in the first half.

The connection of Thompson and Walker struck early as the 6-4 signal caller went deep on the second play of the game with a 44-yard touchdown pass. The speedy 6-2 Walker ran a go route and had more than a step on the defender to haul it in.

"He's getting great separation," Thompson said. "He's got a little bit of size over the guy that was on him."

The Wildcats increased the lead to 10-0 after a quarter with a field goal from Chase Salisbury. In the opening quarter, Thompson completed seven passes for 176 yards.

Mesquite scored again early in the second quarter as Sterling caught his first of two touchdowns across the middle on a six-yard play to go up 16-0.

"They did a good job getting the ball out quick," Desert Edge head coach Jose Lucero said.

On each of the Scorpions first three possessions, they crossed the Mesquite 40-yard line, but weren't able to convert on fourth down.

Desert Edge sophomore quarterback Adryan Lara led the Scorpions on a scoring drive as the half ended. They went 75 yards in less than four minutes, had to spike the ball down at the 5 to preserve the last second on the clock, and got on the board with a field goal from Matthew Alcerreca.

The Scorpions came in averaging 34 points per game, but were held to just three points in the first half. Mesquite saw something on film that it focused on.

"We were going to take away the bubbles and the screens," Mesquite head coach Scott Hare said. "We refused to allow (Jihad Marks) to beat us behind the line of scrimmage."

Desert Edge (10-4) made adjustments and had its 1,500-yard receiver run more routes down the field in the second half. It paid off with a 15-yard touchdown catch by Marks to cut the margin to 16-10.

But any momentum the school from Goodyear was getting was taken away with a 52-yard run on a misdirection quick snap to Chris Hintze. That trick play got the Wildcats to the 1 and Hintze got the touchdown on a pitch play to the right. After three quarters, Mesquite led 22-10.

Mesquite, located about 55 miles from Surprise in Gilbert, got five sacks from the defense. Senior linebacker Hunter Hanna had a pair of them.

"We had our D-ends cover the flat," Hanna said. "The second you realize it's not a screen, you just rush, rush, rush."

Facing a third-and-20, DEHS opened the final quarter with a bomb from Lara to Marks. The senior scored his 24th touchdown of the season after sprinting by the defender.

The combination of Lara's passing (he had nine straight completions during the second half) and Jeryll McIntosh's running (25 carries, 152 yards) gave the Scorpions their first lead with seven minutes to go. After coming up short on fourth down a few times early, Lara completed a short pass to Fabian Lopez on fourth-and-one from the 12. McIntosh took a direct snap and charged up the middle from the 2-yard line made the score 23-22.

Desert Edge had a chance to increase the lead. Junior Andrew Patterson intercepted a pass in the end zone and almost took it the distance down the sideline. Instead, the Scorpions had a first down at the 23-yard line and a sack by Hanna pushed them back to the 30 for a fourth-and-long. An incomplete pass gave Mesquite the ball back with 2:26 remaining.

Here's the play that won it for the Wildcats:

"It was supposed to be to Jacob on a go route," Sterling said. "I was supposed to take the safety away, but the safety went with the go. Ty hit me right in stride, I made a move, and I scored."

Mesquite won its four playoff games by 22 total points. The Wildcats had a knack for pulling out the close ones as they were 5-1 in games decided by a touchdown or less.

Hare stepped down as the athletic director at Mesquite to return to coaching after three years away from the sideline (with Mesa) last December. His father and brother are members of the coaching staff.

"It's the belief in one another," Hare said of the team's ability to win tight games. "We have no division on our sideline. It's taken eight months of trust building."

For Desert Edge, this brought an end to a six-game win streak. Lucero liked the fight in his team.

"I'm proud of our guys," Lucero said. "We got down early. The kids didn't quit. Our kids battled."

Desert Edge will certainly be a team to watch next season (likely in 5A). The Scorpions return Lara, McIntosh, Patterson, safety Steven Ortiz, linebacker Myles Hobbs, defensive end Cris Contreras, and safety Mikey Ortiz.

"This is going to sting a little bit," Lucero said. "We'll get back to work and try to get better every day."

Thompson finished 22-of-40 for 380 yards and had three touchdown passes (giving him 45 for the season). The junior has a dozen Power Five offers and just returned from an unofficial visit to LSU last weekend.

"He's going to be a lot of fun to watch," Hare said. "Ty is a special kid and it's going to be a lot of fun for Arizona to be able to say that they were able to see him."

Mesquite defied the skeptics. The Wildcats were seeded No. 6 and edged Marcos de Niza and Cactus to reach its first title game. None of the five members of Arizona Varsity predicted MHS to take this one. Sterling said they saw it.

And the Wildcats certainly didn't let it bother them.

"We're just confident in our game and we had a game plan," Sterling said. "We executed."

First Quarter:
Mesq - Jacob Walker 44 pass from Ty Thompson (Chase Salisbury kick), 11:13
Mesq - Salisbury 26 yard FG, 4:53
Second Quarter:
Mesq - Michael Sterling 6 yard pass from Thompson (run failed), 10:34
DE - Matthew Alcerreca 22 yard FG, 0:00
Third Quarter:
DE - Jihad Marks 15 yard pass from Adryan Lara (Alcerreca kick), 5:16
Mesq - Chris Hintze 2 yard run (pass failed), 2:58
Fourth Quarter:
DE - Marks 51 yard pass from Lara (Alcerreca kick), 11:52
DE - Jeryll McIntosh 2 yard run (pass failed), 6:59
Mesq - Sterling 33 yard pass from Thompson (pass failed), 2:00