Eagles' offense led by QB Paul soars to win to start region play
WEEKLY BLOG: 10/4/24
For Friday night's Homecoming Game at Ironwood High School, the theme became 'Can you Top this?'
Back and forth they went, Ironwood junior quarterback Khavontae Paul making defenders miss on the run and then Agua Fria running back Jayvier Cook making cuts and then using his strength to pound out extra yards. Both players eclipsed 200 yards in rushing.
Ultimately, it was the Ironwood offense that was more relentless. The Eagles scored touchdowns on five of their last six possessions to score a 42-26 victory.
"I'm pretty happy with it," Ironwood head coach Tony Stillings said of his team's performance. "Definitely some things we need to clean up. Agua Fria is tough, they keep fighting. That's a lesson we need to learn - how to put teams away."
Paul had his fifth 100-yard rushing game of the season and he had that much before the end of the first quarter. At game's end, he posted his season-best of 276 yards on 30 carries putting him over the 1,000-yard mark for the year (with four games to go).
Paul was the team's starting running back last year and rushed for over 600 yards. Last year's quarterback, Conner Crane, is playing linebacker for his senior year and the moves have worked out well.
"He's a smart kid," Stillings said of Paul. "He's got good football intelligence. Every week, he's gotten a little better with the quarterback aspect of it and feeling those improvisations of when to take off. I'm real pleased with how he's developing."
Agua Fria (3-3, 0-1 5A Northwest Valley Region) scored first with a Cook 20-yard rushing touchdown around the left side on a fourth-and-two play.
"Jayvier is a kid we're going to rely on when we need to," Agua Fria head coach Ricky Higuera said. "Cook is our heavy horse that we really ride."
Paul scored a touchdown early in the second quarter to tie the game at 7-7. The Owls may have gotten a little too aggressive later in the period. Facing fourth-and-three at its own 27-yard line with three minutes to go in the half, Agua Fria was stopped on a running play. That gave Ironwood a short field, and five plays later, Paul scored his 10th touchdown of the season on a five-yard run up the middle.
Agua Fria responded with a 32-yard run, but fumbled the ball. Jose Avalos recovered it for the Eagles with just a minute to go at their own 28-yard line. Paul completed passes to Ramsey Pyne (20 yards) and Xadiel Silva (40 yards) to set up a run from Paul for his third TD of the quarter and all of a sudden, Ironwood had a 21-7 lead. They maintained that two-score lead for most of the second half.
"It's a great start," Paul said of being 1-0 in the region. "It lights a fire under us and we plan on going even further."
Agua Fria received the ball to start the second half, which resulted in a second touchdown for Cook. It came on a 16-yard run featuring cuts and then just powering his way through tacklers across the goal line.
However, the momentum from closing it to a one-score game didn't last long. Ironwood (4-2, 1-0) went 56 yards in just five plays with Paul scoring for the fourth time on the night with a 20-yard run.
"He's very dangerous every time he touches the ball," Higuera said. "We were very well in pursuit lanes and he finds a crack and he takes advantage of it."
The teams then exchanged turnovers with Chase Tafoya intercepting a long pass for Ironwood followed by Donaciano Castaneda-Sellers recovering a fumble for the Owls.
In the fourth quarter, the teams matched one another with touchdowns on their last two drives. The key was that second quarter featuring the turnover on downs and the fumble with Ironwood's offense taking advantage both times.
Both sides had incredible rushing nights with Agua Fria going for 362 yards (242 from Cook) and Ironwood amassing 325 of its own (276 from Paul).
"I credit my five big men up front," Paul said. "Their blocks today were some of the best I've seen all season. My perimeter blocks from my receivers allow me to get down the field."
"We've been trying a bit harder," junior center Zyler Brooks said. "We let ourselves get down in the Kellis game (Week 4). Having this determination that it's our HoCo game was big for us."
There were two assemblies during the day at IHS. Brooks said there were some nerves coming into the game with the stakes seemingly raised, but once the players were on the field, they were able to concentrate on their tasks and their Shotgun Pistol Option offense.
"I had to focus on the snaps," Brooks said. "(Paul) is one of the most athletic humans I've ever met. The easiest thing was to be hard off the start."
Penalties hurt Agua Fria as well. The Owls were penalized 10 times for 95 yards. Next week, the Owls will host a Willow Canyon (2-4, 0-0) team that has dropped four straight games in Avondale next Friday.
"Discipline," Higuera said of what the team needs to work on this week. "Simple mistakes. Things we can control. If we take advantage of our own mistakes and not let those happen, we'll be a better team for it."
Ironwood has its bye this week. There is no fall break in the Peoria District, so school and practice will go on as usual, but they will probably go a little lighter and will have next Friday off. It's a surprisingly big game on Oct. 18 at Goldwater (4-2, 1-0) in North Phoenix. The Bulldogs knocked off Apollo, last year's region champ, 43-37 on Friday. The winner of that game in two weeks will have a leg up for the region title.
The Eagles won exactly two games in each of the past three seasons. They've already doubled that through just six games.
"It's key to get off to a good start in region," Stillings said. "That keeps the boys up. I think the region is wide open, so we're pretty excited."
First Quarter:
AF - Jayvier Cook 20 yard run (Samuel Rowles kick), 5:32
Second Quarter:
Iron - Khavontae Paul 5 yard run (Julian Pippins kick), 10:50
Iron - Paul 5 yard run (Pippins kick), 1:33
Iron - Paul 2 yard run (Pippins kick), 0:16
Third Quarter:
AF - Cook 16 yard run (Rowles kick), 10:29
Iron - Paul 20 yard run (Pippins kick), 8:49
Fourth Quarter:
AF - Cook 8 yard run (kick failed), 11:34
Iron - Nick Morrow 6 yard run (Pippins kick), 7:19
AF - Christian Garcia 15 yard run (run failed), 6:17
Iron - Morrow 1 yard run (Pippins kick), 2:19
