WEEKLY BLOG: 11/27/20

Corona del Sol brought a perfect 8-0 record into the first round of the Open Division state playoffs on a brisk (for Arizona) Friday night against a Hamilton team playing in the elite tournament for the second straight year.

Something had to give, and it wasn't the Husky defense as Hamilton shut out the Aztecs, 50-0, to advance to the semifinal round.

"They were extremely well-prepared and are very athletic," Hamilton head coach Mike Zdebski said of his defense. "When we have our full set of players out there, then we're a good team."

As many suspected after watching starting quarterback Nicco Marchiol leave last week's game against Chandler with an injury, there was a new starter for the Huskies in this one. Sophomore Roch Cholowsky, who is a UCLA-commit for baseball, took the snaps under center.

Cholowsky got his first opportunity to enter the game when Zach Lewis intercepted the first Corona del Sol pass attempt of the game. He completed an 11-yard pass to senior Trey Lockhart on the drive. Shortly after that, Rodney Clemente ran a draw play while breaking a couple tackles and then using his speed to outrun the defense for a 39-yard touchdown to start the scoring.

Corona del Sol (8-1) had an opportunity late in the first quarter when senior Jake Schmitt, a Northern Arizona-commit, intercepted a tipped pass to give the Aztecs the ball at the Hamilton 39-yard line. After getting six yards, CdSHS went for it on fourth down. Safety Chris Trojan broke up the pass attempt to end the drive. That would be the closest the Aztecs were to scoring in the game.

Hamilton (7-1) has a pair of senior running backs that came in with a combined 850 yards and 17 touchdowns. That would be Clemente and Noah Schmidt, They rotated series and it was Schmidt that became the first to get to 10 touchdowns for the year after taking one in from 14 yards out. The Huskies tacked on a field goal and were up 17-0 at the half.

Cholowsky was effective with rollouts to find open receivers. He found out last Saturday morning that he'd be getting the start.

"I was seeing that the linebackers were coming down really hard, so we were throwing back slants on a couple plays," Cholowsky said. "They were playing deep on our 2x2, so we threw the bubble a little bit."

The third quarter was a clinic on how to block and run the ball for Hamilton's offense combined with a shutdown defense. The Huskies ran 14 plays (11 of them runs) and scored four touchdowns. Clemente had 112 rushing yards in the quarter while Schmidt had 60. Each player had a pair of scores.

Meanwhile, against a team that averaged almost 39 points per game, the HHS defense was overwhelming. After gaining just two first downs in the opening 24 minutes, the Aztecs had four occasions where they went three-and-out in their five possessions during the third quarter as Hamilton expanded its lead from 17-0 to 44-0.

Hamilton defensive end Russell Davis had a pair of sacks to give him 11 for the season.

With Hamilton scoring one last time in the fourth quarter to make it an even 50, you have to talk about that rushing offense.

"When you can run the ball, you're going to control the clock and control the game," Zdebski said. "When we're good, we can run the ball."

The Hamilton offensive line is coached by Mark Tucker, who is in his 23rd year with the school. The guys they call "Tuck's Tanks" opened up holes for Clemente and Schmidt to combine for 326 yards on the ground and all seven of the Huskies' scores. When an O-Line does that, you recognize them. So a shoutout to Grayson Stovall, Christian McCook, Connor DePrez, Alexander Bruns, and Caiden Cummings. Of that group, Stovall is a junior and the rest are seniors.

"My offensive line is great," Cholowsky said. "My running backs are the two best in the state, I believe."

To appreciate the journey that Corona del Sol has made to get to the Open Division, you have to know how far the Aztecs have come. Head Coach Jon Becktold was hired in December of 2016. He came to the Tempe District school from Greenway and prior to that, Washington HS.

In Becktold's first season, CdSHS finished 2-8 and was ranked No. 27 in 6A (out of 40 schools). The current group of seniors were freshmen then and they've engineered the turnaround to being selected by a committee as the No. 7 seed in the state's highest bracket tournament.

"Our kids have worked really hard since their freshmen years," Becktold said. "That's what's sad about this. Obviously, Hamilton is a lot better than we are."

Junior running back Anyale Velazquez ended up just getting over the 1,000-yard mark for the season (1,006). Schmitt played on both sides of the ball contributing as a running back and a receiver on offense and never gave up on defense continuing to make plays in the fourth quarter.

In a season that saw about half the schools miss games because either themselves or their opponents had positive COVID-19 tests, the Aztecs played all eight games on their schedule for the season (and won them).

"Throughout the year, they never missed a Zoom meeting," Becktold said. "They never missed a Group of 10 workout in June or July. They did everything we asked of them."

A game like this shows where the bar is for Corona del Sol to reach that next level. It's a bar the younger players at the school can aspire to. Both the JV (5-0-1) and Freshman (8-0) teams didn't lose a game this year. The Frosh team averaged 45 points per game.

"I think the future is bright," Becktold said. "This was a huge step for us to get in the Open this year."

Hamilton will play at home again next Saturday night in the semifinals. Salpointe Catholic will make the trip up from Tucson. The Lancers bring a record of 7-0 after being awarded a forfeit victory over Saguaro due to a few positive test results among the Sabercats' team this week.

The book may not be closed on Marchiol's season. Zdebski said his junior QB, who is among the top recruits in the nation, is still week-to-week and won't play until doctors clear him. If it's Cholowsky again, Zdebski has confidence in him.

"Roch is a really good quarterback," Zdebski said. "I think he did a really good job."

First Quarter:
Ham - Rodney Clemente 39 yard run (Jacob Medina kick), 7:38
Second Quarter:
Ham - Noah Schmidt 14 yard run (Medina kick), 11:39
Ham - Medina 21 yard FG, 5:03
Third Quarter:
Ham - Clemente 10 yard run (Matthew Swink kick), 9:53
Ham - Schmidt 6 yard run (Swink kick), 6:21
Ham - Clemente 48 yard run (Swink kick), 4:05
Ham - Schmidt 2 yard run (run failed), 1:10
Fourth Quarter:
Ham - Schmidt 49 yard run (kick failed), 9:18