Bears take balanced offense into Open Division title game
SEMIFINAL BLOG: 11/30/24
While talking to his team after the game, Basha head coach Chris McDonald reminded them that an ugly win is better than a pretty loss. The Bears’ defense got lit up for almost 400 passing yards and allowed five touchdowns.
But when it was crunch time, Basha came through with the critical stop. Junior linebacker Eli Cramer-Cronin sacked ALA-Queen Creek quarterback Britt Dewitt on fourth-and-three from the BHS 23-yard line in the game’s final minute to preserve a 40-35 win over the Patriots in an Open semifinal at Dobson HS in Mesa on Saturday.
Earlier in the game’s final drive, Dewitt escaped the Bears’ pressure and ran for 34 yards on a fourth-and-12 from the ALAQC 36-yard line.
“We had them dead to right and that quarterback made a hell of a play breaking two tackles,” McDonald said. “But we responded, and our front made the play when it counted.”
The victory advances the Bears to next Saturday night’s Open Division championship game for the second time in three seasons. Basha (11-1) will face Liberty (11-1) at Mountain America Stadium at 6 p.m. The Lions are the defending Open Division champions.
Basha has an offense that can be quick-strike (four touchdowns drives of five plays or less), or put together long drives with its no-huddle offense (two scoring drives of 13 plays that both resulted in field goals).
The Bears scored at least 28 points for the 12th time in 12 games this year. That was not a sure thing coming in against an American Leadership Academy - Queen Creek team that had not surrendered 20 points in a game this year and was allowing fewer than 10 points per game.
Bears cash in on three first-half turnovers
The stats for the first half were pretty even with each team having more than 200 yards of offense. The big difference was Basha being able to not only force three turnovers (two fumbles, one interception), but to then turn them into not just points, but touchdowns.
On ALA-Queen Creek’s first play from scrimmage, the Patriots completed a pass, but the Bears forced a fumble. Basha took over and four plays later, sophomore running back Noah Roberts scored on a run from 10 yards out to open the scoring.
Later in the quarter, with the score knotted at 7, sophomore linebacker Marc Duerson III recovered a fumble at the ALAQC 22-yard line. A few plays later, the Bears capitalized as junior running back Joshua Gaines scored from the 4.
With less than two minutes remaining in the half, the Patriots trailed 17-14 and were driving before a Dewitt pass was deflected by the receiver and landed in the waiting arms of Basha’s Kaedyn Smith.
Junior quarterback Brodie Vehrs quickly got the Bears into scoring position and hit Roberts with a pass that turned into a 23-yard touchdown for a 24-14 lead at the half. Of the 24 points Basha scored in the half, 21 of them were set up by the defense forcing turnovers.
Keeping the Patriots at arm’s length
In the second half, until the final ALA-Queen Creek possession, the Patriots never had the ball with a chance to tie or take the lead.
ALA-Queen Creek (10-2) got to within three points on a pass from Dewitt to Kingston McCabe in the corner of the end zone. But Basha immediately responded with a 77-yard pass play from Vehrs to sophomore Jaden Baldwin to the 3-yard line. From there, Gaines finished the drive off with his second touchdown.
“I was in a dry spell,” Vehrs said. “We knew it was going to be a ground-and-pound game. I had to make a play. They started stacking the box. Jaden Baldwin made a great play. Props to my O-Line. It was kind of a mood shift, I made it out of my shell a little bit.”
Early in the fourth quarter, the Bears extended the lead to 34-21 on Mikey Barth’s second field goal of the night.
After Vehrs’ 77-yard play, it was Dewitt’s turn to unload a bomb. He threw a deep ball to McCabe, who got behind the secondary and was wide open. That play went for 71 yards and it was a six-point game.
Basha scored on its third consecutive possession as it worked the ball down the field with its running game. Both Roberts (14 carries, 88 yards) and Gaines (17 carries, 91 yards) were having success in moving the chains. After eight straight run plays, Vehrs fired a quick pass to Dash Blake, and the senior took it in for a 27-yard touchdown to make it 40-28.
“Our team is physical and big up front,” Roberts said. “Our game plan was to attack them and get downhill with Josh and me. Coach was calling it a bloodbath all week. We took that motto and ran with it.”
“Starting on Monday, our mentality was to get after it and move people,” Basha offensive lineman Sam Garcia (6-5, 360) said. “Every week, we hit the sled just to know we can still move people and it showed out today.”
But the Patriots weren’t done yet. Dewitt found McCabe for a third time in the half with a touchdown pass and ALAQC was within five points with just over three minutes remaining.
ALA-Queen Creek managed to get the ball back to its offense with a three-and-out while using two of its precious timeouts. That gave Dewitt one last chance with 2:17 remaining and the ball at the Patriot 38-yard line.
ALA-Queen Creek continues rise into contender
It’s hard to believe that the Patriots are just 5 years removed from being 3A Conference champions. The charter school has an enrollment of 1126 and has gone from being the upstart from a lower conference into a bonafide 6A powerhouse.
“That first half - three turnovers giving up three touchdowns - it’s easy to get discouraged from that, but our guys didn’t,” ALA-Queen Creek head coach Rich Edward’s said. “They came right back and never gave up. We just couldn’t get over the hump. I’m proud of our guys’ poise and resiliency.”
It was a breakout game from the Patriots’ junior quarterback. Dewitt was 31-of-41 passing for 392 yards and five touchdowns. He had to sit the first five games after transferring from Casteel and took over late in the season when the starter suffered a knee injury.
“We didn’t expect him to get a lot of time this year,” Edwards said. “He just kept grinding in practice and kept working and gaining an understanding of our offense. It gives us some really high hopes for next year.”
Patriots receivers Sparks (13 catches, 160 yards, 2 TDs) and McCabe (9 catches, 136 yards, 3 TDs) finished their HS careers with huge games.
First Quarter:
Basha - Noah Roberts 10 yard run (Mikey Barth kick), 10:45
ALAQC - Boe Sparks 25 yard pass from Britt Dewitt (Tosh Peterson kick), 6:02
Basha - Joshua Gaines 4 yard run (Barth kick), 1:23
Second Quarter:
Basha - Barth 30 yard FG, 5:40
ALAQC - Sparks 27 yard pass from Dewitt (Peterson kick), 3:11
Basha - Roberts 23 yard pass from Brodie Vehrs (Barth kick), 0:48
Third Quarter:
ALAQC - Kingston McCabe 17 yard pass from Dewitt (Peterson kick), 5:13
Basha - Gaines 3 yard run (Barth kick), 4:41
Fourth Quarter:
Basha - Barth 27 yard FG, 10:32
ALAQC - McCabe 71 yard pass from Dewitt (Peterson kick), 9:30
Basha - Dash Blake 27 yard pass from Vehrs (run failed), 5:46
ALAQC - McCabe 5 yard pass from Dewitt (Peterson kick), 3:17
