I had a chance to see the mighty Saguaro (currently ranked #1 in 5A) come to town last night, and though I only stayed for a quarter and a half so that I had time to get home and prepare for the AALL Insurance Postgame show, I ended up witnessing 10 of the 12 touchdowns on the night, including FOUR interceptions returned for a touchdown.
Here are my notes from the action that I witnessed:
-Ridge Docekal has been someone that the staff at ArizonaVarsity has been waiting to see in meaningful game action for a few years now. Of all the talented quarterbacks to come out of Arizona, past and present, the place where I feel like Docekal makes his mark is his deep ball down the sideline. Two of the better passes I've seen all year, in person or on film, came off the arm of Docekal. The first on the opening offensive play for the Sabercats- a 76-yard TD pass to Mason Davies, and the second down the opposite sideline later in the quarter, also to Davies, that ended up being bobbled and dropped. If I had to compare that specific trait t anyone I've evaluated, I'd say it reminds me most of what initially made me excited about current USC commit Jake Garcia when I saw him at a Rivals camp in the spring after his freshman season.
-Javen Jacobs is a fantastic weapon on special teams and in the screen game. His lateral speed and athleticism makes him incredibly dangerous with any space at all. At one point late in the first quarter, Maricopa's up-back on punt coverage was repeatedly attempting to coax their punter to kick the ball out of bounds. That's the ultimate show of respect.
Not sure what's going on at Maricopa, but they were out there with a different QB and RB than I saw in the season opener against Willow Canyon. No Cipriano Childers or Mister Chavis meant that the Rams had to go with freshman QB Cassius Campbell.
It might be easy to look at the result of this game, and all the turnovers, and assume that Campbell had no business being out there, but if I'm being honest, this kid showed serious courage in the pocket and exhibited mental and physical toughness. The crafty left-hander throws a decent ball, has the instincts to not take a sack- he just needs throw the ball away instead of trying to risk it all over 50/50 balls.
It might seem crazy to heap praise on a freshman QB who had multiple passes returned for touchdowns, but I'm not alone on this... here's what Saguaro Head Coach Jason Mohns had to say:
"The kid showed a ton of guts. Made some great throws under constant pressure. Took a ton of hits and and kept getting up. Never gun shy. I was super impressed, he's going to be a good one."
-Physically, Saguaro looks as good as they ever have. Considering they spent most of the offseason unable to lift together, this was quite a surprise. I could go down the roster and pick probably 20-25 players who are carrying more mass and look more physically mature for their height than the average high school football player. Put it this way- for longtime Saguaro fans, guys like 2019 LB Clayton Randall used to stand out because of their peak physical condition- I feel like Randall would look like just another guy on this defense.
-Saguaro has some big games coming up,and they're expected to compete for another open division championship. The key to the Sabercats meeting those expectations might be the defensive line. They's already be as hard to deal with as anyone outside of Chandler with Quintin Somerville, Tristan Monday and Alani Ma'afu, but seeing 6-4, 275 4-star OL Bram Walden out there lined up over center, and seeing that he has more than enough athleticism to make a serious impact in both the passing game and against the run, makes me think that Saguaro has everything they need up front to make a repeat trip to the open division championship.
-Xander Werner's versatility reminds me of how Saguaro found multiple roles for Will Shaffer last year, only Werner can throw a deep out route. My friend Eric Sorenson over at Sports360AZ talked with Wener this week about how a conversation with former ASU Head Coach Todd Graham led him to pursue a future at QB- a story Werner told to me when he was still a freshman at Horizon. It's fun to see how far he's come.
-If sophomore DB Carlos Griffin wasn't on your radar before, he should be now. Three interceptions, two returned for a touchdown. The entire Saguaro defensive backfield had a fantastic night, and overall, four interceptions were returned for a touchdown in the first 17-and-a-half minutes of the game. The first was by Maricopa's Caden Cross, then back-to-back return TDs for Saguaro's Griffin, and finally, Ivan Martin added one of his own.
