Friday Night, the eyes of the west valley were fixated on one of the most heated and competitive rivalries in the state. In a chaotic back-and-forth, triple overtime shootout, the Liberty Lions and Sunrise Mountain Mustangs added another chapter to their historic rivalry with arguably its best game, a 41-38 victory for the Lions
The two schools, separated by only two miles, entered the contest on two different paths. The Lions, through the first two weeks of the season, had the most prolific offense in the state, averaging 610 yards and 58 points-per-game after two victories against former region opponents Mountain Ridge and Boulder Creek.
On the other side, the Sunrise Mountain Mustangs entered the matchup fresh off a 24-15 loss to the Horizon Huskies. After blowing past Cienega week one, some in the media including members of the Arizona Varsity staff had the Mustangs in their open division rankings. But those who did, dropped them out after the week two loss.
The intersection of Deer Valley and 83rd avenue, especially on a Friday night, is always busy. But with just under two hours before kickoff, traffic became a standstill in all directions.
For a 7 p.m. start, the parking lot and stands on both sides were close to 100 percent filled over an hour and a half before kickoff as Peoria police officers roamed the area around the school directing supporters of both schools in the direction of their respective bleachers.
As the clock turned over to the next hour, both teams came onto the field for warmups. The respective student sections jeered the other with colorful insults to the point the PA announcer had to ask multiple times for both groups to calm down on the language.
Jax Stam was asked postgame on The Just Chi11y Show about the hostile environment and said, “For most of the guys, this was their first time playing in an environment like this and I think they responded well.”
With hate spewing in the stands, both teams on the field did not speak at one another, but the words that were being said with their eyes as they looked at one another would be considered more blue then any words spoken from the stands that night.
Once kickoff came, for one brief moment a silence fell upon the stadium before the special teams units on both sides ran onto the field. As they took the field, the roar that came from the crowd was reported to be heard as far as three blocks away at a Culver’s restaurant.
On the opening drive, the Mustangs took five minutes off the clock by using the power running skill of junior running back Rex Underhill to get to midfield. Once at midfield, senior quarterback Hunter Kronengold connected with junior wide receiver Micah Johnson for a 49-yard gain to set up a rushing touchdown by Kronengold to make it a 7-0 game.
Liberty went three and out on their first drive, as sophomore quarterback Navi Bruzon struggled to get the ball moving. Bruzon was starting in place of junior Dom Ochoa who injured his wrist reportedly in a car accident earlier in the week. Ochoa is recovering and was in good spirits on the sideline during the game.
The Lions would punt the ball away which led to the Mustangs taking another seven minutes off the clock. As their drive stalled at the 20 yard line, the Mustangs five star kicker Easton Black would be called upon to kick a 35 yard field goal that he would drill through the uprights. His first of three makes on the night to extend the Mustang lead to 10-0.
As both teams struggled to move the ball down the field, time would bleed off the clock. The stifling defense by the Mustangs would not allow the Lions to pass midfield.
On the Mustangs final drive of the half, they were able to extend their lead to 13-0 as Black made a 53 yard field goal that caught the attention of former UCF kicker now turned YouTuber “Deestroying” who was in attendance.
Deestroying was asked for his thoughts on Black and said, “one of the best kickers I’ve seen so far this year.”
As the second half kicked off, the defenses would continue to contain the other side. But as Liberty began their second drive of the half, the Lions would switch from a slow paced rushing offense that had only 27 total yards in the first half. To an up tempo passing attack that drove the ball down the field.
Once in the red zone, Bruzon pulled the football down and ran the ball into the end zone to finally put the Lions on the board late in the third quarter making it a 13-7 game.
The Lions would force another Mustang punt as the game moved into the fourth quarter. As the Lions drove down the field the Mustangs would force a third and 11 at the 24 yard line. Trying to force a stop, the Mustangs rushed four defenders led with Riley Kendall who hit Bruzon as he let go of his pass but with a stroke of luck senior wide receiver Jordon Guevara dove and caught the pass for a Lion touchdown giving them a 14-13 lead, the first lead change of the night.
The Mustangs attempted to take the lead back but punted after a three and out.
As the Lions drove down the field milking time off the clock, the Mustangs found their groove. On second down, Bruzon tried to run an option play but fumbled the ball. Darnell Stephens, the Mustangs defensive end who had wreaked havoc all night, recovered the ball and took it 70 yards to the end zone giving the Mustangs a 5 point lead.
As the Mustangs snapped the extra point attempt they picked the ball up catching the Lions by surprise and ran it in to make it a 21-14 game with 3:30 to go.
But the Lions were not done yet. With the Mustangs playing soft coverage Bruzon led the Lions 75 yards in under 90 seconds to tie the game at 21-21 after a nine yard touchdown pass to tight end Darin Barrows.
Both teams traded punts in the final minute and ten seconds leaving Sunrise Mountain with 40 seconds to possibly drive down and win the game.
The Mustangs went back to work with back-to-back quick passes, but confusion occured on the second of those catches, as Micah Johnson stepped out of bounds after getting close to midfield. Yet the clock continued to run, milking precious seconds away, much to the chagrin of the Mustangs sideline and fans.
With five seconds left, head coach Steve Decker called a timeout for the Mustangs to draw up one final play. Kronengold dropped back on first and ten and heaved a pass down the sideline to Johnson, who leveled before the ball got to him, drawing two penalties on the play. Pass interference and unnecessary roughness calls left one second on the clock and moved the ball to the 25 yard line.
With no timeouts left for Liberty, the Lions had no chance to ice Black, who had been reliable all night. Black booted the kick from 40 yards out and for two seconds silence fell on the Liberty side and pure joy rang out from the Sunrise Mountain side.
As the referees deliberated for a moment, they made their call. It was no good, as the refs waved their arms, sending the stands on both sides into a frenzy as the game went into overtime.
The Lions won the coin toss and put the Mustangs on offense first. On the first play, Johnson threw a touchdown pass on a trick play to wide receiver Braden Harvey. Liberty countered with Zach Wallace rushing for a touchdown on the first play of their overtime possession to extend the game.
To start the second overtime, once again Wallace rushed the ball in on the first play to put Liberty back in the driver's seat. But The Mustangs weren’t done, as Johnson once again, with a defender draped all over him, pulled in a catch to force a third overtime.
In the third overtime, Liberty forced Sunrise Mountain to kick a field goal as the Mustangs could not move the ball. With the Lions needing one final touchdown to knock off the Mustangs, head coach Colin Thomas drew up the winning play. A Zach Wallace hand-off to walk off the Mustangs and allow the Lions to escape with a 41-38 victory.
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