All the scoring was in the first half of this year’s Battle of Surprise, and all the craziness was in the second
Sept. 30: (6A) Valley Vista 14, (5A) Willow Canyon 6
THE STAKES
Valley Vista has owned this rivalry between Surprise’s first two high schools for more than a decade. The Monsoon picked up their first win in the series in 2011 and haven’t lost since. That 10-game win streak – the teams did not play in the COVID-altered 2020 season – was on the line. Willow Canyon entered 3-0 for the first time in school history and looked capable of mounting its best challenge to the streak since 2015. A game-ending call in that 20-19 Valley Vista win remains controversial in Wildcat country. A couple officiating decisions in the final eight minutes or so Friday night will stick in the craw of Willow Canyon coaches, players and fans for a while too.
THE SCENE
There have been larger crowds in the Battle of Surprise, but this one was up there with the loudest. Student sections traded rude chants. But as the game went on, the boos continued to rain down from the visiting stands and the temperature rose on the Willow Canyon sidelines. There are probably more plays and calls that drew the jeers, but these four stand out thanks to postgame comments:
· Senior defensive back Bryson Wilke picked off Adrian Crespin in the end zone early in the fourth and got a good jump on the Monsoon players, racing out of the end zone. Before he was past the goal line an inadvertent whistle blew the play dead – in a situation where no whistle should have blown.
· The ensuing Wildcats drive ended a down earlier than it should have, A first ground intentional grounding call on quarterback Calvin Matthews made it second down and 25. But a pass interference call against Valley Vista should have resulted in second and nine. Instead the markers and officials believed that it was now third down and proceeded from there. The Wildcats did not convert on what was called fourth down, but believed they had another play until being stopped and engaging in a long discussion with the officiating crew.
· A 35-yard pass to senior Adair Blue that would have set up the Wilcats inside the Valley Vista 10 with 3:29 left on the clock was negated by an offensive pass interference call.
· Willow Canyon rebounded to drive to the Valley Vista 11 aided by some flags, which by now were flying on almost every play. On third down, Matthews tossed an apparent touchdown pass to Morgan Frago, but a holding call wiped it out. Two plays later, the Monsoon defense made the stop to seal a win.
The second two of these four decisions angering the Wildcats are judgment calls. The first two ... are errors, even from an objective point of view.
“The only thing I really have to say is the officials lost the game for us. You can quote that. We lost the game because of poor officiating. They know it and they admitted it to me on the field,” Willow Canyon Justin Stangler said. “The inadvertent whistle, another one of those. Calls where they can’t get the down and distance right. They made every wrong call and they kept telling me they’re trying to make it up. Poor officiating cost us the game.”
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Senior middle linebacker Jonah Flowers has been the breakout player for Valley Vista this season and he had another statistically impressive game with five solo tackles and 12 assists for a total of 17. But senior defensive tackle Roy Dillard Jr. was the most disruptive defensive player on the field. He also had five solo tackles and eight total. More crucial were the 240-pound powerhouse’s five tackles for loss (a career high) and two hurries. For much of the night he single-handedly disrupted the Wildcats passing game or forced Matthews to improvise.
“Roy Dillard has been one of the most fun people to coach. He is laser focused. He works his tail off in practice. He is striving to be the best student athlete possible. He wants to be a firefighter just like his position coach some day, and is actually already doing some internship work with them,” Valley Vista coach Derek Wahlstrom said. “You’re not going to find a better student-athlete in the state of Arizona than Roy Dillard. He’s such a great kid.”
PLAY OF THE NIGHT
Wilke is one of the state’s best kickers and punters. He regularly gets touchbacks with his kickoffs, but the opening kickoff of this game was a couple yards short. And it was in the vicinity of Blaise Nelson. The senior and state 100- and 200-meter champion gathered the kick, weaved through a couple tacklers and turned on the jets. His 98-yard kickoff return was electrifying and more important in retrospect on a night where the Monsoon offense sputtered throughout the final three quarters.
“They kick the ball deep and he’s got such a tremendous leg that he can put it in the end zone. We told our guys that I anticipated them trying to put it in the end zone, but if they missed, and didn’t quite get it in the end zone, then we’ve got to take advantage of the opportunity. And they sure did,” Wahlstrom said.
THEY SAID IT
Stangler: “There was the push off on #5 (Blue) where they said he pushed off but he was getting held. I’ve never seen a game taken out of kids hands like that. It’s terrible and it’s a shame because this was such a good game,” Stangler said. “It’s unfortunate that the officials win or lose the game. If that happened to Valley I’d say the same thing.”
“We had seven holds in a row. How do you have seven holds in a row? It makes me upset because our guys up front are aggressive. They play hard and sometimes they get penalized. We’ve kind of seen that all this season. Our offensive line gets down the field and plays tough. We had an official a couple weeks ago say we were too aggressive. And they flagged us for being too aggressive,” Stangler said.
Wahlstrom: “The defense played lights out all night. What’s going to go maybe unnoticed is Mikel (Henderson) tracking him down and making that stop. That was a four-point play. And that’s a completely different halftime if it’s 14-10,” Wahlstrom said. “Our defense made plays all night. I don’t know how many red zone stops we had.”
“That (number of flags late) was difficult. I’m sure Coach Stangler saw it the same way, maybe even more so. That’s a part of the game and you have to be able to adapt and change and make those in-game adjustments. We were able to do just enough,” Wahlstrom said.
Roy Dillard Jr.: “I think the team and myself will get better. We’ll be watching film tomorrow and watching over our mistakes,” Dillard said.
5 THINGS I LEARNED
Wahlstrom mentioned the second biggest play of the game. Brady Ferris, the Wildcats’ top weapon, toggles between running back and slot. Late in the second quarter he lined up in the backfield a to the side of Matthews and a half-step ahead. Ferris took a step forward to fake out the defense, circled back to take the handoff on a counter, squeezed through two tacklers five yards downfield and was off to the races. It looked like Ferris had beat out the defense, but Henderson found an extra gear and chased Ferris down at the two after a 75-yard gain. Henderson also led his team in receiving and ran in a 10-yard score, the only offensive touchdown of the night.
· That play was a microcosm of the night, as the Valley Vista defense played its best in the shadow of its goal line. Willow Canyon’s first significant drive of the night led to a first and goal in the final minutes of the first quarter but the Monsoon shut it down at its 5 and forced a 22-yard Wilke field goal. After stopping Ferris just short at the two, a Treven Stewart sack and stuff of a rushing attempt pushed the Wildcats back to … the 5 again and forced another 22-yard Wilke field goal.
· It was an emotionally draining night but Willow Canyon has something with this team. And it all starts with the physical nature of the Wildcats’ offensive line and front seven. The misdirection-heavy, ground-bound offense fits nicely with the personnel. Willow Canyon will only break the occasional big play, but unless future games are called this tightly along the offensive line, this attack will gobble yards steadily against all but the best 3-4 teams in 5A. The front seven, led by liinebacker Dominic Jewell, was particularly strong, holding Valley Vista to 16 yards on 16 carries.
· Stangler believes this team can win out and knows the major test is next week. Willow Canyon travels to defending 5A Northwest Region champion Canyon View. And the Jaguars are also smarting after a 36-31 loss at Northwest Christian. The winner probably takes control of the region, though newcomer Apollo will have something to say about it.
· Two former head coaches in this rivalry are now assistant principals at other schools in the Dysart district, and were on the opposite sideline Friday night. Jason Wilke was Valley Vista’s founding coach and led the Monsoon to their first win against the Wildcats in 2011. He was a Willow Canyon assistant through last season. Now the athletic director at Dysart High School, Wilke was able to watch Bryson’s big game on the Wildcats’ sideline since the Demons had a bye this week. Joe Martinez was the Willow Canyon head coach from mid-2013 through 2018. He is in his second year as a Valley Vista assistant principal and watched from the Monsoon sideline.
