Week 1: Hamilton 44 Chaparral 21

WEEKLY BLOG: 8/23/19

The players and coaches at Hamilton High School heard all the noise from the outside after last season. They know the Huskies failed to win a 6A Premier Region game last season. The defense was knocked and ridiculed after allowing 55 to Mountain Pointe and 63 to Perry a season ago.

But, you know what? They worked. Since the first of November (since there was no playoffs for Hamilton for the first time last year), they lifted. Many of them ran track. The Huskies had their first full offseason under second-year head coach Mike Zdebski. They bonded. And something else happened.

They got better.

The turf in Scottsdale at Chaparral High School was the setting for this first chance to show off this new-look team and the Huskies delivered with a resounding 44-21 victory over the Firebirds.

"It sets the tone for the whole season," Hamilton senior quarterback Nick Arvay said. "Last year was rough. We know what this group is capable of."

It was a dominating start for the visitors from Chandler. On the third play from scrimmage, Arvay completed a long pass to Brenden Rice, who was knocked out of bounds at the 2-yard line after a 67-yard play. Senior running back Domynic Hilton punched it in from there putting Hamilton on the board first.

After the Huskies' defense forced a three-and-out, it was back to work for the offense. Another senior back, Sebastian Dorman increased the lead to 13-0 as he followed his blockers for a 14-yard touchdown run. Leading the way was Washington State commit Dylan Mayginnes.

Hamilton (1-0) controlled the first 12 minutes racking up a 180-41 advantage in yards. The Huskies constantly moved the chains as they gained eight first downs.

Hamilton scored once more in the half as a 13-play, 67-yard drive lasted six minutes. The result was a field goal by Collin Fuller from 25 yards out.

Despite the lopsided statistical numbers, Chaparral (0-1) stayed in the game. Ohio State commit Jack Miller completed a 34-yard pass to Max Minor and the Firebirds reached paydirt when junior running back Jared Williams scampered across the goal line from 19 yards out. A two-point conversion pass from Miller to Minor cut the deficit in half to 16-8 as the game hit halftime intermission.

Despite running half as many plays (37-19), the Firebirds were down just one score and were receiving the second half kickoff.

But, that was as close as Chaparral would get.

A fumble on the kickoff set the Huskies up at the CHS 25-yard line. Three plays later, Dorman cashed the turnover in with a nine-yard scoring run.

Arvay played in just five games during his junior year as he had to sit the first half of the year after transferring from Casteel. This offseason, he knew there would be a full 10-game season. He led the Huskies to seven scoring drives in the team's 10 possessions. His first TD pass of the year came on a pass to 6-2 senior Kaden Hattendorf, who was covered well.

Arvay followed that up with another TD pass to Rice, who had just enough running room to fake out a pair of defenders and then turn on the afterburners for a 43-yard play, complete with a high step.

"I saw the corner was a little off and I knew Brenden is the best receiver in the country," Arvay said. "Just get him the ball quick like that and he does what he does."

Completing the scoring for Hamilton was junior Zachary Lewis, who scored on a four-yard run. It was a classic case of being able to play downhill football. The Huskies ran it on all four plays in the drive, which covered 47 yards. Last season, with Hamilton down often in the second half, teams knew Arvay was going to throw. That resulted in 11 interceptions in five games.

On Friday, Arvay was a very accurate 21-of-25 for 268 with with no interceptions.

Of returning players, Arvay was the team's leading rusher from last season with 265 yards. Many didn't know who the new back would be.

But, Zdebski had that covered rotating backs Dorman, Lewis, and Gabriel Armenta. The trio combined for 221 yards on the ground and three scores.

"That's the offensive line and how strong they are," Zdebski said. "We have some depth at the running back spot. They're hard runners, they're slashers, and they're powerful kids."

Meanwhile, perhaps the most impressive feat came by the Hamilton defense. For the game's first 2-1/2 quarters, it held Chaparral to just eight points.

The defensive line was solid with senior Alex Wielert. Linebacker Brendan Maslin chased Miller and made him scramble out of bounds or be forced to throw on the run.

"We've been going nonstop ever since last season ended," Hamilton linebacker, and UCLA commit, Jeremiah Trotter said. "We knew we were the underdogs tonight. We love that. We're just going to keep our mouths shut."

Chaparral battled hard scoring twice in the second half. The Firebirds were without four players in this one as the injury bug bit the team very early this season. Cal commit Tommy Christakos, who plays wide receiver, kicker, and punter, was out as were defensive end Jaxon Richards (10.5 sacks in 2018), safety/wide receiver Ben Eddleblute, and tight end Jack Helsten. Eddleblute is cleared to practice on Monday and all four shouldn't miss more than two more games.

"We have pretty good depth, except up front," Chaparral head coach Brent Barnes said. "With Jaxon Richards out, that's one less guy in the rotation and we couldn't keep everyone as fresh."

Most of Miller's 246 passing yards came in the second half. He tossed a touchdown pass to junior Capri Hamilton and also went over 8,000 yards in his varsity career. Williams tacked on a second touchdown, but was held to 55 yards rushing.

Next week, Chaparral travels north to take on another team from the district in Desert Mountain (0-1). Barnes said the work begins internally to flip this loss around into finishing the year strong.

"We've got to worry about ourselves," Barnes said. "We've got to compete a little better at times. I believe in our guys. They're going to find a way to get better and we'll be fine."

If there's one thing Hamilton needs to work on, it's the mental discipline. The Huskies were penalized 12 times for 115 yards. That will need to be cleaned up as the home opener is against Highland (1-0), a semifinalist last season.

Still, the dedication to their craft this offseason not only produced results on Friday, but will surely give HHS confidence as they hit the practice field this Monday.

"We had a chance to build relationships with our team," Zdebski said of his first full offseason. "We had a chance to build that chemistry, camaraderie, and brotherhood that we didn't have last year."

So, is Hamilton "back"? There is a long way to go, but after making big plays in all three phases of the game, it sure felt like it on a 101-degree night in August.

First Quarter:
Ham - Domynic Hilton 2 yard run (kick failed), 10:52
Ham - Sebastian Dorman 14 yard run (Collin Fuller kick), 6:15
Second Quarter:
Ham - Fuller 25 yard FG, 9:33
Chap - Jared Williams 19 yard run (Max Minor pass from Jack Miller), 6:27
Third Quarter:
Ham - Dorman 9 yard run (Fuller kick), 10:46
Ham - Kaden Hattendorf 10 yard pass from Nick Arvay (Fuller kick), 6:12
Chap - Williams 5 yard run (run failed), 1:45
Fourth Quarter:
Ham - Brenden Rice 43 yard pass from Arvay (Fuller kick), 10:09
Ham - Zachary Lewis 4 yard run (Fuller kick), 7:14
Chap - Capri Hamilton 19 yard pass from Miller (Aiden Ziegler kick), 2:31