Football: Chandler lone 6A unbeaten after topping Brophy
October 11, 2019 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365
Chandler coach Rick Garretson was pleased with the top-ranked Wolves' 49-0 triumph over No. 3 Brophy Prep on Friday night And it was the manner in which it was accomplished that stood out for the first-year head coach at the Broncos' home field at Phoenix College.
"Hey, defense that was awesome," Garretson said to the Wolves in their postgame gathering. "Way to bounce back."
Garretson's bounce-back comment referred to the 49 points the Wolves allowed the week prior vs. Perry, which genuinely has a more potent offense than Brophy. Chandler's offense tallied 84 points last week vs. Perry. The point was Garretson wants both units on the same page.
Chandler's defense was studly. The Wolves had three takeaways -- two leading to offensive touchdowns - and the third a pick 6 with 11 seconds left by Daniel Fulton to close out the scoring. They also sacked Brophy quarterbacks six times, three by junior Brandon Buckner in the second half.
Brophy entered the game with one turnover in its first seven games and no interceptions. The Broncos recorded only one first down in the first half (via Chandler penalty) and totaled 17 yards of offense. Brophy did not reach the 100-yard mark on offense for the evening.
Chandler's offense had a slightly more difficult time in the first half scoring than in most of its previous games, but still was up 21-0 at intermission. Running back Daveon Hunter scored twice on short runs and quarterback Mikey Keene added a TD toss to wide out Jalen Richmond (two TD catches for the game). Keene completed 18 of 26 passes for 252 yards and two TDs. Hunter rushed for 117 yards on 18 carries.
Hunter's tag-team partner, Eli Sanders (14 carries for 87 yards), had a TD run to start a 21-point-third quarter and Hunter added his third score a few minutes later. Chandler finished with 488 total yards, 236 rushing and Keene's 252 passing.
"Mikey is in charge of the whole thing," Garretson said. "He can play. I think for the most part we tend to wear down teams, and it happened tonight in the second half."
Brophy's first loss under new coach Jason Jewell has no shame attached. Five other teams have suffered huge losses to Chandler.
"It's hard to win games when you can't get first downs," Jewell said. "The turnovers hurt. We hadn't done that all year....
"We'll get back to work this week, and work on our last two games."
Chandler ran its record to 7-0 and is alone in first in the 6A Premier Region at 2-0. Brophy fell to 7-1, 1-1. The Wolves will remain top-ranked in both the 6A and Open Division rankings when they are released Tuesday. Brophy, who was No. 8 in the Open Division rankings, could fall out of the top 8 with No. 9 Hamilton, No. 10 Canyon del Oro and No. 11 Horizon each winning. But check those rankings when they are released just to be sure.
Chandler takes to the road for the sixth time in eight games as it visits Basha next week. Brophy entertains Perry in its final home game of the season.