Phoenix Christian was pinned back, facing a third-and-17 situation on the opening drive at Tanque Verde, but senior Cashis Grimwade made his way to the defensive backfield unguarded and junior QB Joel Fajardo hit him untouched for a 71-yard score to put the Cougars up 7-0. Then, on a night where almost everything went right for the Cougars, an onside kick followed and the team pulled it off to set up a 29-yard scoring run from sophomore Aaron Whitten to put Phoenix Christian up 13-0 with 8:04 left in the first quarter. The missed opportunity on the extra point was a rare mistake and the Cougars went on to beat Tanque Verde 47-7.

The Cougars recorded an unofficial 350 yards rushing Friday night with Whitten rushing for 140 yards on 19 carries, including three scores, Sr. Z'yeon Rondan rushed for 108 yards on 22 carries with one touchdown, Jr. Gio Young added 61 yards with a score and Sr. Kevin Palafox added another touchdown on 40 yards rushing.

“Who is the MVP tonight?” Head coach Jason Kindred asked after the game. It was a difficult question to answer because there probably isn’t an answer, not Friday night. Kindred inherited a 1-9 program and he turned the Cougars into instant winners with an 8-3 record in 2023, followed by an 8-2 record last fall. What will this year bring?

“We had a great summer and we challenged our players to be physical and in shape,” Kindred added. “We have about eight or nine players going both ways and what God has given us is special. It’s a blessing to be a part of this team. They see a lot of good in each other and they play for each other.”

Like Kindred, Tanque Verde head coach Jeffrey Bollnow had immediate success when he took the Hawks over in 2023 and that team went 9-3 with a playoff win and 6-4 last year, just missing the playoffs. It’s a long season and the 2A state playoffs have been expanded to 24 teams and Bollnow has a list of what his team needs to do the rest of the way, beginning with, “Everything.”

Self-inflicted wounds are probably the easiest to work on and the Hawks showed some promise after stopping the Cougars on a defensive stand at their own goal line with 2:15 left in the first quarter but a fumble on the next play gave Phoenix Christian the ball back and Whitten scored form seven yards out to put his team up 20-0. Any chance of a competitive comeback ended at that point.

“We are going to get better,” Bollnow said. “It was a collection of mistakes that put us in a hole and they are a good playoff team. Everything that could have gone wrong did and we have work to do.”

Phoenix Christian (1-0) hosts Benson (1-0) next Friday and Tanque Verde (0-1) travels to Morenci (1-0). It is a long season with plenty of second and third chances this year.

 

THE PLAYS