No. 5 Horizon knocked off No. 4 Marana 30-20 Friday night to advance to the 5A semifinal round where the Huskies will host No. 9 Desert Mountain. Desert Mountain upset No. 1 Desert Edge 13-10 to set up the semifinal. On the other half of the bracket, No. 6 Canyon View upset No. 3 Desert View 38-28 and No. 2 ALA-Gilbert North held form to beat No. 7 AZ College Prep 38-20. ALA-Gilbert North will host Canyon View in the other semifinal.

The Tigers ended the season with a 10-2 record after starting year off with a 20-18 loss at Salpointe. The Lancers pulled off a major upset Friday night by taking out No. 1 Pinnacle 10-7 in a 6A quarterfinal game so the early loss proved to be a very good one for the Tigers.

Horizon (10-2) beat Desert Mountain 35-22 in a Northeast Valley Region game on Oct. 24 and the Wolves are now 10-3 on the year. Horizon head coach Tyson Ditmore was the first to notify his team of the rather unexpected rematch:

 

 

Ditmore also commented on the game at Marana getting too close and competitive at the end after the Huskies gave up a seemingly safe 24-6 lead with 9:32 left in the third. With senior QB Colten Meyer running the Marana offense, one always feels there is always a chance until the final horn blows. No. 20 Yuma Catholic took a 27-26 lead on Marana in Round 2 last Friday but Meyer responded with a 46-yard touchdown pass to Jaxsun Sharp with 48 seconds left beat the Shamrocks 34-27.

The victory over YUma Catholic was important beyond sending the Tigers to the quarterfinal round, it also gave Meyer a shot to set the career passing record for Southern Arizona Friday night. Meyer needed 74 yards to set the record and he finished with 346 yards in the loss to Horizon to finish with 9,020 yards. Meyer passed former Perry standout Brock Purdy (8,932) on the state-wide list to reach No. 20 on that list. Former Yuma Catholic standout Richard Stallworth graduated in 2022 with a state-record 12,590 career passing yards but Meyer only played in 30 games in his career with only seven games at a sophomore.

Horizon, on the other hand, is known for its running game with senior Bodie Zamorano entering the game at Marana with 1,287 rushing yards and he earned the first TD at Marana to put the Huskies up 7-0 with 3:30 left in the first. James Klopfenstien put the Huskies up 14-0 with 11:01 left in the half on a run from his receiver position and he took a direct snap to put his team up 21-6 with 2:52 left in the half. His run to the left side seemed to be problematic for the Tigers with the program gaining chunks of yardage all night sweeping in that direction.

Meyer hit Roebuck prior to that to cut the lead down to 14-6 with 7:18 left in the half and the Tigers were threatening to cut the lead down further as the first half was coming to an end but Stratton Knee came up with an interception for the Huskies at the 2-yard line.

Meyer connected with Remy McKinnon to cut the lead down to 24-13 with six minutes left in the third quarter but back-to-back field goal made it 30-13 with 7:51 left in the game. Things got a bit crazy from there after the Huskies opted to run the ball instead of punting and the Tigers responded with a defensive stand to give Meyer the ball back and he drove the team down a short field with Jeffrey Smith III capping it off with a short run to make it 30-20 with 5:33 left. The Tiger defense came up big again to give Meyer the ball back but Smith was ruled down inches short of the goal with about two minutes left and a fumble on the next play sealed the victory for the Huskies.  

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