J.J. Horne looked really comfortable running up and down the field Friday night for AZ College Prep.

The Knights’ offensive line had a lot to do with it, but it traces back much further than the season-opening 49-14 win over Willow Canyon at DePrez Stadium in 5A action.

The senior running back has been around the program since 2017 when his dad, J’cory, started coaching with ACP and J.J. was given the responsibility of being the ball boy.

Nine seasons later, the younger Horne surpassed the 300-yard mark in a single game and scored three touchdowns to lead the Knights to an impressive victory over the Wildcats.

“He is ACP football,” Knights coach Jacob Rutter said. “He’s been holding a ball since he could walk and been on the sideline since his dad started here. We’ve been telling people all year long that this kid is something special. No. 1 he’s the hardest working kid in the weight room and the field, No. 2 he’s a glue guy and a four-year ACP guy.

“This performance doesn’t shock me.”

Unofficially, Horne had 20 carries for 314 yards with three touchdowns to help ACP grab an early lead and never relented.

Horne said he remembers the early days with hopes of one day playing for the Knights.

“Those were the glory days for me,” he said. “I remember watching them, and I’ve been part of this program from the beginning and being around all of those older players got me to where I am as a player now.”

The big performance was keyed by a trait that the Knights showed from the very beginning of the game – a physicality that the permeated on both sides of the ball that Willow Canyon had no answer for on this night.

It didn’t matter who had possession of the ball, the Knights were dominating the line of scrimmage, breaking tackles, and fighting through double teams for tackles beind the line of scimmage. The Wildcats were in bad down and distance on offense and had their backs against the goal line on defense the entire game.

The ACP program, which has won 28 games over the previous three seasons despite being on its third head coach, prides itself on being the team punishing the opponent.

“It started with Steve Vaught (in 2024) and has continued and we want to take it to the next level,” said Rutter, who returned to ACP this year after being the defensive coordinator for Highland the last two seasons.

Horne’s offensive output wasn’t the sole show of offensive dominance as wide receiver Dalton Speaks had five catches for 108 yards and three touchdowns. It was clear he had a different type of linkage with quarterback Gunnar Schmidt.

“I’ve been playing with Gunnar since seventh grade,” Speaks said. “Our connection goes way back and he’s been my best friend too so it’s like a brotherhood.”

The ACP defense contained the Willow Canyon offense in the first half with seven plays of negative yardage until giving up a score in the final 30 seconds of the half.

Wyatt Schoonover, Amyren Breedlove, Johnny Harmon and others disrupted the Willow Canyon offense as the game became lopsided with leads of 21-0 in the first half, 35-7 in the third quarter.

“We want to see how physical we can get,” said Rutter, who was the defensive backs coach with ACP before leaving for Highland. "We want to see how much further we can push the needle. These kids love contact.”

It's going to be a minute before Jeff Bowen's influence and experience reaches a foundational level at Willow Canyon, but make no mistake the former Westview and Arizona Christian coach will have an impact.

An identity will surface, discipline will be the norm and victories will likely follow but not in the first game of season one.

Little things like picking up a first down, but a personal foul after the play negates the success or a blown assignment springs a wide receiver will become mostly non-existent rather than commonplace.

The Wildcats will event start converting some of the many fourth down attempts Willow Canyon tried this week.

“We will see what the film says, but the guys played hard,” Bowen said. “Our expectations are different than they’ve ever been here. We expect them to respond and they did a lot of good things tonight. They have to learn to play together, trust their habits they are coached to do and they’ll be just fine.”

Some of the highlights included a 54-yard screen pass to Tyler Salas, who later scored the first touchdown on a 1-yard run and a 80-yard touchdown catch and run by Tobi Alade on a pass from Tate Callan.

There were too many penalties and struggles to stay disciplined to compete with a team like ACP, but Bowen knows there are better days ahead and the coaching staff has faith in the players in the program.

“They want someone to believe in them,” Bowen said. “This coaching staff does believe and we are going to coach them hard. They know we are going to coach them hard. It’s a long season and we will see how it all shakes out.”

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Here is the link to the live coverage of the game: