Aiden Schmitz is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover North Canyon High School for AZPreps365.com  

PHOENIX – The North Canyon Rattlers faced off against the Maryvale Panthers Friday night in a matchup of two 4-1 teams looking to move to 5-1.

From the opening drive, Maryvale imposed its will at the line of scrimmage, allowing no room for the Rattlers to run.

North Canyon struggled outside of the run game as well, with an early botched snap leaving its opening drive dead.

Freshman running back Dionte Brandon showcased his talent early for the Panthers, notching big runs and punching in the game’s first score.

From there, the mistakes continued to pile up for the Rattlers, and the deficit continued to grow, being as large as 28.

Brandon ran in his second score of the game for the Panthers early in second, pushing the lead to 14. Dionte Brandon (No. 6) celebrates after the second touchdown of the night on Friday in Phoenix(Aiden Schmitz photo/AZPreps365)

The Panthers would then return a punt 60-plus yards, draining all life from the Rattlers’ sideline and pushing their lead to 21 halfway through the second quarter.

But the Rattlers showed signs of life, mounting together a two-minute drill drive to score with no time left in the first half, making the halftime score 28-7 Panthers.

The second half went better for the Rattlers as senior wideout John Rivera Suarez caught a scramble drill pass from senior quarterback Karlos Romandia and took it over 70 yards to the end zone early in the third quarter.

But it was not enough for North Canyon, as it could not overcome the large deficit, losing 49-13.

“We had to play a really good game, our best game,” North Canyon head coach Anthony Johns said. “And we didn’t. We had penalties. We had issues.

"For us, we move on to the next game, and we have to play the next game as well as we can.”

For Maryvale, it moves to 5-1 on the season in dominant fashion. An all-around showing from offense to defense to special teams, the Panthers controlled all fronts. Marcus Escobedo Jr. (No. 1) throws, looking for the end zone, Friday night in Phoenix (Aiden Schmitz photo/AZPreps365)

But there were some underlying issues that Panthers head coaches Marcus and Mark Carter want to clean up.

“Personal fouls and stuff like that,” Mark Carter said. “You don’t win in the playoffs and in big games doing stuff like that.”

Maryvale’s offense and defense clicked almost all game, but Panthers’ player Miles Woods left the biggest impact.

A punt return touchdown, a receiving touchdown and two interceptions highlighted the massive night for the senior.

The special teams contribution from Woods was just one of the big plays from that unit, and was the biggest area of praise from head coaches Mark and Marcus Carter.

“If you score a touchdown on special teams, you have an 80% chance to win,” Mark Carter said. “If you score two, you have a 90% chance. We practice with special teams every single day, we take it very, very serious. It gives other guys opportunities. Finding ways to impact the game without even directly impacting it.”

As for North Canyon, it falls to 4-2. But this season has already spelled great success, as two years ago they went 0-10.

With four games left on their schedule, head coach Anthony Johns knows his group will be ready for the next one.

“We reset every week,” Johns said. “Win or loss, we got to move onto the next game. And our kids do a good job of understanding that. We’ll just move on to the next game and be the best we can next week.”