Timothy Seale is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover ALA Mesa-North for AZPreps365.com

MESA — Joe Germaine, football coach and former NFL quarterback, spent almost half his life dedicated to playing the sport.

Now, more than 15 years after he retired, Germaine is still finding a way to keep his skills sharp.

These days, he is coaching ALA Mesa-North, where his love for the game is channeled through his son and senior quarterback, Crew Germaine. 

Crew Germaine connected with wide receiver Louie Evans for two touchdowns to help Mesa-North defeat Heritage Academy Maricopa, 35-0.

“I’ve known him for almost three years now,” Evans said. “We throw on the weekends all the time. Gotta give a lot of credit to Crew. He throws me some good balls.”

As the saying goes, everything good must come to an end, and as the duo was just getting started, Maricopa (0-6, 0-1 3A Independent Region) had three players suffer injuries, which caused coach Cameron Lewis to end the game at halftime. 

“As the head coach, I felt the best thing to do was to go ahead and have the game stop at halftime so that we could preserve the players that we had,” Lewis said. “We already came in with a small number.”

Coach Germaine said he was disappointed with the decision to not play the second half, but understood the circumstances. 

“Every snap that we get is another piece of experience that our team can use to improve and get better,” the coach said. “But at the same time, I also respect the Heritage Academy coach's decision to do what’s best for his program and his players.” 

Maricopa wouldn’t see a running clock because the Mavericks (5-2, 1-1 3A Mountain Region) dictated both sides of the ball.

Crew Germaine connected down the seam with Evans for a 30-yard touchdown to put the Mavericks on the board, 7-0. On their next drive, Evans would catch another 30-yard touchdown, giving Mesa-North a two-score lead. 

“We did what we wanted to do in preparation,” Joe Germaine said. “I was really happy with our week of preparation, our attitude and our intent.”

Evans would cap off his 100-plus-yard game when he scored his third touchdown on first and 10 when he took the handoff and fought his way 40 yards to the end zone. This sealed the deal for the offense. 

“This guy’s a dog,” the quarterback said. 

On top of all the injuries, Maricopa had a limited number of bodies who could play. This caused a less ideal matchup against Mesa-North. 

“We had some key players that were absent — some smaller bodies and some kids that haven't played all year that were thrown into the fire,” Lewis said. 

That lack of experience would let the Mavericks keep the Heroes from a first down the entire game, and allow senior Thomas Godfrey to pick off Maricopa junior quarterback Reed Rieman for two return touchdowns. 

“We played to a standard regardless of the score,” Coach Germaine said. “We wanted to make sure we kept doing what we were supposed to do.”

The Mavericks plan to rest and recover next week during their bye, before traveling to Apache Junction (0-6, 0-2 3A Mountain) at 7 p.m. Oct. 16.