Reyna Stanley is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Mesa High School for AZPreps365.com

MESA, Ariz. - Mesa High girls flag football struggled to find their footing Tuesday night, falling 63-0 to No. 1-ranked Highland High School in a home game.

In turn, Highland wasted little time establishing control, as the Hawks scored on the second play of their opening drive, taking a 7-0 lead just a minute into the game. 

After Mesa received the ball, head coach Mikhail Barton called an early timeout in an attempt to settle his team and address early mistakes before they became a bigger problem.

The timeout and tough love seemed to spark a response from the Jackrabbits who put together a promising drive downfield. A long pass by Lexee Sunderhaus to Leka Vaitafa gave Mesa a chance to build momentum.

“I just thought: I got to make this big play to hype up my team and get the energy going,” Vaitafa said. 

However, Mesa was unable to turn the drive into points. 

After two shorter plays and referee confusion over the distance needed for a first down, the Jackrabbits turn the ball back over. Highland quickly took advantage, scoring another touchdown and extending its  lead.

As Highland continued to pressure Mesa, the Jackrabbits struggled with hesitation and execution. Their next drives featured more mistakes that threatened to end the possession early. Barton continued encouraging his girls as they tried to regroup, but Mesa entered halftime trailing 28-0.

The Jackrabbits received the ball to start the second half hoping to generate some momentum and work their way back into the game, but an interception sapped the  energy and gave Highland another opportunity to extend the lead further. 

From there, the Hawks continued to pull away. As the margin grew, the game moved to a running clock and Mesa remained unable to get on the scoreboard before the final whistle.

Barton described Highland as a well-oiled machine, operating to find the holes in Mesa’s defense and work its  way down the field. Its speed and execution showed why it is  ranked No.1 in the state.

For Highland, the performance reflected the aggressive approach the team brought into the game.

Hadley Wine, a junior playing for Highland, liked her team’s “all gas no breaks” mentality heading into the matchup. That intensity showed as the Hawks maintained pressure on Mesa throughout the night.

Highland head coach Kenny Golladay was pleased with his team’s performance on the field, but emphasized that the blowout does not mean the work is finished. 

“I think we did phenomenal out there,” Golladay said. “We do go game by game. You look at the scoreboard and score a lot but there’s still a lot of errors we need to work on.”

While Highland walked away with a dominant win, Mesa left with a clearer picture of what it needs to address moving forward.

Barton said the Jackrabbits plan to focus on attention to detail and communication during practice. Against a team as fast and disciplined as Highland, small mistakes can quickly turn into scoring opportunities for the opposition.

“This is just a reminder of how much we still have to do,” Barton said. “The girls are hungry, so we just go back to the drawing board, learn and try to clean up some of those mistakes that were self-inflicted.”

The Jackrabbits will look to carry the lessons from the matchup as they prepare to face the Gilbert High Tigers on Thursday with cleaner execution and better communication going into the back half of this season.