Marana beat Salpointe 17-0 on the road Thursday night and it could be considered one of the biggest wins in program history. Of the 54 victories the Tigers have earned since starting out in the fall of 2023, two have been of the state quarterfinal variety. The program beat Millennium 17-16 to advance to the semifinal round in 2024 and Queen Creek 14-0 last year. It could be argued in favor of those two victories being tops but a lot can be said about bragging rights.

Salpointe started competing in flag football last year and the team went 19-1 en route to a 4A state championship but the one setback was a 44-10 loss at Marana. The Lancers are 11-2 this fall, and favored to compete for another state title, but another loss to Marana might sting a bit, if only for a few days with the team preparing for a game at Flowing Wells (6-3) Tuesday night.

“I told them team this loss doesn’t define us,” Salpointe head coach Barrie Pedersen said. “Marana made plays and we didn’t.”

A couple of dropped passes and a couple of dropped interceptions, along with giving up several first downs on important fourth-down situations, proved to be the difference in the long run but the Marana defense was tough. Marana junior standout Mazie Brown collected two interceptions and she pulled in six passes for 34 yards, including a late touchdown grab.

Marana (8-4) came in with a great game plan of taking what was given to them, mainly short passes to keep the ball moving and that is huge with a running clock.

The Tigers burned up eight minutes to the first drive of the game but the team gave the ball back on downs with 4:10 left in the first quarter. It was the only time the team failed to covert on a fourth-down situation in seven tries. The tone was set early.

The Lancers responded by losing seven yards on their first drive and a punt put the Tigers in great position with sophomore quarterback Isabella Garcia hitting fellow sophomore Sophia Silverstein on a fourth-and-goal pass from the one to put Marana up 7-0 with 10:56 left.

That score held up through the first half and the Lancers came out of halftime with a drive that was stalled at the 42 due to an interception from Brown. Marana responded with another scoring drive that included a couple more fourth-down conversions, including a diving 10-yard catch from junior Brooklyn Griffin to keep the drive going deep in Salpointe territory.

The Lancer defense would stop the Tigers at the four but Charlee Romero put Marana up 10-0 on a 19-yard field goal with 12 minutes left in the game.

Brown came up with her second interception at midfield to stop another Lancer drive with 8:13 left. Brown caught a 9-yard pass to keep the ensuing drive alive on forth down and she caught a 2-yard touchdown pass on fourth down for the 17-0 final.

The victory came after the Tigers went 2-2 at the Fiesta Bowl Copper State Invitational last week while the Lancers went 4-1 to earn a second place finish. On the surface it looked like Marana struggled a bit but Garcia was unavailable for a couple of games as a precaution.

“Bella jammed her should reaching out to pull a flag so we kept her out,” head coach Shaun Lara explained. “We came back and won both games on Saturday.”

Isabella Garcia. (Andy Morales Photo/AZPreps365)

Garcia finished with an unofficial 181 yards passing (26-39) with two touchdowns to go along with 41 yards rushing to show that she is ready for the stretch run that continues with a game at Xavier Prep (4-5) Monday night.

For Salpointe, sophomore Isla Collins finished with over 100 yards passing and the team will need to refocus the rest of the way. A trip to the current top seed in 5A in Casa Grande (12-0) will end the regular season for the Lancers on Nov. 5.

Isla Collins. (Andy Morales Photo/AZPreps365)