PRESCOTT — Four-hour bus ride? No problem. Fourteen seed? No worries. Playing a team that hadn’t lost a game all season? We got this.

Gila Ridge cast aside all doubts.  

Isaac Soliz threw four touchdown passes and the No. 14-seeded Hawks came into enemy territory and walked away with an upset, defeating No. 3 Prescott 35-34 in the second round of the 4A state playoffs Friday night.

“They took every obstacle and they overcame. I couldn’t be more proud,” Gila Ridge coach Jessica Slaughter said, adding that the start of the game was rough, but they recovered, showing their resiliency on a cold, northern Arizona mountain evening.

“That was the story of the night, just resiliency. I couldn’t be more proud of both sides of the ball. They did an amazing job tonight. I know it was cold, we didn’t care, we came to pay,” Slaughter said.

The Hawks (10-2, 4-0 4A Desert Southwest) took advantage of Prescott’s secondary most of the evening, throwing it all over the field, which was their gameplan coming in.

“We knew they were going to play press man, and so we tried to take advantage of that as best we could,” Slaughter said.

Soliz said the bus ride was tiring from Yuma, but it didn’t seem to matter.

“We came out and executed,” Soliz said. “We saw the coverage that they were in, and we were confident that our receivers could make plays.”

With 9:09 to play, Soliz found Nohea Wiggins on a 5-yard lob pass in the air to make it 35-21, but Prescott (10-1, 6-0 4A Grand Canyon) wouldn’t go that quietly.

As Gila Ridge was driving once again, Jace Crocket stepped in front of a Soliz pass in the flat and took it to the house on an 80-yard interception return for a touchdown, making it 35-28 with 4:49 to go.

After standing tall defensively, Prescott drove down the field and this time, quarterback Bryce Coston sprinted down the right sideline after reading the defense, keeping it himself for a 39-yard touchdown.

The score brought Prescott within one, 35-34, with 1:53 left as coach Cody Collett chose to go for two. The decision was sound as he had all three timeouts and nearly 2 minutes left on the clock.

Unfortunately, the Badgers didn’t convert the two-point try, and were unable to keep the Hawks from getting a first down to end the game.

“They did a better job preparing. Their coaches did a good job. Congratulations to them,” an emotional Collett said. “I’m proud of our kids, they did a good job battling even though it was 35-21 with 5 minutes left. I’m proud of them, and that’s going to bare well for them in the future.”

This isn’t the first time a 14-seeded club pulled off an upset. In fact, in happened nearly a year ago to the day when No. 14 Coconino beat No. 3 Bradshaw Mountain 31-14.

UP NEXT

Gila Ridge heads to Sahuarita to play No. 6 Walden Grove on Friday, Nov. 20, in the 4A state quarterfinals. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

Brian M. Bergner Jr. has covered professional, collegiate and high school sports for more than 20 years. Follow him on X and Instagram at @AzPreps365Brian or on Facebook at @Five2MediaWorks. Have a story idea? Email Brian at bbergner@azpreps365.com.