Christian Fetsis led all rushers with 171 yards. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365.com)

 

The game was almost over before it began. Benjamin Franklin took the field without sophomore running back Zach Jefferies and then Mitch Maas ran the opening kick 92 yards to give Pusch Ridge a 7-0 lead only 13 seconds into the 3A semifinal held at Salpointe Catholic Saturday night.

No. 1 Pusch Ridge would go on the defeat No. 4 Benjamin Franklin 47-7 to improve to 13-0 on the year while the Chargers fell to a respectable 11-2 mark in only the fourth year of the program’s existence.

Jeffries injured his right knee against Sabino in the quarterfinal round which meant the Chargers had to go up against the Lions without their top rusher. Jeffries was pulling 137 yards a game for a total of 1,643 yards before his injury. Even more, he was scoring almost 12 points a game on 22 TDs. His absence, added to a Lions defense that forced six turnovers on downs and three interceptions, made for a lopsided score and a dominating performance from Pusch Ridge.

The Lion defense limited Benjamin Franklin to 46 yards on the ground and 141 through the air but Christian Fetsis had little difficulty on the other side of the ball. The senior QB rushed for a game-high 171 yards while fellow senior Mathew McLeod collected three TDs on 168 yards rushing. Maas added 77 yards rushing and Ryan Garcia put together 41 more. In all, the Lions rushed for 473 yards at almost nine yards per pop.

Fetsis was a sophomore on the 2015 championship team and he saw limited action but this squad is all his.

“This feels amazing,” Fetsis said. “It was hard being on the sidelines a couple years ago. I think this team has a total commitment to each other. We would lay down our lives for each other on the field. I feel so blessed.”

As mentioned before, Benjamin Franklin started competing as an independent team in 2014 before entering AIA competition a year later. It’s an amazing story of success put together by head coach Dave Jefferies.

“Thank you for letting me be a part of your lives,” Jefferies told his team after the game. “The good news is you will always be part of my life. I’ve always said it’s not if you win or lose, it’s how you played the game.”

The Lion defense also limited Jr. RB Chandler Miles to 17 yards rushing which is far below his average of 125 per game but the Chargers also put some defensive plays together with McCalister Loving collecting two fumble recoveries and Sean Crandall adding another.

Cade McAfee punched in a TD with five minutes left in the game to cut the Pusch Ridge lead down 40-7 but Dakota Haynes came up with a 58-yard interception return to extend the lead back to 47-7. Maas and McLeod also had interceptions for the Lions.

Chase Adams still managed 141 yards passing for the Chargers with Miles collecting 47 of those yards.

Pusch Ridge will face No. 3 Casteel (13-0) on Saturday, Nov. 25 for the 3A state championship. The game is slated to begin at 6:30 p.m. at Campo Verde High School.  Casteel knocked off No. 2 American Leadership 28-21 in the other semifinal game.