Coming off a big win against Anchorage, Alaska, East High School followed by a blowout loss to Red Mountain, Cesar Chavez came into Friday’s game with the Queen Creek Bulldogs searching for an identity.

If Friday night’s game is any indication, this may be a rough season for the Champions.

Queen Creek running back Dylan Borja was the clear workhorse for his team, accounting for all three of its touchdowns, including rushing for two of those scores in the first quarter of what ended up being a 30-21 Class 6A non-region win over Cesar Chavez.

Borja repeatedly gashed the Cesar Chavez front seven all night long, getting solid yardage on nearly every rushing attempt and occasionally ripping off big runs to lead the Bulldogs to their second win of the season to push their record to 2-1, while Chavez fell to 1-2 on the season.

On the Cesar Chavez side, running back Andrew Blitzke had several nice runs throughout the contest, including a long touchdown run to keep Chavez in the game and cut the Queen Creek lead to a field goal during the third quarter.

While Blitzke was able to keep the defense honest, Cesar Chavez was unable to consistently drive down the field, with overthrown passes and four interceptions throughout the game.

Outside of a long touchdown pass to Jaleel Walker and a couple of nice scrambles for positive yardage, quarterback Lucas Arnds was unable to spark the Cesar Chavez offense.

While Cesar Chavez struggled mightily in terms of quarterback play and run defense, its resiliency was on full display. After falling into a 14-0 hole toward the end of the first quarter, a beautiful fake-reverse on the ensuing kickoff led to a return touchdown by Thairyk Blue, and the touchdown pass to Walker tied the game a few minutes later.

Big plays kept Cesar Chavez in this game until the end, but Queen Creek’s strong running game and ball security ended up being the difference.

While this game was full of highlights, the best moment came after a scary scene involving Cesar Chavez junior Josh Garcia. After making a tackle about midway through the third quarter, Garcia laid on the turf for nearly a half hour while training staff, coaches and eventually paramedics tended to him.
As Garcia was taken off the field on a stretcher, he raised his fist into the air, signaling to the crowd that he was OK.

He was a bright spot on the Cesar Chavez defense, making several tackles and coming up with a huge sack to keep Queen Creek out of the end zone at the end of the first half.