Mason Larson is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover McClintock High School for AZPreps365.com

While a final score of 48-14 would seem to put the focus on offense, it was McClintock's defense that paved the way for the Chargers' lopsided victory Friday night at Central.

Central’s first drive ended with a blocked punt that led to a McClintock touchdown and the Bobcats' second drive wasn’t much better with senior quarterback Humberto Peralta, throwing an interception to McClintock safety Estevan Fraijo.

The Chargers defense continued to make plays, including another blocked punt, but they did give up 14 points before halftime.

“We preached all week ‘do your job’ and there were stretches when we weren’t doing our job, just breakdowns of communication," said Sammy Johns, McClintock’s defensive coordinator. "That’s probably the reason we gave up the 14 points.”

The McClintock defense continued to control the game by completely shutting down the Central offense and forcing two more interceptions. 

“All we did in halftime was to reiterate the fact that our message from our scouting report all week was ‘do your job and make sure you’re doing your job before you try and do somebody else’s’ and that’s what we had to focus them back in on in halftime and they came out and responded," Johns said. "There was a stretch that we were up and I think we kind of let off and we have to show some maturity and make sure we don’t do that anymore."

Fraijo was a leader on the defensive side of the ball but on offense he scored a touchdown in the third quarter. He’s also the long snapper on special teams. 

“It’s his attitude," said Corbin Smith, McClintock’s head coach. "That kid practices just like he plays. The reason he executes during games and makes plays is because that’s the way he practices. He truly practices full go 100% of the time. He doesn’t let up. The reward is he’s where he should be and makes the plays he should make and so he’s invaluable to us in all three phases of the game.”

Although the offense was able to capitalize on the defense’s stops for an impressive win, scorewise, it was still sloppy and Smith told his team to prepare for a long week.

“I told the players that I better be the last person on the bus and I can tell you Fraijo was probably the first person on the bus," Smith said. "If I tell him to jump five feet, he’s going to jump five feet. Not four and a half, not five and a half, but five feet. He does what is asked of him consistently.” 

The Chargers (3-1) will  play next at Horizon (3-1) on Friday night. The Bobcats (0-4) will host Maricopa (2-2) on Friday.