5A football: Williams Field blanks Campo Verde for 2nd title

December 7, 2019 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365


Williams Field players and coach Steve Campbell with his signature towel celebrate with fans after their 19-0 victory over Campo Verde in the 5A championship game. (AzPreps365 photo).

A turnover on a its first possession that led to a touchdown. A big play after missing a second field goal in a four-minute span of the second quarter.

It spelled the beginning of earning state championship No. 2 for top-seeded Williams Field as the Black Hawks denied upset-minded No. 6 Campo Verde its first title with a 19-0 win in the 5A championship game at Sun Devil Stadium.

Williams Field (12-2) ran its winning streak to 12 in a row after starting 0-2 to claim a second title trophy in four final appearances. The Black Hawks won a title in 2016 and lost in the finals in 2010 and 2014. Campo Verde, playing in its title game, finished with a school-best 10 wins.

Williams Field's shutout was the first in any conference championship game since 2009 when three schools recorded whitewashes - Hamilton, Canyon del Oro and Cactus. 

As he has since at least midseason, Williams Field coach Steve Campbell was all in on praise for his defense. The Black Hawks limited Campo Verde to 195 yards for the game (90 rushing and 105 passing).

"How much they've improved over the year has been amazing," Campbell said. "We've seen lately they've (Campo) thrown more with a lot of 50-50 balls. Our secondary did the job defending it."

The secondary of Donovan Guyton, Brady Medina, Braxton Anderson, Logan Hall and Lasjawn Hunter rarely gave a deep ball. They combined for 10 of the Black Hawks' 17 picks this season. 

"I think teams underestimated our entire defense," quarterback Mason Bugg said. "We didn't have the pure athletes we had last year, but together they were great."

Williams Field jumped on top quickly. Medina recovered a Connor Calloway fumble on the game's second play, setting up the offense at Campo' Verde's 42. Bugg completed three of four passes for 37 yards on the drive and it ended with Kaden Cloud scoring on a 2-yard run. The extra point failed for a 6-0 lead.

Williams Field added its second of three TDs 3:45 before halftime. On the first play after Campo's second field goal miss, Bugg tossed a short pass toward the boundary for 10 yards to Josh Gale, who skirted a tackle and raced another 70 yards to the end zone to push the margin to 13-0.

Campo's best chanced to score a TD came in the second period on a pass to the corner of the end zone to Ryan Hutchens. Officials ruled a foot did not get down in bounds. That play happened just a few plays prior to Williams Field getting its second TD on the Bugg to Gale score. 

After a scoreless third quarter, Williams Field put the game on ice with 8:16 to play. Bugg threw a short pass in the flat that turned into a 46-yard TD to speedy Myles Taylor for the final tally of 19-0. That play came after a roughing the punter penalty gave the Black Hawks the ball back.

Campo Verde, which committed five turnovers in an earlier 35-13 loss to Williams Field in October, gave the Black Hawks' a much better game. The Coyotes shut down Williams Field's rushing attack (74 yards on 42 rushes). Take away the two long TD passes and both teams would have have fallen short of 200 yards offense for the game.

"Our defense did a great job," Campo Verde coach Max Ragdale said. "We felt we had to sell out  to stop the run and did limit them. They got a two plays that got away from us."

Campo recorded five sacks of Bugg, but with his two long TDs finished the day 10 of 18 for 74 yards. Campo Verde quarterback Zach Herrera was just 11 for 27 with  a pick in the final five minutes. Campo's longest completion was for 21 yards.

"As far as our offense, we were good between the 20s, but that's not the name of the game," Ragsdale said. "We knew we had to take our shots with the passing game."

Connor Calloway, taking over as the Coyotes lead running back with older brother, Caden, sidelined with a broken foot, finished with 97 yards on 19 carrie to lead the offense.