FOOTBALL: Ironwood Ridge stuns Salpointe 33-7

September 12, 2015 by Andy Morales, AZPreps365


Harrison Beemiller (Andy Morales/AZPreps365.com)

Oro Valley Ironwood Ridge took a gamble opening up the season against Division I power Chandler Hamilton. The Nighthawks may have lost that game 44-7 but they gained so much more. The Nighthawks learned how to adjust and grow together as a team and their learning curve was on display Friday night thanks to a 33-7 win over Tucson Salpointe.

Ironwood Ridge is known as running team first but the vaunted Lancer defensive line caused a shift in how the Nighthawks were going to approach the game.

"We watched game film and I knew running the ball up the middle against (Justin) Holt and (Jacob) Ksiazek would be difficult," senior quarterback Harrison Beemiller explained. "We noticed the weakness was with pass defense and we connected on a couple simple hook routes on their defensive backs."

Beemiller exposed that weakness twice on a 65-yard pass to Daniel Peabody and a 60-yard pass to Paul Gallegos in the first and second possession of the game. Beemiller threw two passes and Salpointe was down 14-0 with 5:20 left in the first quarter.

To put that in perspective, Beemiller had 112 yards passing in his first two games combined but was already at 125 in the first quarter against Salpointe. The Nighthawks adjusted.

But the big winner was the Nighthawk defense. Aided by an uneven Salpointe passing game, Ironwood Ridge limited Salpointe to 131 yards of total offense. The Lancers could not sustain a drive of any length which meant their defense was on the field for longer and longer periods of time.

Facing a tiring defense, the Nighthawks adjusted again and started to run. Ironwood Ridge would only collected 33 more yards through the air from that point because the rushing offense would go on to produce 239.

Beemiller put Ironwood Ridge up 21-0 on a 4-yard dash with 7:03 left in the first half and Salpointe responded with a 65-yard drive to cut the lead down to 21-7 with 3:15 left. 

Salpointe started out with a drive that ended on downs at the Nighthawk 29-yard line, a punt, a punt and another punt before the 6-yard scoring run by Dominic Salaz. Still, the Lancers were remarkably in the game.

A controversial reversal of a fumble deep in Salpointe territory may have been the final obstacle for a Lancer comeback. Down only 21-7 in the third quarter, a Lancer scoring drive could have shifted momentum but Beemiller took advantage and ran for another short score to put Ironwood Ridge up 27-7 (kick failed).

Cole Gerken put the game away in the fourth quarter on a 5-yard run to give the Nighthawks a 33-7 win.

Ironwood Ridge coach Matt Johnson gathered his team together and reminded them what it took to defeat their rivals.

"When you pay the price with pain this is the product," Johnson said. "And the product is on the scoreboard."

The pain from the Hamilton loss has produced for Ironwood Ridge. Beemiller feels it will help his team finish out the season strong. The Nighthawks have a 2-1 record heading into another huge game against Tucson High next week. The Badgers improved to 3-0 after they defeated Gilbert Higley 48-26 at home.

(Tucson High coach Justin Argraves will be on the AZPreps365.com radio show Saturday morning.)

The Salpointe players and coaches talked mostly about frustration after the loss but a 2-2 record is not a season-ending obstacle. Far from it. Sectional play is still three weeks away and the Lancers will have a week off to heal before they host Mesa Skyline on Sept. 18.

NOTES

Salpointe was limited to 35 yards rushing on 20 attempts and 96 yards passing (12-29).  Ironwood Ridge senior corner Jared McKemy had a lot to do with those numbers but he also came up big in other parts of the game.

With the coach from the University of Montana in the stands, McKemy delivered on a 73-yard punt return to help set up one of Beemiller's touchdown runs. McKemy had scored on the return but a late flag moved the ball back to the 21-yard line.

Beemiller transferred to Ironwood Ridge from Hamilton after his sophomore year.

Salpointe is essentially on their third quarterback of the season after sophomore standout Jamarye Joiner withdrew from the school and Roman Arvayo injured his throwing hand in a 14-7 overtime loss to Gilbert Campo Verde to open the season.

Sophomore E.J. Galvez has stepped in nicely and picked up back-to-back wins in his first two starts before the loss to Ironwood Ridge. His 230 passing yards and three touchdowns in his win against Anthem Boulder Creek has many believing the future looks bright for Salpointe.

It is clear a bigger loss was the transfer of senior safety Teauntae Nash to Chandler during the summer. Nash's grandfather Charles Nash Sr. played at Arizona and in the NFL and his father Charles Nash, Jr. played at Arizona. His imposing presence in Salpointe's defensive backfield is missed.