Chandler edges Hamilton to rule Arizona Avenue

October 30, 2015 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365


Two fourth-quarter pass plays -- one successful and one not -- were huge Friday night as Chandler managed to pull out a 27-20 victory over previously unbeaten Hamilton before an electric, overflow crowd at Austin Field. The victory makes Chandler (9-1) the section champ again and was its fourth win in the last five meetings and third in a row over Hamilton.

Both teams, as well as the rest of the state, will wait for the final power-rankings to come out Saturday morning at 9  to find out who's in and who's out and how much movement there was after Friday's other games. Hamilton was No. 1 in D-I an Chandler was No. 3. Mountain Pointe, which was No. 2, won its game with Red Mountain on Friday.

Hamilton coach Steve Belles was well aware of the depth Chandler has at the skill positions and with Wolves top receiver N'Keal Harry sidelined by injury, someone else had to step up. Belles had talked about the 'next-ups". It's likely De Carriere wasn't the first player Belles thought of among the next-ups for Chandler.

The next up in this case was unheralded Chandler senior wide out Taj De Carriere.  On what is usually an innocuos play, De Carriere turned a 10-15-yard gain on a slant pattern into a 92-yard catch and run to set up the winning touchdown. At the time of the play Chandler was  nervous, down 20-19 and deep in its territory. The catch and run didn't find the end zone, but will be remembered in the annuls of what's suddenly become a blooming rivalry the last two years. De Carriere entered the game with 12 catches for 135 yards the previous nine games.

"This year has been Taj's chance after four years, and still he was behind some others because there is so much talent," Chandler coach Shaun Aguano said. "He made the big play. It was part of the process of his waiting for a chance."

De Carriere's reception took Chandler from its 5 to the Hamilton 3 and on the next play junior runnning back T.J. Green scored his third touchdown of the game. Chandler converted the two-point conversion and took a 27-20 lead to the final 6:54.

Hamilton (9-1) had the game going its way prior to the big play by De Carriere. The Huskies battled back from 13-0 and 19-7 deficits to finally take the lead, 20-19, early in the third period thanks to Dylan Brown's second field goal of the game. Hamilton was winning the battle in the trenches with a solid ground attack that enabled it to eat clock and keep the ball from Chandler. 

Hamilton moved the ball from its 20 to its 45 and faced a fourth-and-five. The Huskies called time and elected to go for the first down with a little more than three minutes left. Their play call was a nice one.

Quarterback Travis Lockhart got enough time in the pocket and quickly spotted Kyeler Burke breaking free over the middle. Burke had the defense beat by five yards and Lockhart unloaded with a little too much air under the attempt. It allowed the defender to tip the ball away and off the hands of Burke, giving Chandler the ball. The Wolves were able to get a couple first downs and run out the clock.

"In games like these, it usually comes down to five or six plays," Belles said. "We didn't make enough of those plays."

Chandler quarterback Mason Moran, who scored the game's first TD on a short run, had a very good night passing. Moran completed 25-of 35 passes for 353 yards. Hamilton's running game was a two-pronged attack from Rashad Williams  and Jawhar Jordan. Williams rushed for 123 yards on 18 carries and scored twice on short runs. Jordan had 17 carries for 69 yards.