Ironwood Ridge beat Marana 62-42 Friday night in a game defined by turnovers, long runs and seemingly little defense. I guess one would have had to see the game in person to realize Marana (0-1) is not as bad as the final score indicates and Ironwood Ridge (1-0) is not quite as good as the 62 points indicates.  

Marana fumbled the opening kickoff and Matthew Malkin converted on a 36-yard field goal to give the Nighthawks a 3-0 lead with 7:45 left in the first. The fumble was an omen of things to come for the Tigers. Seven turnovers in all. Some were forced and some not but each appeared to be more devastating than the one before.

The Tigers took their next drive deep into Nighthawk territory only to have Niko Madlangbayan intercept Conner Leavens in the end zone. The result? Heath Beemiller ripped off a 77-yard touchdown run three plays later and the Nighthawks went up 9-0 (missed extra point).

Leavens finished the game with 314 yards passing (22-39) and he collected 19 of those yards on the next drive when he found Dominic Gehr cutting through the Nighthawk defense.

The score was now 9-7 with 52.5 seconds left in the first quarter. The Tigers were still in the game despite the miscues but Ironwood Ridge was not done. Garett Billings returned the ensuing kickoff 72 yards to give the Nighthawks a 15-7 lead (2-pt conversion failed).

Still, down only 15-7 the Tigers went back to work. But so did the Nighthawks.

Tommy Baden intercepted another pass and sprinted 37 yards to give Ironwood Ridge a 21-7 lead (kick failed) with 11:27 left in the second quarter. Remember that fumble on the opening kickoff? Well, it happened again.

Down 21-7 Marana fumbled the next kickoff and Ironwood Ridge turned the opportunity into seven more points with Soma ikaika Helu doing the honors on a 2-yard dash with 10:24 left in the first half.

Down but not out, Leavens drove his team down the field and hit Gehr for another score to cut the lead down to 28-14. With 7:27 left in the half. The game was still on.

The Nighthawks answered again, this time on a 54-yard dash from Cole Gerken to make the score 35-14 with 5:11 left in the half. Both teams punted but Beemiller picked off another Tiger pass and Gerken hit Noah Pallanes from 33 yards out to make the score 42-14 with 40.3 seconds left in the first half.  

A big return on the kick gave Leavens some more life and he found Tariq Jordan from 17 yards out to cut the Nighthawk lead down to 42-21 with 1.8 seconds left in the half.

Ironwood Ridge turned five turnovers into 29 points in the first half alone to overcome three touchdowns passes from Leavens but that’s exactly what good teams do. They force you into situations where you may not be comfortable. Leavens was blindsided on a couple of those interceptions and pressured on the rest.

“Seven turnovers guys, seven turnovers are too much,” Marana head coach Andy Litten told his players after the game. ‘We made some big stops and moved the ball. This was tough but it’s about fixing it now.”

The second half almost started out the same as the first with the Tigers driving down to the Nighthawk 1-yard line only to fumble the ball away but Ironwood Ridge gave the ball right back on a fumble of their own a few plays later and Leavens hit Gehr again to cut the Nighthawk lead down to 42-28 with 3:00 left in the third quarter.

Ironwood Ridge gave the back on downs but Marana was forced to punt. It was the last chance the Tigers had to flip the game because the Nighthawks drive 70 yards on the next possession and Nick Brahler punched the ball in to give Ironwood Ridge a back-breaking 49-28 lead with 10:26 left in the game.

Then, another interception led to an 83-yard return by Noah Pallanes to put Ironwood Ridge up 56-28 with 6:57 left in the game. Leavens guided Marana on an 80-yard drive to cut the lead down to 56-35 but ikaika Helu came up with a 52-yard run moments later to make the score 62-35 with 3:30 left.

Ikaika Helu finished with 192 yards on 28 carries but is work on the field actually begins before the game. He leads the team in a pregame Haka he calls “Sippy tau.”  He says his teammates picked it up easily and it helps to get them ready for games, himself included.

“I’m grateful to be under the lights,” he said. “I want to be able to everything I can for my team. I look forward to each game and I need to thank my coaches for getting us ready also.”

Marana put one final drive together and Anthony Valencia ran the ball in from 10 yards out to make the final score 62-42. In all, the Nighthawks scored 35 points on turnovers but they also displayed a top-running game with Gerken adding 88 yards to ikaika Helu’s 192 and Beemiller added 58 more.

“We had a good game, it was fun,” Beemiller said. “We are going to watch film now and see what we need to fix but we played hard. I did some good things and made a few mistakes but it feels good to play. I love playing football.”

Marana finished 6-4 last year and just missed out on the D-III playoffs while Ironwood Ridge finished 9-3 and made it to the quarterfinal round of the D-II playoffs. Both teams are now competing in the newly configured 5A Conference.

Marana has a shot to win the Sonoran Division and the Tigers are looking to rebound. “There was no quit in anyone of us tonight,” Litten added. “That’s a good football team. It’s time to move on.”

Marana will travel to Cienega (0-0) next Friday while Ironwood Ridge will host Sunnyslope (0-0).