Mountain View head coach Bam McRae & QB Josemaria Alcala talk things over. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365.com)

 

The 5A Southern Region is one of the most difficult gauntlets in the state and only one team will survive to earn the automatic berth to the state playoffs. Cienega (4-0), Ironwood Ridge (4-0), Buena (3-1) and even a one-win Sahuaro (1-3) squad will make things difficult for Marana Mountain View (3-1) down the stretch. Wins will be hard to come by.

Knowing the difficulty of region play, the Mountain Lions need to win as many “freedom” games as possible in order to secure one of the nine at-large berths available in the 5A Conference and the program picked up a very important win Friday night at home against Tucson High, 42-20.

Tucson fell to 2-3 on the year but the Badgers are in a very unique playoff position. Playing in the 6A Southern Region, the Badgers will battle Sunnyside (1-4) and Rincon/University (1-4) in what amounts to the “Tucson Sub-Region.”  The winner of the Tucson Sub-Region will face the winner of the “Yuma Sub-Region” in a one-game playoff at the end of the year for the automatic berth to the 6A state playoffs. The Yuma Sub-Region is comprised of Kofa (1-3) and Cibola (1-4).

Still, the Badgers would benefit greatly with wins out of their region due to playoff seeding and a win at Mountain View would have been a tremendous boost especially with Cienega and Ironwood Ridge remaining on their non-region schedule.

It looked like the Badgers were on their way thanks to a 3-yard run by Jacob Campas to put Tucson up 7-0 with 5:42 left in the first. Mark Vargas hit on a 23-yard field goal on the previous play but a penalty moved the ball up to the 3-yard line and the Badgers elected to remove the field goal and the gamble paid off.

Wyatt Adams tied the game up with a 17-yard dash with 11:21 left in the second and Varney Larson ripped off a 41-yard run to give the Mountain Lions a 14-7 lead three minutes later. The Badgers were unable to respond and Adams scored again to put Mountain View up 21-7 at the half.

Adams collected 87 yards rushing on seven carries in the first half and he finished with an unofficial 121 yards and three TDs in the game but the outcome was in doubt despite a 47-yard TD pass from Josemaria Alcala to Joshua Hart and a 28-yard dash from Adams to put Mountain View up 35-7 with 5:18 left in the third.

The Badgers took advantage of a fumble at the Mountain View 4-yard line and Jesus Montano cashed in on a 6-yard run to cut the lead down to 35-14. The Badgers forced a punt and Montano broke free for a 42-yard score to cut the lead down to 35-20 on a failed conversion with 11:09 left in the game.

The Badgers were now in striking distance but Larson ran the ensuing kickoff back to put Mountain View up 42-20, ending the Badger comeback.

Larson had 94 yards rushing but his 70-yard kick return secured the victory for Mountain View. The Badgers showed glimpses of speed and talent but some uneven play put the team too far behind midway through the game.

“We have to put together an entire game,” head coach Justin Argraves told his players after the game. “We aren’t done yet, we still have five more games. The season is still open but we have to grow from this.”

As mentioned before, things will not get any easier for the Badgers next week with a game against Cienega on the horizon. The game will be played Friday night at Rincon/UHS due to storm damage to the stadium at Tucson High.

Mountain View opened up with a 34-0 loss to Salpointe but three wins in a row has put the program in a better position especially with a trip to Poston Butte (3-1) coming on Friday night.

Adams and Alcala are seniors but the team is loaded with sophomores and juniors including junior athlete Calib McRae. McRae is one of the state’s top linebackers but the standout is also lining up at defensive end and is taking snaps on the offensive side of the ball at tight end.

“We are very young with a strong offensive line with players like Kai Golden,” McRae said. “We know we can get better and I’m trying to work on my craft to put my team in the best position to win.”

When asked about his increased responsibilities on offense, McRae offered, “I prefer defense. I like the aggressiveness of defense and I feel at peace on that side.”