It was a near-sellout crowd on a Monday night at the Kino North Standium. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365.com)

 

It took a while, but Week Two of the high school football season has finally come to an end, some 72 hours later than expected. As reported earlier, a monsoon storm rolled through Tucson Friday night causing a handful of delayed games including a rivalry game between Desert View and Sunnyside.

Sunnyside was set to host the district rivalry game on Friday night but the rains left the field unplayable so Pima County stepped in and made the Kino North Stadium available but the game had to be played on Monday night. The setting and the uniqueness of the night made for an extra special game with Sunnyside coming out on top 20-13.

Sunnyside (1-1) made the shift from 6A to 5A under the new configuration but that meant competing in the 5A Southern Region with power-programs Marana (2-0), Cienega (1-0) and Ironwood Ridge (1-0). That gauntlet is difficult enough but the nonregional games on the Blue Devil schedule is also cause for concern with Campo Verde (2-0), Sahuaro (1-1) and Pueblo (0-1) on the table. Simply, the Blue Devils have no room for error and that means taking care of business every week.

Desert View (0-1) broke a 27-year drought against Sunnyside in 2016 and the Jaguars beat the Blue Devils again last year to start a winning streak of their own to offset the 0-9 streak suffered at the hands of their district rivals dating back to 1989 and a win Monday night would have cemented the shift in power to their sidelines and they came close to pulling it off.

Martin Arvizu put Sunnyside up 7-0 with 2:41 left in the first quarter on a 30-yard run that was set up by a bad snap on a Jaguar punt but Tullah Salat cut the lead down to 7-6 with 7:39 left in the half on a 10-yard dash of his own. The blocked extra point did not become a factor and the team picked up one of their own after Johnathon Lopez connected with Elijah Wyatt from 8-yards out two minutes later to make the score 13-6.

Lopez finished with 63 yards passing and two touchdowns to help lead the Blue Devils to victory and the importance of the win was not lost on the senior. “They beat us two years in a row after they went all those years without winning so this meant a lot to me,” Lopez said. “Now, I’m hoping for a winning season and ride the year with my team.”

Down 13-6, Desert View fumbled the ball away on their first play and Lopez cashed in on an 11-yard pass to Isias Hernandez to up the score to 20-6 with 2:50 left in the half. Desert View had one last chance before the first half ended but a 23-yard pass from Devin Lopez to Aaron Reynoza came down at the 2-yard line as the buzzer sounded.

Arvizu finished with 66 yards rushing to lead Sunnyside but the Jaguars held a huge advantage in yards gained with Salat putting together 91 yards and Jacob Ramirez leading all with 132. Only a sophomore, it looked like Ramirez was getting stronger as the game went on and Salat was equally impressive.

Still, with all those yards, very little was reflected on the scoreboard until Ramirez broke through on a 1-yard plunge with 38 seconds left in the third to cut the lead down to 20-13. The Blue Devils looked ready to put the game away with five minutes left but Enrique Gonzalez came up with the tackle of the night when he stopped Arvizu on the one-foot mark on a 4th-and-goal situation.

Desert View was looking at 99-yards with 5:34 left and Salat almost got it all on the next play, but he was tripped up 13 yards down field by an unknown tackler, the last man between a legendary run and a first down. Salat and Ramirez took turns the rest of the way but the Sunnyside defense came up with a stop of their own and took the ball back on downs with 1:53 left to end the threat.

“I gave it all I had,” Ramirez said. “I really wanted to beat our rivals on a night like this but it was a tough loss. We came out and played hard but we need to focus on getting better as a team.”

Sunnyside will visit Rincon/University (0-1) on Friday night and Desert View travels to Nogales (1-0). With the playoff system based on power points, the district rivals will now be cheering for each other the rest of the way.

NOTE: The Prescott/Canyon del Oro game has been moved to Sept. 21 and will now be part of Week Five.