Marco Quezada
ASU Student Journalist

Cesar Chavez runs over North in 59-7 rout

September 28, 2018 by Marco Quezada, Arizona State University


North takes a snap in the closing minutes of the game. (Marco Quezada)

The Cesar Chavez Champions’ strong rushing attack and North’s miscues resulted in a blowout 59-7 win for Cesar Chavez.

Coming off a six-touchdown performance last week against Maryvale, Cesar Chavez quarterback Lucas Arnds picked up right where he left off with another five touchdowns against the Mustangs.

Arnds got the Champions on the board first with a rushing touchdown from 20 yards out. Following a 15-yard touchdown reception by wide receiver James Mackey, the Mustangs took advantage of a Cesar Chavez roughing penalty and then two offside penalties in the red zone to plow into the end zone and make the score 13-7. 

That would be North’s only score of the night, however, as false starts and turnovers would plague the Mustangs throughout the rest of the night.

“We were able to move the ball a bit, but we were committing the same mistakes that we’ve been having all year,” North coach Adan Mendoza said. “We’ve been shooting ourselves in the foot with penalties, and while one or two turnovers is an improvement, it’s still one or two turnovers too many.”

After the Mustangs touchdown, Cesar Chavez wide receiver Thairyk Blue opened the second quarter with a 43-yard touchdown from Arnds.

Cesar Chavez then rode their rushing tandem of Andrew Blitzke and Dav’eyoine Camp the rest of the way. Blitzke bruised his way for quality yardage on nearly every attempt, opening up the play-action game for his quarterback, while Camp made the most of his touches with a 36-yard touchdown reception and two rushing touchdowns to close out the game.

Even after a dominant performance, Chavez did struggle in certain areas, namely missing several extra point attempts.

“We have to execute better,” Arnds said. “Next week against Tucson is a must-win game for us, so we just need to go in and watch film so we can see what we need to improve.”

Cesar Chavez coach Manuel Alcantar commended his team for overcoming a slow start, saying “the defense stumbled out of the gate but they got better. The coaches made some good adjustments to get them going, so they did a heck of a job.”

Not only did he say he was he proud of his coaches, but he liked what he saw out of his players that usually do not get to see the field very often.

“I was really proud of our boys,” he said, “I was proud to see a lot of our kids that don’t usually play offense get out there and have some fun.”