Scoring early and often was important in Gilbert Friday night as the Higley Knights knocked off the Campo Verde Coyotes 45-28 in a Class 5A San Tan Region clash on Senior Night.

After falling behind 21-0 in the first quarter, Higley bounced back by capitalizing on some short fields, which translated to 35 unanswered points before halftime. The Knights then held off the Coyotes in the second half, after a late rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter by senior quarterback Spencer Brasch.

Brasch threw for 280 yards, four touchdowns, and one interception on the night to go along with 108 rushing yards and two more scores. Three of his touchdown throws connected with fellow senior Coleman Owen, who tallied 118 receiving yards. The tandem has found the end zone 14 times this season.

Owen sensed a performance like this from the offense’s urgency in practice this week.

“Something sparked in us,” he said. “I feel like that spark on Wednesday really built up our confidence, and we got it done today.”

The Coyotes struck first as senior quarterback Parker Nuzman hit wide receiver Reid Coffee on an 87-yard touchdown pass on the second play of the game.

Campo Verde heavily relied on their run game early as senior running back Matt Leazier carried the ball on all six plays in their second drive of the game to put the Coyotes up 14-0.

Following a Higley interception just over six minutes into the game, the Coyotes returned it for a touchdown to go up 21-0.

Then the momentum completely flipped on the Knights’ next drive with the first Brasch to Owen touchdown.

The Higley offense exploded from there for five touchdowns in a 12-minute stretch in the first half.

The defense buckled down as well and held the Coyotes to seven points the rest of the way. They also forced four turnovers Friday night.

Coming into the matchup, the Coyotes’ Matt Leazier was the team’s leading rusher with 1,091 yards on the year, good for seventh in the state. Higley neutralized the Campo Verde rushing attack as a whole by holding it to fewer than 100 yards on the ground.

Higley senior defensive back Austin Godfrey was a standout in the defensive effort with three tackles and a key red-zone interception early in the second half. Junior linebacker Cannen Hall also contributed with seven tackles and one sack.

After the Coyotes’ early scoring barrage, Higley coach Eddy Zubey credited his team for fighting their way back.

“The kids just responded,” he said. “It could have been really easy for them to put their tail between their legs.”

Both teams are entering a bye next week. The Knights (6-2, 2-1 region) will end the regular season with two road games, first Gilbert, and then Williams Field.

The Coyotes drop to 6-2 and 1-2 in region play and will host Williams Field in two weeks, before ending their 2018 campaign with a road game against the Casteel Colts.