The Marcos de Niza Padres were overpowered in a 42-7 loss to the Saguaro Sabercats on Friday night.

The Padres were not able to spoil Senior Night for the Sabercats and now fall to 1-6, 0-2 region.

Despite the score, Marcos de Niza Head Coach Eric Lauer was satisfied with how his team played.

 “I was fairly pleased with the effort our team showed tonight, especially against a team that on paper appears to be the best team in the history of Arizona,” Lauer said.

Saguaro now moves to 7-1, 3-0 region, and stays on top of the standings in the Desert Sky region as they continue their quest for a sixth straight state title.

Junior running back Yakeen Baylis put together another impressive performance on the ground for the Padres as he racked up 122 yards on the ground and scored the only touchdown of the game for the Padres.

With Friday's performance, Baylis reached the 1,000-yard mark for the second season in a row after becoming the first Padre to reach the milestone since 2012 a year ago.

Neither team was able to gain any momentum early as the first score of the game didn’t come until Connor Soelle scored on a 51-yard punt return. 

The next two possessions for the Sabercats resulted in touchdown passes from sophomore quarterback Frank Schafroth, who finished the night with 158 yards and two touchdowns through the air.

Running back Israel Benjamin also had a big night for Saguaro as he scored three times, giving hiim 12 TDs for the season.

Even though the Sabercats put up 42 points, the defense for the Padres was strong for most of the night as they stopped the Sabercats on 4th down two possessions in a row to start the game and came up with an interception late in the first half.

“I was really pleased with the defense tonight," Lauer said. "Saguaro had two big punt returns and you take those away and I think it is a much closer game. I thought our guys fought really hard tonight.”

Marcos de Niza got a look at both of their quarterbacks as Bobby Perez made his second straight start before Torren Union got a few reps of his own in the third quarter.

“We were looking for a little spark,” Lauer said about the switch.  “He definitely brings some athleticism to that position and we were getting some muffed snaps and having some quarterback issues a little bit so we wanted to switch gears.”

Marcos de Niza will be on the road for the third week in a row as they take on Poston Butte  (2-5, 0-2 region) next Friday.