The Phoenix Christian Cougars found themselves in an unfamiliar position on Friday night, trailing for the majority of the game before dispatching St. John’s 27-20 to advance to the 2A state semifinal game.

“We came out a bit slow,” head coach Brian Cole said. “But at the half guys realized we had to step it up and we did.”

The Cougars, who improved to 11-1 on the season, opened the game with a six-minute drive, concluding in a 35-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Adrian Fleming to senior running back Man-Man Freeman.

“Man-Man’s a great player,” Fleming said. “You can kind of just throw it up and watch him run under it. It’s really fun to watch him work.”

At the half, the Cougars trailed 7-6 and needed to clean up mental mistakes after getting called for four penalties and missing an extra point before the break.

“We were making some dumb mental mistakes,” Cole said. “But, in the end, we cleaned it up and we’ll play another game because of it.”

Freeman, who entered the game with 1,631 yards and 31 touchdowns on the ground, finished with 11 rushes for 156 yards and a touchdown, and knew the first half would be close as the St. John’s defense focused their gameplan on him.

“I knew what was coming and I don’t think I had a great game,” he said. “I’m just happy we were able to get a great team win tonight.”

The Cougars also had to overcome senior kicker Jason Cross being unavailable for the game. They turned to junior safety and backup quarterback Jose Herrera.

“There’s a big difference between playing safety and kicking,” Herrera said. “But, Jason’s my boy and he helps me so much in practice, so I was ready to come out and help the team.”

Junior wide receiver Howard Russell entered the game as the leading receiver for the Cougars and, after a quiet first half, finished the game with 57 yards and a touchdown on the ground to go with four catches for 60 yards and a touchdown after a better second half performance.

“To be honest with you, I just wanna score, man,” he said. “I get great balls from Adrian and think I played a lot better in the second half.”

The second half started just as the first half ended, with the Cougars fumbling on their first possession and allowing a touchdown on the ensuing drive for the Redskins.

“The guys knew they weren’t playing how we wanted to,” Cole said. “We had an unlucky break on that first possession out of the half, but we cleaned it up for the rest of the game.”

The Cougars clawed back to make the game 13-12 midway through the third quarter on the heels of a 40-yard touchdown from Fleming to Russell, failing on a 2-point conversion attempt to take the lead.

“Adrian’s such a good quarterback,” Russell said. “I feel like I just look up and the ball falls in my hands. It’s great.”

The Cougars struck again with 50 seconds to go in the third quarter after Russell weaved his way 40 yards into the end zone on a double-reverse.

“I don’t even remember thinking anything on that play,” he said. “I just remember thinking I had to get in the end zone and help my team out.”

A quarterback keeper on the 2-point conversion followed to make the score 20-13.

“Man-Man’s a great decoy to have for our offense,” Fleming said. “It was really easy to take it to the corner when the defense all bit on our fake to Man-Man.”

The Cougar defense kept the momentum going in the fourth quarter and turned St John’s over on downs before an interception with six minutes to go set up Freeman to cap the game with a 54-yard scamper.

“I didn’t get outside too much,” Freeman said. “I’m glad I got my long run because I love having that open field in front of me.”

The goal for the Cougars since day one has been to win a state championship.

“We believe we can play with anybody in the state,” Fleming said. “I think if we keep working hard every day in practice, we have a great shot.”

The Redskins scored a touchdown on a double-pass with 2 minutes left in the game and ended the season 9-3. 

The Cougars are 11-1 and play in the state semifinal against Thatcher on Nov 23 at 6 p.m.