Nick Stavas is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Saguaro High School for AZPreps365.com

(SCOTTSDALE) --A pink sky settled behind the silhouette of Camelback Mountain. Pink shirts were littered throughout the crowd in honor of breast cancer awareness month.

But the most important color in Friday night’s nationally televised battle between Saguaro and Hamilton? 

Yellow. 

Penalty flags plagued both teams and each offense struggled to move the ball as a sloppy, slow-paced game saw Hamilton steal a 13-7 victory on the road. 

Highlight plays were few and far between with both defenses stifling any sort of attack from either offense. 

“I thought we played good enough defense to win,” Saguaro Head Coach Jason Mohns said. “I thought our defense battled and competed all night.”

The game’s biggest plays came on special teams for the two squads. 

In the first quarter, Saguaro’s Javen Jacobs returned a Hamilton punt 50 yards to the house, giving the Sabercats an early 7-0 lead. 

Hamilton struck back with an electric return of its own in the second quarter. Sophomore standout Cole Martin sliced through the Sabercat coverage to the Saguaro 11-yard-line, leading to a rushing touchdown by quarterback Nicco Marchiol three plays later. 

That wasn’t the last time Hamilton heard from Martin, as he returned yet another punt to the Saguaro five-yard-line. The Sabercat defense stood tall this time, forcing Hamilton to settle for a 23-yard field goal by Jacob Medina at the end of the first half. 

“We gave them great starting field position with our punt coverage multiple times,” Mohns said. “They were bringing pressure on our sophomore long snapper, so we tried to help him out in protection, and they took advantage of there being one less guy on the outside gunning.”

Another Medina field goal in the fourth quarter filled out the box score for the contest.

Aside from a few big gains scattered throughout the game, both offenses remained stagnant. Saguaro played without arguably the best player in Arizona in Ohio State commit Denzel Burke, who is currently sidelined with an injury. 

“We were missing our best offensive weapon in [Burke], which hurts us,” Mohns said. “He’s a dynamic playmaker.”

Along with Burke’s absence, Saguaro also has seven transfer players who are expected to start immediately when they become eligible next week. 

Despite the lack of depth on the roster, Mohns believed his offense beat itself in an otherwise winnable game.

“We had bad starting field position all night long,” Mohns said. “We were really getting behind the sticks with penalties and it just seemed like we were playing from the shadow of our own end zone the whole night. We’ve just gotta limit mistakes. In the three games we’ve played this year, we’ve had a lot of penalties and really poor special teams.”

Despite all the miscues, Mohns was encouraged by the Sabercats’ performance against a nationally ranked Hamilton team.

“If this is our jumping-off point, we’re going to be just fine,” Mohns said. “We have some players that are getting eligible that are gonna be really dynamic, we have some guys that have really stepped up, and I think this team is going to be primed to make a run.”

Saguaro will go on the road to play Horizon next week.