Finn Garrison is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Notre Dame Prep High School.

Despite wide receiver Gavin Smith catching seven passes for 143 yards and a touchdown, the Notre Dame Prep Saints fell to Brophy College Prep Broncos, 20-7, on Friday night in the second “Holy Bowl” matchup between the two schools.

With seconds left in the first quarter, Brophy (2-2) struck first with a rushing touchdown by junior David Lopez to take a 7-0 lead. Because of an injury to Brophy’s starting running back, Lopez, who typically lines up at wide receiver, took the bulk of the carries on Friday.

“Unfortunately, we had a running back down, so we needed someone to step up. I was that person. It just played out well and I’m glad everything worked out perfectly,” said Lopez.

After Notre Dame Prep (1-2) had a three-and-out and was forced to punt, Brophy went on a long drive to extend its lead by three points on a 42-yard field goal. Brophy leads 10-0.

Held to zero first downs until late in the second quarter, the Saints’ offense marched down the field and scored with 6 seconds remaining before halftime. Quarterback Braden Wells threw a 37-yard touchdown to Smith to go into halftime trailing 10-7.

“I saw the outside linebacker about five yards off and he’s been bailing the whole game, so I knew if I stepped outside and got by him, our quarterback could hit me quick, I could catch it and get away from the safety and it worked,” Smith said about his touchdown catch.

Early in the second half, Wells threw an interception to set up Brophy’s offense in solid field position. With 6:39 left in the third quarter, Brophy kicked a 46-yard field goal to extend its lead to 13-7. 

With time expiring on the clock in the third quarter, Notre Dame Prep’s defense got a much-needed stop and forced Brophy to miss a 53-yard field goal. Heading into the final quarter of the game, the Saints were down 13-7, a one-score game.

But the Broncos put the game away with 9:44 left on the clock, when quarterback Elijah Warner threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Max Ware. 

The Saints staged one last attempt to get closer, when Wells hit Smith on a slant pass and a 68-yard gain down the left sideline.

After four attempts, including one trick play, the Saints turned the ball over on downs, which sealed the victory for Brophy. 

Notre Dame Prep head coach George Prelock said his team has to “go back to the fundamentals, that’s what it comes down to. There were a lot of fundamental things that went wrong tonight and that’s something that I have to go back to the drawing board and craft.”

The Saints will play their next game at 7 p.m. on Oct. 1 at Mountain View High School in Marana.