Tag: chandler football

No. 21 Chandler engineers comeback in final 24 seconds to reach 6th-straight title game

Chandler High School football reached its sixth championship game in a row with a big fourth-quarter comeback. The Wolves will play Saguaro.

No. 21 Chandler (Ariz.) High School’s reign at the top was in peril. After committing six turnovers in the semifinals game against Liberty (Peoria, Ariz.), the Wolves trailed by eight points with 24 seconds to play in the game and received the ball at the 30 yard line.

They haven’t won five straight championships for nothing. Three-star quarterback Blaine Hipa completed a 26-yard pass to Iowa State commit Quaron Adams, and then Anyale Velazquez scored a touchdown with two seconds remaining on the clock. On the 2-point conversion, Hipa faked a pitch and then kept it himself to tie the game at 21.

Cronkite News reporter Evan Oscherwitz tweeted a video of the touchdown pass:

In overtime, Princeton commit Nason Coleman scored a game-winning touchdown to give Chandler the 27-21 victory.

It took overcoming six turnovers and a 21-7 lead at the beginning of the fourth quarter, but the Wolves have reached their sixth consecutive title game. They will play against Saguaro (Scottsdale, Ariz.), who took down No. 10 Hamilton (Chandler, Ariz.) on Saturday night.

Saguaro is a historically dominant football school in its own right, winning the 5A division six times in a row from 2013-18. When the Open Division playoffs were created in 2019, the Sabercats had their first chance to play for the championship against 6A teams like Chandler.

So far this season, they have done what they needed to prove they’re the best in the state regardless of division, even taking down the only team to beat Chandler so far this year. While the Wolves won’t be able to directly avenge that loss to Hamilton, they’ll have a chance to take down Saguaro for another title. The Sabercats will look to be the second team to beat Chandler this season.

But as the Wolves have shown multiple times during their years of dominance, no lead is completely safe. Even 24 seconds is too many for this group.

Arizona state football champion Chandler turns down Geico Bowl invitation

No. 10 Chandler High School declined an invitation to play in the GEICO Bowl Series.

Chandler football coach Rick Garretson said the school declined an invitation to play in the Geico State Champions Bowl Series that is being held on Dec. 20 and 21 at Las Vegas Bishop Gorman.

Chandler finished 13-0 and captured the Arizona Interscholastic Association’s first Open Division state championship, beating 4A powerhouse Scottsdale Saguaro, 42-35, on Saturday night.

Chandler is ranked No. 10 in the nation by USA Today.

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“We’ve taken on some key injuries throughout the super 8 playoffs and felt that at this point in time its best to conclude our 2019 season,” Garretson wrote in a text message.

One of those key injuries was to senior running back Dae Dae Hunter during a quarterfinal win over Scottsdale Chaparral. Hunter was held out all but one play in a semifinal win over Tucson Salpointe Catholic, before he was unleashed for Saguaro.

He finished with 246 yards and two touchdowns, including a 74-yarder in the third quarter. He had a 71-yard run to open the game.

This is the first time an Arizona team won’t play in the Geico Bowl since the high school bowl series began in 2016.

Read the rest of the article at the Arizona Republic.

Chandler starts fast, halts Saguaro’s late rally for Arizona’s first Open Division football championship

Dae Dae Hunter started the game with a 71-yard touchdown to help Chandler win the first Arizona Open Division title over Saguaro.

Dae Dae Hunter made a huge opening statement on Saturday night

On the first play of the first Open Division state football championship game, the senior tailback tore off a 71-yard run, and Chandler was on its way to a 42-35 victory over shell-shocked Scottsdale Saguaro at Arizona State’s Sun Devil Stadium.

“That was a statement, ‘We’re here for business,’ ” first-year Chandler head coach Rick Garretson said.

This was Chandler’s fourth consecutive state championship and fifth in six years. The others came in 6A, before the Arizona Interscholastic Association opened it up with an eight-team Open for the top schools among the big conferences (6A through 4A).

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After all of the big plays Chandler made on both sides of the ball, the Wolves made a resounding statement that nobody can touch them this season, not even a team that came in with a 57-game winning streak against in-state competition.

In the end, Chandler had to put together an 80-yard drive that consumed seven minutes off the clock to take a 42-28 lead, then overcome one more Saguaro scoring drive, led by quarterback Tyler Beverett.

Chandler led by as much as 28-7 early in the second half, before Saguaro settled down in the rain and ended up making a memorable first Open.

“Any time you play a championship caliber team like Saguaro, they’re going to make runs,” Chandler coach Rick Garretson said. “And they did. And we answered. It was almost like the same thing that happened last year against Perry. They came out in the second half and scored. And we came back and scored.

“We turned things back around,” Garretson said. “We had a great drive at the end of the game, seven minutes, taking the clock down, (run game coordinator) Chris Chick doing his magic in the run game.”

Most of Saguaro’s wins were strung together against 4A teams, but it did beat Tucson Salpointe for the past two 4A titles fairly easily. Salpointe gave Chandler a greater challenge in the semifinals, losing 24-16.

But Chandler had Hunter for only one play in that game. He had injured his ankle in a quarterfinal rout of Chaparral. Garretson was trying to keep Hunter rested for the Open final. Hunter talked his way onto the field for one play when Chandler’s offense was sputtering to begin the game against Salpointe.

Read the rest of the article at the Arizona Republic.

No. 12 Chandler overcomes Salpointe Catholic with defense and a forgotten back to reach Open final

With the lead running back injured, Jaheim Brown-Taylor helped Chandler reach the championship game.

Dae Dae Hunter suited up and gave it go for one play. He gave Chandler a first down on his only carry. But it was back to the sideline to see who could pick him up.

He got a lot of help, especially from the guy whose senior season seemed lost.

Jaheim Brown-Taylor’s gritty runs put him in a spotlight that had gone to others in Chandler’s big stable of backs, helping punch the Wolves’ ticket to the first Open Division football state championship game in a 24-16 victory Saturday night over Tucson Salpointe Catholic at overflow Chandler Hamilton.

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Chandler (12-0), which has won the past three 6A titles, will face another 4A power, Scottsdale Saguaro, a winner over Chandler Hamilton, on Dec. 7 at Arizona State’s Sun Devil Stadium to determine the best team in Arizona.

It seems only fitting that the state’s two biggest dynasties meet in the final game of the season. Saguaro has won six state titles in a row, all but one of them at the 4A level.

“It’s the final eight,” Brown-Taylor said, referring to the eight-team Open Division, the first of its kind in Arizona. “This is the best in the state. We still got the dub, and I’m glad to be a part of it.”

Without Brown-Taylor, there may be no Open final for the Wolves.

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At least, first-year head coach Rick Garretson suggested that in his post-game media interviews and while addressing the team.

Brown-Taylor dug Chandler out of a hole after a penalty with a 41-yard run. That led to a MIkey Keene 15-yard touchdown pass to Jay McEuen. Brown-Taylor’s gritty 15-yard run in the third quarter set up another score, 16-yard strike from Keene to Jalen Richmond, giving Chandler a 17-13 lead.

Brown-Taylor sparked the offense, and the defense did the rest.

Without Hunter, and Eli Sanders never really able to get going, Garretson turned to Nicolas Nesbitt and Brown-Taylor to spark the run game. Both had their moments.

But Brown-Taylor had the biggest impact.

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“Jaheim had his moment of greatness,” Garreton said. “We always talk about, when you get their opportunities, make something happen. I feel so elated for him, because we don’t win this game without those plays, his runs.”

Garretson pulled Brown-Taylor out as he addressed the team in the end zone, saying, “It’s not always going to be easy.”

“Guys have to makes plays when they get the opportunity,” Garretson yelled. “Where’s Jaheim.”

The players erupted in cheers as Garretson hugged Brown-Taylor.

It’s been a frustrating season for the senior, who two years ago won a state track title in the 100 meters. He had Division I football offers coming in after last season, when he backed up the state’s Player of the Year, DeCarlos Brooks

Brooks basically passed the torch to Brown-Taylor.

But when Hunter moved in from Colorado late this summer, he quickly asserted himself as not only the No. 1 running back on a back-heavy Chandler team, but maybe the second-best back in the state, behind Salpointe’s All-American Bijan Robinson.

Read the rest of the story at the Arizona Republic.