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WEST VALLRY PREPS

Pick six propels Peoria to rematch at Cactus

Panthers defense shuts down Greenway

Posted 11/8/19

The Peoria Panthers, the 4A state bracket’s 7-seed, turned up the heat in all three phases of the game Friday night at home to down the 10-seed Greenway Demons 22-7, and advance to the state quarterfinals.

A familiar foe awaits.

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WEST VALLRY PREPS

Pick six propels Peoria to rematch at Cactus

Panthers defense shuts down Greenway

Posted

The Peoria Panthers, the 4A state bracket’s 7-seed, turned up the heat in all three phases of the game Friday night at home to down the 10-seed Greenway Demons 22-7, and advance to the state quarterfinals.

A familiar foe awaits.

Second-seeded Cactus, which upended Peoria 20-14 on the regular season’s final night just one week ago, won its first-round opener, rolling 43-6 over Tempe Friday night.

Those Cobras will welcome Peoria back to their Glendale field next Friday, Nov. 15, to yet again fire up the longtime, cross-town rivalry -- this time playoff-style.

“We’re ready. Pretty much been talking about it since Week 1. That’s the big matchup,” said Peoria junior defensive back Andrew Gaston, whose third quarter interception Friday was one of four takeaways on the night by the Panther D. “It’s been in our heads, and our coaches been telling us if we win this week we get another shot at them. Here it is.”

Everything was clicking for Peoria, which lost its first-round state bracket game in a major upset a year ago.

In addition to those four forced turnovers, the Panthers registered a defensive touchdown, when sophomore linebacker Richard Cortez caught a pass from Demons quarterback Aodhan Murphy right between the numbers and took it 45 yards the other way for a dramatic pick-6 early in the third quarter.

Peoria also picked up 10 points on special teams, highlighted by an 88-yard punt return from sophomore Isaac Moreno, who caught the ball perfectly in stride and never let up with 2:24 left in the third period. Sophomore kicker Mario Franco also booted a 34-yard field goal with five minutes before halftime.

To put a final stamp on the well-rounded effort, Panthers senior defensive end Gabriel Ocampo emphatically registered two sacks on consecutive plays in last two minutes of regulation to force Greenway to punt and effectively seal the deal.

Oh, and the Peoria offense put up 266 first-half yards, capped with a 9-yard TD pass from senior QB Kyle Samford to Moreno for a 9-7 lead at the break.

“That’s exactly the kind of game we thought we’d have,” Panthers head coach Will Babb said afterward. “We knew that it was gonna take all phases. We knew we were gonna be needing a great defensive effort, and that’s what we got.”

The Demons picked up their lone score of the night with 3:52 before halftime. Junior running back Christian Johnson took a 2nd and 3 hand-off up the middle from 28 yards out on a playoff night they struggled to move the ball, mustering just 51 yards in the second half.

“We just couldn’t get clicking on offense tonight,” Greenway head coach Ed Cook said. “We had one nice drive right before the half. But we had a couple mental errors, and with an explosive team like them, we can’t make those mental errors.”

Greenway graduated 16 seniors -- including 10 on offense -- from last year’s team that advanced to the 4A state quarterfinals. The team started five or six sophomores on offense in a 2019 season that saw them finish 9-2 and win the Skyline Region with a perfect 5-0 run.

“They exceeded every expectation that we ever had,” Cook added.

The season moves on for Peoria, meanwhile, with an epic West Valley showdown awaiting in next week’s Elite 8.

“We’re gonna probably come up with a game plan and they’re gonna come with a game plan, and it’s not like we haven’t seen each other,” Babb said.

Cactus is looking for its first state championship berth since 2011, and title since Cobras won the 4A-II in 2009. Peoria seeks its first championship game berth since settling for a tied state title with Sahuaro in 1994.

The Panthers haven’t won an outright state title of their own since the 1987 championship when they beat -- who else? -- Cactus. The Panthers were led by senior quarterbabk Will Babb.