By Brittany Bowyer
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PHOENIX — The Brophy Broncos went into this season with high expectations, as Head Coach Jason Jewell said prior to the season the team needed to beat the best to be considered among the best.

The team had its first test on Thursday night when they hosted the Hamilton Huskies, a nationally-ranked top-25 team, but things didn’t go their way. Despite a strong defensive effort on the field by the Broncos, mistakes by the offense ultimately cost them the game, as Hamilton was able to prevail.

“There’s bumps in the road, but we’ve gotta get back to the drawing board and move on to next week,” Senior Captain Braxton Tate said. “There’s nine more guaranteed games and whatever we earn after that.”

Hamilton was able to score on its first possession of the game, but was limited to a field goal, making it 3-0 early with 9:10 remaining in the first quarter.

From there, the two teams exchanged posessions until there was just seconds left in the half when Brophy lined up for what would have been a more than 50-yard field goal attempt.

The kick was partially blocked by Hamilton, landing around the 10-yard-line. No whistle was blown, but everyone seemingly thought the play was dead, until Huskies senior JJ Diaz picked it up and ran it all the way back for the only touchdown of the half, just as time expired.

The extra point attempt was good, making it 10-0 Hamilton at the half.

“I’ve never seen that in high school football,” Jewell said. “We practiced the coverage and we didn’t do it.”

The Huskies got the ball coming out of the half, but once again had to punt it away. Hamilton was able to regain possession of the ball at the 30, though, due to a botched punt return by Brophy. From there, the Huskies were able to chop away at the chains before handing the ball off to junior running back Devante Roebuck, who took the ball 12 yards for a touchdown.

The extra-point attempt was no good, making it 16-0 with 7:57 remaining in the third quarter.

More trouble ensued for the Broncos, who then threw a pick-six on the following possession. Junior Kacey Allen Jr. took the ball 52 yards to extend the lead to 22-0 with 6:12 remaining in the third.

On Brophy’s following possession, things seemed to be going well until a fumble  -- recovered by Hamilton senior Derrick LeBlanc Jr. -- derailed all progress. The Huskies ultimately settled for another field goal, this one from 43 yards out, to extend the lead to 25-0 with 2:17 remaining in the third.

“I think a lot of the things that went the wrong way were self-inflicted, so I think a lot of those things are fixable,” Jewell said. “A lot of that stuff is in effort. Some of those things are just small details.”

Brophy kept fighting, and in the fourth quarter the Broncos were finally able to erase the goose egg off the board with a touchdown from junior quarterback Noah Stewart to junior Julian Ferrari, the first of Ferrari’s career.

Unfortunately the Broncos struggled with the snap for the extra point and had to attempt to run it in, but were unsuccessful. With 6:40 remaining in the game, Brophy still trailed 25-6.

“It felt great,” Ferrari said about his first carrer touchdown. “This year I’m on the offensive side of the ball, so having my first touchdown on offense felt amazing. I was on defense last year and had a couple returns, but honestly it felt great. I felt a lot of confidence out there.”

The touchdown seemed to give Brophy some life, as Tate was able to come down with an interception with 5:57 remaining in the game.

“As a team, there’s always a chance,” Tate said. “One spark can change the game dramatically, so defense has gotta keep fighting. That’s what we were saying out there.”

However, on the next play, Brophy threw an interception and gave the ball right back to Hamilton. From there, Hamilton was able to move the ball down the field and eat away at the remainder of the clock, eventually kneeling the ball down until time ran out.

While it’s not the result that Brophy wanted, the Broncos are now even hungrier for a win than they were last week as they now flip the page and start preparing for Boulder Creek.

“We’ll be better, we’ll get these guys coached up, and we’ll be alright,” Jewell said. “We’re better than what we showed tonight.”

“We had a lot of missed assignments and miscommunication on the field, so just doing the little things is going to make a really big difference,” Ferrari said.

Brittany Bowyer is a Report for America corps member, covering sports for Independent Newsmedia in Arizona. Report for America places talented journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and regions.