By Brittany Bowyer
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SCOTTSDALE — The Chaparral Firebirds soared to an easy 56-6 victory over the Apollo Hawks on Friday evening. Dominating the first half, Chaparral was able to force a running clock for the entire second half of play. It was also homecoming for the Firebirds, making the victory that much more sweet.

“A homecoming win is always great,” Chaparral Head Coach Trace Carroll said. “I’m excited for these kids that they get to celebrate homecoming with a win, because celebrating with a loss is not very fun. It ruins homecoming weekend, I can tell you that.”

As the players ran out of the locker room, running on the field with them was the Scottsdale Chaparral Junior Firebirds. For many of the players, it brought about some nostalgia, as they were one of those young boys not too long ago.

“It’s great,” senior safety Luca Ugenti said. “A long time ago, I was one of those kids and I looked up to the guys out here. It seemed crazy back then to think that one day I was going to be playing on this field with these guys, but it’s just a good sign to see that the program is strong and the community still loves Chaparral, and there’s a lot of good future coming to this school.”

“It’s fun to see what they experience and how that was me, like, however many years ago that was,” sophomore quarterback Ryan Trocki said. “Just seeing how far I’ve come, it was cool to see that.”

Wearing gold for Childhood Cancer Awareness month, the captains of the Firebirds walked out for the coin toss with childhood cancer survivors. They shook hands with the opponents and got to be up close for the coin toss.

Apollo got the ball first, but a fumble on the opening kickoff would be recovered by Chaparral. After an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, the Firebirds started their drive at the 50-yard-line. A huge pass from Trocki to junior wide receiver Layne Migneault got the Firebirds into the red zone, and they capitalized with senior Jayce Wilson punching the ball in from the 1-yard-line. The kick from sophomore Dom Voyer was good, making it 7-0 with 8:43 remaining in the first quarter.

On Chaparral’s next possession, Trocki was able to find junior tight end Braden Boettcher for another touchdown. Voyer’s extra point attempt was good, extending the lead to 14-0 with 2:44 remaining in the first quarter.

Apollo’s following possession would end in an turnover on downs at the Firebirds’ 30-yard-line. From there, it only took three snaps to go 70 yards and reach the end zone, and all three plays were runs from Wilson. Voyer’s extra point was good, pushing Chaparral’s lead to 21-0 with 7:42 remaining in the second quarter.

When Apollo punted the ball, Wilson nearly had a return for a touchdown, bringing it all the way back to the three-yard-line. From there, Trocki handed the ball off to Joe Perry, who took the ball in for six. Voyer’s kick was good, making it 28-0 with 5:10 still left before the half.

Chaparral’s following drive started deep in its own territory at the five, but the Firebirds got to work and quickly started moving the ball down field. Trocki looked good on the drive, completeing six of his eight pass attempts and finishing it off with a pass to junior Trent Dunn. Voyer’s kick was good, pushing things to 35-0 with 1:15 remaining before the half.

The Hawks had a quick three-and-out for their next possession, punting the ball back with :28 remaining. Trocki only needed two passes to travel from the Chaparral 40-yard-line to the end zone, finding an open senior Jahir Jensen, who took it in for an additional six. Voyer’s kick made the score 42-0 with :06 seconds left in the half.

During halftime, Coach Carroll told the team to focus on the details.

“Just use it as an experience to get better,” Ugandi said Carroll told the team. “Use it as an experience to get better. Use it as an experience to grow and learn from what you did wrong in the first half, and what you’ve done wrong in previous games.”

Chaparral got the ball coming out of the half, and despite having all their backups in, they still got off to a fast start. After chopping away at the chains, the Firebirds finished off the drive with a ten-yard pass from senior quarterback Danny Goddes to Migneault. The extra point attempt was good, extending the lead to 49-0 with 8:05 left in the third and a running clock.

“What we talked about all week was we needed to come out of the half really good,” Carroll said. “In our two losses coming into this week... we didn’t come out of the halftime great. We went three and out both times on offense. We didn’t execute like we’re capable of.”

Later in the game, Chaparral fumbled the ball and it was recovered by the Hawks with 3:58 remaining in the third quarter. From there, quarterback Jordan Patterson took it in for a touchdown on the first snap of the drive. With 3:31 remaining, Apollo was on the board as the Hawks trailed 49-6.

In the fourth quarter, the Firebirds would tack on one more touchdown on a run from senior running back Marcello Rivera. The kick was good, making it 56-6 with 6:02 remaining in the game.

“It’s big for us,” Carroll said about his backups getting to play. “They work just as hard as the starters, sometimes even harder, especially running scout team and everything like that. So it’s so great to not only see those guys get in, but see those guys have success. My favorite part is watching the starters cheer for them on the sideline. I mean, when anything good happens, these guys go crazy for them. It’s pretty cool.”

“It’s fun, they work really hard in practice every week, so it’s good to see them get a time to go shine on the big stage,” Trocki said.

From there, Apollo got the ball and ran the clock out to end the game.

Chaparral now sits at 3-2 on the season and prepares to face Deer Valley next week.

“We feel good,” Ugenti said. “It’s a good program, I feel confident in our team to be able to go over there and execute and come home with a win.”

“We keep creating chaos,” Carroll said. “That’s what we want to do on defense.”

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.