By Brittany Bowyer
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SCOTTSDALE — The Desert Mountain Wolves went into Friday’s game against Arizona College Prep hungry to avenge a loss from last season. Both teams entered the game 1-0, and both were ranked among the 5A conference’s top ten teams.

Desert Mountain put ACP to the test early, and the Knights struggled to find answers. In their home opener, the Wolves were able to sprint away with a 42-14 victory and advance to 2-0 on the season.

“They’re the number two team on the schedule,” Coach Conrad Hamilton said. “We were excited to have our home opener against a team that’s ranked in the top ten in the state in 5A. They were a bye team, a top-eight team last year in the playoffs. They beat us up over there last year .... So our guys wanted to come out and prove their worth tonight.”

On Desert Mountain’s opening possession, the Wolves fumbled the ball and it was recovered by the Knights. ACP moved the ball down the field and attempted to get on the board first with a field goal, but the kick was short.

Desert Mountain’s next possession was an explosive one. Junior quarterback Jake Pilarcek was able to connect with junior running back Easton Conner for a gain of 21, before connecting with senior Jeneral Solomon for a 46-yard touchdown pass. The extra point attempt was no good, keeping the score at 6-0 with 3:57 remaining in the first quarter.

ACP’s following drive brought more trouble. A fumble at the Knights own 31-yard-line was recovered by Desert Mountain with 3:34 remaining in the first quarter. From there, Conner was able to run for a 22-yard touchdown  to extend the lead with 1:37 remaining in the quarter. The extra point attempt was good, extending Desert Mountain’s lead to 13-0.

On the following drive for the Knights, quarterback Gunner Schmidt was picked off by Solomon, who brought the ball to the ACP 38-yard-line.

“From our standpoint, he’s one of our best players,” Hamilton said about Solomon. “He’s an under-the-radar Division I prospect in my opinion. He does have some offers, but I think people are sleeping on him. I think he’d be an asset to any collegiate program.”

It only took Desert Mountain one play to score, as Pilarcek was able to find sophomore wide receiver Josh Mann for a touchdown. The kick was good, making the score 20-0 with around :30 seconds left in the first quarter.

“Just the fast start that we had, them having to play catch up the whole game, they can’t really do what they want,” Conner said. “When they’re playing from behind, they can’t really get the run game going, which means they can’t really pass it.”

“I think, for the most part, we made a lot of plays early,” Hamilton said.

The teams spent the second quarter exchanging possessions, with the number of penalties really starting to rack up against Desert Mountain.

Coming out to start the third quarter, ACP got the ball, but their possession was short-lived. Desert Mountain got the ball back, and Pilarcek was once again able to connect with Conner for another touchdown. The kick from senior Logan Blumling was good, extending the Wolves lead to 27-0 with 9:09 remaining in the third quarer.

“He’s a stud running back,” Hamilton said. “[Conner] is hard to bring down as a runner when he gets the ball handed to him. But I think this year we wanted to really focus on throwing him the ball and flexing him out as a receiver. As you can see, he can do that.”

On a later possession, ACP was driving down the field before Schmidt tossed another interception, this one good for a pick-six by Hassan Smith. The extra point attempt was good, making it 34-0 with 5:01 left to play in the third.

When the Knights got the ball back, it only took them three snaps to move the ball 71-yards, highlighted by a deep pass from Schmidt to Hayes Fowler. The extra point attempt was good, making it 34-7. Taking just over a minute off the clock, 3:59 was left in the third.

On Desert Mountain’s following drive, the Wolves attacked with the run. After moving the ball down the field, Desert Mountain capitalized with a two-yard touchdown run from Conner, his third of the night. Opting to go for two, the Wolves were able to convert, extending the lead to 42-7 with just :26 left in the third quarter.

From there, the Wolves had a running clock for the fourth quarter.

ACP’s following possesion would be the final scoring drive of the night, as Schmidt was able to connect with JJ Horne for a touchdown. The kick was good, making the score 42-14.

“There’s a lot of room for us to improve, but I think it was a good quality win for us tonight,” Hamilton said.

The Wolves will now take a road trip to Marana Mountain View next week on Thursday. Hamilton said because their team lacks “quality depth,” they’ve got to do a better job of coaching up everybody who’s on the roster and they’ve got to get guys healthy. Those are their goals moving into the next week.

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.