By Brittany Bowyer
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PHOENIX — It was an exciting night for Pinnacle Pioneer football on Friday, as the team defeated the Valley Vista Monsoon 58-0. In front of a packed house, the Pioneers dominated the Monsoon all night to secure a homecoming win. For Pinnacle Head Coach Dana Zupke, he’s happy with the way his team played, especially coming off a bye week since the game against Saguaro last week was cancelled.

“I’m really proud of our guys,” Zupke said. “From top to bottom, we had a lot of back-ups and support guys in for three quarters, and they kept playing and making plays, taking the opportunities that they had.”

“I think it was a great job all around,” senior quarterback Braxton Lowe said. “Everybody executed and we just played our best game.”

Things got off on the right foot for Pinnacle from the start, as the Pioneers won the toss and elected to defer.

Valley Vista started with the ball but were unable to do anything with it. The Monsoon were set to punt, but a high snap would hurt them. They were able to save the ball from rolling into the end zone, but it was still a turnover on downs, giving the Pioneers possession at the one-yard-line. From there, Lowe handed the ball off to senior running back Matt Blaylock, who took it in for six. The extra point attempt by senior Garret Oliver was good, giving Pinnacle the 7-0 lead with 10:23 remaining in the first quarter.

A muffed kickoff return would put Valley Vista at the three-yard-line to start the following drive, which was when more trouble ensued. On the first snap of the drive, the Monsoon were tackled for a loss in the end zone, resulting in a safety. with 10:14 left in the first quarter, Pinnacle was up 9-0.

Pinnacle got the ball after the safety and was able to score on a 10-yard touchdown pass from Lowe to junior wide receiver Terik Slaughter. The Pioneers attempted to go for two but it was no good, making the score 15-0 with 8:14 still remaining in the first quarter.

Valley Vista’s following possession would once again result in a punt, except this time the punt was blocked by senior Kash Silva and returned for a touchdown by junior Max Morell. The extra point attempt was good, extending the lead to 22-0 with 6:51 still left in the first quarter.

Later on in the first quarter, Pinnacle was able to push the lead to 29-0 on a pass from junior Grayson Bull to junior Maxwell Libman and a good extra point attempt.

In the second quarter, Lowe came back in at quarterback, where he was able to keep the ball and take it into the end zone for another touchdown. The Pioneers elected to go for two and were able to convert this time, as junior Cameron Candelaria was able to find a wide open senior Jalen Smith. With 8:40 remaining in the second half, the Pioneers were leading 37-0.

Pinnacle’s following possession would result in another touchdown, as Bull was again able to connect with Libman for his second touchdown of the night. The kick was good, making the score 44-0 wit6h 6:57 remaining in the half and triggering a running clock for the remainder of the game.

Valley Vista’s following possession would be short-lived, as the Monsoon were picked off by senior AJ Donald. Pinnacle took over, and from there, chopped away at the chains for the first time on the night. The Pioneers capped off the drive with a touchdown run from Ethan Blackaby, extending the lead to 50-0. As time in the first half expired, the Pioneers kicked the extra point attempt to make the score at half 51-0.

“Our defense is amazing,” Lowe said. “Every week it seems like they’re coming up with points, so. Whatever they can do to help us.”

“Pretty consistently, our defense is smothering,” Zupke said. “Between that and our special teams, keeping the field short makes life easy for our offense. It’s pretty demoralizing for other teams when they can’t cross the 50-yard-line. You don’t have to be great on offense when your defense can play like that.”

With a running clock and the backups in, Pinnacle would still manage to put up one more touchdown on the night. Just as the clock was running out on the third quarter, Blackaby was able to take it 30 yards for an additional touchdown.

For Pinnacle, a win’s a win. However, Coach Zupke knows he’s got to keep the boys humble as they enter another bye week before playing Hamilton.

“We aren’t focused on them, or any opponent,” Zupke said. “Some people would’ve said, well you’re looking ahead at Hamilton. We’re not looking ahead to Hamilton, we’re preparing for Hamilton by trying to get better every day at practice... Our challenge to our kids is that we need to be preparing every day for those tough teams, and that’s the mentality we’ve carried from week one.”

Zupke continued, “Short field, quick game, especially with us having a forced bye with no Saguaro game. We’ve got a bye next week. The positive is we’re healthy, but the negative side is we didn’t get that game conditioning, that game experience for our ones and those guys that need it. That is a challenge. We’re going to have to make sure we address that at practice these next couple weeks.”

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.