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MESA - A back-and-forth battle ended with a 34-22 ALA-West Foothills victory over a tough Thatcher team Saturday afternoon in Mesa in a 3A Conference semifinal game.
With the victory, #2 ALA-West Foothills (13-0) remains undefeated on the season and advances to the 3A State Championship game Nov. 30. The opponent at 6 p.m. at Mountain Ridge high School in Glendale is to be determined.
Next week, the Guardians likely will be without star JJ Brutus, a senior running back and defensive end who went down with a serious leg injury with about 8:05 left in the fourth quarter.
He was carted off the field by paramedics and taken to a local hospital. Brutus entered the game leading the state in sacks with 17.5.
"We hope he's OK," ALA-West Foothills coach Chad Mitton said.
The coach said Brutus is the "heart and soul" of the team and the squad's best player.
With 1:31 left in the first quarter, the score was knotted up at 7-7 after the Eagles' Kody Bingham ran in a touchdown.
Then, early in the second, a short run by Brutus made it 14-7 Guardians. ALA-West Foothills made a defensive stop the next Eagles possession and Thatcher turned the ball with about 10 minutes left in the second quarter.
Shortly after, an ALA-West Foothills player was tackled in the end zone for a safety — which made the score 14-9 with 9:44 left in the first half.
Midway through the second, Thatcher marched down the field with Eagles receiver Wyatt Nicholas catching a pass and Ryan Jones tumbling forward for two yards — making it second down and goal from the 8-yard line.
But ALA had other plans.
The Guardians made a defensive stand with 4:05 left and kept the Eagles' Bingham out of the end zone.
Brutus, at that point with two rushing touchdowns, said the team needed to keep working hard and listening to game strategy from his coaches.
"(We need) to continue to keep pushing hard and listen to (our) coaches," Brutus said before the half.
His teammate listened.
With 14.6 seconds left until half, junior linebacker Matthew Lee intercepted an Eagles pass in the red zone to keep the score 14-9 at the break.
In the third, the Guardians continued their offensive push.
Guardian junior wideout Carson Callister made a 24-yard catch at the 37-yard line. Shortly after, junior Aiden Anaya — a 6 foot, five inch tight end — caught a touchdown pass near the corner of the end zone to make the score 21-9.
Anaya added another touchdown catch to push the lead to 27-9 after a missed extra point.
One bright spot for the Eagles happened with about 51 seconds left in the third — Bingham took off and blew by the Guardian defense for a touchdown run.
A Callister touchdown catch from junior quarterback Hudson Mitton in the fourth put Thatcher away.
This charter school in Waddell - the first West Valley campus in the ALA charter network - is in its third season of varsity football.
The Guardians did not have a playoff win entering November. But Thatcher is the only 3A team to finish within 20 points of ALA-West Foothills this season.
The difference in the game was Guardian players made plays when they had to, Chad Mitton said.
"Our kids made plays — that was the difference," Mitton said.
Brent Ruffner Lead News Reporter | Daily Independent
Journalism has fascinated Brent Ruffner since junior high school.
Since 2001, his stories have been published in newspapers from the Albuquerque to the Arizona and he has always had a knack for making sure his facts are right and his words are to the point.
Growing up, Brent watched as sports reporters covered his beloved Phoenix Suns, a team he followed since Charles Barkley first arrived in Phoenix via trade in 1992. Sports reporting was a dream back then.
But after gaining some writing experience, Brent found a love for news instead of covering different types of sports. In 2008, he moved to New Mexico and covered crime, schools and city beats all while holding elected officials accountable.
He covered stories that ranged from a DEA drug bust gone bad to an award-winning story on school lunches.
In Arizona, Brent was a freelance writer who covered everything from the importance of citrus in the state to Esteban owning a store in downtown Prescott.
Brent is a 2007 graduate of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.
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