Division II State Championship

 

Arizona Stadium, 4 p.m.

Saturday, Nov. 28

No. 5 Marcos de Niza vs. No. 7 Saguaro

 

THE HISTORY

 

Marcos de Niza (12-2) played in the 5A-II state championship in 2009 under Roy Lopez. The Padres fell to Chaparral 34-21 that year. This year will be Sean Morin's first trip to the final although he had been a longtime assistant coach in the program prior to taking over during the 2013 post season.

Morin has a 20-8 record as the head coach.

Saguaro (11-2) has won eight state championships and played for nine total in four different divisions. Like Morin, Mohns took over his program after putting in time as an assistant coach.

Mohns took over in 2012 after he replaced John Sanders and he made the program his own with back-to-back Division III state titles in 2013 and 2014. His record at Saguaro is 46-7. 

Saguaro defeated Marcos de Niza 61-35 in 2014 and 46-36 in 2013.

 

THE PLAYERS

 

MDN: Junior quarterback Nazareth Greer has thrown for over 6,000 yards in the last two years, passing for over 3,000 in both his sophomore and junior seasons. He is near a record-breaking pace. The record for his division is 10,489 career yards set by Emanuel Gant of Tempe.

Senior Shaun Richards is his main target but junior Marcus Naisant along with seniors Montre Williams and Tanner Blankenship have also come up big in Greer's offense.

Sr. RB Avery Sanders leads the rushing attack along with Richards and Jr. Zyayre Moss.

Sr. LB Jacob Hernandez leads the team with almost 150 tackles including over 100 solo. Sr. LB James Reynosa has over 100 tackles also while Jr. Anthony Nicastro has 10 sacks and Sr. Trysten Griffith has four interceptions.

SAG: Sr. QB Kare' Lyles has thrown for almost 6,800 in his career at Saguaro. The Wisconsin recruit has thrown 39 touchdown passes this year to go along with the 40 he threw last year.

Sr. Byron Murphy has pulled down over 1,600 of those yards with 19 TD catches. Murphy is generally considered the state of Arizona's top recruit. Sr. Julian Carter has added over 500 yards receiving and Jr. Jared Poplawski has 400.

Jr. RB Stone Matthews carries the biggest load on the ground with 1,864 yards. Matthews need 200 yards to break into the top three in the state.

Jr. LB Carson Nugent has 109 tackles Jr. Brandon Boyce has 78. While sacks are evenly spilt between several players, Murphy leads the team with six interceptions.

 

THE GAME

 

Ranked No. 7, Saguaro is the lowest seed to reach the Division II (or equivalent) championship game since Sabino in 2009. Sabino lost that 4A-I game to No. 1 Canyon del Oro 40-0. It is doubtful we will see that kind of score this year.

Simply, Saguaro has yet to be tested in the playoffs and the Sabercats have outscored opponents 146 to 31 while Marcos de Niza has had a much more difficult go of it despite the higher ranking.

The Padres struggled with No. 12 Corona del Sol in the first round but pulled out a 14-7 win before heading down to the Tucson area to take care of No. 4 Ironwood Ridge 35-15 and then upsetting No. 1 Skyline 44-37 in the semifinal round.

By comparison, Saguaro demolished No. 2 Queen Creek 54-0 in the quarterfinal round.

Look for Lyles and Greer to throw a lot. While Saguaro has the edge in almost every category and position, the QB that makes the first mistake might be the turning point. Lyles has been here before so he knows what to expect but Greer gets better every week.

Slight edge to Saguaro.