Santa Cruz is for real. The Dust Devils beat Tombstone 64-7 Friday night to improve to 5-0 on the year. The last time Santa Cruz started out a season 5-0, the Dust Devils went on to win a state championship.

The year was 1990 and the team from Eloy finished a perfect 13-0. It was also the last of a string of seven state championships then…. nothing. Santa Cruz finished 0-9 just two years later. The program only had six more playoff appearances and football was an afterthought until Rishard Davis came to town in 2014.  Sure, he led the team to 3-6 record that year but it was the most wins the program had put together since 2008. Then came 2015.

The Dust Devils finished 9-3 and the losses included a two-point setback to Bisbee, a one-point loss to Tempe Prep and a four-point loss to American Leadership in the Division IV quarterfinals.

“After we lost to American Leadership things really started to change,” Davis explained. “We’ve been in the weight room almost every day since that game. The commitment level was kind of low the last few years but we’ve been able to train for the sports now. They really want it.”

Tombstone (4-2, 0-1) has also seen a bit of resurgence with the return of longtime coach Mike Hayhurst. Hayhurst was the coach for some 14 years until he stepped away in 2012. He returned in 2015 and led the team to a 4-5 record after the program finished 2-8 the year before.

The Yellow Jackets came into the game ranked No. 11 and it looked like they were primed for an upset after taking a 7-0 lead on No. 3 Santa Cruz on a 20-yard pass from David Montoya to Wayne Wilridge with 7:35 left in the first quarter.

The Dust Devils gave the ball back on a fumble 30 seconds later but the Yellow Jackets gave the ball back on downs. Santa Cruz would march down and take an 8-7 lead after Emilio Cosillos hit Jesus Cosillos from 9-yards out and Titarro Jones ran in a 2-point conversion.

Then the storm came. Santa Cruz scored 32 points in the second quarter to take a 40-7 lead at the half.  Game over.

The Dust Devils finished with 273 yards rushing and 213 yards passing for a total of 486 yards of offense compared to 105 yards rushing for Tombstone and 41 yards passing. Tyler Wilridge was a bright spot for the Yellow Jackets. He finished with 81 yards rushing on 12 attempts.

“Nothing about this loss is a laughing matter,” Hayhurst told his players after the game. “We’ve got to do a lot better. We just fell apart after the first drive. I really care about you guys but you need to do better. We have a few more tries to be a great team.”

Tombstone travels to rival Benson (5-1, 1-0) next Friday. It will be another test for the Yellow Jackets for sure. Santa Cruz hosts Bisbee (3-3, 1-0) on the same night.

Emilio Cosillos finished with 170 yards passing and Jose Diaz pulled down 111 of those yards. Devin Neal rushed for 57 yards, had an interception and ripped off a 99-yard touchdown run on a punt return.