5A State Championship

Saturday, Nov. 26 at University of Phoenix Stadium

No. 2 Williams Field vs. No. 5 Centennial, 2:30 p.m.

 

The Coyotes have been here before.

Centennial won the Division II state championship in 2014 and the D-I championship last year and, thanks to a decisive 56-21 win over top-seeded Cienega in the 5A semifinal round on Friday night, the Coyotes will be going for their third championship in a row.

Three in a row? Been there, done that. Richard Taylor (224-77-3) led the Coyotes to three straight 5A-II state championships in 2006, 2007 and 2008. 

Even more, Centennial came into the game against Cienega as the fifth seed. Seeded fifth with a 12-1 record is also something the Coyotes are used to. Centennial was the 6-seed last year but went on to defeat No. 3 Hamilton (34-23), No. 2 Mountain Pointe (31-21) and No. 4 Desert Ridge (28-6) to claim the trophy in the highest classification the AIA offered at the time.

This year, No. 2 Williams Field will be waiting for them after the Black Hawks beat No. 6 Queen Creek 37-12 in the other semifinal game.

Simply, the Coyotes have made the playoffs every year since 2001 and have missed the championship game only three times since 2005.  Oh, and only four losing records since the program began in 1992 and none since 1999.

Cienega played for a D-II state championship in 2011 and the Bobcats had a semifinal finish in 2014.  A 10-year streak of making the playoffs was broken with a 5-5 record in 2013 and the program missed the playoffs last year when first-year head coach Pat Nugent led the team to a 4-6 record.  It was a difficult season but Nugent closed it out with three straight wins, including a 34-31 win over Salpointe to knock the Lancers out of the playoffs.

Nugent was the architect behind the Ka’Deem Carey-Canyon del Oro era before moving over to coach in the junior college level so it was only a matter of time before he had the Bobcats winning again and he put together the longest win-streak (15 in a row) in school history leading up to the loss to Centennial

Nugent did it with a talented line that gave junior standout Jamarye Joiner protection and room to throw for 1,700 yards and rush for 800 more. Senior receiver Braeden Bolton finished with over 1,000 yards receiving.

But Taylor pulled this incredible year off despite losing his top quarterback (Isaac Steele with 2,025 yards passing), six of his top eight receivers and three of his top four rushers including Quentin Gomez (1,478 yards rushing). 

Then came Zidane Thomas.

The junior running back came into the game against Cienega with 1,327 yards rushing and 11 touchdowns. He was “only” averaging 121 yards a game. But not Friday night.

Thomas finished with 324 yards rushing on 24 carries with five TDs to lead the Coyotes past Cienega. He gained 36 yards on his first carry and had 78 yards on the first drive alone. Alex Escobar finished that drive off with a 1-yard plunge to put the Coyotes up 7-0 and the team never looked back.

“We knew this was the semifinals and we were playing a good team so we had to step it up,” Thomas said. “I think the difference tonight was being hungry. We were hungry for this win. Everyone did their job tonight. Everything was clicking.”

Everything was clicking. Thomas put Centennial up 14-0 after he ripped off a 67-yard run with 8:13 left in the first quarter. He added a 9-yard scoring run and the Coyotes led 21-0 after the first quarter.

Thomas scored from 67 yards out midway through the second quarter but Aaron Sauls cut the lead down to 28-7 after he scored from two yards out with 4:32 left in the half. Nico Jordan cut the lead in half with a short run to open the third quarter and it looked like momentum was starting to shift, especially after the Bobcat defense forced Centennial to punt for the first time.

Down 28-14, Cienega was unable to cash in on the punt and Centennial got the ball back and Ruben Beltran put the game away with a 10-yard pass to Andrew Nichols.  Taylor Fiame scored to make it 42-14 but Joiner came alive and hit Terrell Hayward from 46 yards out to cut the lead down to 42-21 with 44.6 seconds left in the third.

Joiner committed to play for the University of Arizona in September and he will be playing in the U.S. Army National Combine in January.

“This year was more than I could have hoped for,” Joiner said. “I think we came in undefeated but we didn’t play our game. It takes more than what we showed here tonight. We showed we can play and we will be back.”

Only a sophomore, Hayward agreed with Joiner.

“I’m going to take this defeat and use it for next year,” Hayward said. “We had a fantastic year and we had a special bond and no one can take that away from us.”

Thomas added another scoring run to make it 49-21 and then Isaac Haney ran back an interception to bring us to the 56-21 final. It was the second interception of the night for Haney. Hayward also had an interception for Cienega.

Williams Field was the D-III state runner-up in 2014 and the Black Hawks made it to the D-II quarterfinal round last year.