Jose Silva came up big for Sunnyside (Andy Morales/AZPreps365.com)

 

Sunnyside beat Nogales 36-16 Thursday night at home to kick off a football season guaranteed to be full of rematches. The two-year scheduling block offers teams a chance to solidify dominance but it also offers a shot at redemption. That’s the beauty of it.

Teams cannot be accused of “escaping” opponents and teams are unable to “load up” their schedules. For the most part, who you played last year is who you will play this year. It is what it is and the Sunnyside/Nogales saga is a perfect example.

Nogales beat Sunnyside 19-18 last year and there was no way to know what that loss would ultimately mean for the Blue Devils at the time. It was the first loss to the Apaches since 1995 but it also played a major part in a 4-6 campaign, the first losing season for Sunnyside since 1997.

Other than a few power-points lost to common opponents, there were no playoff implications from the loss by Sunnyside last year or the win by Nogales since both teams finished with a 4-6 record and a ranking too low for an at-large berth. But who can tell what this year will bring?

Nogales beat Sunnyside in the final moments of that fateful game last year and it looked like the Apaches were headed in that direction again, some 363 days later.

But then came senior DB Jose Silva.

Down 22-16, the Apaches took possession of the ball at their own 25-yard line in the final seconds of the third quarter. Senior QB Josue Tapia was racking up some impressive yardage and he would end the night with 318 yards passing with two touchdowns but, in the end, a dangerous pass to the outside proved to be the difference.

Tapia marched the Apaches down the field and a 23-yard toss to Ivan Romero set up a first-and-goal at the 4. An incomplete pass was followed by an interception by Silva and he raced 97-yards down the sideline to give Sunnyside a 29-16 lead with 9:31 left. The game was effectively over.

“We came together this year and we came to play,” Silva said.

“I had to make a play there. I had to help out. I knew I was going to get it when I saw the pass in the air, I was just hoping I could run it all the way back.”

The loss puts Nogales in a difficult position with a schedule that includes Ironwood Ridge, Canyon del Oro, Cienega, Salpointe and Catalina Foothills. As mentioned before, Cienega, Ironwood Ridge and Sunnyside are “Freedom Games” that the Apaches knew they would have to face again after playing them last year. Simply, every win and every loss is magnified in a 10-game schedule.

Kevin Kuhm is in his fourth year with the Apaches and he took control of the postgame talk by signaling to his team that this loss would not define their season.

“I thought we had it but we didn’t make a play and they made a great play,” Kuhn told his team. “I’ll take the blame for that but we will rest up and get back at it on Monday.”

Silva set the tone early by cashing in on a 55-yard pass from Jose Fuentes to put Sunnyside up 7-0 and that lead would stand until Nathan Rivera hit on a 34-yard field goal with 10:41 left in the first half.

Fuentes finished with 143 yards passing but he also picked up 144 yards on the ground and his 53-yard dash with 10:15 left in the half put the Blue Devils up 13-3. Tapia started to come alive and he hit Leo Yepiz on a 21-yard scoring pass and Ivan Romero on a 64-yard strike to put Nogales up 16-13 with 6:14 left in the half.

It looked like the Apaches had taken control of the momentum but Willie Rose scored on a 2-yard run to give Sunnyside a 19-16 lead heading into the third quarter. A 24-yard field goal by C.J. Vasquez put Sunnyside up 22-16.

Silva made it 29-16 on his interception and Fuentes ran another touchdown in late in the game for the 36-16 final.

“I think we need to play harder next week,” Fuentes explained. “We need to give 100 percent but this felt good.”

Fuentes was sidelined for a small part of the second half with a leg cramp and he ran his 16-yard touchdown with visible difficulty but he will have plenty of time to recover in time for a trip to Pueblo next Friday.

Tapia had 318 yards passing, Romero had 123 yards receiving and Yepiz had 109. Fuentes had his 287 yards of offense, Rose had 78 yards rushing and Silva had 83 yards receiving. Alex Alvarado had an interception for the Blue Devils.