Phoenix Christian, Round Valley and Santa Cruz knock on the championship door, and Thatcher just slams it shut.

It's happened the past three years in the 2A Conference football playoffs, when the championship dream crushing Thatcher Eagles travelled home with title trophies in tow. The Drive for Four is Thatcher’s 2019 slogan.

The 2A semifinals are on Saturday, and Thatcher is just two wins away from becoming the first 2A program to win four crowns in a row. But, based on this year’s scores, Phoenix Christian, Round Valley and Santa Cruz are catching up.

As for Thatcher, the Green Machine sputtered at times this year with a new starting roster and after injuries ended the seasons of two of its best two-way players. This year’s veer offense of 8-4 Thatcher also didn’t veer away from opposing tackles like in the past but did help the program post its 33rd winning season in the past 35 years.

“If our defense plays up to its potential versus Phoenix Christian (in the semifinals),” Thatcher coach Ramon Morales said, “I think we have a chance.”

The frontmen of Thatcher’s ‘D’ are defensive end Collin Thompson, probably the state’s best 2A defender, and one of the best-named linebackers in the state, Brik Skousen.

Speaking of linebackers with great names, Man-Man Freeman is the man at Phoenix Christian.

The senior is one of Phoenix Christian’s stout front-7 leaders. But it’s on offense — 1,816 rushing yards, 34 touchdowns — where Freeman makes teams pay the most.

Man-Man Freeman. Photo by Paul Campbell/maxpreps.com.

The senior is a physical force and is averaging 14 yards per carry. If Thatcher slows down Freeman, the X-factors, RB/WR/DB Howard Russell (19 touchdowns) and quarterback Adrian Flemming, can also do damage.

Since starting midway through the regular season, Flemming has thrown 11 touchdowns and rushed for five. Moving Flemming to starting quarterback helped Phoenix Christian’s secondary, because former starting QB, Jose Hererra, has four of his team’s 16 interceptions.

The team’s leading tackler and probably hardest hitter is linebacker Devanta Anderson, who went from a 180-pound freshman to a 215-pound sophomore.

Phoenix Christian was hit hard in the previous three playoffs by three-time defending champ Thatcher. Phoenix Christian lost each of those three games, including two semifinal games, by at least 28 points.

Last year, first half mistakes did Phoenix Christian in in the semifinals.

“They definitely don’t want to lose a fourth time to them (Thatcher),” said Phoenix Christian coach Brian Cole about his motivated senior class. “The guys know who they’ve lost to in every playoff. We’ve talked about it a bit.”

But Cole’s crew isn't the only that is peeved at Thatcher.

Just ask Round Valley, who was knocked out by Black (and Blue) Region rival Thatcher in two of the last three 2A Conference championship bouts. Like Thatcher, Round Valley also dressed a slew of new starters this year.

But unlike Thatcher, Round Valley didn’t stumble as much while reaching its sixth state semifinal in the past seven seasons. One of Round Valley’s nine victories this season came against Thatcher.

Round Valley also defeated its Saturday semifinal opponent, Santa Cruz, this season. In that 48-13 win, Round Valley’s Owen Young threw three touchdowns to Kyran Clark.

Quick-gun Young can also run away from defenders. The other big play maker in Round Valley’s backfield is running back Marc Irigoyen, a starting linebacker the previous two years.

Despite the empty handed state championship runs, Round Valley, coach Marcus Bell and his veteran staff continue to fight tooth and nail for the program's first championship trophy since 1980.

Another team that has it out for Thatcher is Santa Cruz, which lost the 2017 2A title game to, who else, Thatcher. Santa Cruz, a program with a rich football history, returned to prominence thanks in part to Alabama native Rishard Davis.

Davis took over in 2015 and is making his third trip to the semis. The last time Santa Cruz reached the semis and a final prior to Davis arriving was in 1990.

This year, the 10-2 Santa Cruz team is led by Hunter Ogle. The junior is pulling quite the double-duty as the team’s leading rusher, scorer and tackler.

Ogle is an inside linebacker on a front-seven that is physical, Davis said.

“They (team) are so coachable,” Davis said. “They want to improve. It’s one of the most enjoyable years of coaching I’ve had.”

Hunter Ogle. Photo by Paul Campbell/maxpreps.com.