Nicholas Hodell is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Estrella Foothills High School for AZPreps365.

Estrella Foothills used its offensive and defensive superiority to defeat Raymond S. Kellis 26-6 Friday in the season opener for both teams.

Senior quarterback Ty Perry was a huge influence in the passing game and the running game.  Perry threw for 200 yards on the night and ran for nearly 100 yards.

Perry opened the scoring with a touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Daylan Batchan and ran for a score in the second quarter from four yards out.  Perry credited the team’s preparation as one of the reasons why he was able to find plays on offense.

Perry noted that Kellis used a defensive scheme that the Wolves had not faced before.  Their multiple safety look provided a different challenge which was met well by the scout team in practice, Perry said.

“We just kind of figured out the weaknesses of it and I think we played it pretty good tonight,” Perry said.

Estrella Foothills head coach Derek Wahlstrom credited Perry’s leadership and knowledge of the team’s offense as a couple of reasons for his solid season-opening performance.  Wahlstrom also credited Perry’s in-game patience on certain plays.

“He didn’t force too many plays,” Wahlstrom said.  “He let the plays come to him and made good decisions.”

In the second half, senior running back and middle linebacker Quinlan Popham recorded two touchdowns on the ground, the only two scoring plays in the second half for either team.  Popham said the offensive line was a big influence in allowing him to record both touchdowns.

“I just followed my lead blocks, it was open,” Popham said.  “They had some great blocks.  [I] found the gap and just ran.”

The Wolves’ defense allowed just one score, a touchdown pass by Kellis quarterback Isaac Matthews near the end of the first half.

Popham credited to his team’s defensive line, which allowed the rest of the defense to do its job properly.

“Our D-line was really good going into their slants and it allowed us linebackers and the secondary to make tackles,” Popham said.

But there were still some week one mistakes that were made.  Several penalties took away scoring plays on offense and four fumbles kept Estrella Foothills from putting together more scoring drives. 

Wahlstrom said that the mistakes came down to certain details that did not get executed well.

“We’ve got to have the ball high and tight.  We’ve got to keep our hands inside on our blocks,” Wahlstrom said.  “It’s taking care of those details and making sure that we do things the right way.”

The Wolves will play their first region game of the season Friday on the road against district rival Youngkam.  Wahlstrom wants to see week-to-week improvement from his squad in addition to working on the small details.

“It’s about going 1-0 every week,” Wahlstrom said.  “Hopefully the biggest improvement is from week one to week two.”