Nicholas Pietrzycki is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Arcadia High School for AZPreps365.com.

“We all we got! We all we need! We all we got! We all we need!” echoed from the varsity football locker room at Arcadia High School late Friday night.

The Titans had just won its first game since November 2020 and over 1,000 fans roared and cheered from all corners of the stadium.

“To see them [the team] out there and enjoying it, fans out there to support them, it's amazing,” Erica Tekampe, a mother of an Arcadia player, said. 

It's Arcadia head coach Ray Brown's first victory in his high school coaching career, as his Titans defeated the Sahuaro Cougars 15-12.

“Football wasn’t good here [Arcadia] when I was hired,” Brown said, “I was hired in June, and now, we pulled it together.”

Senior cornerback Antonio Green returned the opening kickoff to the Sahuaro 39-yard line, setting up Arcadia on their half of the field. The Titans made steady progress, but a fumble gave the ball to Sahuaro deep in their territory. Arcadia’s defense held firm and forced Sahuaro to punt.

Arcadia’s drive stalled after senior quarterback Spencer Hoos made a wild pass to get the Titans back to the line of scrimmage. Sahuaro’s offense found their footing on their second drive. After three consecutive run plays racked up 30 yards, Sahuaro was set up in Arcadia territory to end the first quarter. 

The Cougars’ drive stalled to begin the second quarter after back-to-back sacks by junior outside linebacker Kaiden Carr and sophomore defensive linemen Khary Beler. Sahuaro junior quarterback Angel Hightower’s incomplete pass on fourth down gave the ball back to Arcadia.

Both Arcadia and Sahuaro’s final drives of the first half stalled, and both teams headed into the locker room with zeros on the scoreboard. Coming out for the second half, Arcadia made a switch at quarterback, as sophomore Rocco Mortensen replaced Hoos.

“We planned on playing both of them [Hoos and Mortensen] this game,” coach Brown said.

Despite the change at quarterback, Arcadia fell behind in the third quarter. An Arcadia punt put Sahuaro on their own 41-yard line to begin their fifth drive of the game. A 10-yard rush by senior running back Logan Stell set up senior running back Javez Blair for a 49-yard touchdown run. After a false start penalty moved the ball back five yards, the extra point was no good, and Sahuaro led 6-0.

Arcadia did not respond on their next drive, punting the ball once again. Sahuaro marched down the field on their following drive, setting up a 23-yard field goal attempt, but they missed it. 

Hoos threw an interception that was returned inside the 10-yard line by senior cornerback Furshawn Nichols. However, a personal foul penalty on Sahuaro moved the ball back to the Arcadia 48-yard line, as opposed to having the ball in the red zone. 

Stell’s 22-yard run set up a first and goal from the Arcadia 7-yard line to begin the fourth quarter. The Cougars wasted no time, and Blair ran those seven yards into the end zone to double Sahuaro’s score with 11:08 left in the game.

Arcadia responded by marching down the field and capping the drive off with a 30-yard touchdown reception by sophomore wide receiver Brady Forst. The extra point was good, and Sahuaro’s lead was cut down to five points, 12-7.

“It was hard at first,” Mortensen said, “But once I got my confidence going, the train kept going.”

Making throws helped to build confidence, according to Mortensen.

Junior Kaiden Carr’s second sack of the game dropped Sahuaro back to Arcadia’s 26-yard line on first down, and on fourth down, Arcadia’s defense came up big and forced a turnover on downs with 4:28 remaining.

On Arcadia’s next drive, Mortensen delivered a first down pass to sophomore running back Ben Blanks on third down while getting hit.

Two plays later, Mortensen delivered a 67-yard touchdown pass to Forst and the Titans took the lead for the first time in the game with 2:34 left in the game. Arcadia went for a 2-point conversion, and after a false start penalty, Mortensen’s pass to sophomore wide receiver Alex Alba was good. 

“We knew we had stuff open. We just had to settle down,” coach Brown said.

Sahuaro took the field for their final drive of the game. On 3rd and 15, from the Sahuaro 36-yard line, Beler sacked Hightower for a loss of six.

Sahuaro’s “hook and ladder” play was unsuccessful and with 1:20 left on the game, Arcadia went into victory formation.

“It [the win] means a lot, because all that work we’ve put in, you can’t be losing. We [Arcadia] got to start winning,” Mortensen said.

Arcadia improves to 1-1 and Sahuaro falls to 0-1 to begin the year.

The Titans will play host to Desert Mountain Wolves on Sept. 17 at 7 p.m.