Saguaro defeated the Open Division's eighth ranked team Friday night. Photo by Bailey Warren/azpreps365.com.

Heading into Week 7, Saguaro was on the outside looking in as the No. 9 team in the Open Division rankings.

In front of it Friday night stood the Open’s current No. 8, Horizon, looking to be 7-0 for the first time since 1998. But Saguaro understood the assignment, defeating visiting Horizon 48-23 with a significant second-half effort to keep its Open Division playoff hopes alive.

Not only was this a tall task for Horizon but also Saguaro, which was down seven starters from last week. That included the Sabercats’ top two transfers, Zaccheus Cooper and Deric English, who missed the game due to injury.

“We were up against it and that led to our message all week, ‘When you face adversity you can turn and run away or you can fight your way out,’” Saguaro coach Jason Mohns said. “And I feel we fought our way out of that, we fought our way out of a dog fight in the first half, and I am really proud of our guys.”

With several players out, backups playing new positions, and still trying to implement a two-quarterback system, Saguaro showed its depth, a big reason why they can contend in the 8-team Open Division tournament.

Plus, some halftime adjustments contributed to a 28-7 scoring run for Saguaro that kept the Sabercats Open playoff hopes alive for another week.

“I think we just got worn down physically,” Horizon coach Andy Litten explained. “They (Saguaro) are a great football team and we have a bunch of guys that play both ways. Physically we got kind of worn down especially by that drive right after halftime. The mistakes we made and the turnover late in their end zone really hurt us.

“We just have to win from here on out. It is all about the next one and be 1-0 next week. We are excited to play football and the kids are ready to go. They know they made mistakes and are ready to fix them.”

Javen Jacobs, Jaedon Matthews and Saguaro’s offensive line did their part to wear down Horizon.

Jacobs finished the night with 253 all-purpose yards and the three scores to lead the Sabercats. This was also only the second game of the season in which both Matthews and Jacobs scored multiple times.

Also, this was only the second game using a two-quarterback system for Saguaro, with the expectation that it will be used going forward.

“Javen Jacobs put us on his back early and made some huge plays,” Mohns said. “Our offensive line told us to pound it and really let Jaedon Matthews take over after that. He is such an explosive runner for a sophomore and he is really something special. The two of them together is a real treat to watch in tandem with both our quarterbacks (Devon Dampier, Ridge Docekal) that help add a new flavor to the offense. Our kids are finally understanding how we can attack teams in a lot of different ways and we can use in-game adjustments to give us a lot of flexibility.”

For Saguaro, it took until late in the first quarter to get going offensively.

A Docekal 81-yard touchdown pass to Jacobs started the Sabercat scoring. Jacobs would account for two first half touchdowns.

“We came in knowing the value of this game,” Jacobs explained. “We knew we needed to come in and make a statement win, and that's what we did. We all had to make the most of the opportunities given to us tonight and all the guys showed up big time.”

In its first regular season matchup against Saguaro since 1994, Horizon, one of the biggest surprises this season, had its first big test.

The Horizon defense sparked its offense, which couldn’t find a groove in the first quarter. Daniel “Boobie” Santiago stepped in front of a Docekal screen pass that set up a Grady Gross 47-yard field goal.

Gross accounted for 10 of the 16 first-half points for the Huskies.

After a 31-yard touchdown pass from Skyler Partridge to Matthew Klopfenstein late in the second quarter, Junius Marsh found the end zone from 10 yards out for Saguaro. In the first half, the Horizon defense accounted for an interception, extra point block, and a crucial fourth-down stop that kept the score 20-16 going into the third quarter.

A dog fight was expected between two of the top 5A teams the rest of the way, but Saguaro had other plans in the second half.

Next week, Horizon will be at home against 2-5 Maricopa, and Saguaro will get visiting 3-4 Campo Verde.