Jordy Fee-Platt
ASU Student Journalist

Cactus earns first win of season as Boncore, Galvan shine

September 17, 2022 by Jordy Fee-Platt, Arizona State University


A balanced offensive attack and a stout defense performance produced a convincing home win for the Cobras on Friday. (Jordy Fee-Platt photo/AZPreps365)

Jordy Fee-Platt is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism Student assigned to cover Cactus High School for AZPreps365.com.

The Cactus Cobras secured their first win of the season Friday in a 5A non-section matchup against the Mesquite Wildcats, dominating in all three phases en route to a 47-6 victory. 

Junior quarterback Braiden Lagafuaina threw for 315 yards and four TDs and sophomore Nikko Boncore had six catches for 142 yards and two scores. 

After struggling offensively during their first two games, the Cobras made a change to their offensive game plan that immediately reaped benefits. Wide receiver Will Galvan was lined up in the backfield on numerous occasions, taking both direct snaps and handoffs. 

On its first drive, Cactus was faced with third-and-goal from the 11-yard line. Galvan took the direct snap, sprinted down the right sideline, and snuck inside the pylon to give his team an early 7-0 lead. 

The former West Valley Region Player of the Year has transitioned from quarterback to wide receiver this season, and has seen his touches drop. Cactus coach Brian Belles made it a point of emphasis to get the ball in Galvan’s hands more often.

“It was a coach’s decision,” Belles said. “We just felt like we needed to give our tailback a break, and Will [Galvan] can do everything."

Later in the quarter, Galvan further displayed that versatility, adding a receiving TD to his tally and giving the Cobras a 14-0 advantage.

Galvan’s early scores helped ignite an offense that had only scored 12 points combined in its first two games. The Cobras registered 546 total yards in the game and 21 total first downs. For most of the first half, however, Cactus was not taking advantage of its offensive success, with two drives stalling inside the Mesquite 5-yard line. 

Momentum could have shifted on both occasions, but the Cactus defense ensured this did not happen. The unit forced safeties on both drives, pushing the team’s lead to 18-0 at halftime.

Following the break, the Cobras really found their stride offensively, consistently converting red zone trips into touchdowns. The emergence of a deep passing attack that had been absent the first two weeks played a major role.

Belles credited the offensive line for giving Lagafuaina the time to wait for the deeper routes to develop.  

“We had been missing that piece the last couple of weeks, and they came out and did a lot of good things,” Belles said.

With time to throw, Lagafuaina was able to connect with open receivers for chunk plays, particularly Boncore, who had four receptions of 20-plus yards and two touchdowns. The wideout pointed to the chemistry he has built with Lagafuaina during seven-on-seven drills that is now paying off in games. 

“I love my quarterback. This connection we have, it’s been developing, and tonight we showed it,” Boncore said. “We are going to have this connection for next year, too, so hopefully we get more big plays like that.” 

While the Cobras were flourishing offensively, Mesquite could never seem to get into a rhythm. Coach Vance Miller attributed his team's struggles to inexperience.

“Out of our 35 guys that are dressed, we have three that have played varsity football before,” Miller said. “So we’re just young and we’re learning. We’re making that transition from being athletic and relying on our own athleticism to learning the game of football, and you know that’s going to come in time.” 

Mesquite quarterback Pj Jones finished with 102 passing yards, but easily could have had more with multiple deep throws narrowly missing receivers. 

In the end, the visitors simply could not keep pace with Cactus’ balanced attack on offense. In addition to success through the air, the aforementioned success of the offensive line also opened up running lanes for Cactus tailback Damian Jiles, who rushed for 164 yards on 15 carries. 

The Cobras (1-2) will now turn their attention to a road game against Snowflake on Friday (3-0), while Mesquite (1-2) will face Gilbert (2-1) at home.