Sam Eddy is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover McClintock for AZPreps365. 

In a battle between the Chargers, McClintock won 37-23 at home against Benjamin Franklin on Friday night.

McClintock played without several starters who are done for the year, which meant a combination of upper and underclassmen played bigger roles.

Sophomore Julius Fuentes entered as the team’s new starting quarterback after an injury to Peter Clark last week.

“Unfortunately, it’s the next man up in this game because this game is kind of physical,” coach Mike Fell said.

Fuentes seemed like a poised veteran under center despite being a younger player starting at the varsity level.

It did not take much time for the sophomore to air the ball out and connect with some of the older guys on the team. Early in the first quarter, Fuentes threw a deep pass for 55 yards to junior Peter Schoppe. The long pass led to a touchdown run by senior Jeremiah Latu to give McClintock an early 6-0 lead.

After the first scoring drive, McClintock's offense found its stride and continued to make big plays. McClintock went into halftime up 22-0.

Out of the locker room, Benjamin Franklin scored right away, but McClintock had an instant answer by giving the ball to Latu. His touchdown gave McClintock a 30-8 lead. The score remained the same entering the fourth quarter, but about midway through the quarter, McClintock went for it on fourth down, and Fuentes threw a touchdown pass to senior Daniel Crawford.

Benjamin Franklin scored a couple more touchdowns, but it would be the Chargers of McClintock celebrating.

McClintock’s Lawrence Monroe had himself a night in all three phases. On offense, Monroe had a 63-yard touchdown run and a 39-yard touchdown. He even threw a pass that got dropped on a designed flea flicker play. Monroe also had an interception on the defensive side and got a chance to punt on special teams. 

Monroe’s dynamic playmaking and veteran presence allowed his young quarterback to not have to try and do too much.

Fuentes finished with two touchdown passes as well as a couple of long throws that went to multiple teammates. When Fuentes was asked if he had a preference on which upperclassman receiver he liked throwing to more, Schoppe or Monroe, he said, “both of them.”

Besides a sophomore starting at quarterback, McClintock started four freshmen. Missing starters for the year have resulted in players on the team needing to step up and play multiple positions. One player, freshman Rufus Dogba, started on defense as an outside linebacker, and by the end of the night, he was receiving handoffs in the backfield.

“We’ve been saying next man up, some of our players got hurt, so I had to bring us up,” said Dogba.

McClintock is back in action at home Oct. 13 against the Maricopa Rams.