Pusch Ridge beat Catalina Foothills 28-13 at home Thursday night to move to 4-0 on the year with one more game scheduled before the Lions enter region play in one of the most difficult gauntlets in the state. The 3A South Region includes Pusch Ridge, Sabino (3-1), Morenci (3-1) and two other traditional powers in Thatcher (2-2) and Safford (2-2). Thatcher was the 3A runner-up last year and Pusch Ridge is the last current 3A team to win a 3A state championship.

Catalina Foothills QB Jett Scott. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)

 

Pusch Ridge won the 3A title in 2015 but ALA-Queen Creek won in 2016 and 2019 and the Patriots compete in the 6A Conference now. Casteel won in 2017 and the Colts are also in in the 6A Conference. Northwest Christian won the 3A title in 2018 and the Crusaders are in the 4A Conference now along with Snowflake (2020 and 2021) and Eastmark (2022). Yuma Catholic took second place in the 3A Conference in 2018, 2020 and 2021 and the Shamrocks are also in the 4A Conference now. The 3A Conference is not easy and winning it has meant a ticket to a higher division.

Catalina Foothills fell to 1-3 on the year and the 4A Kino Region includes Canyon del Oro (3-0) and Mica Mountain (3-0). The Dorados and the Thunderbolts are expected to challenge for the 4A state title this year and a state playoff bid in the 4A Conference is going to be a tough ticket to get, as Walden Grover discovered last year after finishing the regular season ranked No. 17 with an 8-2 record. For teams like the Falcons, the state playoffs start now.

“We need to finish some plays and we're struggling with that right now,” Catalina Foothills head coach Daniel Sainz explained. “It hasn’t been easy and it starts with me and I got to make sure we can get pushed to that point. We have a lot of young guys and having Sammy (Delgado) out for the night is definitely not ideal, you definitely always want to have your best guys available. They battled, it's a lot of growing pains right now.”

Senior RB Delgado was not available against Pusch Ridge and he’s averaging 156.5 yards an outing.

Pusch Ridge standout Bubba Mustain threw for almost 150 yards and he rushed for just under 100 against Catalina Foothills and he put the Lions up 7-0 on an 8-yard toss to Will Joyce with 3:43 left in the first half. The Falcons have been within striking distance in all three of their losses but a 17-yard interception return for a touchdown by Jacob Newborn in the opening moments of the third quarter made any attempt to take control of the game more difficult for Catalina Foothills.

The Falcons gave the ball back on downs on the next drive despite making it down the five yard line and Mustain put together a 95-yard drive in four minutes to put the Lions up 21-0 thanks to a 28-yard strike to Elliot Lovett with 4:12 left in the third. Noah Secrist got another interception for the Lions on the next drive but the Catalina Foothills defense forced a turnover on downs and Jett Scott hit Andrew Islas from 45 yards out to cut the lead down to 21-7 with 11:47 left in the game.

A long run from Newborn put the Lions in great field position in response and Mustain found Newborn form 15-yards out to put Pusch Ridge up 28-7 with 8:00 left. Scott threw a 40-yard score to Macen Perez-Brewer with 3:16 left but a blocked extra point brough the game to the 28-13 final. Newborn finished with almost 100 yards rushing and 40 yards receiving and Scott had over 220 yards passing for the Falcons.

"We have to get better week by week," Pusch Ridge head coach Kent Middleton told his team after the game. "That's a big team right there and your coaches are mostly happy with how you did tonight."

Pusch Ridge travels to San Tan Foothills (1-3) next Thursday and Catalina Foothills plays at Tucson (1-2) next Friday. The initial set of power rankings are slated to come out on Oct. 3.