Jack Reeves is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Brophy Prep for AZPreps365.com   

An impressive performance on both sides of the ball earned Brophy Prep a 37-20 victory at home over Chaparral on Thursday night. 

With starting running back Carlos Estrada out with an injury, sophomore Harrison Chambers took over the running game with 171 yards and two touchdowns. That included a pivotal play on third-and-13 from their own 3-yard line, where he ripped off a 65-yard run. That was the catalyst on what became a 97-yard touchdown drive to go up 31-12 late in the 3rd quarter, putting the game out of reach. 

“He did an awesome job,” Brophy Coach Jason Jewell said. “I think he had the play of the game when we were back by the 1-yard line and he bust it out for 60 yards, so I think that was huge. Credit to our lines on both sides of the football. I think we have a bunch of good players in the trenches.”

Brophy got off to a slow start when Chaparral quarterback Marcel Jones scrambled to his right and found wide receiver Plas Johnson to take a 6-0 lead with six minutes to go in the first quarter. 

The Broncos responded with a field goal from Connor Furey, one of three on the night. They followed that with a 26-yard touchdown pass to take the lead from quarterback Charlie McGinnis to Christian Camarata. 

A Cree Thomas interception late in the first half led to another score. McGinnis threw this touchdown 32-yards to Nathan Benzie down the sideline, stretching the lead to 24-6 with only a minute remaining in the half. 

“We put our defense in a bad situation early on,” Jewell said. “It’s something that we talked about. When you are playing your rival, they need a win, we knew they were gonna fight. For us to come back in the second quarter and score a bunch of points and be up at halftime, I think was huge.” 

After halftime, the Brophy defense continued to make it tough for Chaparral to get back in the game. Along with Thomas, Jack Seabald and Marlon Colbert also had interceptions. Thomas now has interceptions in three straight games. 

“I was excited,” Thomas said. “I saw the play on film. It was just a matter of breaking on the ball and making a play. We have a great secondary, I think arguably the best secondary in the state. I’m just excited for what we can do coming forward into the season.”

The Broncos have now won three straight games.

“We never get too high, we never get too low,” Chambers said. “We call it ‘ride the wave.’ We just want to execute in that way.”  

Brophy Prep (3-1, 1-1) will be on the road facing Notre Dame Prep at 7 p.m. Friday. Chaparral (1-3, 1-2) will travel to play Desert Vista at 7 p.m. Friday.