Evan Rodriguez is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism assigned to cover Mountain Pointe High School for AZPreps365.com.

  

It was supposed to have been a celebration on Tuesday night. After all, it was Senior Night for Mountain Pointe vs. Desert Vista.

But it didn’t turn out how the Pride wanted it to as it fell to the Thunder, 41-20.

“Being a senior for this team, there is a lot expected from you,” said Pride’s Amiya Dedrick, a senior captain. “Leading practice, hyping everyone up on the sidelines and ultimately empowering the other girls and bringing them up. Being there for your team is the most important thing about being a leader.”

It wasn’t enough. The Pride fell to 5-6 overall and 1-2 in 6A Central. Desert View is 8-3 and 3-1.

It didn’t start off well for the Pride … and didn’t get better, although it managed to stay close in the first half.

Early in the game, quarterback Amaya Moreno drove the team into the redzone but on a pass attempt, DV’s Eanae Dagons intercepted it and turned it into a pick six, to give the Thunder an early lead, 7-0.

The Pride came right back, when Moreno hit Noreal Sparks on a short-field out route, good for a 73-yard touchdown. The extra point made it 7-7.

But the Thunder came right back to take a 14-7 lead midway through the second quarter when quarterback Ella Creech found Dagons for a 53-yard touchdown.

Just before the half, Moreno hit Moriah Green for a 60-yard touchdown to make it, 14-13, after the extra point failed.

The Thunder ended the scoring when Ceech found Camille Ramirez for a seven-yard touchdown pass with just four seconds left in the half to make it 21-13.

“On that last series, we had two players go down and we had to make an adjustment,” said Frank Moreno, Mountain Pointe’s assistant coach. “We were in cover three and our safety was supposed to drop down in the middle of the field.
We didn’t execute, and it cost us.”

And the offense didn’t do enough, either.

“We have to execute a little bit better on offense,” said Sergio Ramirez, Mountain Pointe’s head coach. “Better balancing of the passing game and the run game. If we can string some drives together and give our defense a little bit of extra rest, it would be a huge help.”

The second half was much the same as Desert Vista scored on a 50-yard touchdown pass, a 12-yard touchdown pass and a third touchdown pass.

The Pride managed another score in the second half, but it was hardly enough to stay with the Thunder.

Moreno threw for 246 yards and three touchdowns but had two interceptions. She was also the leading rusher for the Pride with 60 yards. Green led the Pride with five catches for 138 yards and two touchdowns.

Mountain Pointe looks to get back on the winning track against Maricopa on the road on Thursday.

With a couple of defensive stops, the Thunder were able to get the ball one more time before the half to try and score. 

Driving down the field, Ceech was able to lead the offense to another scoring drive with a seven-yard touchdown pass to Camille Ramirez with only four seconds left in the second quarter. 

Pride goes into halftime down 21-13.

Pride head coach Sergio Ramirez had some words to say about the offense in the first half. 

“We have to execute a little bit better on offense,” Ramirez said. “Better balancing of the passing game and the run game. If we can string some drives together and give our defense a little bit of extra rest, it would be a huge help.”

 
Assistant coach Frank Moreno speaks on the defense giving up that last second touchdown before halftime. 

“On that last series, we had two players go down and we had to make an adjustment,” Moreno said. “We were in cover three and our safety was supposed to drop down in the middle of the field. We didn’t execute and it cost us.”

With the second half underway, the Thunder offense surely still had their foot on the gas pedal. 
Ceech throws to Dylan Swindle for a 50-yard touchdown pass early in the third quarter.

With another defensive stop for the Thunder, They were able to strike again to Swindle with a 12-yard touchdown at the 6:37 mark in the third. 

Thunder extends their lead 34-13. 

The Pride offense still had some gas in the tank.

 
Moreno hits Green again for a 68-yard touchdown pass to cut the deficit 20-33. 

With no action for the majority of the fourth quarter, Pride falls to Desert Vista 41-20, with Desert Vista scoring a late last-minute touchdown.

 
Mountain Pointe looks to get back on the winning track against Maricopa on the road this Thursday.