It was a record-breaking Friday night at Marana with the Tigers holding on for a 36-28 win over two-time defending 5A state champion Higley. The Knights led 28-13 with 4:26 left in the third quarter but Marana scored 23 straight points to take a 36-28 lead with 5:57 left in the game and the final six minutes was almost enough to stop and restart a few hearts.

The Knights took over at their own 20 and University of Arizona commit Luke Haugo threw a strike to fellow senior Jaden Taylor that went some 58 yards down the sidelines to the Marana 22. A run from Justin Bender and another from Haugo gave the Knights a first and goal at the 10 but a short gain was followed by three incompletions and the Tigers took over on downs with 3:53 left.

The Knights came up big on defense and the Tigers were forced to punt with 2:12 left, giving Higley great field position at the 35. Marana senior Dezmen Roebuck came up with an interception with 2:12 left and it looked like the game was over but a Marana fumble gave the Knights another shot with 1:17 left at the 43. The Knights marched down the field quickly and the team eventually found themselves with a first-and-goal situation at the eight with about 18 seconds left. A pass from Haugo to JD DeCausmaker put the Knights at the 2-yard line with about six seconds left but an offensive penalty ran the clock out.

Hauge finished with 213 yards passing on 17-29 attempts with a touchdown and Taylor had 128 yards receiving on five catches including a 43-yard touchdown from Hauge to put the Knights up 7-0 with 7:25 left in the first quarter. Marana junior QB Colten Meyer hit Sean Roebuck from 66 yards out to tie the game at 7-7 with 3:32 left in the quarter.

The Knights hit on a 29-yard and a 30-yard field goal to go up 13-7 with 2:56 left in the half and those two defensive stands by Marana in the red zone proved to be important down the stretch. Meyer marched the Tigers down the field from there and Sean Roebuck took a pitch from Meyer and he came around the backfield and he hit his older brother, Dezmen, from 12 yards out to tie the game up at 13-13 with a missed extra point..

With that catch, Dezmen Roebuck passed former ALA-Gilbert North standout Brandon Phelps for the most career catches in AIA history. Phelps graduated in 2023 and he plays for Arizona. Roebuck, a Washington commit, finished the game with an unofficial 131 yards receiving on 10 catches giving him 288 career receptions.

“They just did a good job on coming back," Higley head coach Eddy Zubey told Kevin Murphy of AllSportsTucson. "They capitalized on a couple of our mistakes. They’re a really good football program. No. 1 (Dezmen Roebuck) is a stud. He made some unbelievable catches tonight.”

Meyer finished with 364 yards passing (26-40) with two TDs and Sean Roebuck added 123 yards receiving on five catches and Dominic Cillitto had 107 yards receiving on 11 catches.

Bender came up big for Higley with 181 yards rushing on 30 carries with two TDs and his first put Higley back up 21-13 with 7:47 left in the third quarter. Bender also had the two-point conversion. Bender ran the ball in from 18 yards out with 4:26 left in the third. Meyer engineered an 80-yard drive in response, capped by a 31-yard pass to Sean Roebuck to make it 28-20 Higley with 11:55 left in the game.

Hayden Utley came up with a 12-yard sack to force a Higley punt and the Tigers cashed in on a 2-yard run from Jeffrey Smith (Meyer run) to tie the game up at 28-28 with 7:23 left. Utley recovered a fumble two plays later and the Tigers took over at the Knight 24. Meyer hit Dezmen Roebuck from 18 yards out for the 6-28 lead with 5:57 left.

Higley (2-1) hosts Desert Edge (1-2) next Friday and Marana (3-0) will host Mountain View Marana (2-1) for the “Battle of the Boot” on the same night.

Higley beat Marana 29-24 at home in the third week last fall, in much the same fashion, with Marana leading 24-15 at the half and 24-22 after three quarters.

Desert Mountain was pulled up to the Open Division last year, leaving Higley as the top seed in the 5A playoffs and Marana was No. 11. Losses to Mountain View and to Sunnyside hurt the Tigers in power points and the team took a 5-5 record into the playoffs.

Desert Mountain lost in the first round of the Open Division 24-3 to Centennial and Marana lost at No. 6 ALA Gilbert North 48-24 in the first round of the 5A playoffs. Higley marched through the 5A playoffs until the Knights got past No. 2 Desert Edge 42-41 to win the state championship.

Desert Edge was down 42-13 with 4:19 left but it eventually came down to a two-point conversion that was broken up in the end zone after a previous successful attempt was called back due to holding. It was the second straight 5A championship for Higley, the second championship in three tries, dating back to 2006. Marana has three state championships in three tries in 1964, 1967 and 1968.

Marana has a good shot at the Open Division with the first set of power rankings released on Oct. 8. But, based on what happened the last two years in the 5A ranks, that might not be a good thing. The Open Division will be stacked again.

 

THE SCORES