Ava Lumbatis is an ASU Cronkite student assigned to cover McClintock High School for AZPreps365.com.

The McClintock Chargers dominated offensively and defensively Friday night in a 5A non-region game, securing a win 62-12 against South Mountain High School and bringing their record up 4-0. 

With a ton of passing yards, nine total touchdowns, multiple sacks, a fumble recovery, McClintock was on fire under the stadium lights at South Mountain. 

Wide receivers Kemon Jackson, Khalil Bender and Zaymarrion Viney stole the show by scoring two touchdowns each.

These receivers' gameplay is electric as Bender had the sideline roaring after completing a one-handed catch for a touchdown. However, not without the help of the impressive quarterback Jaxon Knutson, who threw for at least five touchdowns. 

“We can throw the ball, we have a lot of really nice skill guys and I’ll put our skill guys up against anybody” McClintock coach Micah Fell said.

Jackson averages around 158 receiving yards per game while Knutson averages around 340 passing yards per game. Jackson and Knutson have been playing together since they were little on the Buffs youth football team in Tempe, which makes for great chemistry. 

“Jaxon, as he throws the ball, makes it easy to be a receiver.  All I gotta do is run my route and catch the ball,” said Jackson.

One thing the players have in common is family motivation. Knutson is motivated by his father and Jackson is not only motivated by his mother, but also Knutson’s dad. 

“My dad is my everything," Knutson said. "I’m doing this all for my dad, really. He’s done a lot for me. He’s put me through sports my whole entire life, put me in the best position possible to succeed and I could never repay my dad. I love my dad.”

The defense applied immense pressure to South Mountain, holding it to 12 points and walking away from the game with multiple sacks. While the offense was strong the entire game, it went 4 for 9 on 2-point conversions, which it attempted after every touchdown instead of kicking. 

Due to the dominating lead, from the third quarter through the rest of the game. McClintock used its second offense and defense. The offense was able to score one touchdown and the defense held South Mountain to six points in the entire second half of the game. 

McClintock (4-0) is now focused on preparing for the upcoming game against Cienega (2-2) on Thursday at 7 p.m. Last year, McClintock was defeated by Cienega 17-7. 

“We have a big game against Cienega, who is very good, and we just gotta fix all the little things you know, the extra points, blocking kicks doing all that. We gotta just work on the basics,” Fell said. 

When asked about his preparations for the matchup with Cienega, Bender stated he will “ keep working hard in practice, that's really it.”