Jake Sloan
ASU Student Journalist

Hemming and Matadors pick up first win of 2024 season

October 30, 2024 by Jake Sloan, Arizona State University


Players listen as Shadow Mountain's head coach Stephen Hemming delivers a post-game speech (Jake Sloan photo/AZPreps365)

Jake Sloan is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Agua Fria High School for AZPreps365.com.

After starting the season 0-4, Shadow Mountain's first-year head football coach Stephen Hemming came into the game on September 27 in search of his first career win. The closest out of the Matador’s first four games was a 17-point loss to Benson in the season opener, and the Matadors headed to Madison Highland Prep looking to change that.

In blowout fashion, Shadow Mountain (1-4) beat Madison Highland Prep (2-4) 53-3, scoring a touchdown as time expired for the 50-point win. After the handshake line, the players gave Hemming a water cooler shower to celebrate.

“It’s been a tough schedule for us to start,” Hemming said. “We’ve had a lot of bumps and bruises along the way, and it feels good. There’s a lot of work to do, but I like where we’re at, getting hot at the right time.”

The Matadors started the game pounding the run game, totalling 161 rushing yards. This opened up the playbook for Hemming as the Matadors dominated the trenches throughout the game.

“We wanted to try and be a little more balanced heading into this week,” Hemming said. “We knew the run game was where our home was, and once we got that going we knew once we got that out of the way we were good to go.”

Senior quarterback Robert Caldwell threw for a career-high five touchdowns along with 229 passing yards, stepping up as the fifth string quarterback and providing stability at the position as the team focuses on getting healthy. 

“It feels great to have my receivers trust me,” Caldwell said. “I can trust my receivers, I know I’m just going to get them the ball, and they’re going to make a play. I love my guys and I’m proud of what we did today.”

On the ground and primarily a lineman, junior Stephen Ramella took snaps in the backfield with the running back room injury riddled. His highlighted his night with a 25-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.

“It’s all mental,” Ramella said about keeping his foot on the gas pedal. “You just have to go as hard as you can, and you either have to go through or get around the guys in front of you. We couldn’t get too ahead of ourselves or be cocky, and we just continued to play our game.”

Now with his first career win, Hemming wants to keep the energy up with the hardest teams the Matadors face in the rearview mirror.

“It gives us the confidence to know we can win,” Hemming said. “It lets us know the journey isn’t over. We got the zero out of the way now with one, and now it’s time to add to that and keep going.”