No. 11 Salpointe beat No. 4 Brophy 45-30 to win the 6A Central Region

November 9, 2024 by Andy Morales, AZPreps365


Salpointe head coach Pat Ryden. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)

The vaunted Salpointe defense forced six turnovers in a 45-30 win over Brophy at home Friday night and four of those resulted in 24 points, including a 24-yard interception return by Nathan Spivey to put the Lancers up 7-0 on the first play of the game. It set the tone.

Salpointe (7-2) came in ranked No. 11 in the 6A Conference and Brophy (8-2) was ranked No. 4, but also No. 7 in the Open Division. What many consider an upset, this result is sure to throw the final rankings for a loop when the computers decide the top eight for the Open Division and the rank-order in the 6A Conference. Is the loss big enough to remove the Broncos from the Open? We will find out Saturday morning.

Brophy gave the ball back to the Lancers a few minutes later on a fumble scooped up by Richard Archuleta but Ryder Noche picked up an interception for Brophy two plays later to get the ball back. Not to be undone, Thomas Regina collected an interception to give the Lancers the ball back with 5:23 left in the first quarter which led to a 41-yard field goal from Kiyah Francone.

The Broncos got things going on their next drive and Harrison Chambers capped it off with a 44-yard run to cut the lead down to 10-7 with 9:57 left in the half. Matt Avelar hit RJ Gory from 31 yards out to put the Lancers up 17-7 with 4:06 left.

Rylan Umphrey kept the Broncos in the game with a 33-yard pass to Daylen Sharper to cut the lead back down to 17-14 with 1:20 left. Brophy forced a punt to start the second half but a muffed punt put the Salpointe offense back on the field and Spivey ran the ball in from one yard out to put the Lancers up 24-14 with 6:31 left in the third.

The game was still manageable at that point but Salpointe lineman Noah Banhie tipped a pass to himself and he ran his interception in to put Salpointe up 31-14 with 5:35 left in the quarter. A series of punts followed until Spivey scored again from three yards out to make it 38-14 with 10:47 left in the game. It looked like Salpointe had the game put away at that point, especially after the defense forced another punt, but a fumble with 6:40 left gave the Broncos one more shot and the team made the best of it.

Brophy receiver Devin Fitzgerald had very few touches at that point but a 12-yard catch was followed by a 19-yard pass and that was followed by a 10-yard catch, which led to a 10-yard TD catch to cut the lead down to 38-22 with 4:32 left with Case Vanden Bosch adding a two-point conversion.

Donovan McNabb Jr. grabbed the ensuing onside kick and Fitzgerald caught a 21-yard pass to cut the Salpointe lead down to 38-30 with 4:00 left thanks to a two-point conversion from Umphrey to Chambers.

The Broncos elected to kick deep this time and Gory responded with a 90-yard touchdown return to put Salpointe up 45-30 with 3:45 left. Brophy had another shot but Alon Deon came up with an interception with 1:39 left to put the game away for good.

Salpointe won the 6A Central Region championship.

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