There’s a power shift happening at the very top of Arizona’s high school football world.

“They (Liberty Lions) are a very well-coached team, and we are still chasing them,” said Basha Bears coach Chris McDonald after Saturday's Open Division championship. “We are still chasing them.”

The winners of the last two Opens met to settle who really is No. 1, and the Lions undoubtedly left Mountain America Stadium as the kings after defending their crown with a 35-17 victory over the Bears.

Like last year, 12-1 Liberty didn’t drop another game after losing a regular season contest to Corona Centennial of California. But unlike last year, it took a while for the 2024 Lions to find their offensive identity after some of last year’s marquee players graduated.

Since prevailing in a road battle against Salpointe in Week 7, however, the Lions’ all-gas-no-brakes offense zipped by their remaining opponents while averaging 51 points per game.

“It was definitely a little bit different,” Liberty coach Colin Thomas said. “We had to navigate some things at midseason. But our kids did a great job. They responded.”

Liberty football coach Colin Thomas celebrated with his daughter after his program won its second straight Open championship game. (Photo Jose Garcia/AZPreps365)Liberty also stepped up against a Basha team that understandably struggled offensively after a centerpiece, receiver Gio Richardson, suffered an ankle injury in its first offensive series.

“You don’t have a game plan for when somebody gets hurt, and losing Gio in that first series, you saw it, we were out of rhythm,” McDonald said. “We were shuffling some guys around and some younger guys too in this big moment.”

But Basha marched on and led 10-7 with 9:50 showing in the second quarter after quarterback Broderick Vehrs and wide receiver Kash Brock each eluded defenders to complete a 19-yard touchdown pass play near the left sideline.

At some point in the season, Liberty had to determine if it was a run or pass team, Thomas said, and it looked like a little bit of both Saturday after it trailed for the last time in the game. Two long pass plays from Hayden Fletcher to Drace Wadlington and Kamden Segall helped set up a 1-yard score for Saturday’s MVP, running back Dominic Lombardo.

The senior found the end zone again with 22 seconds left in the first half to push his team ahead, 21-10, after Karsten Dombrovski’s extra point.

Running behind an experienced offensive line, captained by Jace Gardner, Lombardo totaled 130 rushing yards on 25 carries and three touchdowns.

During the postgame celebration, as he was interviewed, Lombardo’s teammates compared him to another Saturday MVP as they shouted "Skattebo."

By the way, Arizona State running back Cameron Skattebo, the MVP of Saturday’s Big 12 Championship game in Texas, and his teammates received a heroes’ welcome from high school fans when they made a surprise halftime appearance during the Open.

“It (defending title) means so much to me,” Lombardo said. “All of the practices in spring and summer, all of the workouts, and all the thousands of reps and hundreds of meetings we had had to go through to get to this, it was all worth it. Camp Tontozona made us 100 times better. I’m so thankful for (strength coach Brian) Cherry and all these guys that (we were) truly blessed (with in) this program.”

In the third quarter, Liberty remained in charge after Esteban Demby-Lamas’ 6-yard touchdown, taking a 28-10 lead.

But Basha made a final push.

Basha made its second Open final appearance in the past three years. (Photo Jose Garcia/AZPreps365)A 40-yard Vehrs’ touchdown pass while rolling to his right to running back Noah Roberts was followed by a turnover on downs by Liberty right after the fourth quarter started.

“Obviously, our kids played hard,” McDonald said. “That’s never been an issue. They compete. But we helped Liberty a little bit with some penalties. But hats off to Liberty. They made some plays too when they needed to be made.”

One of those players who made a big play in the game—and plenty of them in the season as well—was strong safety Zeth Thues.

After his team’s turn over on downs, Thues picked off Vehrs. That was only the second time this season that the signal caller threw an interception during his productive year as Basha’s new quarterback.

Liberty’s front seven also stood out, limiting Basha’s potent run game, which was averaging 180 yards per game, to just 93 yards. Basha’s leading tacklers this season, linebackers Eli Cramer-Cronin and Marc Duerson III, tallied a combined 26 tackles in the final.

The Bears finished with a 11-2 record, have lost only six games in the past four years and haven’t lost a region game in the last five years.

For Liberty, it extended its win streak against Arizona teams to 24 games, furthering the point that the Lions are No. 1.