Cienega was cruising along, up 36-10 on Tempe Marcos de Niza, with 11:56 left in a Division II quarterfinal playoff game held in the chill of Friday night in Vail. The Bobcats (11-1) were rebounding from a disappointing 5-5 season last year and were hoping to make retiring head coach Nemer Hassey's last home game ever a memorable one.

On the other side, Sean Morin is in his first full season as the Padres (7-5) head coach after taking the team over during the playoffs last year. Like every other team that played Scottsdale Saguaro this year, Morin's squad went limping into the state layoffs after getting pounded by Saguaro 61-35 in their last regular season game. The 12th-seeded Padres rebounded and knocked off No. 5 Glendale Deer Valley 42-7 in the first round of the playoffs last week to set up the game at No. 4 Cienega.

Morin also serves as Marcos de Niza's offensive coordinator and it was his bold move in promoting sophomore Nazareth Greer from JV quarterback to varsity legend. Many felt replacing Josh Eckley (Arizona Western) and his 2,700 yards of passing with an unproven sophomore was going to be difficult but they were wrong.

Jackson Loney was Eckley's backup last year but Morin shifted the senior to receiver this year to make room for Greer's arm and Cienega was about to find out how good of a move that was.

Down 36-10, Greer marched down and ran one in from seven yards out to cut the lead down to 36-16 with the 2-point conversion failing. Cienega was about to put the game away but a fumble gave Marcos de Niza the ball back at their own 12-yard line with 7:10 left in the game.

Greer engineered another scoring drive, this time hitting senior Nick Sweet from 30-yards out to make it 36-22 with 4:34 left in the game.

An onside kick gave Greer the ball back and he found senior Malique Sharp from 14 yards out to make the score 36-29 with 3:08 remaining. The Padres recovered another onside kick and Greer hit Loney from 15 yards out to tie the game at 36-36 with 2:06 left.

Cienega had a chance to win in regulation on a 42-yard field goal attempt as time expired but it came up way short and the game was sent to overtime.

The Bobcats had built their lead thanks to the legs of senior running back Francisco Dicochea. He had already spotted his team four TDs and 248 yards rushing before the Padres made their comeback.

"He's a beast," said Nemer. "In all my years of coaching, I've never had a back gain so many yards after being hit."

Dicochea scored in the first overtime to give Cienega a brief 43-36 lead but Greer found Loney again to tie it back up at 43-43. This time The Padres got the ball first and Greer found Loney again to put the Padres up 49-43 after Dicochea broke through the line and blocked the extra point.

Dicochea was hit at the 5-yard line on Cienega's attempt but he gained those extra few yards that Hassey was talking about and he stretched for the end zone to tie it up at 49-49. Jacob Meeker-Hackett lined up to kick the extra point and his kick gave Cienega the 50-49 win.

For the record, Greer finished with an incredible 434 yards passing with five TDs. Anthony Trujillo pulled down 107 of those yards and Loney added 101.

"I gave it all I had," said Greer. "One blocked kick. We gave it 100 percent. We had to keep our composure and we did what we had to do."

Greer finished his first year as the varsity leader with over 3,100 yards passing and 38 touchdowns. It may be one of the best seasons ever for a Padre QB, so much so that Hassey took notice before the game even started.

"We were worried about him (Greer) from the beginning," explained Hassey. "That's a great team and we held him for most of it until momentum got away from us."

Before the game, Morin expressed the need for his team to be working on offense, defense and special teams in order to succeed and his squad came oh so close. Greer will be the top-returning QB in the state next year and he will only be a junior.

As stated before, Hassey will not be returning to the Cienega sidelines next year because he will be promoted to principal. His farewell squad did give him a game to remember and it revolved around Dicochea and his 278 yards rushing to push him over 1,500 on the year.

"I thought we had the game won," said Dicochea. "We had to go back and make plays."

With almost 600 yards of offense, the Bobcats made a lot of plays and they will need to make a few more next Friday when they take on No. 1 Peoria Liberty (11-1) in a semifinal match to be held at Paradise Valley High School. 

"We are playing with the house's money," added Hassey. "We are in the final four."