Rosas, Zuniga lead Apaches by Sahuaro

Box score

Nogales High School stunned Sahuaro by marching 53 yards in 11 plays to score the game-winner touchdown on Friday.

Kevin Rosas plunged into the end zone from 1 yard out with 56 seconds left as Nogales erased a 14-point deficit to win 28-21.

Quarterback Keith Zuniga engineered the drive after the Apaches (5-1) forced a three-and-out by Sahuaro with 5:30 left.

“We just made it happen, and the (offensive) line got me the yards I needed,” said Rosas, who finished with 76 yards on 16 carries. “My heart was pounding with every second on the clock. I had my mind on the back of the end zone on the last run.”

Sahuaro (1-5) built a 21-7 lead in the first half behind C.J. Rodriguez’s touchdown runs of 51 and 20 yards. It was his first game this season. He was out with a torn medial collateral ligament.

“This game was pretty incredible,” said Rodriguez, who led all rushers with 215 yards on 22 carries. “We played our heart out in the first half. . . . Nogales just wanted it a little more. I wanted to show that I hadn’t changed with the injury.”

Despite his effort and the defense keeping Nogales’ Andy Garcia to 77 yards, Nogales found a way to wear down the Cougars.

Nogales used long drives and converted on several fourth downs, including Zuniga’s 19-yard TD run just before halftime, to cut the lead to 21-14. Zuniga then found Camilo Villegas for a 56-yard TD pass in the fourth quarter to tie it 21. Garcia’s longest run of 23 yards helped set up the score.

“I knew it was going to be a good game,” Garcia said. “I have to give a lot of respect to (Rosas). He has one of the biggest hearts in the game.”

For more on high school sports, check out the Grammer School sports blog.Nogales v Sahuaro

Nogales defeats Sahuaro

Nogales defeats Sahuaro 28-21 at Sahuaro High School.

Producer: XAVIER GALLEGOS/Tucson Citizen

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 11th, 2008 at 12:00 am and is filed under Sports. Tags for this post: Ash Friederich, Football, Professional, slideshow, slideshow-Nogales, slideshow-Sahuaro, slideshow-Sports, Sports-Football, Sports-Football-Professional. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.