Citizen Staff Writer
TC VARSITY
SABINO 20
CATALINA FOOTHILLS 10
CHRISTOPHER VECK
sports@tucsoncitizen.com
For the second straight week, the Sabino High School football team made the plays when it counted in the fourth quarter.
Coming off a 12-point win over Goodyear Millennium, the Sabercats had to sweat out a 20-10 win over visiting Catalina Foothills on Friday.
“It wasn’t pretty, but we found a way to get the win,” Sabino coach Jay Campos said.
“I really like the heart of this football team, and when things get tough they find a way to get it done.”
Sabino (4-0) led 13-10 with 2:30 left when Foothills faced a fourth down deep in its territory. A bad snap on the play turned the ball over to the Sabercats, who scored on the next play on a 14-yard run by Rhett Taylor to put the game away.
Sabino spent most of the game on the ground, grinding out 189 of its 226 yards with the rush.
“We’re really confident in our offensive line and we have some good backs who can run the ball,” Campos said.
“Part of it was we weren’t executing our passing game. That really cost us early on.”
Keanu Nelson racked up 71 of those rushing yards, with quarterback Rhett Taylor adding 36 and a touchdown. David Duron also had a rushing touchdown in his lone carry.
Through the air, Taylor only had six completions for 37 yards, but had a 3-yard TD pass to Bryce Harshman in the third to put Sabino up 13-3. The Sabercats led 7-3 at halftime.
Foothills dual-threat quarterback Breck Ashdown posed a challenge for Sabino.
He had 105 passing yards – with a touchdown to Steven Dennis in the fourth quarter – and also rushed for 27 yards.
“(Ashdown) gave us some problems. He’s such a big, strong, fast kid,” Campos said. “He definitely created some first-down opportunities when it was third-and-long.”
David Direnfeld had 75 of Foothills’ 119 receiving yards on four catches. Dennis had the 18-yard touchdown reception and also rushed for 47 yards.
Sabino outgained the Falcons 226-216 in the win.
Sabino visits Amphi next week, while Foothills (3-2) is idle.