Citizen Staff Writer
GLENDALE CACTUS 37 SABINO 3
KEN BRAZZLE
kbrazzle@tucsoncitizen.com
There were no excuses from Sabino High School.
The Sabercats knew they were outplayed in a 37-3 loss to visiting Glendale Cactus in the first round of the Class 4A Division I state tournament Friday night.
“We didn’t execute when we had an opportunity to stay in the game in the first half and it caught up with us,” said Sabino coach Jay Campos. “Cactus played a good football game and we didn’t.”
Sabino (8-3), the No. 8 seed, held a 3-0 first quarter lead on a 40-yard field goal by Rhett Taylor.
But it was all Cactus after that, as it scored the game’s final 37 points.
“You figure it’s going to be a close game,” Cactus coach Larry Fetkenheir said. “We’ve turned it over way too much (this year). We turned it over again tonight, but we were able to fight through and we got some of their turnovers.”
Sabino had one particular turnover that probably turned the game around. A pass by quarterback Colin McBrayer was intercepted inside the Cactus 10-yard line with seconds remaining before halftime. The score was 10-3 at the time.
Nothing went well for Sabino (8-3), not even its usually reliable running game. Sabino totaled 107 yards, 85 on the ground.
No. 9 seed Cactus (8-3) got two touchdown passes from quarterback Brody Ray and touchdown runs of 1 and 9 yards from Mike Brown.
Brown gained 143 yards on 24 carries.
Allan Woods also scored on a 34-yard run. He accounted for 78 of Cactus’ 333 rushing yards.