The week eight match up between the Peoria Panthers and the Deer Valley Skyhawks was one to remember due to the high flying offense on the home team's senior night.

Peoria (7-1, 1-1 region) jumped to a 42-0 haftime lead in the 4A West Valley Region game, cruising to a 55-14 win .

Will Babb's team is now 3-0 after sophomore tailback Cameron Mack's high ankle sprain early in the loss against Desert Edge. Mack fan for 605 yards and 12 touchdowns in the first four games.

Other Peoria players took on larger roles in tight wins against San Tan Poston Butte and Estrella Foothills — by a combined total of 8 points.

"It's a gut check for everybody," Babb said. "I was pleased as all get out the last three weeks because the kids stepped up," Babb said.

 The Oct. 18 game began with the vicious Panthers defense forcing a fumble on the first drive of the game.

Peoria senior quarterback Kyle Samford started the highlight reel with a perfectly placed 30-yard touchdown pass to speedy senior receiver Jovon Scott.

Deer Valley (2-6, 1-2) came marching down the field in an attempt to respond to the Panthers touchdown, but once again, a restless Panthers defense forced a missed field goal.

The high flying offense was back on the field. Samford targeted Scott over the top and connected for the 75-yard touchdown pass.

Following the catch, an onside kick was recovered by the Panthers junior Andrew Camacho. Hungry for more, the offense added another touchdown from Samford to seniortailback/safety Micho Cordero, which concluded the first quarter.

The Panthers started the game hot and did not show any signs of slowing down. They set the pace of the game early on and stuck to it.

The Skyhawks yet again were met by a strong defense in the second quarter, forcing a turnover on downs.

Peoria marched down the field and respond with yet another deep touchdown pass, this time targeting senior receiver Drew Gunnell.

The Skyhawks' punt pinned the Panthers offense on their one-yard line. What followed was the highlight play of the game.

On their one-yard line, the Panthers called a bubble screen opening up Scott. Samford found the speedy receiver open on the short route. Scott weaved and ran around the seemingly endless amount of Skyhawks defenders for the 99-yard touchdown.

Deer Valley's offense once again turned the ball over on downs. The stop gave the Panthers' offense excellent field position, which lead to another touchdown pass to Gunnell that ended the second quarter.

The second half of the football game slowed down with an early running touchdown by Peoria sophomore tailbak/safety Jeremiah Gosset, who quickly opened up the second half with a 54-yard run.

The Skyhawks responded in the second half with two scores of their own, but it was not enough to overcome the 49-point deficit.

"I'm proud that we didn't quit. We are very young and are continuing to grow," Deer Valley coach Dan Friedman said."We only have five seniors on this team, and I am excited for the future as we are going to continue to grow." 

Samford threw for five touchdowns on his seven completions (on seven attempts). Scott, Gunnell and Cordero also showed out on their senior nights.

All four have featured in greatly expanded roles while Mack recovers. Cordero also remains the team's fourth-leading tackler despite his greater offensive workload.

"The crazy thing is when he goes down and we're a three-back scheme and Jermaine was out that first game. Micho has been our horse. He's not used to 25 carries a game but he's handled it," Babb said. "Kyle has stepped up a ton and played three of the best games I've seen from him. Jovon does his thing. He just has more opportunities now."

Editor's Note: Diego Cardenas and Bahzad Amiri are Peoria High School students. Peoria High announcer Warren Brannoch and Richard Smith also contributed to this story.