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WEST VALLEY PREPS

Mustangs dig out of early hole to advance

Sunrise Mountain heading back to Williams Field

Posted 11/8/19

Some teams would have let the pressure get to them and panicked, but No.8-seeded Sunrise Mountain kept being aggressive Nov. 8 and eventually overwhelmed No. 9 Sierra Vista Buena, 49-36, in …

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WEST VALLEY PREPS

Mustangs dig out of early hole to advance

Sunrise Mountain heading back to Williams Field

Posted
Some teams would have let the pressure get to them and panicked, but No.8-seeded Sunrise Mountain kept being aggressive Nov. 8 and eventually overwhelmed No. 9 Sierra Vista Buena, 49-36, in opening round play of the 5A state football playoffs.
 
“We brought them in and said, ‘stay the course, we’ll be fine’,” Sunrise Mountain coach Steve Decker said. “We had a few things go our way… We just knew we would be ok if we didn’t get too down.”
 
Sunrise Mountain (8-3) will travel to Gilbert on Nov. 15 to face No. 1 Williams Field (9-2) in quarterfinal action. The Black Hawks topped No. 16 Tucson Marana Mountain View, 56-25, to advance.
 
This will be a rematch from an highly entertaining game earlier this season when the Mustangs defeated Williams Field, 38-35, on Aug. 30. It also is the second straight year the teams meet in the quarterfinals, with Williams Field winning 21-14.
 
Sunrise Mountain found itself staring at a 16-0 deficit to start the second quarter and a fourth-and-14 from Buena’s 46 yard line, but quarterback Alex Gianoli scrambled 19 yards to keep the drive alive. The next play do-everything junior Brandon Bogard broke a 27-yard touchdown run to cut into the Colts lead, 16-8, with 8:24 left in the second.
 
“They came out swinging hard and we just took the hit and ended up fighting back,” Bogard said.
 
Buena (8-3) didn’t crumble and answered with a drive of its own when quarterback Jovoni Bourbon broke contain and scrambled 20 yards for the score.
 
Sunrise Mountain was again trailing by double digits, 22-8, when Gianoli sprinted up the middle for a 60-yard TD run.
 
“That was a great defensive line, but my offensive line opened up a hole,” said Gianoli, who finished with 127 yards rushing and 164 yards passing. “I saw my opportunity and took it.”
 
 The Mustangs defense was able to stall Buena’s drive at its own 18 when a fourth down pass from Borbon did not connect.
 
That stop turned into more momentum for Sunrise Mountain, which went on a 7-play, 82-yard drive that was capped by a 1-yard scoring run from junior Tommy Arnold to tie the game 22-22 with 1:13 left in the half.
 
“We all knew that our offense was going to pick us up,” said Arnold, who finished with three touchdown runs. “Our defense struggled a little bit in this game, but we made some adjustments in the second half.”
 
Those adjustments proved to be a game-changer, as Sunrise Mountain took control in the third on the opening drive when Gianoli connected with Ezekiel Marshall on a slant for a 49-yard TD pass after missing the big play earlier.
 

“After we tried to take those shots at Zeke, they were playing him a little different so they kind of gave up the inside, which we took advantage of,” Decker said.
 
With Sunrise Mountain leading, 29-22, the Mustangs quickly forced a three-and-out and got their offense back on the field which quickly moved into the red zone and allowed Arnold to rumble in from 10 yards out.
 
Buena didn’t fold as Borbon scampered in for a 7-yard TD run to cut the Mustangs lead, 36-30, with 4:05 left in the third.
But the potent Sunrise Mountain run game again made a big play as Bogard made one move and was off to the races for a 45-yard touchdown run to extend the Mustangs lead, 42-30, with 2:23 left in the third.
 
“(Bogard) could be one of the better running backs in the state,” Decker said. “But we use him on defense a lot so we use him sparsely.”
 
Bogard finished with 93 yards on only 5 carries.
 
Once last time Buena put pressure on Sunrise Mountain, as Borbon again took a keeper in from 7 yards out, cutting the lead to 42-36 as the end of third.
 
But this time Sunrise Mountain would not allow Buena to score in the final quarter and controlled the ball. The Mustangs finished off the Colts when Arnold capped a 10-play drive with a 1-yard scoring run on fourth and 1 with 3:46 left.