No. 1 Hamilton rallies behind backup QB to defeat No. 4 Chandler

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One of Hamilton’s few big plays in the first half of their Friday, Nov. 7, game against rival Chandler left the Huskies’ sideline in stunned silence.

Late in the first half, sophomore quarterback Jax Sculley scrambled on a broken play for 22 yards, before going down at the 1. Unable to put weight on his right leg, Sculley needed help from two people to come off the field.  

And, after backup Daniel Vaita’s pass was intercepted and returned 96 yards for a score to start the thrid quarter, Hamilton was reeling, down 34-16, their nine-game winning streak and No. 1 state ranking appeared over.

Then, Vaita calmed down and threw two TD passes to Roye Oliver III, the defense took over, and a trio of running backs gutted the middle of Chandler’s defense.

Hamiton scored 39 points in the final 17 minutes to come back and defeat No. 4 Chandler in a thriller, 55-41, and retain the Battle For Arizona Avenue trophy before an overflow crowd at Chandler High.

“I think the biggest thing is  that we got back to ourselves and that’s running the football,” said coach Travis Dixon, whose team capped a 10-0 regular season. “It’s unfortunate that we lost Sculley. But it started with our defense in the third quarter. We got some stops. That carried the momentum and gave us great flow on offense.”

Hamilton (10-0) and Chandler (8-2) will find out their Open playoff seeds on Saturday, Nov. 8, during the Arizona Interscholastic Association’s Open/6A bracket show. Both should get first-round byes to the quarterfinals.

This was the first time anybody challenged Hamilton all season. The Huskies didn't lead Friday's game until Skyler Cole found a gaping hole in the middle of the line and ran 17 yards untouched for a touchdown. He then ran in the two-point conversion to make it 48-41.

Before that, sophomore receiver Roye Oliver III, the top candidate for Player of the Year, came up with a spectacular diving catch in the end zone on a perfectly lofted 2-yard scoring pass from Vaita. But that only got Hamilton within 41-40, after a missed point-after kick by Preston Olson. Olson made four field goals.

Chandler's Will Mencl had been brilliant most of the game, before throwing his second interception of against Hamilton, this one picked off by Oklahoma-bound safety Niko Jandreau late in the third quarter. Mencl, who ran for three TDs and threw for two scores, had been intercepted only twice in the first nine games.

Hamilton usually is automatic in the red zone. But Sculley was intercepted at the goal line early in the game. And then Vaita’s pass that was brought back 96 yards by Kamari Crawford to put Hamilton in a 34-16 hole in the third quarter could have been the end of Hamilton.

But the Huskies' offense again showed why it's been spectacular all season.

“Not even by Basha (we were challenged),” senior offensive lineman Rex Waterman said. “We faced for the first time this season. We were never down. Everyone rallied around  out backup quarterback and hyped him up.

“We had pride and believe in what we could. I think the O-line really stepped up.”

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: No. 1 Hamilton rallies behind backup QB to beat Chandler

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