Big plays lead Mica Mountain to 2nd straight 4A football champioinship
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Arcadia struck first in the 4A state high school football championship game on Friday, Dec. 1.
But, on two successive plays, Tucson Mica Mountain took the lead with touchdowns and never trailed again in a 42-17 win at Mountain America Stadium in Tempe.
Mica Mountain (12-2), which began the season 2-2, won its second consecutive championship, with two different head coaches.
Jay Campos, who led Tucson Sabino to five state championship appearances, won his first state title as head coach.
"It feels great," Campos said. "I really love this group of kids and coaches. We came a long ways this year. We played our best football at the end of the season."
Mica Mountain struck fast and big with wide receiver Evan Wheeler on the receiving end of touchdown passes of 29, 63 and 96 yards from first-year varsity starting quarterback Jaidyn Crist during the onslaught.
It started with edge rusher Sergio Raygada batting and intercepting the Titans' Zach Smith's pass and returning it 18 yards for a score that came right after Wheeler tied the score at 7 with his first TD catch.
The scores on two successive plays gave the Thunderbolts momentum they never relinquished.
Even when Arcadia fought back with Smith hitting Grayson Mcintosh for a 27-yard TD to cut the score to 21-17 with 2:49 left in the half, Mica Mountain responded. Riley Carson caught up to an ensuing squib kickoff at his 1, and returned it 99 yards to make it 28-17.
Mica Mountain refused to let the top-seeded Titans (13-1) back in the game.
"I bobbled it a little bit," Carson said. "But my kickoff return team had my blocks all the way down the field. There was a kid on my tail at my 5-yard-line. But I picked up a block and it was just what we needed.
"We fed off the energy. We put up a score that nobody predicted."
Arcadia put together a great drive to open the second half, but tailback Ryan Jimenez fumbled at the Mica Mountain 6.
It took the Thunderbolts two plays, before Crist found his favorite target, Wheeler, for a 96-yard scoring pass to make it 35-17. Another fumble late in the third quarter resulted in Mica Mountain building a 42-17 lead with 10:36 to play on Crist's 7-yard scoring run.
Wheeler was named the Offensive Player of the Game, and Raygada the Defensive Player of the Game, as voted on by the media.
"We just kept our composure," said Crist, who threw for 264 yards, completing 9 of 13 passes, in the first three quarters. "The second drive, we started rolling.
"Wheeler is my guy. We connected all year. The game plan opened with them keying on Riley. Evan was open all night."
Arcadia leaned on seniors to get to the state final for the first time since 1962. But the five turnovers were too much to overcome in the end.
"Give them credit," first-year Arcadia head coach B.J. Pasquel said. "But I'm proud of our seniors.
"They made a big defensive play, and a couple of long passes. The kickoff return. Credit to them."
Richard Obert has been covering high school sports since the 1980s for The Arizona Republic. Catch the best high school sports coverage in the state. Sign up for Azcentral Preps Now. And be sure to subscribe to our daily sports newsletters so you don't miss a thing. To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert at richard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-316-8827. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @azc_obert
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Mica Mountain repeats as 4A football champion
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