Garette Craig caught six passes for 99 yards
Garette Craig caught six passes for 99 yards

Big plays haunt football in 37-7 loss to No. 9 Arizona Western

  MESA, AZ - A series of big plays, starting early in the game, helped ninth-ranked Arizona Western jump to a big first quarter lead which the Matadors never relinquished in a 37-7 win over Mesa in WSFL action at John D. Riggs Stadium Saturday night.

  AZW wasted no time getting on the board with the first of the big plays. After limiting MCC to a three-and-out on its first possession, quarterback Trenton Hosick burst up the middle on a fourth-and-two situation and raced 50 yards for the opening score.

  On its next series, AZW saw Terell Aldrige, scamper 53 yards for a TD. A two-point conversion failed, but the Matadors still held a 13-0 advantage with 5:34 to go in the first quarter. 

  A 33-yard field goal by Edgar Gastelum just 24 seconds before the end of the period made it 16-0.

  The T-Birds closded the gap to 16-7 when Austin Apodaca (So., Longmont, Colo/Silver Creek H.S.) tossed a 13-yard TD pass to Gabriel Vasquez (So., Queen Creek, AZ/Queen Creek H.S.) to complete a 57-yard drive in six plays.

  The Matadors' next score didn't come on a big play, but was set up by one. Hosick completed a 45-yard pass to Clark Donald to the Mesa four. Two plays later Donald tossed a touchdwon strike to Hosick on a reverse from the one, expanding the margin to 23-7.

  AZW closed the half with a ten-yard TD from Hosick to Marquise Stinson with just 40 seconds left to go into the lockerrrom with a 30-7 margin.

  A tough break for MCC led to the fianl TD. Carlton Williams (So., Avondale, AZ/Warren Central H.S.) fumbled as he fought for extra yardage on the T-Birds first possession of the second half. The loose ball was scooped up by Chuks Amaechi who took it 60-yards to the end zone for the final score.

  Unofficially, Apodaca was 15-36 for 201 yards including one TD, but had two passes intercepted in the end zone. MCC also lost another aparent TD when Dusty Cook's (Fr., Gilbert, AZ/Highland H.S.) grab in the end zone was ruled out of bounds.

  Garette Craig (So., Phoenix, AZ/Mountain Pointe H.S.) caught six passes for 99 yards and Williams gained 48 on 13 carries.

  MCC is now 3-4 and closes the regular season next Saturday at Scottsdale. Arizona Western improves to 7-1.

Other WSFL scores:

Snow 35, Eastern Arizona 14

New Mexico Military 31, Air Force Prep 17

Scottsdale 42, Phoenix 21

Glendale 61, Pima 28