Donald Burdon
ASU Student Journalist

Tolleson falls in dominant fashion against Perry

September 15, 2023 by Donald Burdon, Arizona State University


Tolleson's senior wide receiver Anthony Jones catching a ball in pregame drills before Friday night's game against Perry. (Donald Burdon photo/AZPreps365)

Donald Burdon is an ASU Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication student assigned to cover Tolleson Union for AzPreps 365.

Tolleson moves to 1-3 after its loss Friday against Perry,  51-7 in a 6A non-region game.

The Wolverines will have their rivalry game against Agua Fria next week before moving on to region play in the 6A Fiesta Region. 

The Pumas got off to a fast start, dominating the Wolverines on both sides of the ball. The score at the end of the first quarter was 23-0 and only went up to 44-0 with Perry leading at halftime. 

Diesel Taylor dominated for the Pumas, throwing for 171 yards and five touchdowns in the first half. The Wolverines' defense gave up a touchdown on every first-half possession while also giving up every third- or fourth-down attempt of the half as well. 

Perry also ended the first half with two converted 2-point conversions. The Pumas' offense could not be stopped all night, with its only punt being late in the game.

On offense, the Wolverines struggled immensely to move the ball. While they did limit turnovers like Tolleson coach Rich Wellbrock wanted as Tolleson failed all on their third-down conversion attempts in the first half and could not capitalize on mistakes made by the Pumas.

The Wolverines' only offensive turnover on the night came after gaining a first down off of a thrown interception after a roughing the kicker penalty called on Perry.   

Tolleson's quarterbacks only had a combined 31 passing yards and an interception through the first half. The team also had a combined three rushing yards in the first half as well.

One of the only bright spots for the Wolverines on the night was when Augustine McCabe returned a kick for 55 yards, giving a slither of hope and excitement to the Wolverines' sideline. It was short-lived for them, however, as their offense failed to pick up a first down and had to punt on that drive. 

Perry pulled its starters in the second half, allowing for thebackups to gain experience.

Tolleson finally got onto the board with a time-consuming drive to start the half, being led mostly by Aydan Sheiha. After driving 69 yards down the field, Jeramiah Uriarte ended it with a 9-yard touchdown to freshman wide receiver Judah Lancaster. That would end up being the team's only touchdown of the night.

The Pumas backup offense, meanwhile, also led a drive of their own. With about seven and a half minutes left, they scored off an 8-yard touchdown from senior Daniel Rustin to junior Peyton Grako. 

After that, both offenses were forced to punt on their next drives. The Wolverines ran out the clock and the game ended with the final score of 51-7.

After the game, Perry's head coach Joseph Ortiz said that he was happy with the team's overall performance tonight, including that from the backups in the second half.

He was also happy with the start his team had against the Wolverines.

"Last week we started slow, so this week we made it a point of emphasis to start fast and we did scoring, winning more down the field starting on the first drive," he said. "We scored (on) every possession in the first half (and) the defense got a stop on every possession. We just wanna keep that consistent, we want to be a good team we gotta be consistent in what we are doing."

Tolleson's coaches and players went straight to the locker room after the game and were not able to interview in time for deadline.