Thunderbird shuts out St. Mary's 29-0 in regular season finale
November 3, 2023 by Javier Delgado, Arizona State University
Javier Delgado is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover St. Mary’s High School for AZPreps365.com
Thunderbird’s defense dominated St. Mary's on Friday, rolling to a 29-0 regular season-ending victory.
In contrast, the Knights (3-7) finished their season on a four-game skid, ending their 2023 year and won't enter the postseason like Thunderbird (8-2).
St. Mary’s had possession first and senior quarterback Jimmy Hill was able to get the team into the red zone. That’s when the Titans got their first defensive stop and held up the Knights in the red zone on fourth down.
On Thunderbird’s opening possession, they made their way downfield as junior quarterback Andrew Cohill threw the Titans’ first touchdown, and a two-point conversion was its 8-0 lead.
The Knights moved the ball down the field again on their second possession until the Titans stood tall and forced a second straight turnover on downs. St. Mary’s made a stop of their own which was once again matched by Thunderbird.
The Titans got the ball back with 1:42 left in the first half and effectively ran the two-minute drill. Senior two-way player Tyler Woods scored another TD, pushing Thunderbird's lead to 15-0 lead.
St. Mary’s tried to get something going with 25 seconds left, but Titans’ senior cornerback Brian Costa had a huge hit giving Thunderbird more momentum into halftime.
The momentum didn’t let St. Mary’s shy away as they were able to force a punt on Thunderbird’s opening possession in the second half. Despite that, the Titans made a huge stop on fourth-and-1 as the Knights were inside the 35-yard line.
St. Mary’s wasn’t able to capitalize on their opportunities in the opponent’s territory.
“We had to finish our offensive drives, we got to the end and shot ourselves in the foot,” said St. Mary's senior two-way player Joey Herrington. “We could’ve ended a couple more drives and a few missed assignments on defense.”
St. Mary's attempted to shift momentum after sophomore cornerback Jason Espinoza had a huge hit on third down leading to another Thunderbird punt. Thunderbird was able to force a quick three-and-out giving them the ball back with 4:50 left in the third quarter.
They were able to get down the field as Woods scored his second TD to put Thunderbird ahead by 22.
On the final play of the third quarter, it seemed like St. Mary’s got something going as they executed a fake punt on a completed pass from junior Bobby Lewis.
The Titans ended up forcing a fumble allowing them to regain all the momentum.
“Missing assignments, penalties, it gets us behind the chains and loses our momentum,” said St. Mary’s senior lineman Ben Cosner.
St. Mary's were able to force a fumble of their own, but were forced to punt again. Junior two-way player Elijah Little capped off the scoring for Thunderbird as his rushing TD made it 29-0.
The Knights’ effort didn’t go unnoticed as they fought to the final second until Thunderbird stopped them inside the five-yard line.
“We’ve got to make a few more plays, I’m so proud of my kids,” said St. Mary’s head coach Jose Lucero. “Odds stacked against us, we battled and I’m proud of their character.”
