No. 7 Tanque Verde beat No. 10 Parker 24-0 in the first round of the 2A state playoffs Friday night to advance to the quarterfinal round for the first time program history in an ongoing story of firsts for the Hawks.

Tanque Verde went through an 0-15 stretch between the end of the 2018 season and the beginning of the 2019 season and the future looked like a long and narrow hallway that never ends no matter how many steps you take but then came the first big coaching hire came with the arrival of former University of Arizona standout Jay Dobyns. Dobyns arrived at the same time as the pandemic but he changed the culture of the program and he went 3-0 in the COVID year of 2020 and he went 6-3 in 2021, just missing the state playoffs but being the first to have a winning record since the program started in 2007 as an 8-man experiment.

Dobyns led the Hawks to their first playoff appearance in program history a year later in 2022, a first playoff road trip to play at top-seeded Morenci. The 32-0 loss at Morenci was not a crushing defeat, far from it, the setback turned out to be a launching pad for what was to come. Dobyns was the fourth coach in program history and he retired with a 14-9 record after the 2022 season and he left the door he unlocked wide open for the first head coaching position for Jeffrey Bollnow this fall.

Bollnow, the son of a legendary referee in Kirby Bollnow, was a scrappy defender in high school and college and he brought some of that attitude to Tanque Verde and it showed right away. The team suffered one huge loss, a 48-7 setback a San Tan Charter in his second week, but the Parker victory was the fourth shutout of the year in a season where opponents are discovering one score might be the most to expect against the Hawks.

Despite rushing for 200 yards, Parker gave up the ball on downs three times with one coming on a fourth-and-goal with 8:46 left in the game when a score would have drawn the Broncs close to the Hawks. The team also gave up the ball on an interception on a fourth down play and the Hawk defense forced a 72-yard fumble return from Gavin Gilbert to help solidify a defensive package.

Jeston Lotts led the Broncs to an 11-1 season and a semifinal finish in 2021 and he moved over to be an assistant with Willcox to following year. Jeff Wheatley took over with Parker bumped up to the 3A Conference where the team struggled with a 2-8 record but a shift back to the 2A Conference this fall set the Broncs back in the right direction with another successful season at 7-4.

Parker was forced to punt after the first possession but the team held Tanque Verde to a 36-yard field goal from Nicholas Coryell with 2:26 left in the first quarter after the Hawks drove to the 19. Parker gave the ball back on downs and the Hawks turned the opportunity into a score with QB Grayson Bradshaw running the ball from six yards out to make it 10-0 with 3:57 left in the half. Rocco Haggard came up with an interception on the next parker possession to preserve the 10-0 lead at the half.

Gilbert scored on a 21-yard run to start the second half and the Hawks led 17-0 with 11:41 left in the third quarter. The defenses of both teams held strong from there until Gavin ran that fumble back 72 yards to make it 24-0 to close out the game.

Tanque Verde will travel to play at No. 2 Arizona Lutheran next Thursday in the quarterfinal round in a very difficult bracket where all the higher seeds won in the first round. The Broncs are losing punishing RB Thaddeus Nopah to graduation along with fellow senior Dirk Maxwell. The Nopah/Maxwell running scheme was almost unstoppable at times and it will be difficult to replace them next fall.