Ironwood Ridge controls their own destiny

October 18, 2014 by Andy Morales, AZPreps365


Michael Franzese rushed for 150 yards and scored three touchdowns
to lead Ironwood Ridge to a 42-7 victory. (Andy Morales/AIA365.com)

Ironwood Ridge is officially in the driver's seat.  The Nighthawks rushed for over 400 yards Friday night and defeated Marana Mountain View 42-7 to improve their record to 7-1 and 3-0 in their section and they now hold the keys to the section championship.

Division II/Section V is technically still up for grabs but Mountain View (4-4, 2-1) is now two games back and Tucson Salpointe (7-1, 2-1) needs to win out and have Mountain View lose again in order to have a shot at the title and the automatic playoff bid that comes with it.

Tucson High (4-4, 2-1) is also in the mix but they are also two games behind Ironwood Ridge. Without the section championship, Tucson and Mountain View might be too far back to earn an at-large bid.

Ironwood Ridge will travel to Salpointe next Friday and, if they win, the Nighthawks will be section champs regardless of what happens in week 10. But, if the Lancers win, then week 10 will be chaotic.

Michael Franzese rushed for 150 yards and scored three touchdowns and Cole McLafferty ran for 166 more and added two more scores. Sam Ross led Mountain View with 36 yards on the ground but he is hampered with an ankle injury that limited his playmaking ability.

Justice Summerset found some success through the air for Mountain View and finished with 173 yards passing with Jeff Cotton pulling down 115 of those.

The Mountain Lions will travel to Tucson High next Friday and will finish with Tucson Rincon (1-7, 0-3) in two weeks. In every sense of the word, their playoffs begins in the film room on Saturday morning.

Former Mountain View and University of Arizona standouts Lacey Nymeyer John and Kevin Schmidtke were inducted into the Mountain View Sports Hall of Fame prior to the game.

In other divisional and section races, Tucson Sahuaro (8-0, 3-0) and Cienega (7-1, 3-0) are still on top of D-II/Section II and will play each other in week 10. Sunnyside (5-3, 2-1) can still decide who wins the section because they travel to Sahuaro next week.

DIVISION III

Tucson Pueblo (6-2, 3-0) and Tucson Sabino (5-3, 3-0) are on a collision course to decide D-III/S-II in week 10. It might be an all-or-nothing game with the winner in the playoffs and the loser staying home.

Oro Valley Canyon del Oro (6-2, 3-0) will win the D-III/S-V championship if they beat Flowing Wells (6-2, 1-2) next week. Tucson Catalina Foothills (5-3, 2-1) needs CDO to lose their last two games.  That scenario is unlikely but the Falcons are in the running for an at-large bid.

DIVISION IV

Sahuarita (8-0, 4-0) is in total control of D-IV/S-II with the pending investigations of Tucson Santa Rita. Safford (6-2, 3-1) needs Sahuarita to totally collapse.

DIVISION V

Thatcher (7-1, 5-0) is in control but they play Morenci (4-4, 3-1) in week 10 for what will be the D-V/S-III championship.

Pusch Ridge (7-1, 5-0) is the D-V/S-VI champion. They are the first Southern Arizona team to earn a playoff spot.