Zach Mott is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover North Canyon for AZPreps365.com

On the first snap of the game, Amari Harris dropped back in the pocket and delivered a 52-yard strike. The North Canyon quarterback would not do much more of that on Friday against Willow Canyon, which scored 48 points in the first half and cruised to a 62-19 victory over the Rattlers, who lost their third straight game. 

North Canyon (1-4) opened the game aggressively, allowing Harris to throw the football more than usual. With Willow Canyon (3-2) coming off a dominant 96-0 win over Kofa, the Rattlers knew they had their work cut out for them.

North Canyon opened the scoring with a 1-yard touchdown run from Brock Biley. But before they could score again, the Wildcats put up 41 unanswered points, en route to a 48-13 halftime lead. Xereque Parham had three touchdowns by himself in the first half for Willow Canyon, two receiving and one rushing. 

While the fans yelled in support of the Rattlers throughout the entirety of the game, there was some visible frustration on the North Canyon sidelines as the Wildcats continued to light up the scoreboard.

Coming off a heartbreaking overtime loss on the road to Dobson last week, the Rattlers had confidence that they would be able to give Willow Canyon a run for their money. But Willow Canyon continued to run the football and sophomore quarterback Calvin Mathews completed passes when he needed to. Mathews finished his night with four passing touchdowns and one on the ground as well. 

Defensively, the Wildcats were able to throw North Canyon off their game, effectively shutting down the run early and forcing Harris to throw the football. The Rattlers quarterback struggled with inaccuracy all night long and the consistent edge pressures from the Wildcats did not help. Harris finished his night with one touchdown pass coming just before the half to Evan Cappello, a 57-yarder. 

Senior running backs Izzy Durgin and Brock Biley were relatively quiet on the scoring front, with Biley getting the only score between the two. But Durgin continued to be busy in the passing game as a reliable target for Harris with seven receptions. Durgin was coming off a game in which he scored three touchdowns on eight receptions for 121 yards. 

To make matters worse for the Rattlers, Marcus Hubbard, one of their key senior leaders on both sides of the football, left the game early in the third quarter with an injury and did not return to action. 

"Marcus is going to get an X-ray on his forearm,” Rattlers head coach Adam Beene said after the game. “He should be good to go, regardless, next week whether it’s in a cast or not.” 

 While the Rattlers were able to contain the Willow Canyon offense for the most part in the second half, there were still some notable struggles on defense. Mathews was able to pick apart the single coverage and take advantage of the extra space the North Canyon secondary was giving them on the outside. 

"We have some inexperienced guys that were playing in the secondary,” said Beene. 

 Willow Canyon head coach Justin Stangler pointed to Parham as the key to his team’s explosive offense, which is averaging 66 points in its three victories this season.

“He’s the fastest guy on any field. If you get him out where he can do things with his legs, he’s just a threat in everything,” said Stangler.

Parham credited his blockers for his four-touchdown performance. 

“My teammates really did a great job blocking for me and getting their job done,” Parham said. “They want to see me succeed; I want to see them succeed as well.” 

On the final offensive drive, North Canyon’s backup quarterback, sophomore Makhi Golston, threw a 38-yard touchdown pass to Tylen Wilfong with under a minute to go in the game. 

North Canyon is off next week, then hits the road on Oct. 15 against Camelback. Willow Canyon will be on the road next Friday against Canyon View.