TOLLESON-- North High School suffered a suffocating defeat at its own hands in a 53-13 loss to Tolleson High School on Friday night. 

The Mustangs started off the game strong, getting a stop on a questionable fourth down attempt by Tolleson at the 48-yard line. 

With great field position, North made good strides in the first few plays of its drive. A 14-yard pass to Ezy Brown and a 14-yard run by J.J. Herrera landed the team on the Tolleson 24-yard line. Miller then threw a pass to Benjie Calvillo that put the Mustangs at the 18-yard line. On second-and-four is where issues arose for the offense. 

North High committed three penalties in the next four plays, pulling the Mustangs all the way back to 33-yard line and out of the red zone. Two incomplete passes followed and the Mustangs failed to score on the drive.

Tolleson, with five minutes left in the first quarter, made the most of this opportunity. The Wolverines completed two long passes that landed them on the Mustangs' 22-yard line. On the following play,  Tolleson's quarterback threw a rainbow pass on a one-on-one post route that landed in the arms of his receiver in the end zone with 2:12 left in the first quarter. 

After this, the Mustang offense stalled. They put together a decent drive thanks to two solid catches by Ezy Brown and a couple of short gains on the ground by J.J. Herrera. But, this was put to an end by a penalty, followed up by a sack, a fumble, and an incompletion. North punted. t

A 60-yard dash by a Wolverine rusher straight through North High's defensive line, followed by a three-and-out by the Mustangs, and another four-yard rushing touchdown with 5:11 to go in the second quarter sent North High School to halftime with a 21-0 defecit. 

In the second half North High replaced quarterback Caleb Miller with freshman Luke Haugo. Although personnel at the quarterback changed, the tattered pattern of broken-up plays, penalties, and a crumbling line remained the same for the Mustangs.

"We just didn't do our job," defensive tackle Dominick Ortiz said. " We could've turned it up a little more." 

The Mustangs were without starting guard Jairon Ortiz, who was out with a wrist injury.  "He does a great job of comunicating our calls up front," said coach Mark Mejia, "so losing him was a big piece."

Haugo added a spark to the team later in the second half. The freshman was able to scramble to the right and slinghsot a pass to Benjie Calvillo in the right corner of the endzone with 0:13 to go in the 3rd quarter to put North on the scoreboard. In the fourth quarter Haugo notched his second touchdown with a pass to Cylan Miller, closing the gap to 53-13 to end the game. 

North High plans to use this loss as a learning experience. "More times than not," said Mejia. "You learn more from your losses."