Alex Gelman is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Carl Hayden Community High School for AZPreps365.com.

Carl Hayden (3-3, 0-0, 4A Cooper Sky) lost to Deer Valley (5-0, 0-0 4A Southwest) 50-0 on the road Friday night. 

After winning the coin toss and electing to receive the ball, Deer Valley drove down the field in less than three minutes for 3-yard touchdown by Tanner Bobic, who sidestepped into the end zone. 

“Hats off to Deer Valley, man. They are a good football team, really well coached. We knew it was going to be a dog fight,” said Carl Hayden head coach Steven Arenas following the game. 

The big news surrounding the Falcons on Friday night was the absence of sophomore running back Kendre Pride. This season, Pride has rushed for 684 yards and 12 touchdowns, averaging 11.0 yards per carry. 

“That’s obviously a big blow to our offense. He had some personal issues going on this week, but we should look to have him back in the offense next week,” said Arenas. 

Without Pride in the backfield, the run game struggled all night. In the first half, the offense failed to gain 10 yards on the ground. 

A slow run game resulted in a higher volume in the passing game for Jaime Zayas. He threw the ball for a season-high 17 times on Friday night, completing seven passes. 

Pablo Castillo was his favorite target. He had 40 yards receiving on two catches. He was targeted seven times. 

“Castillo is a good athlete, good playmaker. He is someone we feel we can get out in space. He runs really clean routes and has good hands on him. We knew going into this game that he was going to get his fair share of catches and we also knew we were going to throw the ball a lot this game, and we did,” said Arenas.

Leon Roberts and Ahmad Kearney were two bright spots for the Falcons defense in the secondary. Roberts had an interception in the red zone, returned for 52 yards to midfield. The two also came up with back-to-back pass breakups early in the first half. 

“That is our positive. Every week, I feel like our positive comes from somewhere on the defensive end and this week, it comes from the secondary. The kid (Roberts) has two offers already so he’s a really good football player for us … he really stepped up,” Arenas said.

Carl Hayden goes back to .500 in the record books, but the program is still optimistic it can finish strong. 

“Our goals are still intact. We are still in a position where we could compete for a Region Championship which has never been done at Carl Hayden … and finish with a 7-3 record which again, would be the best record in Carl Hayden history. We are trying to keep it positive but also raise the level of expectations for the next couple weeks,” said Arenas. 

The Falcons return home next week to face Yuma, who is winless this season.