River Valley High School sports the state’s top rusher, top touchdown scorer, leading overall scorer and even the 3A Conference’s longest punt returner, yet will be the underdog for the rest of its postseason tournament, starting at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 12, at No. 3 seed Valley Christian.

“To be honest, I didn’t really know it was a thing until last week,” said senior running back Zach Hammett, who is all of those statistical terrors rolled into one player for the Dust Devils. “I’m just focused and locked in on the next game.”

With a big game on the ground against the Trojans, Hammett, who already has 2,179 yards rushing this season, could take over the national lead in scoring and touchdowns. He already owns the 3A record for touchdowns scored in a season but could become second in state history in the category, perhaps even second in the conference in rushing yards in a single season.

“Yeah, it’s a record; yeah, it’s cool,” he added. “But it’s not even about how I feel. It’s a team effort. Without my 10 other guys on the field and three other coaches on the sideline, that record doesn’t happen.”

So like Jonathan Clark, his head coach who entered the program with him, individual records and being happy to just be in the postseason are secondary considerations for Hammett, even after rushing for two touchdowns and catching another in their first postseason win Nov. 5, 31-20 over visiting Central Region champ Eastmark.

“Two years ago, we played Snowflake and enjoyed every minute of it, but we treated it like a vacation,” said Clark, who would likely face the Lobos again with an upset of the Trojans in the quarterfinal. “We stood on the corner in Winslow, Arizona, then went into Snowflake and got our [expletive]s kicked.”

That culture has now changed in the program, and Clark admits he has “thought a lot about” an opportunity to erase the bad memories of his 42-7 first-round loss to the Lobos in 2019 and would “love another opportunity” the week after to avenge his only loss this season, 29-26 to fourth-seeded Yuma Catholic.

“In all honesty, I’m blessed to have this week with them, and I’m looking forward to having another week with them,” said Clark, now in the postseason with his Dust Devils the past three of his four years as head coach. “I don’t think they’re ready to go home.”

River Valley’s 20 two-way players will have to prove that against the Trojans, though, by continuing to press their physical advantage--especially on defense, which forced two turnovers in its first-round rematch of its opening shootout over Eastmark.

“If we can force more, we can win,” said Clark after allowing 429 yards to the Firebirds. “Eastmark had eight players that were like 6-6, 280 pounds across the fricking front. But we came out and hit them; that’s what allowed us to win both games.”

With just six players 200 pounds or more across his offensive and defensive lines, blocking Trojans like Jacob Booth and Justin Regehr will be “brutal,” Clark added, especially after what Regehr did to Safford in the first round.

His 13 tackles, including two sacks, complemented senior running back Kaden Majercak, who had one score on 149 yards and caught two more touchdowns in a 49-0 blowout that was over by halftime. 

“When I watch film, in all honesty, I see us,” Clark said. “The way they attack the edge is just like us. They run a lot of r[un-]p[ass] o[ption]s but also have an inside route; we run a lot of bubble screens off the inside zone. It’s kind of a new age triple option, when you get right down to it.”

But what the Dust Devil offense may lack in stoutness, it makes up for in aggression. Teams focus on Hammett so much, they sleep on junior quarterback Gavin Hogencamp and other seniors like wide receivers Ryan Matteson, John Skinner and Gage Solano, who caught the other touchdown against Eastmark, from nine yards out. 

“It’s going to take a lot of dogfight in us, and really just take a lot of focus too,” said Hammett, who plays safety, linebacker and cornerback on defense in addition to returning punts. “As long as we really execute our gameplan, we can come out of there with the victory.”

As well, the Dust Devils must show they learned the right lessons from the Yuma Catholic loss, one that Valley Christian has not yet faced--a single-possession, single-digit setback, one that came down to the kicking game, Clark said.

“We left eight points on the field,” he said of his normally sure-footed 3A leader in PATs, Johnny Delgado. “The only one you can really say was his fault was the last [field goal] to tie it from 37 [yards].

“Of those two extra points and two field goals, three of them were bad snaps. To be honest, I think he was rattled. Kicking is such a precision game that takes three players to work, and if the snapper or the holder is off by a millimeter here or there, it doesn’t. 

“At the end of the night, that’s why he left it short. I’ve been with Johnny three years. We have trust in him. If it comes down to it, I feel 100 percent confident he’ll knock it down. He’s earned that opportunity.”

But although most weeks, River Valley goes into a game knowing Delgado is “better,” Clark added, “I think this is probably the first week” where he sees the opposing special teams unit--particularly national leader in kickoff yardage, senior Dominic Zvada, who can “put it in the back of the end zone whenever he wants to”--as “a win for them.”

Valley Christian’s kicking team plays a “chess game,” as Clark calls it, with “three or four different looks,” all of which the Dust Devils have practiced against, but which they will have to modify against, in-game. 

“We’ve had a good week of practice,” Clark said. “We’re locked in, focused. But we still have fun.”