Rick Samon came to the end of a road Saturday, Nov. 13, at Scottsdale’s Coronado High School.

The retired Department of Public Safety police officer’s journey as head coach of the first class of Mogollon High School football seniors to start all season ended with their 21st straight win, a successful defense of their 2020 eight-man football title, 58-12 over St. David.

“I’m going to miss them,” an emotional Samon said after the game, searching for the right words to encompass an overwhelming conclusion to his two-year undefeated run atop the 1A conference. “I’ve got six grandkids, but after tonight, I think I’m going to have 23 more.”

The Porter majority--twins Cael and Malaki, along with cousin Fisher--of the six seniors each ran for touchdowns, with Cael throwing for five more off the snaps of center Edy Corrales, who drove the Mustangs' stampede to their first repeat of a state championship in school history.

“Best day of my life,” Fisher Porter said after the win. “We’ve been playing together since we were kids in the backyard at six. We’ve been a family since Day One, and it’s just been a special experience to win with the family.”

Big plays by cousin Cael usually have been the catalyst, as the quarterback slipped away from the Tiger defense for a 66-yarder more than halfway through the opening quarter after another of his classmates, 6-foot, 4-inch defensive end Tyler Owens, chewed up and spat out a third-down pass attempt by St. David junior quarterback Ryan Gooding.

“They’ve just got to respect the grind,” said Owens, who combined with senior cousin Braxton for 373 yards, 10 touchdowns and 144 tackles in their three years playing both ways on the Mustang varsity. “That’s what a lot of people don’t respect, is that, rain or shine, we go out every day and just work our tails off, no matter what. It paid off, obviously.”

Porter’s scramble extended the lead to two possessions after his 47-yard pass barely two minutes into the game found cousin Payton Reidhead on the first of two touchdown receptions for the junior. Malaki Porter would run for the first of five two-point conversions on the night for the Mustangs, who do not employ a kicker after touchdowns. 

Four minutes later, Porter’s breakup of junior Ryan Gooding’s fourth-down deep ball gave Mogollon the ball on downs on the St. David 35. Unbeknownst to anyone at the time, it would be the start of one of the Mustangs’ dread spurts that ended up burying their nine other opponents this season by 40 points or more.

The only team to lose by less to Mogollon this fall had been the Tigers, who actually kept the score within four points at halftime of their regular-season tilt Sept. 17 in Heber before falling, 48-26.

“We gave them 26 in the fourth game of the season,” Samon said. “We’re not going to do that again.”

Reidhead saw to that, immediately lifting the Mustangs to a 22-0 lead himself, out-juking the St. David secondary for a 35-yard scoring run before Porter’s pass found him in the back of the end zone for the two-point conversion.

With 1:56 still on the clock, the first quarter wasn’t even over yet. Nor was the Tiger defense’s time on the field, as junior Blayk Kelton’s subsequent kickoff was muffed and recovered by sophomore Adrian Suarez.

By the time Gooding could lead the St. David offense again, it was the second quarter, Malaki Porter had another six-yard touchdown run around right end, his brother Cael had sneaked his way to the first of his three two-point conversions, and Mogollon was in the midst of a run of 32 unanswered points that would end up triggering the Arizona Interscholastic Association’s running clock as part of a mercy rule instituted in games with 43-point margins or more.

“Since last year’s state championship, we had worked our butts off,” Malaki Porter said after the win. “We knew we could do it again, so we made it happen, on and off the field.

“We’ve got wrestling, basketball and baseball coming up, so we’ll take a week off, then, one at a time, go win in that too--wrestling, then basketball.”

Unlike last season’s 1A championship, which St. David semifinal victim Williams kept within eight points, the competitive phase of the 2021 eight-man championship game effectively ended halfway through the second quarter, when Kelton recovered Gooding’s fumble two minutes after hauling in Porter’s short pass from his 25-yard-line with nothing in front of him but open field.

A scant minute later, it was Fisher Porter’s turn to underscore the point, getting past the Tiger defensive backs to grab Cael’s 45-yard pass to go up 46-0.

“We did the best we could this year to keep the scores reasonable,” Samon said. “They’re a well-coached team with some great players.”

Like senior Talon Haynie, the state’s second-leading rusher and third-leading touchdown scorer, who had the first of his two scoring runs to avert a shutout with a minute before halftime.

But, although wide receivers Jake Goodman and Koy Richardson were adept at finding their spots to make big catches that put St. David in scoring position multiple times, all Haynie’s points ultimately did was stem the tide of the most lopsided 1A championship since 2018.  

“I wanted to put a few more of my JV guys in, but with them leaving their starters in, I don’t want to get these younger kids hurt right now,” Samon said of his decision to stick with his seniors in the second half. “I want them to feel good about themselves. I’m looking forward to playing them next year a lot more.”

Besides, the night belonged to the seniors as well as key junior playmakers like Reidhead, who came out of the locker room to make a 29-yard scoring grab three minutes into the second half, and Kelton, whose 13-yard somersault two minutes into the fourth quarter capped the scoring.