Cody Marmon is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover San Tan Charter for AZPreps365.com

GILBERT--- San Tan Charter defeated Coronado, 30-0, Friday night in a game where the Dons forfeited at halftime due to a lack of players. The Dons came into the game with just 16 players and were down to 13  by the end of the first quarter.

The start of the game was delayed half an hour due to lightning in the area. 

At the 2:17 mark of the first quarter, coaches Chase Cartwright for San Tan Charter and Rick Benjamin for Coronado had a lengthy conversation with officials. They agreed to keep the clock running with the Roadrunners up 23-0 by the end of the first quarter.

The Dons (0-5) were running a wildcat offense but couldn’t muster any offense without their starting quarterback, senior Adrian Sonoqui, who was out with an injury. Coronado turned the ball over twice on downs. 

San Tan Charter’s defense created three turnovers and was the star of the night.

Junior Preston Cox, with 8:43 remaining in the first quarter, recovered a fumble and ran it into the end zone to get the scoring started. 

“It was an outside zone, and I saw the ball on the ground,” Cox said. “I didn’t hear a whistle, and I just picked it up and ran it in.” 

“Getting that defensive turnover on the first drive kick-started our momentum,” Cartwright said. “I take my hat off to Coronado, to their coaching staff and players. They’re class acts.”

Junior Cayne Ramirez had intercepted one of the lone pass attempts from the Coronado offense with 7:44 left in the first quarter, putting the Roadrunners at the Dons’ 47-yard line.

Senior wideout Jaden Rumore took a reverse handoff out of the backfield from junior quarterback Zayden Neill, taking it 25-yards untouched to the end zone. That put the Roadrunners up 14-0 with 7:16 left in the first quarter. 

“I saw the gap open,” Rumore said. “Coach designed a great play all week, and it went exactly as planned.”

After a turnover on downs by the Dons with 4:47 left in the first quarter, Neill found junior wideout River Johnson on a rollout to his right from 18-yards out that put the Roadrunners up 21-0 with 4:12 remaining in the first quarter.

Neill threw his 15th passing touchdown of the season. He now has a 15:2 touchdown-interception ratio. The Roadrunners, as a team, rushed for 81-yards. 

San Tan Charter executed on all three levels of the game. It was a dominant performance from start to finish. 

Junior Kaedin Long made a tackle-for-loss that put the Dons inside its 10-yard line. 

Forced to punt from its end zone, the Roadrunners brought an all-out blitz and tackled the punter in the end zone for a safety to make it 23-0 with 4:12 remaining in the first. 

Senior running back Kenny Sippel tacked on a 30-yard rushing touchdown, his seventh of the season with 10:56 remaining in the second quarter. 

The Roadrunners' defense has been stout these past three weeks, allowing a combined 13 points.

“If we play good team defense,” Cartwright said, “we have the opportunity to go play against a lot of the good teams in 2A.” 

The Roadrunners (5-1) have matched their win total from last season at five. They’re on top of the 2A Salt Region with four games left in the regular season.

“This is what we planned for 10 months,” Cartwright said. “Being in a position going into the back-half of the year, in a good spot to go and compete against those really good teams. We’ll see where we’re at when we face them.”

The Roadrunners are idle next week. They will host the Morenci Wildcats (5-0) on Oct. 7 at 7 p.m.  

The Coronado Dons’ young roster will search for its first win when they host the Scottsdale Prep Spartans (5-1) on Friday at 7 p.m.