Michael Yero is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Basha High School for AZPreps365.com.

Basha head coach Chris McDonald knew how much this one meant to his seniors.

On homecoming night in front of a packed student section, the Bears weren’t going to take Friday’s matchup against Mountain View lightly.

“The party starts tonight,” McDonald told his team pregame.

Then senior Cole Martin got the party started from the jump, returning the opening kickoff for touchdown in Basha's 55-10 runaway victory to start the season 4-0 for a second straight year.

The Bears’ defense returned the favor with back-to-back three and outs, setting up junior quarterback Demond Williams to connect with Mason Arhin for a 30-yard score.

Basha made it a priority to control the tempo right out the gate.

McDonald ordered his team to snap the ball 30 seconds before the game clock expired, keeping the offense rolling and the Toros gasping for air. The consistency of McDonald’s offensive game plan wore out Mountain View, who went into the half down 34-3.

“We have a big offensive line. We’re just trying to wear them out,” McDonald said. “The key is getting positive yards, win first downs. You’ve got to get plus six or seven yards on first downs in order to go fast. You don’t want to go fast if you can’t move the football.”

Williams was the star in the first half, notching all four of his touchdowns in the first half. The four-star signal caller was patient in the pocket and used his legs effectively when necessary.

Just four games into the season, Williams is inching toward 1,000 passing yards while already racking up 11 touchdowns.

“I’m just going with the flow, he said. “I know some games I’m not going to have as many passing yards and touchdowns as some games, but whatever we got to do to win. If that affects me statistically, I don’t really care that much.”

Basha was just as explosive on the defensive end. Junior linebacker Jack Bleier had three sacks in the first half, collapsing the pocket nearly every play.

Martin, who plays cornerback, forced fumble before the half. That’s the second time he’s done that this season.

“We came in ready to do what we had to do," Martin said. “We did everything in the game plan to win this game.”

The second half was much of the same for Basha, as senior running back Deshaun Buchanan scored rushing touchdowns on consecutive possessions.

McDonald pulled his starters with 55 seconds left in the third with Basha leading, 48-10.

The backups did their thing, as junior running back Corey Chisley found the end zone with 6:35 remaining in the game. 

Linebacker Easton Jones sealed it with an interception before the Bears entered victory formation.

Basha will take on Cactus next week before facing Liberty, Hamilton and Chandler next month.

As those dates approach, McDonald is pleased with what he’s seen on offense, defense and special teams. That said, he knows tweaks must be made if they want to compete against the best teams.

“Just looking at my team and what we focus on, we’ve got to get better at some things,” he said. “I know how good the top tier teams are in the state. We’ve got to clean up some things to really have a chance and move forward.”

"Pretty cool": Arizona State interim head football coach Shaun Aguano made his first recruiting stop at Friday's game at Jim Wall Football Stadium.

Aguano, who was the head coach at Chandler High School before replacing Herman Edwards at ASU, came to look at multiple uncommitted prospects for the Bears with senior defensive back Miles Lockhart being one of them.

“It’s his first Friday named as the interim head coach and his first stop is Basha,” McDonald said about Aguano. “That’s pretty cool.”