Dane Palmer is an ASU Walter Cronkite School of Mass Communication and Journalism student assigned to cover Agua Fria High School for AZPreps365.

From the jump the Agua Fria dominated with the ground game, opening up lots of options for its offense.

Just under seven minutes into the game Agua Fria running back Jay’vier Cook took off and scored a 69-yard touchdown to put the Owls up first on the way to a 41-13 5A non-region win.

“He’s a hard-working kid man. He's starting to find that drive because we preach hard work and dedication,” Agua Fria coach Ricky Higuera said after the game. “He's gonna be something special. We're very fortunate to have him for another six weeks and then even more in the summer and more next year.”

However, Fairfax wasted no time ripping off a huge 67-yard pass from quarterback Aidan Paredes to wideout Vincent Quadrozzi. The long ball set up a 2-yard punch-in for Paredes to tie the game just 46 seconds after going down by seven.

The first quarter ended with both teams locked together, however, the domination began for Agua Fria near the 5-minute mark of the second quarter when they capped off a 75-yard drive with a 1-yard quarterback sneak into the end zone by Christopher Olivia.

The Owls' defense really began to shine, putting pressure on the Fairfax offense and forced an interception giving its offense a great field position. 

“I hang our hat on our defense, hard-working kids, hard nose, execute on every play and at all times,” Higuera said.

Agua Fria has a unique dynamic at the quarterback position. Olivia is in the majority of the game, playing until he drives his team within the 10-yard line. Then enters Jonate Daniels Jr., a true athlete, not only does he score touchdowns, he's also an amazing men's volleyball player in the spring.

“Freak of an athlete, you get the chance to watch him play men's volleyball, oh man, he’s chest level at the net,” Higuera said. 

Reversing field, beating defenders to the edges of the line of scrimmage, and making defenders look silly is his specialty on the field. The Owls capitalized on the interception with an 8-yard touchdown by Daniels Jr., making it 21-7 before the half.

With just under two minutes left this stout Agua Fria defense forced a punt, leading to the Owls having one last chance to score before ending the half. With time winding down a 40-yard bomb from Olivia to Giovanni Cruz was just what the offense needed,  boosting Agua Fria's lead and heading into halftime leading 27-7.

“He has some good reads, I like the way he throws the ball,” said Christian Garcia, who himself had over 100 yards receiving on the night.

After halftime, the Fairfax defense was able to get a stop on the dynamic Agua Fria offense and put together a drive for themselves. However, the Owls' defense came up big once again forcing another interception setting up an eventual 11-yard TD pass from Olivia to Matthew Cabrales.

The defense was dominant today for Agua Fria, the middle of the field was completely shut down by their linebacker core, which is led by Lorenzo Rodriguez.

“All the hard work we put in finally paid off. After winning once last year to now be 3-1 tonight, I’m very proud of us” said Rodriguez

The scoring from here slowed down as neither team would score again until the fourth quarter when Agua Fria  scored on an 8-yard quarterback keeper with Daniels Jr. once again and Fairfax on a 5-yard outside edge run from Dual Machar Wie. 

Domination on both sides of the ball for Agua Fria didn't just come out of nowhere. A mindset and culture has been created by Higuera, he doesn't believe in settling for being mediocre and is always pushing his team.

“We gotta fix a couple of mistakes, we make mistakes, no game is perfect, we need to just keep getting better one practice at a time, one percent at a time,” Higuera said. “Always tell them I’m proud of them, I love them, love seeing the effort, love seeing the commitment and the most important thing is let them know we always got work to do. Never settle, always be hungry.”

Agua Fria (3-1)  will go on the road to face Tolleson (1-3) next Thursday in a rivalry game, while Fairfax (0-4) will host Sierra Linda (1-3).