Logan Lober is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Casteel High School  for AZPrep365.

After a 40-point loss last week, Casteel High School responded with a 51-0 shutout win against Trevor Browne High School on Friday night to improve to 3-1 on the season.

The Colts dominated the run game, totaling six rushing touchdowns from four different players, including two from both Mason Lewis and Elijah Beamon.

Despite the success on the ground, running back Bryce Black still feels like there’s room for improvement.

“There's still some little tweaks in there. We missed a couple blocks. Us running backs, we didn't make the right cuts sometimes, but we look forward to doing better in those type of situations,” Black said. “Even though it feels good, it’s on to the next. We’ve got to keep it pushing, we’ve got to carry this on with us and we've got to keep it pushing all the way until we stop.” 

Head coach Bobby Newcombe liked what he saw from his running backs, but like Black, he knows there’s still potential to get better.

“It was nice to get guys involved in the game in a conservative way. I thought they ran fairly well,” Newcombe said. “We’d like more explosive plays, we’d like more burst, there’s little things we’d like a little bit more of, but we’re glad we got a little bit of a push up front.”

“Bounce back” seemed to be the theme of week for the Colts leading up to tonight, and they did just that.

“It’s nice to bounce back and be on the positive side,” Newcombe said. “A lot of stuff we’ve got to work on, but it’s always good to get the team back out and compete again.”

Running back Cole Sorensen also felt the importance of bouncing back this week after last week’s loss to Carlsbad in California.

“It means a lot because last week was really painful for our whole team, but we were able to bounce back and shape up our game this week,” Sorensen said. 

On the defensive end, Casteel focused on its run defense in practice this week, and the results showed, not only stopping the run, but getting to the quarterback as well. 

Casteel’s defense had four sacks and a safety, as well as holding Browne to 0-7 on third-down conversions. 

Defensive lineman Aiden Cruz, who didn’t play in last week’s loss to Carlsbad, had a tackle for loss late in the fourth quarter, which got lots of cheers from the Casteel sideline.

“I didn't play last week but just knowing how hard it was on the team, it felt good to get this win,” Cruz said. 

It was a rough night for Trevor Browne’s offense, as quarterback Nico Alvarez was under pressure throughout the game.

Alvarez left the game with an injury after being sacked by linebacker Ethan Beasley on the first play of the fourth quarter. 

Despite being held scoreless, Trevor Browne battled all night.

“Hats off to Trevor Browne for competing throughout the whole game,” Newcombe said. “I thought the program was very hospitable, and their coach is first-class.” 

The Colts set their focus to next week, where they’ll face Valley Vista on Thursday for their homecoming game. 

“We love playing at home… and I know Valley Vista is going to come with it a little bit,” Newcombe said. “We know they'll get their team ready to compete on Thursday next week.”