Stella Tai is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Camelback High School for AZPreps365.com.

Arcadia kept its undefeated season alive and took revenge on Camelback at the Spartans’ homecoming game by securing a 35-21 triumph Friday night.

Last year, Camelback handed Arcadia a 28-21 loss at the Titans’ homecoming game.

“I mean, this is a rival game,” Camelback Coach Brandon McNutt said. “Last year we beat them at homecoming. So we returned the favor by making them a homecoming for us. A lot of our kids know their kids, they grew up together. So to me, this is a neighborhood game.”

Arcadia got on the scoreboard first by kicking a field goal, but Camelback answered right back as senior quarterback Rocco Mortensen connected with senior runnerback Jaylen Gillis for an 80-yard touchdown, giving the Spartans its first and only lead of the night at the 7:07 mark.

Gillis hauled in four catches for a total of 142 yards for the Spartans.

“He was open and he caught it,” Mortensen said. “He was the fastest on our team. So there is no question he could finish with a touchdown like that.”

On the next drive, the Titans seemed to copy and paste the previous Spartans offensive play as senior runnerback Jeremy Smith ran for a 68-yard TD. In fact, Arcadia had three 60-plus runs in the first three quarters, all leading to touchdowns.

Senior runnerback Brady Forst took over in the second quarter, scrambling for 85 yards, two touchdowns and a two-point conversion. Arcadia extended its lead to 29-16 prior to the halftime break. 

Arcadia Coach Ray Brown spoke highly of his senior runnerback.

“He’s probably one of the most dynamic high school football players in 4A football,” Brown said. “This guy probably has 200 yards on the ground rushing. The average is probably two touchdowns a game. And he's just really determined how he plays football. That's just who he is.”

Despite just six points combined in the previous two games, the Spartans put 16 on the board this time before halftime. Unfortunately, they couldn’t get their offense going all night long, having no success reaching the end zone in the final two quarters.

“I wish I could have thrown more successful passes,” Mortensen said, who finished 20-of-34 for 261 yards passing.

“These kids need to understand our biggest ultimate goal is to make it to the playoffs,” McNutt said. “And to do that we can't make mistakes against great teams like Arcadia, Desert Edge. You got to play these teams, and learn from those mistakes and hopefully don't make them the next game.”

Arcadia also struggled to maintain offensive momentum, reeling in their sole touchdown in the second half by capitalizing on an interception by junior defensive back Logan Connelly. McNutt said defense was definitely what he wanted his players to work on at halftime.

“We made some adjustments,” McNutt said. “We noticed that once we started stopping them in the middle, they actually adjusted and started going outside on us. So then all we did is when we went to halftime, we made sure that we changed and went back to our base defense.

Camelback will play at Trevor G. Browne next Friday at 7 p.m, while Arcadia will host Desert Sunrise at 7 p.m. Friday.