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

The Basha Bears dominated the first half enroute to a 31-13 victory over Brophy Prep Thursday night in Chandler.

Basha's Demond Williams Jr., the top-ranked quarterback in Arizona, sparked the charge with three rushing touchdowns in the first half, leading the Bears to a 5-1 record on the season.

The first half was all the Bears, as they scored 28 of their 31 points. Williams opened the first drive with an interception, but eventually found his groove, ending the game with 170 passing yards and 85 rushing yards. 

“I feel like they just gave that to us,” Williams said, “They wanted us to play back and run the ball because of how efficiently we’ve been passing, so I feel like we started clicking in that category. We just had to go out and do our thing. We just have to click better in the second half and play more together as a team.” 

Broncos quarterback Charlie McGinnis struggled in the first half, not gaining much in the passing or the running game. On the first drive of the second half, McGinnis found the endzone, rushing in for a touchdown. 

“We played better in the second half,” Brophy head coach Jason Jewell said, “First half we have to be able to sustain drives, we left our defense on the field, it just can’t happen against good football teams. In spurts we were all right, but we need to be more consistent.” 

The Broncos woke up in the second half, scoring all 13 of their points during that period. The Bears, on the other hand, struggled to get anything going once the second half started, scoring only once the rest of the game, on a field goal by kicker Timothy Tynan.  

“I just thought they made some adjustments, and we didn’t make the correct adjustments back offensively,” Basha head coach Chris McDonald said, “I just felt like from the get-go we were kind of in a funk, we just have to clean some things up. I’m a perfectionist and they know that and that’s what we expect. When we’re not playing good football, and that was not good football in the second half offensively, it’s frustrating.” 

But Basha’s performance in the second half wasn’t the only thing McDonald was unhappy about. The referee’s whistles were active throughout the game, with a total of seventeen penalties called, many of which were holding penalties against Basha. Both sides were called for pass interference, one of which resulted in a touchdown for the Broncos.  

McDonald was not happy about the penalties after the game.  

“I know when you have two really good football teams playing each other, and Brophy is a really good football team, when the penalties start getting lopsided that’s when I get irritated,” McDonald said, “It’s a situation where if you’re going to call it that tight, it needs to go both ways. iI shouldn’t be lopsided.” 

The Bears will play at cross-town rival Hamilton High School (4-1) on Friday, Oct. 6, in a tough, highly anticipated matchup between two teams ranked in the top 10 in Arizona. The Bears scraped by with a 26-23 win last time they played against the Huskies, which would suggest another tight matchup between the two rivals. 

The Broncos have the next week off but will look to get back into the win column with a home game against Chandler  on Oct. 20.