Jack Reeves is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Brophy Prep for AZPreps365.com  

Zero points through a quarter of play didn’t slow Brophy down from an eventual 34-6 home victory over Desert Vista on Friday night to improve their record to 5-2. 

Early in the first quarter, senior quarterback Charlie McGinnis threw only his third interception of the season to Desert Vista linebacker Victor Sosa. McGinnis quickly bounced back on the next drive like he has all season.

A packed house on Senior Night finally saw the scoring begin when McGinnis threw a 15-yard strike to wide receiver Nathan Benzie to give the Broncos a 7-0 lead with 10:37 left in the second quarter. 

Brophy coach Jason Jewell has seen first-hand how his quarterback has grown and improved since last season in leading the No. 12 team in the state. 

“He’s more than doubled his touchdowns since last year, and we’ve only played seven games,” Jewell said. “He’s cut back on his turnovers, and I am really proud of the progress he has made over the last year.”

Brophy added to its lead with a 4-yard touchdown run from Carlos Estrada, who returned to the lineup this week after dealing with an injury. The touchdown gave the Broncos a 14-0 lead heading into halftime. 

The Broncos’ momentum continued into the third quarter as McGinnis threw his second touchdown pass of the night. On this drive, sophomore receiver Daylen Sharper caught a short pass and took it 54 yards for the score. 

That was a common theme for the Brophy receiving corps, as a lot of damage was done in open space after the catch was made.

“They were huge, making great catches, and getting a lot of yards after the catch,” McGinnis said. “You know, just simple routes they were able to take up and make great gains off.”

Desert Vista struggled to get anything going against a Broncos defense that had one of their best outings of the season.

On a fourth-and-14 late in the third quarter, Brophy senior Brandon Byrne came up with the sack to keep the Thunder off the scoreboard, and diminish any hope of Desert Vista getting back in the game.

“It was really just our mindset, the whole team came out pretty hot,” Byrne said. “We carried that energy through the game. It was lively, and we were pretty happy with that.”

Brophy running back Harrison Chambers also had a touchdown on the night, a 23-yard run up the middle, making it his sixth of the season. Kicker Connor Furey added two field goals to end the scoring for the Broncos. 

After their second loss of the season two weeks ago to Basha, Brophy responded with a big win on Senior Night to get back on track.

“We were really trying to forget that game and move forward,” Jewell said. “We still have goals we want to accomplish, and we had to win tonight to get to those goals. We accomplished our first goal, now we are onto the next one.”

Brophy Prep (5-2, 2-2) will play at Corona del Sol at 7 p.m. Friday. Desert Vista (1-6, 0-2) will travel to Ironwood 7 p.m. on Friday.