Donald Burdon is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication Student assigned to cover Tolleson High School for AZPreps365. 

Tolleson's defense forced nine turnovers against Westwood to pick up its  second win of the season 42-7 in convincing fashion Friday night in 6A Fiesta Region action.

The game started off with Tolleson’s defnese having a strong grip on Westwood’s offense. For its offense though, first downs were rare to come and every drive ended in punts.

Then, the Wolverines' defense struck late in the first quarter, when senior defensive back Augustine McCabe returned a fumble for a touchdown.

"I just looked, (Judah Lancaster) made a good tackle, he stripped the ball," he said. "I saw the ball and I just saw green."

This pattern would occur for most of the game. 

The Wolverines' offense struggled in the first half, with Tagg Harrison and Jeramiah Uriarte combining for 57 passing yards with a lost fumble, and Amari Mitchell only rushing for 31 rushing yards in the half. The Warriors' offense, meanwhile, did manage to put together multiple  drives against the Tolleson defense.

However, the majority of them would end in costly turnovers.

First, they lost another fumble during a momentum-gaining drive.

Then, Giordan Hanks threw an interception to senior Hamisi Juma in Wolverine territory.

And finally, in the red zone, they were sacked on fourth down which effectively ended the first half.

Tolleson ultimately ended up forcing four turnovers in the first half. Its offense though only gained 88 total yards, had zero touchdowns, and even a lost fumble.

Because of the Wolverines’ offense, they only led 7-0 at halftime.

"Defensively, we fought really hard, I thought we played well enough to win defensively," Warriors head coach Brandon Large said. "Offensively, we just turned over the ball too much."

At the start of the second half, the Warriors were set to receive and with a chance to start to regain momentum. Instead, they muffed the kickoff and Tolleson ended up recovering.

The Wolverines' initially took advantage of the amazing field position, gaining eight yards in two plays to set up a third and short near the red zone. However, a bad snap derailed the drive and they turned it over on downs.

When it seemed like Westwood was going to gain some much-needed momentum, Tolleson's defense stepped up again. On his first pass of the second half, Hanks threw his second interception to junior defensive back Johnny Rogers, once again setting up the Wolverines with good field position.

This time, Tolleson's offense capitalized on the turnover, driving down the field and scoring a touchdown off of a 12-yard pass thrown by Harrison to running back Tyeshon Howard.

For most of the third quarter the Warriors' ended their drives with either a punt or a turnover. In the rest of the third quarter alone, R.J. Dogbah ran back a pick-six, and McCabe also grabbed an interception from Hanks. The offense capitalized on McCabe's interception with a 23-yard passing touchdown from Harrison to senior receiver Damaryon Huckaby.

The score with four minutes left in the third quarter ballooned to 28-0 for Tolleson.

Then, the Wolverines' defense started giving up yards and first downs. Westwood's offense seemed to gain life from the throwing arm and mobile legs of Hanks. 

Tolleson ultimately gave up a touchdown to Hanks on a 4-yard run, making the score 28-7. Unfortunately, Hanks suffered a serious injury on the play and was down on the field for 15-20 minutes.

He had to leave on a stretcher and did not return to the game.

After that, the Wolverines' defense contained the Warriors' offense for the rest of the game. Their night ended with forcing and recovering a fumble off of Westwood's sophomore running back Apaiata Tengei, their ninth recorded turnover of the game. 

Meanwhile, on offense, some of the younger guys got their chance to play.

In the fourth quarter, junior quarterback Ammon Wright threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Mitchell, and freshman quarterback Kristian Escobedo got in on the fun late with a huge 57-yard touchdown pass to sophomore wide receiver Rico Blassingame. 

It was not a great game for the Warriors, who now drop to 2-7 with a 1-3 region record.

Tolleson coach Rich Wellbrock said it was a nice reversal of fortune.

"We found a way, a lot of weeks to make mistakes," he said. "And tonight, we found a way to make a lot of good things happen."