Shay Moloney is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Mesa High School for AZPreps365.com

The Mesa Jackrabbits ran out of steam late Friday night against Casteel, losing 42-27 and falling short of their first conference victory.

Last November, Mesa football was a first-round win away from facing Casteel in the quarterfinals of the 6A state tournament. This season, the matchup would come in week 5, with both the Jackrabbits and Colts looking for a marquee 6A victory. In the end, a high-scoring affair would go Casteel’s way thanks to a commanding fourth-quarter performance on both sides of the ball. 

Down 28-27 after three quarters of play, Mesa’s defense allowed a 1-yard rushing touchdown to Casteel’s Isaiah Linyear seconds into the fourth quarter to take an eight-point lead. Linyear, Casteel’s primary ball carrier Friday night, was a thorn in the side of the Jackrabbits’ defense all game long. The senior running back finished with four touchdowns on the ground in what was clearly a concerted rushing attack by the Colts’ offense. The last of those touchdowns occurred with just two minutes remaining in the game to take a two-possession lead and seal Mesa’s fate. 

“In the future, we’re going to have to start seeing what they like to do, game plan for it, and attack it,” Mesa junior linebacker Ezekiel Estep said about what the team needs to do to stop the run in the games ahead. Estep entered the game as the team’s leading tackler on a defense that did not allow 90 rushing yards in either of Mesa’s last two victories. Friday night proved to be a much different case as Linyear and company hit the century mark in rushing yards by halftime. 

Offensively, the fourth quarter wasn’t friendly to the Jackrabbits either. After falling behind 35-27, Mesa got its first drive of the fourth quarter off to a hot start with a nifty trick play that resulted in a 32-yard pass from wide receiver Kyler Moore to fellow receiver Kelvin Holland. The next three plays, though, would combine to lose 5 yards and precede an incomplete pass from quarterback Adrik Reed on fourth-and-15 to turn the ball over on downs. 

Mesa’s defense held strong, however, and forced Casteel to miss a field goal to keep it at an eight-point deficit with the clock ticking down in the final quarter. 

The next drive felt like deja vu. Mesa's biggest play of the night from scrimmage kickstarted the Jackrabbits’ possession as Reed connected with his star wide receiver, Griffin Yamamoto, for a 47-yard gain. Disaster followed once again. A costly penalty by Mesa in the red zone resulted in a third-and-18 desperation heave from Reed that would be intercepted in the endzone by Casteel’s Xavier Wade. 

Linyear’s fourth touchdown of the night followed to put the nail in the coffin at 42-27. 

Before the missed opportunities in the fourth quarter, Mesa did manage to match Casteel’s persistent scoring for much of the game. It was the special-teams unit that shined for the Jackrabbits. The first points of the game for Mesa were scored on a 90-yard kickoff return by Holland, and kicker Evan Romero was perfect on all five of his kicks, including two field goals to help keep the game in reach. 

“I don’t feel pressure, I was just enjoying the moment,” Romero said about his clutch performance. Romero credits his special-teams “squad” for his personal success, and claimed they’re “the best in the state” after Friday’s impressive showing. 

Mesa’s head coach Chad DeGrenier made sure not to understate the importance of Romero as well. 

“It’s critical. … Being able to score in critical points and keep the game close in high school is huge,” DeGrenier said about the luxury of having a talented place-kicker. 

The bright spots on special-teams will be overshadowed by the loss, though, as Mesa’s record moves to 2-3, and the Jackrabbits still are missing that elusive 6A conference victory. That could change as early as next week as Mesa gets set to take on Tolleson Union in the first regional matchup of the season for both teams. After Friday night’s loss, DeGrenier called it a “must-win game.”

Mesa travels to Tolleson for the game at 7 p.m. October 3.