Markos Tsegaye is a Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Shadow Ridge High School for AZPreps365.com

The Perry Pumas built a 35-0 halftime lead Friday night and then coasted to a 45-0 victory over Shadow Ridge.

The scoring began early for the Pumas as they forced a fumble on Shadow Ridge’s second offensive snap and senior linebacker Maddox Ford took it back for a touchdown. 

Perry (4-1) was able to get the ball back shortly after and sophomore quarterback Kael Snyder connected with senior wide receiver Peyton Grako on a 41-yard touchdown to make it 14-0. 

Before the end of the first quarter, Ford found the end zone again on a 15-yard touchdown pass from Snyder. 

In the second quarter, senior safety Jayden Kimling returned a punt for a touchdown. Then with four minutes to go in the half, sophomore running back Talen Frazier got into the end zone on an 8-yard touchdown run. 

At halftime, the game was already out of reach for Shadow Ridge (0-5) as Perry led 35-0. The second half went by quickly as the clock was running for most of it. This came into effect because of a Arizona Interscholastic Association rule where special timing rules apply if a team is ahead by 35 or more points in the second half. 

Perry’s last touchdown came on a five-minute drive that ended with Snyder finding senior wide receiver Hayden Moon for a 10-yard touchdown to make it 42-0 with seven minutes to go in the third quarter. Afterwards, Perry put in their backups for the remainder of the game. 

Snyder finished the game with 136 passing yards and three touchdowns. 

Perry coach Joseph Ortiz applauded his defense’s performance in his first shutout win at the helm of the Pumas.

“They’ve been playing great all year,” Ortiz said. “We’ve got some stuff to clean up offensively but I like where we’re at.”

Perry’s only loss of the season came last week to Brophy, 24-20. Ortiz said he learned about his team’s resiliency in the loss to Brophy, one of the better teams in the state. 

“I truly believe we’re a top 10 team in the state,” Ortiz said. “We went toe-to-toe with one of the top teams in the state. In our minds, we beat ourselves that game.”

In spite of the defeat on Friday, Shadow Ridge coach Michael Zdebski feels that his team is improving as the season goes on. 

“They (Shadow Ridge) fought for 48 minutes. That’s a good team over there,” Zdebski said. 

Shadow Ridge’s 0-5 start to the season continues a losing streak that is now at 14 games going back to last season. In spite of the team’s start, Zdebski said he and his staff have been focused on teaching good habits that are built into the team every chance they get. 

One of Shadow Ridge’s impact performers Friday was Nate Pearson, son of the team’s defensive coordinator Drew Pearson. Nate features as an offensive, defensive and special teams player for the Stallions. Similar to Zdebski, Nate praised the effort his team showed in Friday’s loss.

“There’s definitely some things we can clean up but we were playing hard,” Nate Pearson said. “We just hustle more and more every play and that’s a testament to our coaches.” 

Shadow Ridge (0-5) opens regional play at O’Connor (1-4) next Friday at 7 p.m. 

Perry (4-1) will have a bye week and then will play their first regional game on Oct. 11 at home against Casteel (3-2).