Brayden Salomon is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Saguaro High School for AZPreps365.com.

Saguaro (0-6) got some late fourth-quarter magic from junior quarterback Marcel Jones against Centennial, but lost 30-20 on Friday.

The Sabercats hosted the Coyotes (2-4) in a non-conference matchup as both teams were looking to come out fast to get themselves an early lead.

Jones scored two rushing touchdowns, but Saguaro's 23-point comeback that he led wasn't enough.

At the start of the game, both the Sabercats and the Coyotes were able to put out strong defensive possessions, forcing both teams to punt. Throughout the first quarter, neither team could get the running or passing game going.

Centennial head coach Richard Taylor was happy with his team’s defensive performance.

“We played harder, I think the takeaways were really important.’ I think they had more penalties than we did, those are the two things that we really preach.”

Following the first quarter, both the Sabercats and the Coyotes were able to find holes in the opposing defenses and push the ball downfield. 

As the second quarter began, the Coyotes had made a quarterback change going from Kainan Manna to Ethan Beltran.

Saguaro’s costly penalties and mistakes taking care of the football led to multiple scores from the Coyotes that allowed them to extend their lead early on.

Some big penalties and a fumble by Saguaro in the red zone led to a Centennial field goal and a TD by the Coyotes' sophomore running back Darrion Bartholomew, putting them up 10-0.

Near the end of the second quarter, Jones and the Sabercats offense made a series of chunk plays in a successful drive that ultimately ended up in them scoring with a 25-yard TD pass to sophomore running back Ty Strozier to cut the Coyotes lead to three. 

Jones had some positive things about how he was able to take advantage of the quarterback-designed runs, which was a big part of Saguaro’s offense as he accounted for over 100 yards on the ground.

“Just watching film, we saw that their backers played hard on the run, so I knew that if I slowed down my exchanges they would bite down on my running back and I’d be able to get open field and make plays," Jones said.

As the second half began, the Coyotes were in total command as they forced another fumble and eventually scored another touchdown, extending their lead back to 10. 

Defensively, the Sabercats could not find any answers to stop the Coyotes offense as they went on to score two more TDs on two out of the three next drives, making the score 30-7.

The Sabercats didn't quit as they forced some fourth down stops. They ended the game with two TDs from Jones, including one for 40 yards. 

Saguaro has faced some trouble within the first six weeks of the season after six of their top players transferred out of the program.

Sophomore WR Aidan Whitaker showed many signs of hope and confidence in his team that success is coming back soon for the Sabercats.

“We are not a bad team, we still got talent like we did last year, the year before, and prior," Whitaker said. "We need to finish the little things and execute in the red zone.”

Saguaro plays cross-town rival Chaparral (3-3) next on Oct. 18 after a bye week.