By Don Ketchum

Phoenix Christian’s football team was in a good position in the first half of its game against Phoenix Northwest Christian on Friday night (Sept. 28).

The Cougars had cut top-seeded Northwest’s lead to 14-7 by halftime and would receive the second-half kickoff.

But Phoenix Christian went nowhere on that opening drive, punctuated by a sack by Northwest’s James Mosbrucker.

Northwest scored on the second play of its first possession and poured it on, outscoring the second-seeded Cougars 34-7 after halftime for a 48-14 Division V victory.

Northwest remained unbeaten at 6-0 while Phoenix Christian fell to 5-1.

“We gave them a chance to get back into the game, and then we came back to play the way we are capable of playing,’’ said Northwest coach Dave Inness, whose team was state runner-up to Yuma Catholic in 2011.

“In the second half, we got the ball to our playmakers and Kyle (Shipp, quarterback) settled down. I was happy with our defense. They (PC) had been averaging over 40 points, but they only scored once against our first defense.’’

Hunter McShanag ran for two first-half touchdowns for the Crusaders. He set up his second TD with a 68-yard run. He had 99 yards in the first half and finished with 147 on 12 carries.

Phoenix Christian scored its first TD with 6:59 left in the second quarter on a 9-yard pass from John Debus to Nikko Matthew.

Northwest wore Phoenix Christian down with its running game, picking up 261 yards in the second half and finishing with 384.

Northwest went to the Wildcat formation to get their first score of the second half on a 35-yard run by Trevor Osborne, better known as one of the state’s top safeties at any level.

Phoenix Christian lost linebacker-running back Scottie Jordan on the play with what appeared to be a concussion. He was down on the field for about 10 minutes and walked off under his own power, but did not return to action. That also put a crimp in the Cougars’ running game after Jordan had rushed for 49 yards in the first half.

He carried just once for a yard in the second half, and Brycen Hunt entered the game on offense after the injury, rushing for 46 yards and a TD in the second half.

After Shipp scored on a 47-yard run with 6:11 left in the third, Osborne scored again late in the quarter, taking a traditional handoff and running 13 yards into the end zone.

Shipp found Matt Delos for a 50-yard TD that began with a short pass in the right flat. The Crusaders wrapped things up with 3:20 left in the game when backup running back Xavier Juarez took a handoff, spun away from a couple of defenders and raced for a 71-yard TD.

The 6-foot-3, 198-pound Osborne came up with some big hits on defense, and Inness couldn’t say enough good things about him.

“He’s as good or better than anybody I’ve coached,’’ Inness said. “He’s a smarter player than he is physical-wise. He’s been contacted by Yale and Harvard, but I think he could play pretty much anywhere, Stanford, places like that.’’