On paper, some might call it a huge upset. It's easy to make that claim whenever a top seed gets beaten in the first round, especially when the top seed is No. 2 Oro Valley Ironwood Ridge and the lower seed is No. 15 Sunnyside.

When the playoff brackets were released last Saturday morning in Northern Phoenix, the Nighthawks (9-1) were penciled in as the likely state championship opponent of No. 1 Peoria Liberty.  There are no guarantees.

The Sunnyside coaching staff made the early drive to the far reaches of Phoenix last Saturday morning to take in the atmosphere of the AIA365.com Football Bracket Show. There was no fanfare waiting for them. At 6-4, the Blue Devils were on the edge of making the Division II state playoffs and it might have been a good idea to watch the show at home rather than take the risk of not getting selected.

But Glenn Posey took his staff up north and they experienced what Sahuarita head coach David Rodriguez described as a coach's "Christmas" when they saw "Sunnyside" on the big screen.

Posey and his staff got back in their car and drove back to Tucson moments after seeing who they would be playing. They had work to do.

If Posey was to win his first playoff game he would have to devise a plan where everything finally came together.

"We didn’t get a signature win against Salpointe," said Posey. "We didn’t get the signature win against Cienega and we didn’t get it against Sahuaro. We made just enough mistakes to lose those games.

"I knew if we were to ever put it all together we would be a good team. We were always on the edge."

No more.

Beating a team 35-14 is way over the edge. Beating Ironwood Ridge 35-14 is a signature win. Even at 7-4, you can be called a good team. Win one more and you can be considered a great team.

On the other side, Matt Johnson commanded one of the most powerful offensive running machines in the state with over 3,000 yards rushing with five backs carrying the load including junior Cole McLafferty with over 1,000 yards and senior QB Michael Franzese a few yards away from 800.

Unfortunately, Franzese was not available due to a high-ankle sprain suffered last Friday. Even though senior Dylan Key filled in and took control of the offense, you cannot overestimate the loss of experience in a very complicated system.

The Nighthawks (9-2) were built for the ground attack and it is something they take great pride in but they also feature a fast and stingy defense that allows them the freedom of playing ahead to avoid the pass.

Johnson led the Nighthawks to their first championship in 2012 when they destroyed Peoria Centennial 27-3 using a similar method of dominance but something was different Friday night.

Isaiah Salazar threw for 236 yards and rushed for 96 more. In all, the Blue Devils had over 400 yards of offense and Ironwood Ridge was limited to 258 - almost half of what they are used to.

Sunnyside has four tacklers in the top 16 of Division II. Led by junior Ruben Figueroa's 168 total tackles, the Blue Devils seemingly took out their frustrations on Ironwood Ridge.

The Blue Devils took the opening drive and put seven points up on a 15-yard pass from Salazar to Juan Avalos. Their 66-yard opening drive never featured a third down.

Both teams punted and then Ironwood Ridge tied it up on a 28-yard pass from Key to Christopher Babyak. Sunnyside responded by driving 79 yards only to be turned away on four straight rushes from within the 2-yard line.

The Ridge took over on downs but they fumbled the ball away several plays later and Salazar found Adam Mendoza from 10 yards out to go up 14-7. Ironwood Ridge came alive and drove 80 yards and tied it back up after Key ran it in from 2-yards out.

Sunnyside went on another long drive and Salazar found Figueroa on a 4-yard pass to go up 21-14 with 28.2 seconds left in the half.

Key finished with 91 yards rushing and 110 yards passing. On any other given night, 200 yards of offense would be more than enough to get the job done but a series of punts in the third quarter meant someone was going to go above and beyond.

Salazar took Sunnyside on another scoring drive and hit Avalos on an 8-yard play to go up 28-14.

Salazar will have to go a bit deeper in the playoffs to conjure up images of Blue Devil greats from the past such as Posey, Jon Horton, Bobby Valdez, David Adams, Harry Holt and Fred Sims but he made a name for himself Friday night.

His 10-yard dash with 4:19 left in the game featured a 5-yard leap for the end zone with Nighthawk defenders meeting him in midair. When the dust settled, the referee was raising his arms and Sunnyside had its 35-14 lead and another hero.

"I feel excited. Just excited," said Salazar. "I knew it was going to be a tough game but our practices turned out to be so much harder because we put everything together in the game. I'm glad I helped put Sunnyside back on top."

Ironwood Ridge was turned back on the 12-yard line the drive before when a 12-yard pass on a 4th-and-13 gave Sunnyside the ball back on downs but there was still time. With 4:15 left, Key took Ironwood Ridge on a drive from their own 15 only to have Avalos come up with an interception in the end zone to seal the victory.

A 9-2 record should equate to success in anyone's book but teams are too often judged in the media by championships and championships only. There are over 230 teams in Arizona and only six will win a championship on the field this year.

Ironwood Ridge and Sunnyside might not end up being one of those six but Johnson and Posey have built championship quality programs and quality young men.

It's a far better legacy.

 

Sunnyside will visit No. 10 Scottsdale Chaparral next Friday in the quarterfinal round.