By Raven Boone

The Catalina Foothill Falcons advanced to the 4A Conference championship game for the first time in school history after winning Friday night’s semifinal matchup versus the Higley Knights 62-37.

Quarterback Rhett Rodriguez of Catalina Foothills accounted for seven touchdowns, as the sixth-seeded Falcons controlled the majority of the game after No. 2 Higley scored first Saturday at Williams Field. Senior quarterback Mason Crossland completed a 20-yard touchdown pass to Jacob Rowland, giving the Knights a 6-0 lead four minutes into the game.

But the Falcons (12-2) answered with four consecutive touchdowns, one of which was a 55-yard touchdown pass completed by senior wide-receiver Jimmy Stewart III. The Falcons defense did not allow the Knights to make another appearance in the end zone until there was one minute left in the second quarter.

That’s when running back Draycen Hall completed a 7-yard rushing touchdown and Crossland rushed for a two-point conversion. Heading into halftime, the score was 34-14 after the Falcons snagged another touchdown with 24 seconds to go before the half.

“The outcome of tonight’s game came down to the matter of hard work and how hungry we were,” Falcons head coach Jeff Scurran said. “These kids prepared so hard and they really wanted to go to state. We are not a football school by any means, but we have a great group of seniors who helped out tremendously in the outcome of tonight’s game.”

The Knights (11-3) had trouble holding on to the ball during the game and stopping the offense of the Falcons, including senior running back Dashiel Pudwill, who scored three touchdowns in the third quarter.

Pudwill’s best gain of the night came with four minutes left in the third quarter when he rushed for a 34-yard touchdown. Higley gained some momentum in the fourth quarter, scoring two more touchdowns, but the effort came to late.

“I’m proud of them,” Higley coach Eddy Zubey said. “We made it to the semifinals, the furthest we’ve ever been. Some of these guys have played varsity for three years. They’ve fought, got to where they needed to get to, so it’s really unfortunate that it ended this way.”

The Catalina Foothills Falcons will face the Saguaro Sabercats in the state championship game on Saturday at University of Phoenix Stadium. The Falcons lost 35-0 to the Sabercats in the regular season, but Scurran believes his team will battle till the end on Saturday.

“We’ve played them before, and we got our fannies kicked real well, but it’s a whole new thing this time around,” Scurran said.

Boone is a sports journalism student at Arizona State.