Desert Vista survives scare against Brophy
September 16, 2017 by Kennedy Wilkerson, Arizona State University
Lack of execution and sloppy play are hard to overcome, but the Desert Vista Thunder survived a with a 17-14 victory against the Brophy Broncos under the week four Friday Night Lights at Phoenix College.
“Sloppy play affects a lot more than the momentum of the game. It shuts drives down. It hurts you. We need to focus on cleaning stuff up,” said coach Dan Hinds.
Desert Vista (3-1) wasn’t expecting an easy matchup from Brophy and didn't get one. Brophy had a chance to tie the game late but missed a field goal.
“Going into this week our coaches emphasized Brophy’s record [1-3] didn’t demonstrate how good a team they are,” senior Jake White said. “The coaches really wanted us to overlook their record and come prepared for the fight they’d bring. It is really easy to come into a game like this, thinking we should easily come out with a win, and that got the best of us.”
The Thunder stole the momentum the first play of the game after a fumble recovery by Desert Vista’s Caleb Humphrey. but failed to capitalize in the red zone and turned the ball over on downs.
Two series later, however, quarterback Derek Kline connected with Jake White on a short slant pass. White created a 31-yard gain with his speed and a nasty stiff arm over Brophy defender.
Two minutes into the second quarter, Line threw his second touchdown pass, this one to tight end James Stagg for a 10-7 halftime lead.
An interception by junior Clay Sokol turned the game around for DV in the third quarter.
It led to a another touchdown pass to White in the corner of the end zone for a 17-7 lead.
“I did my best to read the quarterback to make the play,” Sokol said. “The momentum shift was pretty big there, I’ll admit. Right after the pick we created a drive of our own and ended up turning it into a score. We really needed that momentum to start the second half.
Brophy responded with a 44-yard touchdown run and the Broncos had a chance to tie the game with a 33-yard field goal attempt with 1:40 left in the game.
“Block that kick. Block that kick. Block that kick.”
Chants from the stands erupted to rally the Thunder.
The kick went up. Untouched. But was rejected by the bottom crossbar.
“That miss was big for us,” White said. “After that it was like we all knew the rest of the game was in our hands. We took a couple runs down the field to run some time down and then the QB kneel at the end to sum it all up for us.”
Desert Vista knows it must address its mistakes.
“Brophy had a really good game plan and came out and played hard,” Hinds said. “People don’t realize; they might be 1-4 but they have a good football program.”
The goal moving forward is still the same: get better week by week.
“We still have a lot of work to do this week, just like every week,'' said White. "Our focus is cleaning up our penalties and mistakes. Focusing on the little things going forward will help shape us into the playoff and championship team we want to be.''