by 
Poston Butte
Football – The Broncos, who were coming off a bye week, lost their fourth-straight game to start the season last Friday night, 37 – 14 to 10th-ranked Sunnyside. The Broncos trailed only 14 – 6 at halftime but were outscored 23 – 8 in the second half.
“I think we game together to play better in the first half,” junior quarterback Shavez Hawkins told the Ledger after the game. “But then returned to our old ways in the second half.”
Junior running back Josh Hatfield returned to the lineup and scored both of the Broncos’ touchdowns in the game.
“We ran the read option,” Hawkins answered when asked about the offensive success running the ball. “We’re getting better, but we have a lot of young guys on our team.”
The Broncos will face their second-straight top-ten opponent when they host Tucson High this Friday.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
San Tan Foothills
Football – The Sabercats took out the frustrations of three-straight lopsided losses by dishing out one of their own versus Tanque Verde last Friday night. The Cats crushed the visiting Hawks, 54 – 7.
“We played as a team,” senior quarterback Anthony Liu told the Ledger. “We had almost everyone back – Josh Smith and Manny Armenta came back. We had a freshman – Marcus Blaise – stepped up. Overall, we played well as a team, played hard, and didn’t let anything stop us.”
The Cats led 21 – 0 at halftime and 35 – 0 after three quarters. They outscored the Hawks 19 – 7 in the final quarter to pick up their second win of the year.
Armenta was named Offensive and Defensive Player of the Game in his first game back from injury and senior Kyle Stanifer was the Overall Player of the Game.
Stanfier (86) and Armenta (143) combined for 229 of the Cats’ 376 rushing yards in the game. Armenta had two rushing touchdowns while Stanifer, Devon Ziman, Marcus Blaise, and Liu each had one rushing score in the win.
“Manny is a big part of our offense,” Liu said. “He has good field vision, he’s quick on his feet, and he can read the holes.”
Armenta and Blaise also scored on defense, each returning an interception for a touchdown against the Hawks.
Junior Raul Aranda was named Special Teams Player of the Game after going 6-for-7 on PAT’s.
The Cats have a bye this week and will return to action on Oct. 2 at home versus Globe.
Andrew Luberda began writing for Copper Area News Publishers (CANP) in February 2013 after working 15 years in Healthcare Financial Management. Andy covers sports for 11 high schools. His stories are published in Copper Basin News, San Manuel Miner and Superior Sun, in addition to the San Tan Valley Daily PRSS and CopperArea websites. Additionally, he has written human interest stories and business profiles. In May 2012, he earned an AAS in Sports Management at Central Arizona College before graduating with a BS in Communication from Arizona State University in 2014. He and his wife, Kelli, have three sons – AJ, Kyle, and Kade.
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