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Congratulations to the San Manuel High School 2018 Homecoming Royalty: for the class of 2022 Riley Gillies & Karyme Young; for the class of 2021 Adrian Romero & Myleaha Gallego; for the class of 2020 Santiago Salazar & Araceli Curry; and for the class of 2019 Christian Estrada & Darien Apuron. This year’s Homecoming King is Michael Ochoa and Queen Sasha Salazar. Photo by Jeffery Head, SMHS
The San Manuel football team twice erased 10-point deficits, the last in the final four minutes of the game to defeat visiting Tempe Prep last Friday night, 28 – 24.
The Miners trailed the Knights 18 – 8 at the end of third quarter and 24 – 14 with just over four minutes remaining in the game. That’s when the Miners went to work.
Junior quarterback Caleb Quintero, who threw for more than 200 yards in the game, connected with freshman receiver Noah Huerta for a 15-yard touchdown pass to trim the Knights lead to four, 24 – 20, with just over a minute left in the game.
Tempe Prep was attempting to run out the clock when senior Emilio Escalante stripped the Knights ball carrier and returned the “fumble” 55 yards for the game-winning touchdown.
“I think our kids played great,” San Manuel head coach Damon Lovato said. “It was a great exclamation point to Homecoming Week.”
After suffering losses in games that they held leads in but couldn’t close them out, the Miners turned the tables against Tempe Prep.
Albert Lizarraga led the Miners’ offensive attack with seven receptions for 110 yards. Defensively, San Manuel had four interceptions, three sacks, and, of course, one game-changing fumble recovery. Michael Ochoa, a senior, finished with a team-high 17 tackles.
After an 0 – 4 start, the Miners have won two of their last three games with arguably the two most important games of the season upcoming at Globe and at Miami.
“We’re still improving from week to week,” Lovato said. “I believe we’re still getting better. Our kids have been receptive the changes we’ve made that have directly affected our results, especially in our wins.”
Up next: The Miners travel to Globe this Friday for the first of two-straight crucial road games.
“We have to keep the boys focused,” Lovato said. “We can’t worry about Miami without going through Globe first. We need another good week of preparation with a solid game plan and then the boys need to execute like they have been.”
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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