Colin McAdams is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Cesar Chavez High School for AZPreps365.com.

With senior quarterback Lucas Arnds leading the way, Cesar Chavez evened its record at 2-2 with a 58-48 victory over Mountain Ridge on Friday night. 

Arnds threw for 167 yards, completing 11 of 20 passes, with two passing touchdowns. On the ground, Arnds added 53 rushing yards and two more touchdowns.

Champions coach Manuel Alcantar said the focus coming into the game was to run the ball effectively.

“We talked about pounding the rock and run the ball, and that’s what we did," Alcantar said. "We came out and tried to see what we could do here and there, but we came out and decided to run the ball and it worked out for us.”

Despite allowing 48 points, the Champions defense was credited with applying a lot of pressure on the Mountain Lions. They finished the game with five sacks and two fumble recoveries. The second fumble was returned for a touchdown late in the 4th quarter, thwarting Mountain Ridge's final drive.

Chavez’s defensive line spent all game pressuring the quarterback, constantly stopping Keegan Stancato, Mountain Ridge's scrambling quarterback.  

Alcantar spoke highly of the defensive line coach when asked what the preparation was for the Mountain Lions offense.

“That’s hard. A lot of it was film," he said. "Mountain Ridge did a good job getting a scrambling quarterback over the offseason … Our defensive line coach did a really good job preparing our boys for the game.”

The Champions got scoring from all sides of the ball, as they also got two touchdowns from the special teams.

 “We talked about winning the special teams battle," Alcantar said. "At first we weren’t winning it. We tied it up, it took another one to get that extra touchdown. Coach Underwood, he does a heckuva job with those guys. I was very proud of them today.”

Cesar Chavez will host Perry (3-1) next Friday in their last non-conference game of the season.

Mountain Ridge (3-1) will  play at Tolleson (0-3).