No. 7 Sabino beat No. 5 Pusch Ridge 40-27 Friday night at home in what was billed as one of the biggest 3A Conference games in the state but now every week from here carries equal importance with playoff bound teams clashing the rest of the way without reprieve.

Sabino (5-1) hosts No. 14 Thatcher (3-3) next week after the Eagles beat Show Low 41-0 and then No. 4 ALA-West Foothills (5-1) comes to Tucson after the Guardians proved their strength by taking out No. 2 Paradise Honors 49-48 Friday night on the road. That game is followed by a trip to No. 10 Morenci (3-3) and then the regular season ends with top-ranked Mohave (7-0) coming in. The Sabercats have a power-point minefield ahead but, in reality, it all began two weeks ago when the Sabercats faced 4A power Mica Mountain (5-0) on the road in a 49-7 loss on paper but a ranking bonanza in the power formula. At this point, the Sabercats are hoping Mica Mountain wins out but having a clean sheet by playoff time is a difficult task for anyone including the Lions of Pusch Ridge.

Pusch Ridge entered the night undefeated at 5-0 but the loss to another top team in the conference and the vaunted 3A South Region serves as a reminder of how difficult the rest of the way is for them as well. Morenci visits Oro Valley next week and that is followed with a bit of a break with a trip to No. 24 Coolidge (2-4) but the regular season ends with games against Thatcher at home and then at No. 16 Safford (3-4). Safford beat Morenci 26-14 Friday night.

How difficult is the 3A Conference to win? Pusch Ridge was the last current 3A team to win a state championship and that was in 2015. Every state champion in the 3A Conference since that time has been bumped up to the 4A, 5A and even the 6A Conference and to win it you need exceptional talent like Sabino senior quarterback Cameron Hackworth who is on target to become the second QB from Southern Arizona to break 8,000 career passing yards and his skills were on display against Pusch Ridge Friday night when he threw for over 150 yards with three touchdowns and ran for over 110 yards with a rushing TD. Hackworth also went 5 for 5 on his two-point conversion throws.

It all started on the first drive with a 17-yard strike to junior Shamara Berryhill with 9:26 left in the first quarter with a pass to Sr. Savaughn Berryhill to make it 8-0 but Pusch Ridge came right back on an 80-yard drive capped by a short run from Sr. QB Bubba Mustain to cut the lead down to 8-7 with 2:21 left.

The Sabercats scored on a short run with 10:13 left in the first half combined with a conversion throw to Shamar Berryhill to make it 16-7 but the Lions were unable to respond and a punt led to a 68-yard scoring run from Hackworth to make it 24-7 with a throw to Shamar Berryhill again for two. Pusch Ridge gave up the ball on downs at midfield and then Hackworth hit Brit Roberson from 13 yards out to make it 32-7 with a pass to Savaughn Berryhill on the two-point conversion with 1:53 left in the half.

Mustain engineered another scoring drive with 3:18 left in the third, with Mustain taking it in himself from nine yards out, to make it 32-14 and the score would stay that way until Eliot Lovett came up with an interception to give the Lions the ball with 10:01 left in the game, which led to another scoring run from Mustain, to cut the Sabercat lead down to 32-20 on a missed conversion attempt. Hackworth bounced back and he threw to Max Trainer for a short TD catch and then Trainer collected a two-point pass to make it 40-20 with 6:01 left.

Mustain responded with a TD pass to Lovett to make it 40-27 with 4:18 left and then Sabino ran the clock out for the victory. Like Sabino, Pusch Ridge is well-coached as is evident this year with a game-plan that includes talent that stepped in after the graduation of some of the top players in the region last year.

“That's a great undefeated and well-coached team,” Sabino head coach Ryan McBrayer said of Kent Middleton and the Lions, “We came out and put 32 in the first half, now it's just not having a let down at halftime and finishing all 48 minutes because we're going face some really good teams down the stretch. There's no slackers all the way through so we're playing playoff football all the way and it’s going take all 48 minutes.”

Bubba Mustain. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)