The 4A state championship game will feature No. 1 Yuma Catholic (13-0) and No. 2 Canyon del Oro (13-0) with the final taking place Friday, Dec. 1 at the Mountain America Stadium, on the ASU campus, with kickoff set for 4 p.m. If most of that sounds familiar, it is. Except for the ranking order, the Shamrocks and the Dorados were the top-two preseason picks in the pages of the Sollenberger Magazine released in August by yours truly. It was a long road, with a few potential potholes along the way, but both teams did what was needed to set up the only undefeated final in the state regardless of conference.

As a 3A school moved up to play 4A football, the Shamrocks were removed from Open Division consideration but the program still had to perform well enough to hold onto the top seed with a couple of close calls in the first few weeks, but a 22-17 squeaker over No 10 AZ College Prep (8-4) on Sept. 22 was followed by eight straight weeks of uncontested play with an average score of 34-9, including a 42-7 win over No. 4 Arcadia (12-1) in the semifinal round Friday night.

By contrast, the Dorados flirted with an Open Division placement and the team survived a 17-15 battle over No.3 Mica Mountain (11-2) on Oct. 13, with the help of a blocked extra point and a strip-sack on a 2-point conversion try and a 33-27 thriller over AZ College Prep in the quarterfinal round where the Dorados needed four overtimes to get it done. Canyon del Oro beat Mica Mountain 23-7 in the other semifinal round and now No. 1 will face No. 2.

In the game at Canyon del Oro, senior running back Kayden Luke finished with 169 yards on 32 carries with three touchdowns. He broke 2,000 yards this year and he now has 27 TDs. and he has one more game to add more before he goes on to defend his Division II state wrestling championship (215 weight class).

On the other side, Mica Mountain junior QB Jayden Thoreson started out strong with a 30-yard completion to Devin Hayward but an interception a few plays later to Chase Laux set up a 21-yard field goal from Reese Douglas to put the Dorados up 3-0 with 4:05 left in the first.

Thoreson got hot again and he hit Jimmy Leon for 47 yards to give the Thunderbolts a 7-3 lead with 11:38 left in half. Then it became a game of turnovers. Hayward came up with an interception to put the Bolts back in business but the team was forced to punt, which led to an interception from Kason Colbert, which led to a fumble to set up Luke for his first score, a 6-yard dash to put the Dorados up 10-7 at the half.

The turnovers continued in the third quarter with Canyon del Oro senior Aaron Ramirez coming up with an interception only to have Josiah Thornwell punched the ball out of his hand 50 yards down field but the ball took a strange bounce back to Ramirez to set the Dorados up with a first-and-goal situation, erasing a promising drive by the Thunderbolts. Luke forced the ball in and the Dorados led 17-7 with 8:46 left in the third.

“We’ve been solid defensively and I feel our defense hasn’t change week to week,” Canyon del Oro head coach Dustin Peace said. “We’ve been resilient all year long. We were able to dial in on what our defense does well, get to the quarterback and got some turnovers.”

Luke would go on and score again with 6:38 left in the game for the 23-7 final on a night where the Thunderbolts had a difficult time moving the ball. Thoreson finished with 186 yards with a TD completion and he is on target to be the next QB from Southern Arizona to break 5,000 yards passing when he returns for his senior season. Hayward had 81 yards receiving and Leon had 56.

For the Dorados, Luke had his 169 yards rushing but Tristen McClelland was limited to 23 yards passing on 10 attempts, with Evan Greer collecting all 23 yards to go along with several sacks and hurries on defense.

It’s been a remarkable run by the Thunderbolts in only the third year of competition, and the second year as a full 4A program under legendary head coach Pat Nugent.

“No one can take anything away from what you accomplished.” Nugent told his team after the game. “We are a powerhouse because of our seniors. It’s not easy to do what you did. You took us from nothing to the semifinals. You put this school on the map.”

It’s been well-documented that Nugent was a mentor to Peace when he coached him at Flowing Wells and, when Nugent handed the Dorados to Peace after he left in 2008 to take the Pima Community College position, Peace went on to win the 2009 state championship with Ka’Deem Carey carrying the load for the Dorados. Nugent lost the 2007 state championship to Saguaro on a late field goal to start the resurgence and Peace led the Dorados to another runner-up finish 2010. This will be the sixth championship appearance for the Dorados with the team winning it all in 1976, 1977 and 2009.

“We're grateful to have another opportunity to get back on the practice field and just spend another week with our football family because these guys were close,” Peace added. “I’m excited for how special it is for our guys to play in one final game. This is it”

This will be the eight championship appearance for the Shamrocks and the first since 2021 when the team was a 3A program. All three titles (2011, 2013 and 2014) came at the Division V level. This will be the first “big school” appearance for the program. All of those appearances have been under head coach Rhett Stallworth.

 

THE SCORES