The first half featured a safety, a missed field goal, three straight punts and seven turnovers but Rincon/University still managed to build a 15-0 lead on Palo Verde at home Friday night and the Rangers held that lead until the Titans scored with 5:03 left in the game. With the Ranger lead cut down to 15-8, the Titan defense held firm and forced a punt at the 27. A bad snap bounced around a bit backwards where defensive lineman Kamaiu Ortiz scooped it up and rumbled some 10 yards for an improbable score to cut the lead down to 15-14 with 3:41 left.

Victor Gonzales-Lopez took the snap on the ensuing two-point attempt and he waited until the last possible moment to pitch the ball out to Jason Moreno and Moreno extended his body, despite being tackled by three defenders, just past the goal line for what turned out to be the winning conversion and a 16-15 margin.

Still, there was 3:34 left on the clock and Rincon/UHS QB Jacob Jackson drove his team down the Titan 16 with 1:27 left. A fourth and ten situation from that spot tipped the scales towards a game-winning field goal attempt but Logen Ballard broke through the line from the left side and he blocked the kick. With no timeouts remaining, the Titans ran out the clock to preserve the victory.

The Titans suffered seven straight losses to the Rangers dating back to a 27-13 win in 2013 behind legendary coach Todd Mayfield. It’s a decade that included a winless season, 16 total victories, the COVID year and a year that was canceled due to low numbers. A Houston native and former head coach out of Maine, Jamal Chatman sees a future in this win that featured several replacement players for starters who did not qualify for the trip.

“It’s a good win. It’s just the springboard for what we need to be doing,” Chatman said. I told the kids that we believe in you and you have to believe in yourself and just keep doing what we ask you to do..

When asked about freshmen and sophomores stepping up Chatman added, “We asked them to pay attention in practice and do your job and it’s going to work out. The youngsters who spilled for us tonight, they did what we asked them to do. They stayed fast and stayed steady.”

Rincon/UHS opened the game up by driving down to the 10 but a fumble gave the ball to Palo Verde where three straight sacks caused a safety and a 2-0 lead that survived a missed field goal attempt from the Titans and several more turnovers from both squads. Daniel Barajas capped off an 80-yard drive after that missed attempt with a three-yard plunge to put the Rangers up 8-0 with a missed extra point try with 8:14 left in the first half.

Three more turnovers led to a 32-yard score from Jackson to Aaron Carson to make it 15-0 with the extra point. Gonzales-Lopez started to put things together and he engineered a 78-yard scoring drive with 5:03 left in the game, capped off with a 30-yard strike to Jackson Tyson to make it 15-6 and then Gonzales-Lopez ran in for two more to make it 15-8.

For the Rangers, head coach Johnny Chan is in his first year after serving as an assistant last year. He told his squad that they need to rebound from what he described as a bad week of practice. An 18-16 victory over Washington last week may have caused some players to lose focus on what it takes to build a program.

Gonzales-Lopes threw for 225 yards on 15-33 attempts with TD and a three interceptions. Daniel Ortiz pulled in 104 yards on five catches and he came up with an interception. Tyson had 59 yards on three catches. Jackson threw for 182 on 12-40 attempts with a TD and an interception. Thomas Montgomery pulled in four catches for 62 yards, Robert Brown had three catches for 62 yards and he had an interception. Carson had two receptions for 46 yards. Jordan Cameron had an interception as did Vincente Villanueva.

Rincon/UHS (1-1) will travel to Safford (1-2) next week and Palo Verde (1-1) will play at Coronado (0-3).