Rome Kadi is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Notre Dame Preparatory for AZPreps365.com

PHOENIX — The No. 19-ranked Notre Dame Prep Saints suffered their first loss of the season Friday in a 40-0 shutout against the No. 4 Brophy Broncos.

Both teams came into this matchup at 4-0, but one factor changed the entire game.

Notre Dame’s Cooper Perry, one of the top wide receivers in Arizona, caught a stomach bug this week. After missing two days of practice and leaving early from another, Perry originally was cleared to play Friday morning. However, a few hours before kickoff, Perry’s status was changed to inactive.

The Saints’ offense needed Perry because it couldn’t get into a tempo against Brophy. In the first half alone, there were five drives that ended with punts and one drive ended with a turnover on downs. Additionally, on the second drive of the game, Dylan Rarden, the Saints’ senior quarterback,  was sacked in the end zone for a safety by Dominic Woods, a senior middle linebacker for the Broncos.

After the game, Rarden said Perry not playing left the Saints’ offense flummoxed.

“He’s been important in drawing double teams [when] people [are] looking toward his way and helping other people get open,” Rarden said. “It [was] just getting [the offense] set back and not doing what we know we’re supposed to do.” 

Saints Head Coach George Prelock also recognized the hardships that came with Perry not playing a single snap Friday night.

“Anytime you’re missing a top player in the state, it’s going to hurt,” Prelock said. “But when it comes down to it, we’ve got to play for one another. We’ve had injuries all year [and] it’s the next man up [mentality].” 

Brophy, however, took advantage of its opportunities throughout the game. Junior quarterback, Case Vanden Bosch, was the focal point of the Broncos’ offense. He had two touchdowns on the ground and one in the air to junior wide receiver Devin Fitzgerald in the first half. Junior running back Harrison Chambers also had two rushing touchdowns in the first half, including a 35-yard score that put the Broncos up 23-0. Those scores got Brophy’s offense in a rhythm that it wouldn’t relinquish.

When both teams made their way to their locker rooms at halftime, the scoreboard read 37-0 in Brophy’s favor.

In the second half, the Broncos marched down the field on a lengthy drive that got them into the red zone, but Vanden Bosch threw his only interception of the game in the end zone to Dylan Lavinia, a senior cornerback for the Saints.

Notre Dame Prep then went on a long drive of its own, that took the game into the fourth quarter. Although a defensive pass-interference penalty got the Saints close to opposing territory, the drive stalled at their own 49-yard line and they had to punt yet again.

In Brophy’s final drive of the game, senior wide receiver and backup quarterback, Christian Camarata, came in for Vanden Bosch and led the Broncos into field-goal range to make the score 40-0.

After the Broncos gave the ball back to the Saints, they only ran a few more plays to run out the clock and end the game.

One of the top performers for Brophy was Vanden Bosch, who threw for 227 yards and one touchdown and had 117 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Chambers collected 37 rushing yards and two touchdowns.

For the Saints, Rarden only had five completions in the entire game. This comes after completing nine passes for 170 yards in last Thursday’s 59-14 thrashing of the Sunnyslope Vikings.

Notre Dame Prep senior running back and middle linebacker, Jason Samis, only rushed for 23 yards and did not score.

After the final whistle blew, Samis kept it simple on what the team needs to do move forward. 

“Losses are losses,” Samis said. “You got to put this in the trash, you got to forget about it, and you got to keep moving forward, no matter what. We’re going to regroup. We know how it feels to lose now. We got to keep pushing forward and not let that happen again.”

Notre Dame Prep now has a bye week. The Saints return home to face the Horizon Huskies on Oct. 11. 

Next week, Brophy goes back to battling 6A teams when it plays host to a powerhouse in Arizona high school football, the No. 2- ranked Basha Bears, at Central High School in Phoenix.