Sam Polgreen is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Desert Vista High School

Desert Vista had its most memorable play of the season on Friday's first play from scrimmage, an 80-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Seth Hanson to wide receiver Isaac Price to take a 7-0 lead. But visiting Salpointe Catholic silenced the Thunder the rest of the way, storming to a 52-14 win in Phoenix.

It was the first regional game for both teams. Desert Vista dropped to 1-5 with its third straight loss, while Salpointe now has won three in a row to improve to 3-1. Despite surrendering a touchdown on the first play and trailing 7-0 after just 12 seconds, Salpointe rattled off 45 unanswered points, including five touchdowns and a field goal to take a commanding 38-7 lead at the half. 

“One of the biggest things is our physicality, it has to be better,” first-year Desert Vista head coach Jake McSpadden said. “They're just a more physical team than us.” 

It didn’t take long for Salpointe to establish control on both sides of the ball. The Lancers marched down the field on their first drive to tie the game on a 15-yard run by running back Richard Rivera with 9:11 left in the first quarter. Desert Vista then had to punt and Salpointe took the lead for good when quarterback Nathan Spivey scampered in from 11 yards to make it 14-7 midway through the first quarter. Salpointe then capitalized on a fumble by Desert Vista receiver Aeneas Redmond and tacked on a 36-year field goal by Kyah Francone to make it 17-7.

Salpointe pulled away with three touchdowns in the second quarter, including another touchdown run by Rivera and a pick-six by Spivey. The Lancers never looked back. 

Desert Vista came out of the locker room strong and slowed down Salpointe briefly to start the second half, but the Lancers added to the lead when running back Kaden Myers scored from 4 yards out to make it 45-7 with 2:28 left in the third.

Both teams tacked on touchdowns in the fourth as Salpointe emptied its bench. Running back Kevin Jackson scored from 1 yard out for Desert Vista to make it 45-14 with 4:38 left, but the Thunder would get no closer.

Salpointe kept piling it on, right to the final horn, scoring on a 27-yard pass play from backup quarterback Matt Avelar to wide receiver Evan Keiholz as time expired.

“We got to come together more as a team,” Desert Vista starting nose guard and defensive lineman Zxavian Cullum said. “We need to get more team bonding going. And stop pointing fingers and do our job.” 

“We’ve just got to play with that different mentality,” added starting linebacker Andrew Hoyt.

Desert Vista will have a bye week before looking to get back on track Oct. 18 when it hosts Brophy College Prep.

“We'll watch the film as a group and take all the positives that we can out of it,” McSpadden said. “Obviously there were a few negatives here and there, and we just need to get better from them. We’re going to see the type of plays that we could have made. When we're in position — the right position to make the play — we just have to make those plays.”