Ava Lumbatis is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover McClintock for AZPreps365.com

McClintock bested Dobson in a 56-18 blowout on Friday night to recover from its first loss of the season in last week’s game against Campo Verde.

The win earned the Chargers a rematch with Campo Verde as No. 9 McClintock travels to No. 8 Campo Verde for the first round of the 5A playoffs on Friday.

Before the rematch the Chargers had to take on the Mustangs.

The temperature dropped to a brisk 50 degrees and the Chargers overcame hardship in a contest against the Mustangs after the head coach Micah Fell suffered a stroke two weeks ago.

McClintock had something to prove and fight for to show the team is ready for playoffs and to make Coach Fell proud. 

“All the adversity we’ve had–whether it was Coach Fell, whether it was injuries, whether the weather–just all these things keep stacking against us and these kids are battling through and they’re attacking everything we’re throwing at them and we’re just really happy to see what they’re doing,” said coach Mike Sanchez.

McClintock's defense performed powerfully against Dobson in the bounce back game where it recovered at least three fumbles and had three interceptions for three touchdowns.

Two of the interceptions for touchdowns were completed by defensive end Daniel Fuentes, his first ones of the season. Defensive end David Deleon and defensive tackle Adrian Martinez excelled in the game.

Deleon nailed down two solo tackles, six assists, one sack and two tackles for loss while Martinez claimed at least four tackles and one sack. 

“They had some big linemen that hit me hard, real hard, but other than that we got them pretty good,” said defensive end David Deleon. 

The first half was rocky for McClintock with a fumble recovered by Dobson and a blocked extra point, however the Chargers managed to end the half up 20-6.

After halftime the team went out to score 26 points and recover two fumbles. Wide receiver Kemon Jackson scored two touchdowns in the second half and secured a 2-point conversion.

“We were our own biggest challenge, the boys it's their last (regular season) game, they were all thinking about breaking records and throwing for hundreds of yards. We just have to get out of our own way and play football.” said coach BraChar Gill. 

The Chargers’ defense practiced hard for the game against the Mustangs and now are working towards playoff preparations. Coach Sanchez emphasizes a basic focused training that is rooted in zoning in on the essentials in order to run a successful defense. 

“It was back to fundamentals. It ultimately comes to tackling," he said. "We worked fundamentals all week long and just putting pressure and holding these guys accountable to what we do here at McClintock.”  

With playoffs on the reamatch on the horizon, McClintock is getting ready and maintaining confidence even though the head coach is still recovering. The last time the Chargers made it to the playoffs was in the 2018-2019 season. 

“We’re excited, no nervousness going in. We are going to prepare the same way we prepare for every game. Go in with the same mentality and play physical, you know what we do,” said Deleon.

McClintock finished the regular season 9-1 to earn the ninth seed. Fell is in recovery and anticipating returning before playoffs begin.