No. 3 Marana beat No. 14 Desert Vista 42-13 at home Wednesday night to advance to the 6A flag football quarterfinal round this Saturday where the Tigers will host No. 6 Millennium at 2 p.m. Millennium beat No. 11 Desert Ridge 28-3 to set up the quarterfinal game. There were no upsets in the first round of the 6A playoffs.

Desert Vista (7-7) lost to Marana 24-6 at home one week ago to end the regular season and the Tigers are now 13-1 on the season with the only loss coming to No. 2 Basha on Oct. 28. That 21-20 setback placed both squads in the same half of the playoff bracket and a rematch could happen in the semifinal round if both teams can qualify. If they do, Basha will host on Wednesday, Nov. 20.

Marana scored first on a 27-yard pass from Ella Joplin to Malaysia Roebuck with 10:57 left in the first and the Tigers were driving again with just over six minutes left in the opening quarter but Naveah Jones picked up an interception at her own at the two and she ran the ball back to the Marana 19 with Sadie Brown coming up with the pull some 79 yards later.

Junior quarterback Jackie Jimenez connected with Camille Rameriz from two yards out to tie the game at 7-7 with 5:52 left and it looked like the Thunder defense would get the ball back moments later after forcing the Tigers into a fourth down but Joplin hit Brown for 65 yards on the play to put Marana back up 14-7 with 3:47 left.

Brown would come up with an interception with 3:31 left in the half but Grace Chambers returned the favor two plays later deep in Thunder territory. Marana forced a punt however, which led to a 13-yard pass from Joplin to Brown to make it 21-7 with 33.2 seconds left in the half.

Joplin hit Brown for 41 yards to make it 28-7 with 9:20 left in the third quarter but Jimenez responded with a TD pass to Samirah Nasser-Atiase to cut the lead down to 28-13 with a missed two-point conversion try. Marana missed on a 34-yard field goal attempt with four seconds left in the third quarter but Adrian Griffin collected an interception with 8:03 left to prevent another Thunder score.

Joplin drove the Tigers down the field on an 83-yard scoring drive, capped off with a two-yard pass to Madison Myers-Rebidas to go up 35-13 with 2:16 left. The Thunder had several chances to cut into the lead in the game but Marana came up with an interception to turn each opportunity back, including an interception from Myers-Rebidas with two minutes left and Joplin hit Roebuck for one final score to make it 42-13.

INTERVIEWS

THE PLAYS