Sierra Canyon’s program carries plenty of weight in high school basketball circles.

Central witnessed firsthand just how strong—and fast and tall—the Trailblazers are Sunday.

The Bobcats weren’t totally flattened by the California powerhouse, but they were certainly outmatched in their Carolyn and Tod Delano Section 7 bracket final. Still, despite losing 88-56 at Arizona Athletic Grounds, the Bobcats walked out with plenty of positives and valuable lessons.

To begin, Central will take a page out of Sierra Canyon’s playbook and bulk up.

“We’re going to have to get bigger in the weight room if we want to make another run,” said Central’s longtime coach Darren Bustos, who saw his frontline graduate after a successful 2024-25 campaign.

The reigning 5A champs were in the game for most of the first half.

But keeping Division-I recruit Maximo Adams out of the paint and an eye on Steph Kankole (23 points, including seven threes) proved difficult. Sierra Canyon started to pull away with about eight minutes remaining in the first half, when Adams' putback moved his team ahead 21-15.

Sensing a Sierra Canyon run, Bustos then called a timeout but to no avail. An and-1 by the 6-6, 200-pound Adams, who scored 29 points, handed his team its biggest lead, 43-27, of the first half. The Bobcats needed to convert from the outside against their taller opponent but missed nine threes in the first half.

Up 12 after the first 16 minutes, Sierra Canyon quickly tallied the first seven points of the second half, forcing another Central timeout. But there was no stopping the California juggernaut.

Central will be in the hunt for another 5A ring in 2025-26 since it’ll return the high scoring Mattinglys, brothers Jon (26 points), who made all 18 of his free throws, and Grant. John has offers from Nevada and Northern Arizona so far but might end up with more after his Section 7 performances in front of college recruiters.

Former NBA star Jamal Crawford, who was standing not too far from Central’s bench, also was watching the game on Court 1.

“It’s a big turnaround (for Central) from where it was two years ago,” John said. “I’m happy that I made the decision to transfer over here, because it’s amazing.”

Senior point forward Paul Riley and senior point guard Dominic Rojas also had good outings during Section 7.

Rojas felt the brunt of Sierra Canyon’s power while taking three charges.

“Pretty bad,” said the smiling Rojas about sacrificing his body. “They (Trailblazers) were some big boys. They just wore us out.”

Rojas likes to say he’s 5-7, but he’s really 5-5, he said.

The diminutive guard was clutch down the stretch last season during his team’s title run. He also possesses a cool nickname.

Arizona hall of fame coach Dan Mannix named Rojas ‘Dom-inator’ when Rojas dressed for Sunnyslope.

The Bobcats were somewhat dominated Sunday, but they’ll be back.