The exclamation point wasn’t just a well-executed play.

Sure, the double-reverse flea-flicker that finished off Hamilton’s 40-14 win over Highland in the finals of the Copper State Invitational was a thing of beauty, but in breaking down the evolution of the play explains why the Huskies are the premier team in Arizona.

First off, the play showed the play calling, and scheming ability of coach Matt Stone, who many consider the pioneer of the game in the state, but it goes deeper than that.

Hamilton quarterback Marlie Phillips. who was named MVP, had a hand in creating the play. Stone had a similar play design, but Phillps felt it could be more.

“She said, ‘There’s another level to this,’ so I listened to her, and she was right,” Stone said. “We added the second reverse, ran it against our defense in practice and it worked. That’s who she is.

“She will come in the next day and hand me two pages of reflections on the game, and then two more on our next game. She is so prepared and dialed in. It is one of the reasons that we are always getting better.”

The Huskies (10-0) showed their dominance in this inaugural event as the offense and defense jumped on the Hawks to get out to a 20-0 first-quarter lead and then expanded to 33-7 by halftime.

Hamilton scored on its first drive when junior Markiah Riley took a short pass and weaved through the defense at a different rate of speed then the Hawks were used to, and then when Highland came up short on a fourth-down attempt, Riley scored again thanks to the short field.

On the ensuing offensive play by Highland, Hamilton senior Samaya Taylor-Jenkins had a pick six to make it 20-0 in the first quarter.

“We like to get up early on teams and those two scores gave us the confidence and they probably lost theirs,” Riley said. “We wanted to win this badly. It’s the first one and we’re the champions.”

Highland coach Kenny Golladay said the fast start might have unnerved the Hawks a little bit and he compounded it with a bad coaching decision.

“I got greedy on that fourth down play,” he said. “(Hamilton) got off to that fast start and I felt like we needed to answer. I put us in a bad spot there, but we’ll learn from it and get back to work.”

The Huskies dominated on both sides of the ball as Kayden Kisler added a score, Athena Vazquez had several drive-extending catches to back Riley and Jenkins, both of whom had two TDs each including Taylor-Jenkins high pointing a ball on the sideline, keeping her feet in bounds and took off  for an 80-yard score.

“Once I came down,  and didn't hear a whistle I saw nothing but green and that means take off,” Taylor-Jenkins said.

Defensively, the rush harassed Highland quarterback Alexis Eley, who is considered one of the best playmakers in the state. Jada Hill had two interecpetions and the Huskies had four sacks.

The Highland senior rarely had any time to survey the field to make her usual big plays. The offense isn’t pocket centered so she is always on the move to take advantage of her athleticism.

But against Hamilton, the defensive scheme keyed on her and forced Eley to make decisions faster than usual thanks to the constant pressure and then had the speed to keep up with her or close the passing lanes.

“Their defense was really good,” Eley said. “They took away a lot of things we like to do, and we didn’t play our game. It’s something we can learn from and use to get better the rest of the way.”

The Hawks (9-1) showed some big play ability on offense as Ela Witcher, Addi Riggs, Emilee Searle and Aylleen Murillo showed good hands, and the ability to make defenders miss when Eley had time.

And in the second half, it was a more competitive game that might be more of what can be expected should these two programs probably meet somewhere along the way to the 6A title.

“We played much better in the second half,” Golladay said. “We settled down and played more like we can and expect to play. Our girls never let up and that’s something we can build off and get better as the season goes on.”

Hamilton, meanwhile, has another level out there as well, according to Stone. The Huskies haven’t been challenged much – although the 35-0 semifinal win over Canyon View was just two scores – but there will be tweaks.

“We look at aspects of the game and then we are like 'We need to explore that more',” said the birthday boy. “We will look at everything and make some adjustments because we will see them again. They are a Final Four team.”

It just might be a new twist to the Gumball – the name of the double reverse flea flicker – to keep the Huskies wanting more.

“We kept asking when we are going to call that play,” Taylor-Jenkins said. “When Marlie came in the huddle and called Gumball we were ready ro go off. And then we hit it, and it worked perfectly.”