Homecoming at Mingus Union High School was more pinball game than football game Friday, Sept. 23.
Jason Groth, Juan Ruiz and Alejandro Stabreff repeatedly bounced off Mohave High School tacklers to light up the Bright Field scoreboard, 42-10, and make the Marauders the 4A Conference’s first 2-0 team in the Grand Canyon Region.
“Typical Mingus running backs,” said head coach Bob Young, who has won his third straight after losing his first two games to open the season. “We’ve always liked to have guys that are strong, work hard in the weight room, run hard down the field and they’re fast.”
The three MUHS seniors scored two touchdowns apiece in their first 20 minutes, kicking in the Arizona Interscholastic Association’s running clock with over four minutes to play before halftime.
“We couldn’t do it if it wasn’t for our offensive line,” said Groth, who had over 100 yards rushing by the end of the first quarter. “They were huge out there.”
Trevor Galloway, Charles Hardy, Steven McClanahan, Josh Scalf, Carter Scott, Jordan Taylor and Jordan Vincent provided the experienced push three to four yards off the line of scrimmage virtually every first half play against the visitors from Bullhead City.
“All week long, we were saying that if we were going to win, we were going to be dominant at the line of scrimmage,” said Groth, who capped the scoring with 4:23 to play in the first half after his third straight run up the middle from the Mohave 11. “They definitely pulled that off.”
Penalties like roughing the punter, which “come around when we start getting lazy,” Groth said, and a fumble of a first-quarter punt kept the final tally from being even worse.
“If we struggle throwing and they know we run, they put everybody in the box and it’s hard to run,” added Young, whose team was penalized 10 times for 105 yards the week before. “We cleaned some of that up from last week.”
The Thunderbirds’ defeat was so total, Groth picked up most of his rushing yards on one pitchout from senior quarterback Trey Meyer the first play of the Marauders’ second offensive drive. He hurdled the diving Mohave cornerback at the line of scrimmage and was free 80 yards down the left sideline.
“He’s a difference-maker for us,” said Young, who played second- and third-teamers in the second half to save Groth for Friday, Sept. 30, at Bradshaw Mountain High School.
The 14-0 lead came five minutes after Stabreff darted five yards, as the Marauders needed just the first 2:33 of the game to get on the scoreboard.
A 42-yard bomb from Meyer to senior wide receiver Jordan Pollock on the fourth offensive play set up Stabreff, who would later be the recipient of his own over-the-shoulder catch to put the Marauders up, 21-0, with 1:47 left in the first quarter.
“We don’t throw a lot, but when we do, we throw to try to score touchdowns,” Young said. “If we can do that early, they can’t put nine guys in the box. It opens up the running game a little bit.
Two plays after the 39-yard bomb down the middle from Meyer, Ruiz got in on the act. Another pitchout yielded pay dirt from 24 yards on the last play of the first quarter. It only took a minute-and-a-half out of the second quarter for Ruiz to gash the Thunderbirds one more time on a pitchout, this time from 54 yards.
The Marauders’ next two games are perhaps their most important. Wins Friday, Sept. 30, and Friday, Oct. 7, against Prescott High School would virtually assure MUHS of the region title. Young already had his mind on those games in the second half.
“I want the kids to enjoy Homecoming,” Young said, “but the coaches’ll start getting ready for Bradshaw.”
