In the final 4A Grand Canyon Section game of the season on Friday, Nov. 13, the Mingus Union High School and Prescott High School football teams engaged in a close, hard-hitting back-and-forth contest that wasn’t decided until the final seconds ticked off of the clock. In the end, the visiting Marauders fell just short, losing 43-35.
Trailing by eight points in the final minutes, junior quarterback Zach Harrison connected with senior tight end Zach Figy for a touchdown that put the Marauders a two-point conversion away from tying the game. The Badgers’ defense, though, was up to the task, stopping Mingus short.
The Marauders got one last chance in an unusual way when Prescott sophomore Cody Leopold scored on a 57-yard touchdown run to put the Badgers up eight.A successful extra point would have opened up a nine-point lead to put the game away for Prescott, but Mingus blocked it, leaving the Marauders again a touchdown and a two-point conversion away from tying. But Mingus was halted on its final possession, ending the game.
The early portion of the game belonged to the Marauders.
Senior Jonathan Sanchez scored on a 12-yard run to put Mingus up 6-0 and then put his team up 8-0 by running in the ensuing two-point try. Badgers senior running back Nathan Wright matched Sanchez, scoring on an 8-yard touchdown run and successfully running in the two-point conversion attempt. Mingus countered that though, with a 1-yard touchdown run from Harrison to go up 15-8 after the first quarter.
That lead was added on to early in the second quarter when Drew Meyer scored on a 3-yard run and Sanchez added another successful two-point try to put the Marauders up 23-8. From that point on, the Badgers took over.
Prescott closed the second quarter out with a pair of touchdown runs — a 1-yarder from Wright and a 22-yard run from Leopold. The Badgers failed to convert on both conversion attempts, which allowed Mingus to take a 23-20 lead into the locker room at halftime.
That lead, though, wouldn’t last much longer.
A 15-yard touchdown run from Wright and a 1-yarder from Leopold staked Prescott to a 34-23 lead in the third quarter. Another touchdown run from Meyer and the late pass from Harrison to Figy did make the game close, but the Badgers never surrendered the lead once they took it.
As he’s been for much of the last two seasons, Meyer was the workhorse back for the Marauders, logging 27 carries for 154 yards with two touchdowns.
Sanchez added 57 yards on 16 carries while junior Angelo Alvarez carried the ball six times for 48 yards. Harrison ran the ball for 32 yards on six carries and was 4-for-6 for 57 yards with a touchdown and an interception in the passing game.
Normally, 288 yards on the ground would be a great total for a team but Prescott was even better, running for 356 yards. Those yards came from the two-headed rushing attack of Wright and Leopold. Wright ran for 180 yards on 20 carries while Leopold carried the ball 19 times for 176 yards. Both scored three touchdowns apiece.
With the loss, Mingus falls to 1-6 overall and 1-5 in Grand Canyon Section play.
Though the game against Prescott was the final section game for the Marauders and their final scheduled game of any kind, one more could be added. The season’s late start due to COVID-19 restrictions allowed for teams to have only seven games on the schedule, down from the normal 10. Teams are permitted, though, to add an eighth game. Mingus has yet to do that but coach Doug Provenzano said it was possible that the Marauders might schedule a final game.
For updates on when and if an eighth game will be added, continue to check AZPreps365.com as well as the “Mingus Marauders” Facebook page.
