The Valley Christian Trojans took on the Panthers of Paradise Honors at Mesa High School for the 3A Semifinals match-up. The Trojans had a chip on their shoulder going into the game, as they lost to the Panthers in the regular season by a score of 33-52. They knew this game wouldn't be easy and knew what the Panthers were going to do this game, pass the ball.
The first drive of the game, the Panthers threw an interception to senior Vince Robles, which gave the Trojans a massive boost of confidence. Unfortunately, the Trojans fumbled just a few plays later. The Panthers took over and scored a touchdown plus a two-point conversion to make the score 8-0. The very next play, senior Will Bastian took the kickoff back for a touchdown and just like that it was 8-7. Paradise Honors struck back and scored again to make it 16-7. Again, the Trojans got the ball and fumbled to give it back to the Panthers. Nearing the end of the half, senior Gunnar Link threw a touchdown to sophomore Asher Hanzal, which made the score 14-24 at the half.
The second half was absolutely insane. The Trojans started with the ball and Gunnar Link rushed in for a touchdown to make the score 21-24. Paradise Honors responded quickly, with a touchdown to make the score 30-21. The Trojans fumbled again and gave it back to the Panthers, and they scored again, widening the game to 38-21 in favor of Paradise Honors. On the first play of the next drive, Gunnar Link found Asher Hanzal again for a quick touchdown to put the Trojans back in it, 38-27. Paradise Honors then threw an interception to junior Ethan Gomez to give the ball back to the Trojans. Link found senior Caleb Lewis for another Trojan touchdown, closing the gap with a score of 38-33. The Panthers responded quickly again with a first play touchdown to make it 44-33. Gunner Link then found senior Carson Tarr for another Trojan passing touchdown, then completed the two-point conversion to make the score 44-41. The Panthers scored yet another touchdown to keep up this offensive game and make the score 50-41. The next kickoff Will Bastian took yet another one back and scored for the Trojans, making the score 50-48, leaving the Trojans only trailing by two. The next drive, Paradise Honors threw yet another touchdown to make the score 56-48, but with the way the game was going, no one could count out the Trojans yet. On the next drive, the Trojans unfortunately threw a pick-six to the Panthers, which made the score 64-48. The Trojans were still looking to get the win, throwing another touchdown pass to Caleb Lewis. The Panthers would score one more touchdown to seal the deal for Paradise Honors and make the final score 72-56.
According to Richard Obert from AZ Central, this game matched the 8th highest combined score in state history, with 129 total points.
The Trojans fought until the very end but came up just a little bit short. They ended their season with a record of 11-2 and had a season to remember. Stay tuned until next year for some more Trojan Football.
GO TROJANS!
