Brophy Overcomes First Mountain

On Friday Nov. 12, the Brophy Broncos defeated the Mountain Ridge Mountain Lions by a score of 24-17.

The Broncos came in as the 13th seed playing the 4th seeded Mountain Lions. The game was a rematch of a 2009 playoff game in which Brophy shut out Mountain Ridge 24-0.

Josh Dennard '11 scored two first half touchdowns of distances two yards and 78 yards. The 78 yard touchdown, which gave Brophy a 14-7 lead in the second quarter, was the longest play of the season for the Broncos.

The Mountain Lions appeared to have momentum going into halftime; they were ahead 17-14 and had stopped Brophy on four consecutive runs inside the five yard line. It appeared the Broncos had scored on 1st and 2nd down, but the officials would have none of it.

In the first half, the Mountain Lions were very effective basically running two different plays. One of them was a wide reciever screen to the sideline; the other play was a run up the middle by P.J Sparks.

Midway through the third quarter Devon Allen '13 caught a score from Fred Gammage '12 to give Brophy a 21-17 lead, a lead that would not be relinquished.

At the start of the fourth quarter, Casey Skowron '11 made his first field goal of the season giving Brophy a 24 -17 lead. The field goal was the first of his career; he took over for Zac Bryan '12 last week against Yuma, but he did not attempt a field goal.

Coming into Friday's game, Hunter Young, Mountain Ridge's quarterback, led 5A-I with 13 interceptions.

Midway through the fourth quarter, the Mountain Lions drove inside of the Brophy 30 yard line. However, true to form, Young threw an interception. Marcus Mehlhaf-Brown '11 deflected a throw by Young into the hands of Jordan Graves '11, who is a former reciever.

Mountain Ridge would get a final chance after a Brophy punt, but Young threw his second interception of the game, this time to Paul Wirth '11.

Next week Brophy heads to No. 5 Mountain Pointe to face the Pride. The pride narrowly defeated No. 12 Red Mountain; they trailed 14-0 entering the fourth quarter and scored 21 points in the final period to win.

Photos by the roundup (Ben Jackson '11 and Rob March '11)