One week after an injury-filled forfeit loss to Saguaro, Tempe rebounded with a dominating win over visiting Coronado.
Emanuel Gant and Massiah Smith, two of last week’s four injured Buffaloes in the controversial loss, had standout games on the way to a 42-6 win for the Buffaloes. Tempe improved to 3-1, while the Dons fell to 1-3.
Gant, who was questionable this week after he left last week’s game in the second quarter, was sharp from the opening minutes of the game. He threw for 137 yards on 8 of 11 completions, and rushed for 52 yards and two touchdowns before being taken out late in the third quarter.
Smith suffered a rib injury in last week’s game at Saguaro, but came back strong and caught five balls for 93 yards, including a 55-yard catch-and-run touchdown in the first quarter.
Tempe’s other two injured players from last week, senior Jordan Wiatr and junior Terry’on Wycoff, did not play in the game.
Senior running back Raija Holt rounded out Tempe’s offensive firepower, scoring two touchdowns in the midst of 165 total yards, 128 of which came on the ground. He also accounted for the game’s longest play, an 87-yard touchdown scamper up the sideline on the first play of a second quarter Buffaloes drive.
Tempe went into the locker room immediately following the final whistle and declined to comment on the game.
Coronado struggled to move the ball all night didn't pick up a first down until well into the third quarter, by which point Tempe was mostly fielding its second-string players.
“The game was out of hand at that point,” Coronado Head Coach B.J. Pasquel said after the game. “Our kids aren’t going to quit, but give [Tempe] all the credit because they made all the plays.”
Pasquel’s team finished the game with 135 yards of total offense, a number that was almost eclipsed by two of the Dons’ kickoff returns. Jonathan Andrews, who later hurt his foot severely enough to require an ambulance, started the game with a 58-yard return.
Felix Morris returned a second half kickoff 52 yards to give Coronado their best field position of the game. Coronado couldn’t capitalize either time and only scored a late touchdown.
“We had a couple chances early to make it interesting and we didn’t make any plays,” Pasquel said of his team’s struggles. “We’ve just got to get better all the way around and we’ve got to somehow help ourselves more on the offensive side of the ball.”
Tempe 42, Coronado 6
Cor. 0 0 0 6 -- 6
Tempe 14 21 7 0 -- 42
Tempe
First Downs – 12
Carries/Yards – 34/272
Pass Yards – 137
Com/Att – 8/11
Fumbles/Lost – 1/0
Penalties/Yards – 6/55
Coronado
First Downs – 7
Carries/Yards – 36/119
Pass Yards – 16
Com/Att – 3/6
F/Lost – 4/1
Penalties/Yards – 4/25
T - Jonathan Caraway 7 run (Perez-Rodriguez kick)
T - Massiah Smith 55 pass from Gant (Perez-Rodriguez kick)
T - Raija Holt 10 run (Perez-Rodriguez kick)
T - Emanuel Gant 9 run (Perez-Rodriguez kick)
T - Raija Holt 87 run (Perez-Rodriguez kick)
T - Gant 9 run (Perez-Rodriguez kick)
C - Antonio Sutherland 7 run (PAT no good)
TMan43 posted at 9:44 am on Mon, Sep 17, 2012.
All of that crying coming from Tempe HS and the Tempe state legislator was a knee jerk reaction I guess. It's great that these players are mended enough in one week to have stellar performances against Coronado HS. I know that Saguaro's name has been dragged through the mud for nothing, but no apology or retraction on the part of the Tempe principal. Oh well, now at least we all know that it was Tempe pulling the plug to save face. Honor at Tempe?