The Queen Creek football team finally got the test everyone was waiting on.
And the Bulldogs aced it.
Fellow unbeaten Williams Field marched in on Friday night for arguably the toughest game of the season, but the result looked like all the rest as host Queen Creek used great offensive balance and a stout defense to cruise to a 49-6 win.
Matt Guida rushed for 196 yards and a touchdown and Carson Jones was 11-of-16 passing for 184 yards and two scores as the Black Hawks had little answer for the Bulldogs offense.
Queen Creek had only allowed six points in the past five games, which Williams Field matched late in the first quarter, but from there the defense locked down and let the offense pull away.
“I’m very pleased with how we played,” Queen Creek coach Joe Germaine said. “We want to keep improving week to week, and I think we took a step forward tonight.”
The Black Hawks (9-1) moved the ball impressively on the game’s first drive before getting intercepted in the end zone. They then scored the on the next possession as a 3-yard touchdown run by Sean Schweichler made it a 7-6 deficit with 21.2 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
At that point it looked like the Williams Field offense might be able to hang with Queen Creek’s, but the Bulldogs defense responded.
Williams Field quarterback Jeddediah Fagg completed seven of his first eight passes but ended up only 16-of-32 for 211 yards with a pair of interceptions. Schweichler had his moments, finishing with 17 carries for 103 yards, but could not impact the game enough to give the Black Hawks the edge. Wide receiver Jordan Johnson had an impressive performance, catching 10 balls for 134 yards.
The Bulldogs, meanwhile, drove right down the field consistently to turn the game into a blowout.
“We’re peaking at the right time,” Jones said. “The offense played great, the defense played great. It’s a good thing to go into the playoffs like this.”
The Bulldogs (10-0) only led 21-6 at halftime, but it was evident where the game was headed. They scored on the opening possession of the second half and Guida put the game out of reach with a seven-yard touchdown run with 8:52 remaining for a 35-6 lead.
Schweichler had a 96-yard kickoff return for a touchdown called back because of holding and Williams Field also couldn’t score on a drive where it had first-and-goal from the 1 in the second half.
“You can’t do that against good football teams,” Williams Field coach Steve Campbell said. “There were four scoring opportunities that we missed out on. That’s big. You’ve got to finish drives.”
There weren’t many in-game critiques to level at the Bulldogs during their 9-0 start to the year, but there was still a slight bit of doubt because of a schedule that looked weak.
However, Queen Creek seemed to answer any of those lingering questions and should now be a top-4 seed and have home-field advantage in the first two rounds of the playoffs.
“The first tier of our goal system was to go 10-0 in the regular season,” Guida said. “Now we want to just win. Keep winning. The ultimate goal is 14-0 and state champs. We’re trying to get a state championship over here at Queen Creek for the first time.”
Queen Creek 49, Williams Field 6
WF - 6 0 0 0 -- 6
QC - 7 14 7 21 -- 49
First downs: WF 19; QC 16
Rushes-Yards: WF 30-14; QC 36-266
Passing yards: WF 219; QC 184
Comp-Att-Int: WF 17-35-3; QC 11-16-0
Fumbles-Lost: WF 2-0; QC 0-0
Penalties-Yards: WF 6-38; QC 5-55
QC — Genantonio 2 run, Ibarra kick
WF — Schweichler 3 run, kick failed
QC — Jones 1 run, Ibarra kick
QC — Jones 1 run, Ibarra kick
QC — Vazquez 4 pass from Jones, Ibarra kick
QC — Guida 7 run, Ibarra kick
QC — Vazquez 30 pass from Jones, Ibarra kick
QC — Rogers 65 INT return, Ibarra kick
Reach Kyle Odegard at (480) 898-6834 or kodegard@evtrib.com. Follow his blog at http://blogs.evtrib.com/varsityxtra, or find him on Twitter @Kyle_Odegard.
