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Phoenix Shadow Mountain's Richard Garcia is swamped by eight Sunnyside defenders during the Blue Devils' 49-0 victory.

 GARY GAYNOR / Tucson Citizen

Sunnyside's Stevenson gains 169 yards in win


Devils' defense limits Matadors to 39 total yards

By Chris Davis
Special to the Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 09.09.2006

Sunnyside's Jovan Stevenson rushed for 134 of his game-high 169 yards in the first half Friday night as Sunnyside blanked Phoenix Shadow Mountain 49-0.

For the second straight week, Sunnyside's defense dominated, and Blue Devils' coach Richard Sanchez wasn't surprised.

"Defensively we're playing pretty tough," he said. "Our kids are naturally aggressive. They want to hit, and they're flying to the football. They're doing a good job."

Shadow Mountain learned just how tough the Sunnyside defense can be.

The Matadors were held to 12 total yards in the first half and 39 for the game, including minus-23 on the ground.

"We're more aggressive this year," said senior linebacker Zach Holmes.

"Everybody wants it and we're just flying to the ball. We just keep each other going."

The Blue Devils offense moved the ball a total of five yards for its for first two scores. Sunnyside's defense set up the game's first score after forcing a fumble and recovering it on the Shadow Mountain 4-yard line. Two plays later, Stevenson ran it in for the first of his two touchdowns.

The second touchdown came after Shadow Mountain's center snapped the ball over his punter's head at the 30-yard line and it was recovered by Sunnyside on the 1. On the next play, Luis Acuna bulled into the end zone.

Then Stevenson, a junior, began to eat up larger chunks of yardage to help the Blue Devils pick up first downs and take a 29-0 halftime lead putting the game away in the second half. Despite the big night, Stevenson said he still has some flaws in his game that need to be corrected.

"I made some mistakes and dropped the ball, but I'm going to get better at practice," he said. "I try to break the big run all the time, but I just have to be patient."

Sophomore Manny Aguilar added 104 yards on six carries including touchdown runs of 40 and 51 yards, both in the second half.

Sunnyside (2-0) hosts Chandler Basha next week.

"We're always going to get better as the season progresses," Stevenson said. "We need to go four hard days at practice, execute well and the fifth day, that's our payday and hopefully we'll come out with a win."