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GARY
GAYNOR/Tucson Citizen
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Sunnyside quarterback
Jaime Cota (left) runs from
Millennium's Mical Pariga for a long gain. Cota help lead
Sunnyside to a 13-12 win. |
Running
attack prevails
Sunnyside,
improved after 2 losses, wears down Millennium
KEVIN
JONES
Tucson Citizen
The Sunnyside High School football team is back on the winning
track.
The Blue Devils, who started the season an uncharacteristic 0-2,
picked up their first win of the year against visiting Goodyear
Millennium 13-12 last night.
Sunnyside entered the game ranked No. 10 in Class 4A. Millennium
was No. 6.
The Blue Devils lost by 25 to Salpointe Catholic to open the
year, then fell to Scottsdale Chaparral by 27 last week.
Despite the defeats, Sunnyside coach Richard Sanchez has seen his
team improve.
"We've been getting better each week," he said.
Using a potent running attack, Sunnyside wore down the Millennium
defense with the duo of David Morales and
Xavier Smith.
Smith ran for 89 yards on 12 carries and Morales added 66 yards
on 16 attempts.
The Blue Devils started slow, as early penalties thwarted drives.
On the third drive of the game though, quarterback
Jaime Cota got
things going with a 17-yard run, followed by an 18-yard scamper by
Ruben Leyva.
The drive was capped by a 29-yard pass by Cota to
Nathan Vega
with 6:49 in the second quarter to make it 6-0.
The running of Morales and Smith opened up the offense after
that, moving the chains and keeping the Millennium offense off the
field.
The run set up a 44-yard pass to
Mike Quiroz to make it 13-0 with
4:19 left in third quarter.
Millennium scored two touchdowns after that, on a 90-yard
interception return and a 9-yard run. But the Tigers missed the
extra points each time, leaving the Blue Devils one-point victors.
Although the Blue Devils are back on track, Sanchez said the team
has a ways to go to play at the level of previous seasons.
"Our offensive line has to improve and our tackling has to
improve," Sanchez said.
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