Sunnyside's fast start leads to 79-0 lopsided victory

Blue Devils hold Apaches to 48 yards on offense
By Chris Davis 
ARIZONA DAILY STAR 

Fifty-seven seconds into the second quarter, the head sets came off and a handful of Sunnyside coaches walked from their box in the stands to the field. 

A major reason might have been the 44 points Sunnyside scored in the first quarter en route to a 79-0 blowout of Nogales. 

"This got out of hand; we don't like this," said Sunnyside coach Richard Sanchez. "But the other kids who work just as hard as our starters got a great opportunity to play." 

Sunnyside (4-0) needed just nine offensive plays to score 30 points, and it still had 5:26 remaining in the first quarter. 

The highlight of those four drives was a 53-yard touchdown that Wally Altamirano broke after catching a short pass from Jaime Cota. 

Xavier Smith rushed three times in the opening drive for 51 yards and a touchdown to cap his night. 

Smith's backfield mate, David Morales, added two trips to the end zone. 

"Our first group came out and did what we expected them to do," Sanchez said. 

Not to be outdone, though, was Sunnyside's performance on defense. 

The Blue Devils scored three touchdowns off two intercepted passes and a pitch that was snagged in the Nogales backfield - all in the first half. 

"The last three or four weeks, after Chaparral, we've really emphasized picking up the intensity and being more physical," Sanchez said. 

Overall, the Blue Devils held Nogales to 48 total yards. 

After going 3-0 against Salpointe Catholic, Scottsdale Chaparral and Goodyear Millennium, the Blue Devils still were not satisfied. So they used the past two weeks to work on their intensity in practice. 

Assistant coach Glenn Posey called a few of those days the most intense he had seen in quite some time. 

Cota agreed. 

"We started practicing better after the Millennium game," said Cota, who was 3 of 3 for 111 yards. The coaches "wanted to have intense practices, just like it was a hard game." 

A 65-0 lead at halftime led to playing time for Sunnyside's second- and third-team players. 

One of them was Mike Smith - Xavier's brother. 

In a running style similar to his older brother, Mike used a combination of athleticism and power to rush for 81 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Blue Devils on the ground. 

He was one of four players to score two touchdowns for Sunnyside. 

"It helps coming up to play teams like Sunnyside," said Nogales coach Roberto Bonillas. "A lot of great things those kids do is going to show up on video, and we'll try to play as hard as they do and be hungry." 

Brian Parker completed 3 of 4 passes for 21 yards in the second half for Nogales. 

Sunnyside just missed the 4A state single-game scoring record by six points. 

Nogales (1-3) will play host Marana on Friday. 

The Blue Devils will visit Cholla.