Just when we though we had a good grasp on this season, everything got shaken up by a Division II title contender falling victim to an upset on the road.
Elsewhere in town, Desert View suffered its first loss of the season while Tucson High improved to 3-0 with another strong performance by DeAndre Williams. Here’s a look at five things we learned last week:
1. The Blue Devils thrive in an “underdog” role . Sunnyside was coming off a 40-28 loss when it took on unbeaten Mountain View, which posted a combined 91 points in its first two games. All signs indicated the Mountain Lions would cruse to a win, improve to 3-0 and remain the top team in Southern Arizona. Instead, Nick O’Hagin and the Blue Devils jumped out to a 26-point lead on their way to a 46-20 victory against the Mountain Lions in what could go down as the biggest upset this season. At the same time, maybe we could have seen it coming: Sunnyside returns more than 30 seniors from a team that stunned second-seeded Ironwood Ridge in the first round of the state playoffs last year. The Blue Devils (3-1) opened the season with a double-overtime win against Glendale Cactus, which has outscored opponents 138-33 outside of that loss. Meanwhile, Avondale Westview, which beat Sunnyside on Sept. 4, just knocked off undefeated Glendale Deer Valley. Perhaps Sunnyside won’t be looked at as an underdog much longer.
People are also reading…
2. The Falcons may be even better than we thought. Not only did Catalina Foothills cruise past a bigger, more athletic Tempe McClintock team on Friday night, but the Falcons did it without Max Michalczik, their top two-way player. The 6-foot-3-inch 212-pound junior was hospitalized last week because of an unknown virus and missed the game as a result. Still, Foothills pulled it together and posted 20 points in the opening quarter on its way to a 40-7 win against the Chargers. Preston Kime, a senior, rushed for 88 yards and three touchdowns while Dashiel Pudwill and Bryan Beckon both scored defensive touchdowns for the Falcons. Michalczik is expected to recover 100 percent so once Foothills has him back, opponents should steer clear.
3. Desert View can play with the best. So what if the Jaguars lost to Tempe 21-7 on Friday night. That doesn’t mean the magical ride has to come to an end. Desert View still has just as good of an opportunity to do something special and is very much alive in the state playoff hunt — as long as it doesn’t left this loss knock the wheels off. If this game happened just last year, when the Jaguars went 0-10, the score could have been something along the lines of 63-0 or 56-0. Desert View’s average margin of defeat in 2014 was 41.5 points and it lost five games by at least 49 points. The Jaguars (3-1) have outscored opponents 158-56 and more than tripled their offensive scoring from a season ago, when they posted just 47 total points. So, a 14-point loss to a quality team like Tempe isn’t anything to get disappointed about.
4. Williams might be Tucson’s best running back. Fifth-year coach Justin Argraves said before the season that he thought DeAndre Williams was the best running back in Southern Arizona. So far, Williams has done a good job of backing that up: The senior has rushed 61 times for 417 yards in addition to catching six passes for 125 yards and a score. The Badgers are out to a 3-0 start and have a chance to make a big statement on Friday night, when they host Ironwood Ridge. Williams, a 5-9, 175-pound two-way player, had his best performance of the season last week when he combined for 238 yards rushing and receiving and scored three touchdowns in a 48-26 win against then-unbeaten Gilbert Higley.
5. Southern Arizona’s top spot is up for grabs. For the first time this season, our Super Seven power poll will have a different No. 1 team, because of Mountain View losing at Sunnyside. Second-ranked Sabino could move into the top spot after it rolled past Chandler Seton Catholic last week to improve to 3-0. The other possible team to take the top spot is Ironwood Ridge, after it took down Salpointe Catholic 33-7, beating the Lancers for the second year in a row. Those are the two top teams in the conversation, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see someone else emerge into the mix with a strong performance on Friday night; there still is more than half of a season left to play, after all.

