Nefi Torres stood in Palo Verde's west end zone after Friday's game and did a standing back flip to the applause of teammates.
In lieu of a postgame speech, Nogales coach Vince Villanucci had his players join the band in vocalizing the Apache war chant, complete with tomahawk chopping motion.
In other words, this was a pretty big win. Nogales remained undefeated with a 30-20 victory over Palo Verde on Friday night, a win Torres described as "the most challenging" yet.
If Torres felt Palo Verde's defense was a challenge, however, he did a nice job hiding it.
Filling in at running back for Nogales' injured Brian McCarty, Torres began the game with back-to-back 92- and 81-yard runs.
The first was a toss, the second a sweep, with both going left and each looking about the same: Torres getting to the outside before torching Palo Verde's secondary.
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"My running back is hurt, man. He is one of my best friends and he's a hell of a good player," said Torres, who finished with 218 yards on eight carries. "I'm his backup, and I'm going to help my team however I can."
McCarty racked up 539 yards and 11 touchdowns on just 36 carries before suffering a right high-ankle sprain two weeks ago.
He did play Friday, but at about 80 percent, Villanucci said.
In fact, McCarty caught a 74-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter. It came at a good time, too. Palo Verde had trimmed a 21-0 Nogales lead to 21-13 at halftime.
Palo Verde used a 14-play (13 of them runs), 80-yard drive in the second quarter to cut the lead to two TDs. Quincy Gause returned a Nogales fumble 35 yards for the Titans' second score, just a minute before the break.
"Obviously, you get down in a hole like that and it's tough," Palo Verde coach Matt Willard said. "We were moving the football but we weren't making (big plays) and they were."
Nogales quarterback Marcel Renteria finished 4 for 9 with 150 yards and two touchdowns. In addition to the McCarty play, Renteria fired a 54-yard touchdown pass to Nick Colgate in the second quarter.
"We're waiting for Salpointe," Torres said of Nogales' toughest game of the year, coming up in three weeks. "We want to show people that we are for real."
For now, Villanucci is just happy to be 5-0.
"Real happy," he said. "We got a bunch of good kids. You see how hard they play for me."
