By Zach Alvira
Head of Content
Arizona College Prep went to Indiana in August as a confident group poised to be one of the best teams in Arizona’s 4A Conference.
The Knights returned battered and bruised after a blowout loss to Crown Pointe, the equivalent of a 6A program. But despite the Knights being written off early on by many, they hunkered down and went back to work.
The result speaks for itself. ACP was dominant against in-state competition. The Knights rattled off nine wins in a row to secure the No. 2 seed in the 4A Conference tournament. Three weeks later, including a dominating 59-21 win over Snowflake Friday night, the team that limped onto the plane back to Arizona in August is now taking strides into Mountain America Stadium to play for the 4A state title.
“It was huge to go out there and get our butts kicked a little bit,” ACP head coach Steve Vaught said. “But we definitely were able to learn a lot about ourselves but also take some things that we saw from them and transition it into our game.”
The matchup against Snowflake was perhaps ACP’s biggest test of the season, regardless of the stakes at hand.
The Lobos have been a dominant program since 2005. They’ve made the playoffs every year, losing in the state title game in 2014 before winning back-to-back in 2020 and 2021. The Lobos also advance to the final in 2022, but were dethroned by American Leadership Academy - Gilbert North.
So, for the Lobos to come into Friday’s contest as the No. 3 seed with a 12-0 record was no surprise. ACP knew it had to answer the challenge. And for about a minute or so of game time, it appeared Snowflake would give the Knights their toughest challenge yet.
But that was short lived.
“We knew they were going to be a rough team coming out physically,” Chapman said. “Practice was physical with competition. We just brought it.”
Snowflake struck first on just its second play. Quarterback Jacob LaDuke connected with wideout Merrick Ulberg for a 56-yard touchdown to take an early lead.
ACP answered. Quickly.
Max Sasso returned the kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown. A bad snap by Snowflake led to a fumble recover in the end zone by Cam Mitchell for another Knights’ touchdown. Chapman then made an incredible diving interception on Snowflake’s next offensive possession. Quarterback Evan Heinrich led the Knights down the field to capitalize on the turnover and turn it into points behind the legs of Tyler Lowder.
In a matter of minutes the Knights turned a quick seven-point deficit into 21-unanswered. But that quickly became 28 when Chapman blocked Snowflake’s punt. Andre Peña recovered it in the end zone for another touchdown. The rout was officially on.
“The immediate kickoff return was huge,” Vaught said. “We spend a lot of time on special teams and the strength of our team is our depth. A lot of people brush special teams under the rug but we try to use it to our advantage. It was definitely an advantage tonight.”
Following the 56-yard touchdown, Snowflake’s next three drives ended with a fumble, interception and blocked punt. All were turned into points for ACP.
The Lobos finally got going on offense behind the legs of Kanton Turley, who rushed three times for a total of 90 yards to cash in and trim ACP’s lead. But the Knights had an answer.
Heinrich led the offense down the field again, connecting with Kash Lambert for a 10-yard touchdown.
“Everything was working,” Heinrich said. “We know what kind of team we are and know we can compete. Defense made big plays and it made it easy for us to score with a short field.”
Snowflake tried to battle back but were stuffed on multiple attempts.
The Lobos found the end zone once more in the game on a 5-yard run from Karter Lambert. But a long field goal, an offensive fumble recovery for a touchdown, a Sasso 67-yard run and 4-yard plunge from Jeremiah Diaz quickly inflated the score.
Heinrich finished 16-of-18 for 201 yards and a touchdown. He still only has one thrown interception on the season. Sasso rushed for 131 yards and had two total touchdowns. Ashton Sanchez and Lambert combined for 151 receiving yards. Lambert found the end zone once.
The high-flying Knights now take their 12-game win streak to Mountain America Stadium Friday, Dec. 6 where they will face Mica Mountain. Just as Snowflake was, it will be ACP’s toughest test.
The Thunderbolts, one of the newest schools in the state, have quickly become a force in the 4A Conference led by Division I recruit Jimmy Leon. He led his team to a 24-14 win over Yuma Catholic in the semifinals.
It will be the first trip to the championship for both teams. But both coaching staffs have experience in the big game. Vaught hopes to use his experience as a longtime assistant at Chandler to get the Knights ready.
Though, he feels that won’t take much. More than anything, they’re going to enjoy the moment.
“It really doesn’t matter about the head coach,” Vaught said. “It’s really about our players getting to have the experience and our coaches who are doing it for the first time. I’m really excited for them to get that opportunity.”
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