6A state title champ, Centennial QB Kainan Manna discusses the game
Centennial high school football quarterback Kainan Manna breaks down the game, his team after winning 6A state championship.
Logan Stanley/The Republic
Peoria Liberty quietly went to work after winning last year’s Open Division state high school football title, made no proclamations and, with new skill-position players, and several impact transfers, let their actions talk during the 2024 football season.
In the end, Liberty was Arizona’s best high school team again, finishing with a 35-17 victory over Chandler Basha for its second straight Open state title Saturday night at Mountain America Stadium.
The stars of this Liberty team were on defense with junior outside linebacker Hudson Dunn and safety Zeth Thues constantly in backfields and Paz St. John, Lajay Salas and Caden Branston anchoring the front.
Thues and Salas transferred in from Saguaro, where they won a state title in 6A last year.
Rolling along with a 21-10 halftime lead, dominating the line of scrimmage, Mountain America Stadium erupted when Arizona State’s football team, fresh from the Big 12 championship win over Iowa State in Dallas, made its entrance onto the field.
That included last year’s Liberty starter, quarterback Navi Bruzon, now with the Sun Devils, who came over and gave quarterback Hayden Fletcher and coach Colin Thomas hugs.
“That was super cool,” said Fletcher, who was just leaving the locker room to start the second half. “Really good for them. My hat’s off to them. But it was pretty cool to see the whole place erupt.
“Nav came up to me and gave me a huge hug afterwards.”
Thomas said he could feel the stadium energized by ASU’s arrival.
“Yeah, Navi’s got a special place at Liberty,” Thomas said. “It was awesome to see that.”
Thomas said he wasn’t thinking dynasty after this game. But he was happy to see the 2024 Lions build their own legacy.
“The kids did a great job of finding the message we had,” Thomas said.
For the second year in a row, Liberty’s only loss was to out-of-state power Corona (California) Centennial. That loss shaped the rest of the season with everybody coming together stronger.
For junior strong safety Thues, an ASU commit, this was even sweeter, winning state.
He intercepted a pass in the second half when the Bears were desperate to find any offensive rhythm with their playmaker Gio Richardson out early in the game with a leg injury.
“It’s tough when you lose one of the most explosive playmakers in the state,” Basha coach Chris McDonald said. “I kind of felt we were off-rhythm. We had to move guys around.”
Theus still knew the Bears had playmakers, such as Dash Blake and Kash Brock, along with tailback Noah Roberts.
“They’ve got athletes, they’ve got players,” Thues said. “They had one person out, but they have a whole team. They didn’t quit.
The pressure up front helped the secondary. For two titles in a row, Thues said, “It’s a brotherhood here.”
“I earned their respect to lead this defense,” he said.
Spoiled by Bruzon the last two years, Liberty got used to Fletcher replacing the two-time Gatorade Arizona Player of the Year, with a bevy of backs and sophomore receiver Braxton Huynh breaking out big.
Once Basha lost its star receiver, Arizona-bound Richardson, in the first quarter Saturday, it was as if the air came out of the Bears’ potent attack.
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Quarterback Brodie Vehrs struggled to find receivers, feeling the heat of Liberty defenders in his face. He was swarmed and sacked as the Bears offense derailed, falling into a 28-10 hole with 4:44 to play in the third quarter on a third short rushing TD by the Lions.
Fletcher shrugged off a fumble in Liberty’s first series of the game and hit Brody Pilegaard for a 15-yard TD and a 7-3 lead with 11 seconds left in the first quarter. He passed for 165 yards, completing 14 of 20 passes, in the first half.
After Basha (11-2) took a 10-7 lead on Vehrs’ 19-yard scoring pass to Kash Brock, the Lions dominated the final nine minutes of the half, controlling the line and the clock with Dominic Lombardo scoring on runs of 1 and 3 yards. Lombardo had 61 yards on 10 carries in the half.
Basha went from 9:50 left in the half to 3:05 to play in the third before scoring. Vehrs, who was 6-of-11 passing for 54 yards in the first half, hit tailback Noah Roberts for a 40-yard score to cut the deficit to 28-17.
Basha was starting to turn the game, but, on a third-down stop, a personal foul gave Liberty a first down at midfield to start the final quarter.
That led to Lombardo’s third rushing touchdown, a 10-yarder, with 5:57 left, giving the Lions (12-1) a commanding 35-17 lead. Lombardo had 126 yards and three TDs on 25 carries, as the Lions rolled up 394 yards total offense.
Liberty’s performance cemented the West Valley takeover storyline this season.
Peoria Centennial captured the 6A state title earlier Saturday, rallying from a 3-7 regular season. Goodyear Desert Edge built a big lead and held off Glendale Cactus for the 5A crown on Friday night.
But Liberty’s dominance against a strong Basha team was unexpected.
Through three quarters, Liberty had 320 yards of offense to Basha’s 179, running 24 more plays. The Lions had 113 rushing yards, holding Basha, with its vaunted one-two punch of Roberts and Joshua Gaines, to just 44 yards through three quarters.
Richard Obert has been covering high school sports since the 1980s for The Arizona Republic. He also covers Grand Canyon University athletics and the Arizona Rattlers. To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert at richard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-316-8827. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @azc_obert
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Publish date : 2024-12-07 14:45:00
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