Game-breaking duo leads Higley past Maricopa

Kelvin Fisher and Michael Strnad rushed for a combined total of 379 yards and five touchdowns to lead visiting Gilbert Higley to a 42-13 victory Friday night over Maricopa.

“When those guys can break runs off, that makes you dangerous,” Maricopa coach Cory Nenaber said about Higley’s dynamic backfield tandem.

In earning their first victory of the season after three close losses against highly-rated opponents, the Knights (1-3 overall, 1-0 in the Class 4A-II East Sky Region) put a damper on Maricopa’s long-awaited home opener.

“Their linemen did a really, really good job of downfield blocking and sealing us off,” Nenaber said.

Fisher and Strnad made the most of the opportunities their blockers provided.

Fisher, a 6-foot, 185-pound senior quarterback, rushed for 250 yards and three touchdowns on 17 carries, scoring on runs of 33, 5 and 51 yards. Strnad, a junior tailback, finished with 129 yards on eight carries, which included touchdown runs of 6 and 80 yards.

Fisher was especially impressive, breaking tackles at the line of scrimmage and utilizing his speed in the open field.

“We’ve done a pretty good job of tackling the last few weeks, but we didn’t do that (tonight),” Nenaber said. “Part of that is him being really good and having really good feet. And part of it is we just didn’t play very well. For the first time all year, we just didn’t play very good team defense.”

Higley increased a 21-0 halftime lead to 28-0 early in the third quarter before Maricopa (2-2, 0-1) closed to within 28-13 on a pair of touchdown passes by quarterback K. J. Diehl.

After finishing with just 32 yards rushing and 14 yards passing in the first two quarters, the Rams moved the ball much better in the second half, gaining 107 yards on the ground and 137 yards through the air.

“We started to take control of the line of scrimmage a little bit.” Nenaber said. “I thought K.J. played really well at quarterback, both with his feet in running the ball and also he threw it pretty well. I definitely think we improved in the second half on offense. Compared to where we’ve been, that’s probably the best half of offensive football we’ve played this year.”

Diehl completed 10 of 24 passes for 151 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. The 5-foot-9, 150-pound senior also was Maricopa’s leading rusher with 48 yards on 17 attempts.

“He plays like he’s 6-foot, 200 pounds,” Nenaber said.

Patrick Duffy rushed for 47 yards on nine attempts for Maricopa, while Brian Nechamkin finished with 24 yards on eight carries.

Justin Warren led the Rams in receiving with five catches for 81 yards, while Ryan Sarver finished with three receptions for 53 yards and a touchdown.

Higley opened the scoring on a 67-yard drive that was capped by a 33-yard touchdown run by Fisher with 2:30 left in the first quarter.

Strnad increased Higley’s lead to 14-0 with a 6-yard run with 8:48 left in the second quarter.

The Knights scored on a third consecutive possession when Fisher dived across the goal line for a 5-yard touchdown with 3:07 remaining before halftime.

Higley stunned the Rams with an 80-yard touchdown run by Strnad on the initial play from scrimmage of the second half to go ahead 28-0.

Maricopa drove 75 yards in eight plays and scored on an 8-yard pass from Diehl to Sarver in the right corner of the end zone with 2:39 left in the third quarter.

The Rams pulled to within 28-13 on a 15-yard pass from Diehl to Franschua Avila at the pylon on the right side of the goal line with 7:30 remaining in the fourth.

Maricopa then tried an onside kick, but Higley recovered and scored two plays later on a 51-yard run by Fisher to make it 35-13.

Higley closed out the scoring with a 1-yard run by Deshawn Thomas with 1:46 remaining. The touchdown by Thomas was set up by a 67-yard run down the left sideline by Fisher that advanced the Knights to the 1-yard line.

The Knights finished with 387 yards rushing on 36 attempts. Higley attempted just three passes and completed only one, when Fisher caught his own throw for a loss of 17 yards after the ball was batted into the air by a defensive lineman.

“They are really well-coached,” Nenaber said about the Knights, who are led by head coach Jim Beall. “They have some really good coaches on that sideline, guys that have been coaching football in Arizona for a really long time, guys that I’ve known since I was a little kid. They’ve got really good athletes, too.”

Photo by Tom Kessler