Yuma Catholic improved to 2-0 on the year after the Shamrocks held on to beat Catalina Foothills 37-20 Friday night in the northern foothills of Tucson. The final score might give the appearance of an easy victory, but the game was in doubt until the Shamrocks scored with 4:55 left. The Falcons cut the lead down to 29-20 with 2:21 left in the third quarter and the Shamrocks left the door open with interception and a turnover on downs, but the Falcons were unable to cash in on the chances they had down the stretch.

Shamrock sophomore quarterback Nash Ott threw for over 200 yards with three touchdowns and Tayt Ford ran for almost 100 yards with two more TDs. It was as if Richard Stallworth was still behind center, throwing for state records, but Stallworth is a redshirt freshman for Northern Colorado and this is Ott’s team now. Four of the top passing seasons in AIA history belong to Yuma Catholic and the last two QBs threw for over 10,000 yards with Gage Reese throwing for 10,621 from 2016 to 2019 and Stallworth throwing for a state-record 12,590 yards from 2020 to 2022. Ott appears to be the next man up and teams will have to recognize and prepare for what’s coming.

Ott threw for over 300 yards with three TDs in a 56-28 win over Marcos de Niza in week one and he now has over 500 passing yards with six TDs in only two games. He hit Rocky Stallworth from 11 yards out to put Yuma Catholic up 7-0 with 10:28 left in the first quarter and he found Sir Stokes from 22 yards to put the Shamrocks up 14-0 with 4:43 left in the opening quarter but the Falcons came right back behind the offense of Sr. RB Samuel Delgado.

Delgado rushed for over 200 yards on the night and he helped set up a short run from Sr. QB Jett Scott to cut the lead down to 14-6 with 8:06 left in the first half. Ott came alive again and he found Stokes for 40 yards to put Yuma Catholic up 21-6 with 2:40 left only to have Delgado go 80 yards on the next play to cut the lead down to 21-12.

The Shamrocks drove down again but Rey Vasquez stopped Stokes just short of the goal line on fourth down on the next drive. Stokes got some revenge with an interception to get the ball right back but Michael Garcia came up with his first interception of the night to put the Falcons offense back on the field, but the first half came to an end.

Ford came out of the locker room and he put the Shamrocks back up 29-12 on an 8-yard run on a 2-point conversion with 9:11 left in the third. Scott drove the Falcons down and he hit Delgado from 15 yards out to cut the lead down to 29-20 with 2:21 left in the quarter but that was as close as the team would get and Tayt scored the clincher from 10 yards out with 4:55 left in the game.

Yuma Catholic travels to Salinas, California to play Palma High School (2-0) next week and Catalina Foothills (1-1) visits Buena (2-0).

Samuel Delgado. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)