“Always focus on the next play.”

This is what Camelback running back Abukar Abdi told himself to get past a fumble, his only of the game, in the first quarter.

It worked, leading to Abdi rushing for four touchdowns on the night and helping Camelback past Alhambra 33-27 Friday night in this non-conference matchup in front of a raucous homecoming crowd at Camelback High School.

“It feels amazing, especially because it is my senior year,” Abdi said on how it feels to win on homecoming night.

Camelback (2-3) and its offense settled in in the second half with Abdi leading the charge, scoring touchdowns on rushes of 16, 50 and 71 yards and three consecutive drives to put away Alhambra (1-3) for good.

“It’s just conditioning,” Camelback coach Joseph Brissette said on his team’s performance in the stretch run of the game as opposed to last week’s 41-12 loss to South Mountain.

That 71-yard go-ahead touchdown would not have been possible if not for a clutch fumble recovery by the Camelback defense on Alhambra running back Fredrick Cunningham.

“We do ball-handling drills every day,” Alhambra coach George Medrano said. “It’s a routine. Now it’s a lesson they have to learn, you go through the motions and have to do it with a purpose. It’s a costly lesson.”

Despite the hyped pregame atmosphere, both teams stumbled out of the gate. After receiving the opening kickoff, Camelback senior quarterback Brandon Brock, starting in place of injured starter Eric Marquez, tossed an interception on his second pass attempt of the night.

Alhambra would give it right back on the next play, with Cunningham, a junior running back, fumbling on his first touch of the night.

Two more turnovers would follow, an Abdi fumble for Camelback and an interception by Andrew Favela for Alhambra, leading to four straight turnovers by the teams to start the game.

Abdi would open the scoring in the game with his first rushing touchdown. Then, after Alhambra muffed the ensuing kickoff, Brock would score from 1 yard out to extend the Camelback lead to 14-0.

Cunningham would proceed to take the ensuing kickoff 80-yards to the house and put Alhambra on the board for its only points of the first half.

Most of the first half problems for Alhambra were due to turnovers, two fumbles, an interception and a turnover on downs, and a big reason why the Alhambra defense was on the field a lot for the first half and wore down throughout the second half against Abdi and the Camelback offense.

Alhambra really thought it had Camelback reeling late in the third quarter and early in the fourth quarter, scoring on three straight touchdown drives with a Favela 34-yard touchdown pass to Michael Vignalli, a 4-yard touchdown run by Jesus Aispuro and a Joshua Eberlen 19-yard touchdown run after a fake punt, to put Alhambra ahead 27-20 early in the fourth quarter.

“When (the game) is going back in forth like that, you have got to take chances,” Medrano said on the call for the fake punt. “I’m going to take a chance.”

Camelback will play host to Central (1-2) next week while Alhambra will play host to Cibola (1-4).