Desert Pines overcomes sloppy start for 34-11 victory
Everybody was making mistakes in Desert Pines’ season opener Friday night.
Players forgetting to go in on plays. A couple of delay of game penalties. Personal fouls.
Even the public address announcer said visiting Bishop Manogue had a first down on the “52-yard line” at one point.
Fortunately for the Jaguars, they overcame 11 penalties and figured things out in the second half to pull away for a 34-11 home victory.
“We were just sloppy. We kept taking one step forward and two steps backward in our own way,” Desert Pines coach Tico Rodriguez said. “We have the talent, but we just kept getting in our own way.”
So after squandering an early 7-0 lead and falling behind 11-7 at halftime, Rodriguez said he challenged his players’ toughness and asked them to step up their energy against the defending state runner-up Miners.
The Jaguars answered by limiting Bishop Manogue to 10 yards of offense in the second half, all on the ground, while shutting out the Miners 27-0. Desert Pines outgained the Miners 456 to 128 yards.
Desert Pines quarterback Rjay Tagatases finished 17 of 26 for 302 yards passing, and Javontae Barnes rushed for 83 yards on 13 carries. Malik Brooks scored three rushing touchdowns, and Julian Lawrence added a late score for the Jaguars.
“Our coach gave us a speech (at halftime), and that really woke us up,” said Brooks, who rushed for 60 yards on five carries. “We had to lock in better, we had to play together and we just had to focus better. Our defense got a lot of sacks … that really turned the team up. That just changed the momentum.”
The Jaguars defense, which returned 10 of 11 starters this season, registered seven sacks over six of Bishop Manogue’s eight drives.
“We just had to come and set the tone because this is the state runner-up. This is not no sorry team,” said defensive end Gabriel Lopez, who had two sacks. “So we came to show the city that Desert Pines is really here. We could have done a lot better. We made a lot of mistakes, but we’ll get better.”
The Jaguars opened the scoring on their first drive, as Brooks culminated a nine-play effort with a 3-yard plunge. The Miners found their offensive groove in the second quarter and were sparked by a fake punt that led to a 24-yard field goal by Mateo Velasquez midway through the second quarter. A pass interference call on the Jaguars led to a 48-yard touchdown reception by Cort Ballinger just before halftime.
But after tallying 118 yards in the first half, 93 through the air behind quarterback Drew Scolari, the Miners’ offensive production was brought to an abrupt halt in the second half. Scolari, who completed 4 of 7 in the first half, was 0-for-7 in the second, including an interception by Desert Pines’ Jett Solomon in the end zone.
“We talked about putting the city on notice that we’re for real, and we want to be one of the top four teams in the state at the end and have a chance to win it,” Rodriguez said.
