Ike Everard is a Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Chandler by AZPreps365

Chandler head coach Rick Garretson screamed at the top of his lungs as yet another piece of yellow fabric fell to the turf at Austin Stadium.

Penalties plagued the Wolves in the first half of their game against Desert Ridge. Although they would go on to win 52-14, the coach’s mind was far from the scoreboard.

“We’ve never had that many penalties in the whole time I’ve been here, nor my 30 years at Servite. The referees and I talked a little bit at halftime, and they did a great job particularly in the second half,” Garretson said.

The second half was much cleaner after Garretson’s halftime speech.

“He told us, ‘Don’t touch them. Let them run,’” sophomore receiver Kyion Graves III said.

Senior running back Dae-Dae Hunter added, “they said we have to play against the [opposing] team and the refs. Its adversity and we have to get through it.”

Desert Ridge’s first touchdown of the game came after a pass interference call on Chandler which had the crowd enraged. Much of Chandler’s scoring came after the flags subsided.

“The refs let us pick it up,” Graves said. “Once we picked it up, it was over.”

The penalties particularly affected Hunter, who had a pair of 60-yard called back.

“In the back of my mind, it hurts, but we have to keep pushing through and get the touchdown,” Hunter said. “I just tell my teammates to keep pushing.”

The game was also Chandler’s homecoming, but the players and coach insisted the added intensity wasn’t an excuse.

“Our kids are focused to a point where the stands don’t mean anything to them,” Garretson said.

“We wanted to ball out for the fans,” sophomore safety Frankie Morales said. “But I think it was a non-factor.”

So, what did cause the uptick in flags?

“Lack of discipline. We were working hard. It was just little things the refs ended up getting us on,” Graves said. “Every little thing.”

Garretson pointed to the team’s scheduling.

“When you have a bye, it is a little bit different because you had two weeks off. The bottom line is that we had some adversity,” Garretson said. “It was a 52-14 score but it was a lot tougher than it would seem on a Saturday morning looking at the newspaper.”

Garretson also emphasized the youth of team, stating that “there’s a lot of learning going on.”

When asked if he believed the penalties would be an issue going forward, Garretson replied with a curt “no”.

“A lot of times when you have that many penalties you don’t win ballgames,” Garretson said. “We happened to win one 52-14.”