Pusch Ridge moved to 4-0 on the year after the Lions beat Catalina Foothills 34-9 on the road Friday night. The Lions gained over 450 yards off offense with junior QB Bubba Mustain accounting for over 300 of that total.

Mustain unofficially threw for 198 yards on 13 of 21 attempts with two touchdowns to go along with 124 yards rushing on 10 carries including a 31-yard scoring run. His brother, senior Tyler Mustain pulled in a 60-yard TD catch and he finished with over 100 yards receiving.

The Falcons fell to 0-2 on the year but the team came in with a productive running attack that gained over 220 yards against the vaunted Lion defense. Catalina Foothills took a 3-0 lead midway through the first quarter on a 42-yard field goal from Cole Revis but Bubba Mustain hit Brysen Barrios from 11 yards out to put Pusch Ridge up 7-3 with 3:55 left in the opening quarter.

“They run the ball really well and they're going to run the ball really well on everybody,” Pusch Ridge head coach Kent Middleton said. “They took some time off the clock. But I think we stayed with it. We stayed poised.”

The Falcons went up 9-7 on a short run from Drew Clingman with 6:17 left in the second quarter and that lead held up into the third quarter. Both teams were hampered by penalties, and the pace of play suffered because of it, but the Lions started to put things together in the third quarter thanks to a 31-yard run from Bubba Mustain to put Pusch Ridge up 13-9 with 8:19 left and a game-changing interception from Bryce Jewell.

The Falcons were driving deep into Pusch Ridge territory, with a shot at retaking the lead, but Jewell intercepted a pass at his own 7-yard line and he broke free on a 93-yard run to put the Lions up 20-9 with 4:58 left in the third. The back-and-forth between the two squads ended at that point and the Falcons were unable to respond. The 60-yard pass between the Mustain brothers came with less than a minute left in the quarter and the Barrios ran one in from a few yards out in the fourth for the 34-9 final.

“The last two games we've had at least had 25 major penalties,” Middleton added.  “We’re overcoming it, but you know we really need to clean that stuff up.”

Abraham Grajeda added 63 yards rushing for Pusch Ridge and Barrios finished with 53. As mentioned before, the Falcons had success on the ground with Clingman going for 107 yards on 19 carries and Dane White added 71.

Pusch Ridge hosts Benson (3-1) next Friday night and then the gauntlet of Thatcher, Sabino and Valley Christian follows. Catalina Foothills has one of the most difficult opening five games in the state with Cienega, Pusch Ridge, Mica Mountain, Tucson and Canyon del Oro waiting. A bye will help the Falcons prepare for Mica Mountain (1-1) in two weeks.

“We got to see what another great opponent looks like,” Catalina Foothills head coach Daniel Sainz explained. “We had another top five team from Southern Arizona and we got to see what we need to improve on. The detail work matters and Pusch Ridge is a very detail oriented team and they get after it very good, a very well coached ball club and all hats off to them. I think our guys grinded, but the detail work really bit us in the end.