It was another night at the office for Demond Williams Jr. and the Basha Bears.
With Brophy paying a visit, Basha treated the visitors the same way they’ve treated most opponents over the past four seasons: with a balanced offense, stingy defense, and a whole lot of Demond Williams.

The final result was a methodical, 31-13 Basha victory in a 6A non-region matchup Thursday night.
Most of the damage was inflicted by halftime, when the Bears (5-1) took a 28-0 lead to the locker room.

Williams shook off an early Brophy interception and led Basha to scoring drives on four of its next five possessions.

Williams scored three of Basha’s first half touchdowns, all on runs of 10, five and eight yards.
“It was frustrating to start like that, and I just tried to get too cute with that throw on the first drive,” Williams said of his early interception.
“But we were able to bounce back. Luckily I’ve been blessed with running and throwing ability which I was able to use tonight.”

Tailback La Jai-Lynn Hardwick scored on a 20-yard run to account for Basha’s other first half touchdown.

The Basha defense was equally effective in the first half, holding Brophy to three net rushing yards and two first downs.

“We played a good first half, but we got pretty sloppy in the second half, so we’ve still got things to work on,” Basha coach Chris McDonald said afterward.

To its credit, Brophy (4-2) came out swinging in the second half. Quarterback Charlie McGinnis connected with sophomore Daylen Sharper for two big passing plays, setting up the first of McGinnis’s two short scoring runs.

But Williams and Basha remained in cruise control throughout a sluggish second half, as the outcome was never in doubt.
The Bears best drive of the half was shut down inside Brophy’s five yard line, forcing a short field goal from Basha kicker Timothy Tynan for a 31-7 third quarter lead. 
Sharper—son of NFL great Darren Sharper—finished with 3 catches for 81 yards in the second half for Brophy.
“We had a chance to make things harder for (Basha) in the first half, but we didn’t capitalize,” Brophy coach Jason Jewell said afterward.

Basha  now enters brutal stretch of games in the Premier Region, starting next week at Hamilton.

Brophy will regroup at home against Desert Vista, now led by longtime Brophy coach Scooter Molander.