Eric Matsumoto is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover McClintock High School.

Without their starting quarterback, a strong run defense led the charge in the McClintock Chargers' 42-21 victory over the Skyline Coyotes on Friday night at home.

In the first conference game of the season, McClintock contained a rushing offense that had scored 16 touchdowns in only four games. The Chargers were able to hold Coyotes running back Jordan Blake to 106 yards, 86 fewer than his average this season.

Blake was the main concern for McClintock going into the game.

“Stop number 24. That was the gameplan,” McClintock head coach Mike Fell said. “That’s all we talked about all week.” 

Preventing Blake from having big runs helped to create a rhythm for McClintock, with momentum building each time their defensive line was able to penetrate the Skyline offensive line.

“I thought our defensive line pretty much set the tone for the whole game,” Fell said. “They were in their backfield, and we shut down a really good running back tonight.”

On the offensive side, the Chargers were without starting quarterback Jaxon Knutson after a taunting penalty last week against the Cienega Bobcats. The penalty was Knutson’s third personal foul of the game, suspending him from the Skyline matchup.

Nonetheless, the McClintock offense was still able to score 42 points with Julius Fuentes lining up behind center. Though Fuentes usually spends a large chunk of his snaps at linebacker when Knutson is on the field, quarterback is always on Fuentes’ mind.

“I keep it in my head so when I play, whenever I need to go in, I’m ready,” Fuentes said. “So I was ready.”

Fuentes threw for 99 yards on 8-of-11 passing. A large part of the offense was the run game, including two runs over 40 yards and a touchdown from Kah’mar Hawkins, fresh off of an injury.

“I had to rehab, rehab,” Hawkins said. “I was at practice. I knew I had to block all the time, but I was preparing to run the ball if anything happened.”

McClintock held momentum for nearly the entire game, with the first large shift coming in the first quarter. After tying the game 7-7, Skyline attempted an onside kick. McClintock lineman Nikolasi Tongauilia picked up and took the ball to the 4-yard line, setting up the Chargers’ second touchdown of the game.

“I saw that kickoff and it was coming right in front of me,” Tongauilia said. “I remembered it didn’t pass the line so they’re not going to touch it. When I saw everyone falling down I was like, ‘Let me get this.’ And then I went off.”

The score put McClintock up by a touchdown, and after two more touchdowns, the Chargers' lead never went below 21 points. Physicality helped them maintain control of the game against a strong Skyline opponent.

“I really thought going into the game that they were a little better than we were,” Fell said. “I was so d--- impressed with how physical we were.”

Especially on defense, it was not just one player that led the team to victory. Contributions up and down the roster helped drive the win, something McClintock had been stressing in practice.

“This whole week, our team was working on teamwork, executing, getting to the ball and getting group tackles,” Tongauilia said. “As of today, we’ve shown that we can do that.”

The win improves the McClintock to 4-2 on the season, with all of its remaining games coming against conference opponents.

“We just have to keep it going and we’re going to go somewhere,” Hawkins said. “We’re going to go far.”