COTTONWOOD — Luke Horn threw four touchdown passes, all in the first half, and St. Mary’s came away with a 37-15 win over Mingus to open the 2025 season on Friday night.

Horn, a sophomore, found Anthony Cannon on a 64-yard touchdown strike with 5:22 to play in the first quarter to put the Knights (1-0, 0-0 4A Skyline) up 7-0 in a game they would never trail.

It was the first of three touchdown passes to Cannon, who had well over 100 yards receiving on the evening for St. Mary’s, but that wasn’t exactly the game plan heading into Friday night the junior said.

“The game plan was pretty mixed, to run the ball and pass the ball. Our offensive line did a good job tonight, receivers did a good job. Luke did a good job, four touchdown passes, probably about 300 yards,” Cannon said. “It was a team effort, the defense helped us out. A real team win.”

Sixth-year head coach Jose Lucero said the team took what the Mingus defense gave them, which struggled in the secondary to stay with the Knights’ receiver core all night.

“Luke [Horn] made some good reads. They are a physical, aggressive team, so Anthony [Cannon] was able to get over the top a little bit, which was why we were able to score quickly. Luke put up some good balls,” Lucero said, adding that every week the young sophomore quarterback is going to “get better.”

“He had a couple of sophomore moments but he did a good job protecting the ball and making good decisions,” Lucero said. “You can’t get better playing the game without playing the game.”

Trailing 9-0, Mingus (0-1, 0-0 4A Grand Canyon) answered as quarterback Hunter Berjarano found Dawson Rice on a 19-yard touchdown strike with 11:15 to play in the second quarter.

A few minutes later, E.J. Hooks nabbed an interception, setting up a 62-yard touchdown throw by Horn to Ezekiel Chavez as suddenly St. Mary’s was up 23-7 with 6:50 left in the second quarter.

With 55 seconds left in the first half, Horn once again connected with Cannon to make it 30-7. It was the third straight offensive play for St. Mary’s where Horn threw it up to a receiver on a go-route and it paid off.

“All the receivers ran their right routes. My offensive line was helping me out, gave me a lot of time back there,” Horn said. “My teammates were helping me out so I could go make plays with Cannon and the other receivers out there.”

Despite a 91-yard touchdown catch by Mingus’ Julius Gonzalez from Bejarano to end the half at 30-15, St. Mary’s came out in the second half determined to shut them down defensively, which they did.

“I saw some glimpses of a good quality playoff team but we have a lot of room for growth. Mingus was real physical tonight, and they pushed us around at times, but we responded,” Lucero said.

UP NEXT

St. Mary’s heads north for the second consecutive week as they travel to Flagstaff and play another 4A Grand Canyon region team in Coconino. Kickoff on Thursday, Sept. 4, is set for 7 p.m.

As for the Marauders, they won’t see their home field again until October as they play four straight road games starting Friday, Sept. 5, at Estrella Foothills. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

Brian M. Bergner Jr. has covered professional, collegiate and high school sports for more than 20 years. Follow him on X at @AzPreps365Brian or on Facebook at @Five2MediaWorks. Have a story idea? Email Brian at bbergner@azpreps365.com.