Tyler Piester is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Canyon View High School for AZPreps365

WADDELL– On a night that’s filled with excitement and celebration, Canyon View delivered a 35-0 Homecoming victory over Camelback on Friday.

Jaguars senior quarterback Brady Scott threw for 261 yards, completing 14 of 20 passes. One of Scott’s completions was to senior receiver Brandon Catalan for a 32-yard touchdown with 9:58 left in the second quarter.

Just a minute later, with 8:40 to go in the second quarter, the Jaguars’ defense made its presence felt. Junior cornerback Tavin Bayer jumped a route and returned an interception 45 yards for a touchdown, stretching the lead to 19-0.

That play best captured what was a dominant first-half defensive effort for Canyon View, in which Camelback struggled to gain any sort of momentum offensively.  

Canyon View found some success in the run game as well in the first half when senior halfback D.J. Sims Jr. scored on a 20-yard run with 2:52 to go in the first quarter.

Sims also picked up his first passing touchdown of the season as he threw a 10-yard trick-play pass to senior tight end Treydon Baker with 1:15 left in the second quarter. That gave the Jaguars a 28-0 halftime lead. 

“We’ve been going through that play a lot in practice, and obviously practice makes perfect,” Sims said. “I’m glad we got to execute that in a game.”

Sims said the Jaguars’ performance showed the potential of a team with big aspirations.

“We came out here today and showed everyone why we are the best,” Sims said. “We’ve got a special team here.”

Even though the Jaguars had a hot start offensively in the first half, they couldn’t find that same success in the second half. The Spartans held the Jaguars to just seven points after halftime.

Canyon View coach J.R. Alcantar praised the team’s win, but pointed out that they still have work to do and need to clean up some easy mistakes.

“We’ve just got to be more disciplined,” Alcantar said. “The penalties tonight killed us. We shouldn’t put ourselves in the position for those calls. We can’t afford that next week.”

Despite the loss, Camelback coach Dante Foster pointed to progress on defense as a positive takeaway from the game.

“They didn’t score in the last two quarters until about eight minutes left in the fourth,” Foster said. “I would say our defense is coming together. It’s not great, but it’s coming together.”

Looking ahead, Foster said his focus is on preparing his players for a difficult closing stretch to end the season.

“We’re really just going to focus on us,” Foster said. “Our last five games are a tough five games, but I believe that we have a chance to do well.”

Canyon View (4-1) hosts Desert Edge (5-0) on Friday at 7 p.m. for their first regional game of the season.

Camelback (0-5) hosts South Mountain (0-5) on Friday at 7 p.m.