No. 2 Arbor View pulls away in 2nd half against Desert Pines — PHOTOS

Arbor View’s football team leaned on its running game to hold a one-score halftime lead against Desert Pines on Saturday afternoon.

The Aggies rushed for 101 yards and got touchdowns from three running backs in the first half. But in the second half, the Aggies went to their aerial attack to break the game open.

Thaddeus Thatcher connected with Kai Cypher on a 65-yard touchdown pass on Arbor View’s first possession of the second half, and the Aggies, No. 2 in the Review-Journal’s Class 5A rankings, pulled away for a 42-21 home win.

“Once we calmed Thaddeus down a little bit in the first half, we were able to start coming out and throwing the ball and doing what we do,” Arbor View coach Marlon Barnett said. “The biggest thing is getting Thaddeus to believe and buy into him going through his progressions. Once we started making some adjustments, we were able to do that.”

The game, and all other high school football contests, were played Saturday because of the Rosh Hashana holiday. The temperature reached 100 degrees in the second half, and the field temperature was more than 120.

The heat didn’t slow down Thatcher and Arbor View (6-0, 3-0 5A Division I). The sophomore right-hander completed 18 of 22 passes for 321 yards, and all three of his touchdown passes came in the second half.

“It’s hot, but they battled through this heat,” Barnett said. “Offensively, we’re a tempo team, and we still pushed the tempo. That’s what we do. Defensively, we got to work on tackling a bit, but always proud of those guys.”

The Aggies finished with 177 rushing yards in a balanced offensive attack.

“They helped us a lot to just get our momentum up because we started off a little slow,” Thatcher said of the impact of the running backs. “They really picked us up, and our O-line just helped the offense get going. Our running backs are some of the best in the state, and they helped us out so much to open up the pass game.”

Thatcher kept attacking Desert Pines (2-5, 1-2) in the fourth quarter. He found Kaine Berry on an 8-yard score early in the quarter. After Arbor View forced a turnover on downs, Zac Fares hauled in a 34-yard touchdown pass from Thatcher for the Aggies’ final score.

“It felt amazing to come out here since last year I got injured in (the Desert Pines) game,” Thatcher said. “Coming out here and getting the job done, it feels good.”

Fares finished five catches for 102 yards and the touchdown, and four-star sophomore Damani Warren added six catches for 63 yards. Fares, a 6-foot-5-inch sophomore tight end, recently picked up a college offer from Wisconsin and holds other notable Division I offers from Michigan and Washington.

“Zac is a diamond in the rough,” Barnett said. “He’s a great kid, a smart kid, and for what we do, he’s a huge part of our offense. I’m extremely proud of him, and he’s going to continue to get offers before he graduates and he’s going to do big things.”

Desert Pines quarterback Zeyshawn Martin completed 17 of 30 passes for 161 passing yards. Martin threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Ejuan Carter late in the fourth quarter. Carter finished with seven catches for 74 yards.

Sean Moore rushed for 54 yards for Arbor View, and Kamareion Bell added 50 yards on the ground. Both rushed for touchdowns in the first half. Moore’s 9-yard run with 45 seconds left in the first quarter gave the Aggies a 7-0 lead.

Bell added a 3-yard score midway through the second quarter to extend Arbor View’s lead to 14-3, and Nylen Johnson added a 7-yard touchdown run later in the quarter.

Desert Pines running back Isaiah Teo finished with 57 rushing yards and scored on a 13-yard run in the second quarter. Kicker Hostin Espinosa made first-half field goals of 43 and 40 yards to keep the Jaguars within striking distance at halftime.

Last year’s meeting between Arbor View and Desert Pines had an ugly ending as a fight broke out following a 28-27 overtime win for the Aggies. The game was later ruled a double forfeit as punishment for the fight. Thatcher suffered a season-ending broken collarbone during the first half of the game.

Desert Pines coach Jose Flores and Barnett “talked about this game early on back in the spring, and we both made sure to set the standard for both of our teams to prevent what happened last year,” Barnett said. “Hats off to my (administration). Hats off to (Flores’) staff, his (administration) and his players.”

Now Arbor View will have a short week to prepare to host No. 1 Bishop Gorman at 6 p.m. Thursday. All high school football games next week will be played on Thursday because of the Yom Kippur holiday.