Adam Schwager

Mesquite 4A State Playoffs Preview

Usually being the No. 1 seed in any tournament paints a target on your back as the team to beat. In this year’s Arizona 4A state football playoffs, that target falls squarely on the back of the No. 3 seed.

“We’re the two-time champions, I don’t think we’re flying under any radars,” Mesquite football coach Scott Hare said. “I think everybody’s very aware of who we are and I think probably most people are looking to take us out.”

Mesquite (7-3) enters tonight’s playoffs as the No. 3 seed for the second year in a row, looking for their third straight title. Last year’s COVID-19 abbreviated playoffs featured the Wildcats winning two of their three games by less than a field goal, and the year before featured another three one-score victories in their run as the No. 6 seed to their first title. 

They finished No. 3 behind No. 1 Poston Butte (8-2) and No. 2 Casa Grande (10-0). Poston Butte is a bonafide No. 1, having only lost to open division No. 4 Cactus and No. 8 ALA-QC while beating several 4A playoff teams along the way. Casa Grande has slightly more to prove, as their undefeated record only includes one triumph over a 4A playoff team, No. 12 Canyon del Oro (6-4). In addition to losing to Cactus and ALA-QC themselves, Mesquite also lost to 5A No. 5 Sunrise Mountain. None of the top three teams have faced each other this season. 

While Mesquite has only been 1-2 in one-score games this season, star wide receiver Andrew Morris is excited to get back to playing close games.

“Honestly, I kinda like going into those situations,” Morris said. “In fact, me and Coach Hare, we joke about it all the time. We like those situations. It’s what we’re used to.” 

Morris is the only player who’s been on varsity for all three years of Hare’s tenure at Mesquite. The Marshall recruit is a menace on both sides of the ball, leading the team with 606 receiving yards and 11 touchdown receptions to accompany his three interceptions and a fumble recovery. 

In Morris’ first three year he was being thrown to by current Oregon quarterback Ty Thompson, ESPN’s No. 1 recruit from the state of Arizona’s class of 2021. While Thompson and the Wildcats high-flying offense averaged 27 points per game in the previous two seasons’ playoffs, Mesquite now relies on unsung quarterback Gerardo Saenz, who’s averaging 208.2 yards per game with 25 touchdowns and nine interceptions, despite a shaky start to the season. 

“I don’t think Gerardo feels any pressure for being Ty Thompson,” Hare said. “Ty Thompson is an alumni of Mesquite… but Ty Thompson’s name doesn’t come up at Mesquite football this year. I don’t think anyone in this program is thinking about Ty Thompson.”

This year the Wildcats want to prove that they’re just a good football team, not a football team carried by a top-level quarterback. 

“I think Gerardo’s going to do really good. It’s going to shock a lot of people,” Morris said. “I think what I’m most excited about is people can’t say ‘oh, it’s because they have Ty Thompson.’ I think that’s something I’ve been waiting for all year. At this point, when we keep playing games, they gotta go, ‘maybe Mesquite is just good.’”

Mesquite enters its first game against No. 14 Benjamin Franklin, a team they beat 47-10 in quite possibly their most complete game of the season just 14 days prior. Eyes should be on senior running back Blake Corner, who has been a workhorse for the Wildcats all season and had 181 yards and three touchdowns in these two teams’ previous matchup. Focus should also be on Saenz, as he takes the field for his first playoff game.

“It’s a lot of pressure for sure,” Saenz said. “We have a lot of doubters saying we can’t do it but we’re just gonna try to prove them wrong.”

Hare, who has yet to lose a playoff game since leaving the role of Mesquite’s athletic director to return to coaching, likes to take a different approach to entering the playoffs. 

“I don’t feel any pressure at all,” Hare said. “I mean, obviously a playoff game feels a little different than a regular season game. There’s a little nervousness when the game starts, but once it does, I mean, the pressure is either we play well, and we can be successful or we don’t and we’re done. 

“To me I’m not going to really lament too much on the pressure. I think I used to early in my career. I’d hype myself up too much for certain games, and I don’t think it helped the team any.”

While Mesquite hopes to be there at the very end of this four-week journey hoisting their third trophy in as many seasons, players and coaches are preaching a one-week-at-a-time mentality.

“Anyone can beat us. We just got to play our game,” Saenz said. “Just gotta take it one play at a time and just play our game.”

“Truth of the matter is, it really is just Ben Franklin and whoever we play next week is a brand new (week,)” Hare said. “Like, OK, we get an opportunity to play another game, who do they want to throw in front of us?” 

The Wildcats play Benjamin Franklin tonight, Nov. 19 at 7 p.m. at Mesquite High School. A victory would see them hosting the winner of No. 6 Apache Junction (7-2) vs. No. 11 Lee Williams (7-3), the former of which the Wildcats defeated 28-20 earlier this season.