Eagles blow away Morenci, punch playoff ticket

By Brian Wright
Sports Editor
Published on Sunday, November 1, 2009 1:49 PM MST

Friday was a do or die game for the Eagles, and they stayed alive with an exclamation point.

Thatcher faced a situation where it had to win in order to qualify for the state playoffs. It responded with a 42-6 thrashing of Morenci at home on Senior Night.

The defense set the tone early for the Eagles and held Morenci to 124 total yards on the night.

Eagles receiver Derek Aaron breaks away from Morenci’s Arturo Marin for a 45-yard touchdown Friday night in Thatcher. The Eagles assured themselves a playoff berth with a 42-6 win over the Wildcats. Photo by Brian Wright

A week after being manhandled by Willcox, Thatcher returned to its bruising rushing attack and piled up 210 yards on the ground.

Morenci came into the game 6-2 but never looked ready to play. The Eagles outhustled and outmuscled the Wildcats from the start.

A halfback pass from Tyler Bryce to receiver Derek Aaron for 45 yards provided the first touchdown of the evening in the first quarter. Sean Ajeman added a 4-yard rushing score right before the half.

After two touchdown runs by Tyler Bryce (125 yards, 2 TD) in the third quarter, quarterback Teren Bingham scored on a 4-yard run in the fourth.

Senior defensive back Jake Hansen capped the game by returning an interception 45 yards for a score.

Thatcher’s defense harassed Morenci quarterback Nunu Lopez into 10-24 passing and picked off four passes.

The Eagles (5-5) locked up a playoff spot with the win. They grabbed the No. 14 seed and will travel to St. Johns to take on the No. 3 Redskins (7-1) on Nov. 6 at 7 p.m.

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Comments

13 comment(s)

Dman wrote on Nov 11, 2009 8:36 PM:

" go eagles play each down and look for turn overs for our chances. they will come, "

Jimbo wrote on Nov 7, 2009 1:08 PM:

" Ouch!! SJ 54 Thatcher 6. "

Game Over wrote on Nov 5, 2009 9:54 PM:

" SJ 31 ths 16
EHS 28 shs 13
PRHS 38 mhs 6

Nuff Said !!!

Pima petition to go back to 7 man "

Objective opinion wrote on Nov 5, 2009 7:11 PM:

" I f I were an Eagle fan I'd REALLY be worried about Friday.... "

No haha after Friday wrote on Nov 5, 2009 11:28 AM:

" If I were a Morenci Wildcat fan, I wouldn't "haha" too quickly. They play Pusch Ridge Friday and their only common opponent was San Carlos. Morenci struggled in its first game with them, winning 28-6 (the score at halftime was 6-6!) while Pusch Ridge beat S.C. 61-8 a couple of weeks ago playing a lot of second teamers for most of the second half! Wouldn't get too cocky, might be in for a long night. "

Haha wrote on Nov 3, 2009 8:52 PM:

" Got lucky! Thats it! Good luck in your post season cause you will need it! "

MONEY wrote on Nov 3, 2009 8:31 PM:

" Easy win for the Redskins SJHS 34 eagles 13
Basketball season starts @ 9:30 pm 11-6-09 "

Objective opinion wrote on Nov 2, 2009 9:40 PM:

" St Johns is 8-1 only loss to Round Valley... "

Dude wrote on Nov 2, 2009 12:59 PM:

" RE: HOW HAS S.J. BEAT?. What? "

GO TO WORK wrote on Nov 2, 2009 12:21 PM:

" HOW HAS S.J. BEAT? "

Next wrote on Nov 2, 2009 11:53 AM:

" Is ST. Johns next? If it is, then it will be a pretty short post season. As I recall the game was as close as could be until the coin flip, it was all down hill from there for thatcher. "

THS92 wrote on Nov 2, 2009 11:25 AM:

" That's a pretty emabarassing picture for the Morenci defender; OUCH! "

Objective opinion wrote on Nov 2, 2009 8:27 AM:

" Wow, I figured that by now the Thatcher fans would be breaking their arms patting themselves on the back for this win....anyway, nice job Thatcher! "

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