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Queen Creek’s Kaleb Honea
Southeast Valley Ledger
Queen Creek senior quarterback Kaleb Honea threw for four touchdowns and had a second-half interception on defense during last Friday’s 28 – 23 victory against No. 15 Desert Mountain in the first round of the Division II state playoffs.
“We came out hot,” Honea said after the game. “We had a 21 – 0 lead and then we slowed down, but the way our team has been going throughout the year, we’ve always been able to overcome adversity and that’s what we did tonight.”
Friday’s playoff game was a rematch of the season opener for both teams, a game the Bulldogs won in overtime, 20 – 14.
For the first quarter-and-a-half it looked like the rematch wouldn’t be nearly as close with No. 2 Queen Creek jumping out to a 21 – 0 midway through the second quarter.
Honea threw three touchdown passes – one each to Ian Woods, Chase Thomas, and Armon McGuire – to give the Bulldogs a commanding lead.
But the Wolves would not go away.
They scored 10 unanswered points before halftime on a 14-yard touchdown pass and later a 23-yard field goal on the last play of the second quarter, leaving them with a 21 – 10 deficit at the half.
The Wolves opened the second half with a seven-minute touchdown drive, which was capped off with an 11-yard touchdown pass to make it 21 – 16.
Queen Creek immediately answered on its first possession of the second half, when Honea threw his fourth touchdown pass of the game and second to Ian Woods from 27-yards out. Zach Glaess’ PAT extended the Bulldogs’ lead to 28 – 16 with 2:31 left in the third quarter.
“Kaleb played great,” Queen Creek head coach Travis Schureman said. “He’s a gutsy kid on both sides of the ball and he gets after it. We’re super proud of him.”
The score stayed that way until Desert Mountain scored with 5:36 left in the game to make it 28 – 23.
A missed field goal by the Bulldogs with a minute left gave the Wolves one last chance, but Glaess, who had just missed a 46-yard field goal, sealed the win with an interception with 22 seconds left.
With the win, the Bulldogs advance to this Friday’s quarterfinals against No. 7 Saguaro at home.
“They’ve had our number for the last five years,” Schureman said. “It’s always been fun to play those guys, but we’re going to enjoy tonight and then we’ll get ready to work bright and early (last Saturday) morning.”
The game will streamed online at www.azpreps365.com.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7:07 p.m.
Andrew Luberda began writing for Copper Area News Publishers (CANP) in February 2013 after working 15 years in Healthcare Financial Management. Andy covers sports for 11 high schools. His stories are published in Copper Basin News, San Manuel Miner and Superior Sun, in addition to the San Tan Valley Daily PRSS and CopperArea websites. Additionally, he has written human interest stories and business profiles. In May 2012, he earned an AAS in Sports Management at Central Arizona College before graduating with a BS in Communication from Arizona State University in 2014. He and his wife, Kelli, have three sons – AJ, Kyle, and Kade.
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