Chandler Basha kicker Mikey Barth made a 34-yard field goal with 2:09 left to play, lifting the Bears to 19-16 win over Peoria Liberty in the AIA Open Division state football semifinals and sending Basha to the state championship game Nov. 29.
Basha, the No. 2 seed, will play No. 4 Chandler for the Open Division championship on Saturday, Dec. 6 at 6 p.m., at Mountain America Stadium.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementTwo of the better defenses in the state went at it at Tempe's Corona Del Sol High School, with Liberty taking a 7-2 lead into halftime before the offenses began to find a rhythm.
Liberty captains (left) and Basha's (right) meet at midfield for the coin toss ahead of their state semifinal football game Saturday night, Nov. 29 at Corona Del Sol High School.After Barth's field goal, Liberty got the ball with an opportunity to win or force overtime, but the Lions couldn't mount a drive and turned the ball over on downs with no time-outs to stop Basha (11-1) from running out the clock.
Basha got revenge for losing to Liberty in the Open Division state title game last year. For the Lions, it was their first loss to an Arizona team since the 2022 playoffs.
The key plays
Each team had a safety off of punt attempts. Basha opened the scoring in the second quarter when Kaedyn Smith blocked a Liberty punt through the end zone and Liberty got two points early in the third quarter off a high snap that went out of the end zone and gave Liberty a 9-2 lead.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementNeither team had much going on offense until Liberty quarterback Brayden Stevens flipped a screen pass to Braxton Huynh out of the backfield, and Huynh took it 25 yards for a touchdown to give Liberty a 7-2 lead 33 seconds before halftime.
Basha's switch from Brodie Vehrs, who previously suffered a shoulder injury, to Jake Rogers at quarterback initially didn't appear to make a difference to Liberty's defense. Rogers threw a slant on fourth-and-2 to wide receiver Jaden Baldwin and Baldwin went 50 yards for a game-tying touchdown with 7:19 left in the third quarter.
Zeth Thues, an Arizona State commit, ran back an interception for a touchdown for Liberty, but Rogers hit Baldwin again for a 31-yard touchdown to tie the score at 16 at the end of the third quarter.
In a wild sequence, Liberty got the ball down to Basha's 1-yard line midway through the fourth quarter with a chance at the go-ahead touchdown. In short, Liberty ran five plays (one stopped by a timeout) and appeared to fumble the ball away on one of them before fumbling for sure on the last one, turning the ball over to Basha.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementA late hit on Liberty after a completion helped get Basha into field goal range for the go-ahead score in the fourth quarter.
The key players
Rogers was 10 of 15 for 149 yards and two touchdowns in the second half. He also had a touchdown called back on a penalty in the fourth quarter.
Baldwin had two catches for 11 yards in the first half. In the second, he had four catches for 97 yards and two scores.
Liberty quarterback Stevens was 15 of 34 for 162 yards.
Liberty's Tyler Burnstein and Basha's Eli Cramer-Cronin stood out with their play on the defensive line.
What they said
"It feels pretty good. Last season we lost (the state championship game) and it was a bitter taste in my mouth. It feels really good to be able to win. We watched film on Liberty, they're a really good team. They've got good players in the secondary. It was going to be a tough game." - Baldwin.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"It's a heavyweight fight. I felt like we had to the two best defenses in the state so it wasn't going to be easy. I'm just so proud of the way our kids responded. We turned the ball over four times, and if you would have told me before the game that we would turn the ball over offensively four times and still win, I'd say you're crazy. ... But our kids stepped up in big moments and finished." - Basha head coach Chris McDonald.
"We had four chances from the 1 and couldn't get in. They made a play, credit to them. ... We knew it was going to be tough game offensively. Their defense is really good. It was challenging but our defense made some amazing plays. We had a couple of chances to take control of the game and we didn't do it. They're a great program, too." - Liberty head coach Colin Thomas.
Up next
Basha heads to Mountain America Stadium, the home of the Arizona State Sun Devils, to face crosstown rival Chandler for the AIA Open Division state championship. The Wolves defeated No. 1 Hamilton in the other semifinal game. Liberty's season came to an end at 10-2.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementJosé M. Romero can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on X at @RomeroJoseM.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Jake Rogers, Jaden Baldwin lead Basha back to state title game
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