By Gabrielle Mercer
After reining over their competition all season averaging an eye-popping 67 points a game, the Sultans weren’t ready to throw in the towel just yet.
Undefeated No. 1 Bagdad (11-0) annihilated No. 3 Williams 60-6 in the 1A State Championship game Saturday night at Maricopa High School. Williams finishes their season 9-2.
The Sultans’ explosive offense was simply unstoppable, racking up a 30-6 lead by halftime – and not letting up in the second half of the one-sided route.
Bagdad doubled up on their offensive explosion early tallying 30 points in the second half, as well.
Junior quarterback Israel Loveall did what he does best and completed pass after pass to his receivers – one of those receivers being his very own brother, Benjamin Loveall.
Benjamin Loveall, who has accounted for 789 of his younger sibling’s 2367 passing yards this season, caught multiple touchdown passes Saturday.
Israel told Sports360AZ.com he has been playing alongside his brother his entire life and winning a state title with his help was incredible.
Head coach Dalton Mills has had nothing less than a successful career so far with the Sultans – claiming the state championship in 2013 and making it to at least the semifinals in every other year since 2012 for the eight-man squad whose high school sits in 100 miles northwest of Phoenix.
Mills said winning a state title this season was his team’s expectation from the start.
“It feels awesome,” Mills said. “Just to bring this title home to our little copper town is really exciting for our community.”
Sports360AZ
