A week after scoring 55 on Tempe in the opening round of the Division III playoffs quarterback Daniel Bridge-Gadd and the Trojans (12-0) dropped 62 on visiting Tucson Catalina Foothills (9-3), cruising to an easy 27-point win in a game that was essentially over by halftime.
“Tonight the defense struggled a little bit but the offense really stepped up,” head coach Greg Davis said following the quarterfinal win. “Our offense was very, very good tonight so I’m pretty excited about that.”
It’s easy to see why behind the University of Washington-commit Bridge-Gadd who consistently found his talented core of receivers, particularly seniors A.J. Smith and Jacob Brown open downfield.
“We definitely thought that they played a little to close with their DB’s,” Bridge-Gadd told Sports360AZ.com after the win which sets up a re-match with Sunnyslope in the semifinals next week. “We thought our deep game would be there the entire night which it was.”
He also gave kudos to his offense line who allowed him to make his progressions and allow the deep routes to develop.
Case in point was the final play of the first half when Bridge-Gadd hooked up with Smith for a pretty touchdown from just outside the red zone making the score 41-13 and killing any chances of second half comeback for the Falcons.
“Obviously we wanted to win the state championship that’s the ultimate goal,” Foothills junior quarterback Rhett Rodriguez explained to Sports360AZ.com after the loss. “But we’re the winningest team in Foothills history and I think we had a really great season.”
The Trojans are hoping their greatness lasts another two weeks.
Eric Sorenson
