Marcos stumbles in semifinals

It will be another year of second-guessing after Avondale Westview again eliminated Tempe Marcos de Niza in the 5A-II state playoffs.

SLIDESHOW: Marcos de Niza vs. Westview

Opportunity knocks, but Padres don’t answer

The third-seeded Padres had numerous opportunities to take hold of Friday’s 5A-II semifinal game against Westview, but they squandered them in a 14-7 loss at Phoenix North Canyon High School. The Knights advance to the championship game for the second straight year, where they will meet Peoria Centennial.

Marcos de Niza (12-2) lost to Westview in last year’s quarterfinals.

The Padres had the ball in the red zone three times in the first half but couldn’t get a point, and they coughed it up four times themselves to lead to Westview’s scores.

Westview’s first touchdown came two plays after a roughing-the-kicker penalty gave them new life following a blocked field goal.

“We were the better football team,” Marcos de Niza coach Roy Lopez said. “I’m not afraid to say that. We beat ourselves.”

Despite numerous miscues, Marcos de Niza drove the ball to the 11-yard line with less than a minute to go and a chance to tie. A fourth-down sack was negated by a face-masking penalty, and the Padres figured they would get a new set of downs with the ball inside the 10-yard line.

Instead, the referees counted off half the distance from the spot of the foul at the 23-yard line, and Marcos de Niza faced another fourth down.

Zach Schira’s pass attempt to Tevin Newell in the corner of the end zone fell incomplete, and Westview ran out the clock.

There was confusion as to whether the personal-foul penalty should have been an automatic first down.

“I’ve never said anything about the refs, but (everyone) saw it,” Lopez said. “It was a face-mask.”

Westview took a 7-0 lead into halftime, but Marcos de Niza tied the game on a 51-yard pass from Schira to Justin Rodriguez 11 seconds into the second half. Rodriguez took a screen pass on the play, shed one defender, hurdled another and streaked down the sideline for the score.

Westview had the ball on fourth down at the 4-yard line early in the fourth quarter, but a pass fell incomplete. Ramon Abreu fumbled on Marcos de Niza’s subsequent possession, giving Westview the ball inside the red zone.

Again the Knights went for it on fourth down, this time scoring on a 5-yard run by fullback Terry Williams.

Although the game stayed tight at the end, it was the missed opportunities early that were the difference. Westview fumbled both a kickoff and a punt inside their 20-yard line, but penalties pushed the first possession out of field goal range, and Schira was picked off in the end zone the second time.

“We didn’t capitalize early,” Schira said. “I don’t know how many takeaways we had in that first half. We should have scored on every single one of them.

Marcos de Niza had a second-and-goal play from the 3-yard line right before halftime but couldn’t pound it in. The signature play came on third down, when Schira was one-on-one near the sidelines with Westview’s Jourdon Grandon, but was taken down 2 yards short of the end zone.

Marcos de Niza was then stopped on fourth down.