Hail Mary and Heartbreak: Standouts from Mesa–Centennial Classic

You don't get many playoff games like this.   Mesa and Centennial turned Friday night at Deer Valley into one of those “were you there?” games — 41–39, wild swings in momentum, stars making plays all over the field, and a finish that felt ripped straight out of a movie. It had everything: a career night from a workhorse back, an SEC-bound mismatch looking every bit the part, a quarterback playing his best ball on the biggest stage, and a walk-off kick set up by an impossible Hail Mary.   And right in the middle of it all were a handful of players who refused to let the moment be too big.   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">[player_tooltip player_id='412188' first='Owen' last='Reynoso']: 300+ Yards of “We're Not Going Home”</h2>   Centennial senior running back [player_tooltip player_id='412188' first='Owen' last='Reynoso'] didn't just have a good game. He had the kind of night you talk about years later.   Over 300 all-purpose yards. Three touchdowns. A new career high in a 6A quarterfinal with the season on the line.   From the first quarter on, Reynoso ran like a kid who had decided he wasn't ready to turn in his pads yet. Mesa's front isn't soft. They fly, they hit, and they've got backers who read things quickly, but Reynoso kept finding answers. Inside zone, stretch, dives, swing passes – it didn't matter. Every time Centennial needed to steady themselves, the ball went back in No. 1's hands.   It wasn't just the volume, either. He gave them game-changing, field-flipping plays. Chunk runs that turned second-and-long into “everybody on our sideline just took a deep breath.” Late in the fourth quarter, when most backs would be running on fumes, he ripped off another huge run into the red zone to keep Centennial's season alive. That was after he'd already crossed the 200-yard mark.   What makes his night even better is how he talked about it afterwards. Reynoso didn't make it about himself – he credited his offensive line. And speaking of those big guys up front...   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">The Big Men Up Front: Ty Gates and [player_tooltip player_id='283578' first='Bryce' last='Pollard'] Set the Tone</h2>   Nights like Reynoso's don't happen without big-time work up front, and Ty Gates and [player_tooltip player_id='283578' first='Bryce' last='Pollard'] were right in the middle of it.   Gates, the long, athletic tackle, and Pollard, the stocky anchor at center, spent four quarters leaning on a Mesa front that is used to being the bully. It showed up in all the subtle ways that don't always make the highlight clips but absolutely decide playoff games.   They were climbing to backers, washing down defensive ends, and resetting the line of scrimmage two and three yards downfield. On inside runs, Pollard kept the nose and interior tackles from getting any immediate knockback. On anything that bounced, Gates' length and footwork shined – defenders had to fight through him just to get a hand on Reynoso, and a lot of times they didn't.   You could see Mesa try to adjust as the game went on, but it just felt like the Centennial offensive line was a step ahead the entire time. When a team starts handing it off and consistently getting four, five, six yards a pop, that's the offensive line winning rep after rep.   Reynoso's stat line might get all the love, but if you actually watched the flow of the game, it was Gates and Pollard uprooting people that made all those yards possible. This was a classic “linemen win playoff games” type of performance from both of them.   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">The Hill Twins and the Hail Mary That Didn't Feel Real</h2>   You can't talk about this game without talking about [player_tooltip player_id='1325884' first='Titus' last='Hill'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1327540' first='Torrin' last='Hill'] , and that final drive.   Centennial was down by one, the clock was bleeding out, and it had reached pure desperation time. Fourth-and-26, 20 seconds left, season basically hanging by a thread. Everybody in the stadium knew what was coming: the ball was going up, and Centennial needed something borderline impossible to happen.   And then it did.   Titus dropped back, bought just enough time, and launched one downfield toward a crowd of players from both teams. This wasn't some clean-and-easy deep shot. The ball hung, got tipped up in the chaos, and for a split second it looked like it might just fall harmlessly to the turf.   Instead, Torrin was able to step right underneath it and was brought down just a few yards shy of the endzone.   It's one thing to execute a Hail Mary on air in practice (which, interestingly enough, Reynoso said the play rarely worked there either). It's another to do it in a playoff game, on fourth-and-forever, with an entire season sitting on that one throw and catch. Torrin had already made his presence felt earlier in the game with another score, but this was different. This was the kind of moment that flips a whole bracket.   From there, Titus calmly got the ball clocked with just enough time for Centennial to bring on the closer.   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Esteban Antonsen: The Sophomore Closer With the Season on His Foot</h2>   If you paused the game right after Torrin's catch, it would've been easy to forget one very important detail: somebody still had to make the kick.   That somebody was Esteban Antonsen.   Kicking is a weird job. You can be perfect all night and still only remembered for the one swing that doesn't go your way. Antonsen flipped that script. He'd already been money the entire game, knocking down his kicks and giving Centennial momentum when they needed it. Then he walked out for the biggest attempt of his life.   Season on the line. Everyone in the stadium still on edge after the Hail Mary.   Snap. Hold. Strike.   Antonsen drilled it. Clean. 41–39. Centennial wins.   There are a lot of kids who can hit from that distance in warmups. There aren't nearly as many who can do it after watching their team convert a miracle just to give them a chance. Antonsen handled that pressure like he'd been doing it for years.   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Derek Carr: 348 Yards and Three Scores on the Biggest Stage</h2>   On the other side, Derek Carr did everything you could ask of a quarterback trying to take down one of the top programs in Arizona.   348 yards. Three touchdown passes. No interceptions.   He was calm, efficient, and aggressive when he needed to be. He pushed the ball downfield, took what the defense gave him underneath, and kept feeding his playmakers. That's not easy to do, especially against this Centennial defense.   Centennial has dudes on defense at all three levels – they always do – and he still found ways to attack matchups he liked.   His timing with his receivers was on point. When Mesa needed answers, he kept delivering them. Touch throw in the red zone? He had it. Deep shot to flip the field? He hit those too. There were plenty of moments where Centennial could've seized momentum and pulled away, but Carr kept Mesa's offense punching back.   It felt like one of those nights where the ball was just coming out on time and on target. When you look back on his season, this will be one of the games people circle and say, “He picked a great night to play his best ball.”   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Caleb Tafua: SEC-Bound and Uncoverable</h2>   If anyone watching needed a reminder of why Caleb Tafua is heading to play in the SEC, this game provided it.   Tafua was basically uncoverable.   Twelve catches. 188 yards. Two touchdowns.   Centennial tried a bunch of different answers and none of them really worked for the defense. They mixed coverages. They got hands on him. They tried to disrupt timing. Tafua still found ways to win.   He's big, he's agile, and he understands leverage. There were plays where he used his frame to box out defenders like a power forward and others where he sank his hips, snapped off a route, and left guys chasing. When the ball was in the air, he played strong – plucking it away through contact, finishing through hits, and turning tough catches into routine-looking plays.   What makes it scarier is that he still has room to fill out his frame. This was a 6A playoff game against a traditionally physical program, and he looked like he was built for that stage. As he heads to Texas A&M, this is exactly the kind of tape that travels well. Big moments, big stage, and he stepped up in every way.   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">[player_tooltip player_id='1697600' first='Kameron' last='Williams']: The Perfect Compliment</h2>   While Tafua was busy drawing so much attention that at times it felt like all 44 eyes on the defense were on him, [player_tooltip player_id='1697600' first='Kameron' last='Williams'] quietly turned in a huge two-way performance.   On offense, he gave Mesa exactly what they needed opposite their star – five catches for 93 yards and a touchdown, with chunk plays that kept Centennial from just bracketing Tafua every snap. Williams ran crisp routes, found space when coverage rotated, and made defenses pay when they dared him to beat them.   What doesn't show up as loud in the box score is how often he tilted coverage with his own work. Even when he didn't get the ball, he was winning routes, forcing defenders to respect him, and opening space for everyone else.   Then you look over and see he also finished with six tackles on defense and helped in the return game. That's the playoff grind – your best athletes play both ways and never come off the field. Williams answered that call.   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Kainalu Skipps: Everywhere You Look, No. 8 Was There</h2>   If you watched this game without checking the stat sheet and then looked it up afterwards, Kainalu Skipps' numbers match exactly what you'd expect.   Nine total tackles. A tackle for loss. A sack. A couple of quarterback hurries.   And if you just watched the flow of the game, it felt like even more than that.   Skipps was in the middle of everything. He diagnosed runs quickly, filled downhill with bad intentions, and forced Centennial to account for him on basically every snap. There were plays where Reynoso still got yards – he's that good – but even on those, you'd often see No. 8 scraping over the top, slipping blocks, and making him work for every inch.   As Centennial's offensive line started to lean on Mesa late, you could see how much attention they had to give Skipps. They threw double teams at him, they climbed to him faster, and they chipped when he came on pressure. That's what happens when you're that disruptive.   In a game that turned into a track meet on the scoreboard, Skipps was one of the guys doing everything he could to slam on the brakes.   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">A Game That Deserved This Kind of Ending</h2>   In the end, it took all of it.   That's what made this one feel special. It wasn't just one star taking over. It was a bunch of guys, on both sides, playing some of the best football of their lives on the same field, on the same night.   Centennial moves on. Mesa's season ends in heartbreak.   But for everyone who was there, and everyone who will eventually watch the film, this one will stick. It's the kind of game that reminds you why playoff football hits different – because when the stakes get this high, players like these step up and give you a night you'll be talking about for a long time.

You don't get many playoff games like this.