FRIDAY NIGHT BREAKDOWN: '08 season already looking bright for MP

As what appeared to be the end of Mountain Pointe’s football season wound down in the 2007 Ahwatukee Bowl, the Pride started to give a preview of the future.

After Mountain Pointe made a last stand in the first quarter of this year’s Ahwatukee Bowl, Desert Vista rolled on to a 37-13 victory Friday night at Karl Kiefer Stadium.

The Pride had 30 seniors on the field for the final game of the regular season, but it was a pair of junior players who scored Mountain Pointe’s first touchdown.

Quarterback Brandon Cluff hit Markus Wheaton on an 8-yard touchdown pass with 1:56 remaining in the first quarter to keep the Pride in the game 14-7.

Mountain Pointe’s defense stopped Desert Vista’s opening drive on the Pride 4-yard line and got away with holding the Thunder to a field goal on the closing play of the second half.

The rest of the game belonged to the Thunder who wore the Pride down in the second half.

Senior defensive back Branson Ramirez scored the Pride’s only other touchdown when he recovered a Desert Vista fumble in the end zone in the final four minutes of the game.

Otherwise Mountain Pointe struggle offensively. The Pride gained 30 yards on the ground and 68 yards through the air.

Senior Marquese Wheaton, who had been such a big part of the Pride running game with 819 yards before he hurt his ankle three week ago against Glendale Mountain Ridge, returned for the Ahwatukee Bowl. But his biggest play was an 11-yard run early in the fourth quarter.

“It should have been like that the whole game,” Wheaton said. “I couldn’t really push off or accelerate. We got a lot of good talent coming back. They’ll be good. They worked hard to get to the varsity and I can’t wait to be rooting for them.”

Markus Wheaton will be back.

“We did pretty good first half and just fell apart in the second half,” Markus said.

It was also the third and last Ahwatukee Bowl for senior Gage Gorman who sees a bright future for the Pride from the juniors and sophomores.

“I have no doubt they will be good next year with the sophomore coming up, the line and a junior quarterback,” Gorman said.

Mountain Pointe coach Phil Abbadessa said his team didn’t give up despite slowly falling behind in the second half.

“We have not regrets,” Abbadessa said. “Our guys played hard and gave a good effort. And (Desert Vista) has a very good football team. We’re proud of our kids’ effort.”

As the game wore into the fourth quarter Abbadessa replaced some of his senior starters with up-and-coming underclassmen.

“We had some of our young kids get some experience in an Ahwatukee Bow,” Abbadessa said, “so that’s a positive. We have some good young kids in the program and have a lot of returning juniors.”