Battle of unbeatens has potential to be epic

What might have been unthinkable three months ago is a reality.

Mountain Pointe’s football team that was 2-8 last season takes a perfect 9-0 record into the final regular season game against Marcos de Niza, which is also 9-0, in Tempe tonight.

“We haven’t told (the Pride players) we’re undefeated yet,” said Mountain Pointe coach Norris Vaughan, whose Wickenburg teams were unbeaten in the last three regular seasons before he came to Mountain Pointe this spring.

The Pride finished with a 9-0 record in 1999 but lost the final game of the season to rival Desert Vista, which was also unbeaten, in the Ahwatukee Bowl.

After a season of watching Marcos football game tapes, the Pride know the Padres pretty well.

“They throw the ball pretty well and have running backs as fast as ours,” Vaughan added, referring to Pride backs De’Andre Currie and Davon Jones, who have both run for over 1,000 yards and scored a combined 39 touchdowns this season.

“But I’m not sure if the best part of their game isn’t their defense,” Vaughan added. “They’re athletic and fast, probably the fastest team we’ve seen this season and we’ve played some pretty good teams.”

Padres quarterback Zach Schira has thrown for 1,446 yards and 16 touchdowns this season.

Mountain Pointe has thrown 665 yards and six touchdowns.

“We’ll probably throw about 20 times this week; 15 in warm-ups,” Vaughan quipped.

That’s not what the Pride do.

“They’re a good team and we’re a good team,” he added. “It will come down to execution and making the plays.”

The Pride are assured of making the playoffs this season for the first time since 2005, but the winner will claim the East Valley Region championship.

“It would be nice to have an undefeated season,” Vaughan added. “That hasn’t happened here. We’d like to win the region championship too. We’re excited about playing a good team on a big stage and we’re looking forward to the playoff. We finally made it.”