High school football: No. 9 Chandler brings the thunder 31-21 over Saguaro in lightning-delayed game

In a high school football game between two Arizona heavyweights delayed by lightning, No. 9 Chandler brought the thunder Friday beating an upset-minded Saguaro (Scottsdale) 31-21.

Chandler scored 21 unanswered points in the second half before Saguaro added a late score, turning a 14-10 halftime deficit into a more dominant win than the scoreboard indicated.

The Wolves earned some revenge from their Open Division loss to Saguaro last year. In the 2021 title tilt, the Sabercats snapped Chandler's five-year run of winning the state title with a 20-15 victory.

And Friday it looked for more than a half like Saguaro was going to make it two straight over Chandler as the Sabercats were raring to go after the start was delayed by 90 minutes due to lightning.

Saguaro opened the scoring on a 3-yard Jaedon Matthews TD plunge on third-and-goal to put the visiting Sabercats up 7-0 with 10:28 left before halftime. The lead inspired the Saguaro defense, which sacked Chandler quarterback Dylan Raiola before a Dajon Hinton interception set up the Sabercats' offense. Saguaro capitalized on the turnover as Devon Dampier hit Deric English for a 12-yard scoring strike to take a 14-0 lead with just under 6 minutes left until half.

But Chandler answered back with a 50-plus-yard TD bomb from Raiola to Jaxon Branch to bring the Wolves within seven before adding a field goal to cut the edge to 14-10 at intermission.

In the third, Chandler finally grabbed the lead on a 25-yard screen pass to Ca'lil Valentine and a 17-14 lead. Gio Borea added a short TD plunge to bump the lead to 24-14 at the end of the third quarter. Valentine finished the scoring for Chandler on a 79-yard run to boost the edge to 31-14.

Matthews added a late 1-yard plunge with 3 minutes remaining to make the score a little closer.