Unlikely source keys win for No. 20 Chandler over No. 24 Hamilton

Video: Taj De Carriere junior highlights

It was tabbed the game of the year in Arizona, the game for the Arizona Avenue Trophy, the MaxPreps National Game of the Week.

It didn't disappoint.

Before more than 12,000 fans, host and 20th-ranked Chandler (Ariz.) got a big catch and run from an unlikely source to key a 27-20 Section I championship victory over arch-rival and No. 24 Hamilton (Chandler, Ariz.) Friday night.

Taj De Carriere, Chandler's No. 4 receiver, took a short pass from Mason Moran and rambled 92 yards, setting up a 3-yard touchdown run by T.J. Green to erase a 20-19 deficit midway through the fourth period.

A Kolby Taylor 2-point conversion made it 27-20 in a game that featured plenty of major penalties and missed chances.

It was a rematch of the state Division I championship last season, a 28-7 Chandler victory. It was the third-straight and four of five for Chandler over Hamilton, which used to dominate the series.

Green got things started early for the home team, returning the opening kickoff 65 yards and setting up an 8-yard TD run by Moran to make it 7-0. Green made it 13-0 with 7:08 left in the first with a 9-yard TD run and it looked like it might be a runaway.

Especially after Green scored again, this time on another run following a Rashad Williams TD for Hamilton, making it 19-7 with 10:32 left in the half.

But Hamilton came storming back, thanks to a couple personal fouls on Chandler that set up a Dylan Brown field goal, making it 19-10.

Williams scored his second touchdown of the half, cutting the lead to 19-17 with 5:05 left in the half.

The score remained that way at halftime, and in the second half, Chandler continued to hurt itself with major penalties. It helped set up Brown's second field goal, a 23-yard kick, giving Hamilton its first lead, 20-19 midway through the third.

Both teams missed field goals over the next eight minutes before De Carriere made the play of the game, with his catch and run, setting up Green's third TD.

Hamilton had plenty of time to tie the game, but after punting back to Chandler, Chase Lucas sealed it with a first-down run.