It's hard to turn regular season success into postseason wins, a fact the American Leadership Academy - Gilbert North Eagles can now relate to. They took a 35-28 hit to the loss column at the hands of Horizon on Friday. American Leadership Academy - Gilbert North lost against Horizon in their previous head to head two weeks ago, too, but the margin this time around was much wider than the 51-27 score last time.
When it comes to explaining why American Leadership Academy - Gilbert North lost, one person who can't be blamed is Brandon Phelps. Despite the final result, he picked up 226 receiving yards and a touchdown. Phelps' longest reception was for an incredible 99 yards. Boston Morris made the highlight reel by snagging an interception and taking it all the way to the house.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Horizon to victory, but perhaps none more so than Bodie Zamorano, who rushed for 171 yards. Zamorano hasn't dropped below 100 rushing yards for six straight games. The team also got some help courtesy of Zack Jones, who threw for 167 yards and three touchdowns.
American Leadership Academy - Gilbert North's loss was their fourth straight on the road, which bumped their record down to 7-5. Admittedly, the team was facing some tough opposition over that stretch, including 10-2 Higley and 9-2 Desert Mountain (their opponents had an average overall winning percentage of 83% over those games). As for Horizon, the win (which was their sixth in a row) raised their record to 10-2.
American Leadership Academy - Gilbert North will have plenty of time to ponder what went wrong as they've got a bye scheduled next week. After, they'll take on Higley at 7:00 p.m. on December 1st. As for Horizon, they will head out on the road to face off against Desert Edge at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. The matchup should be an exciting one, as these teams are ranked near one another in Arizona (Desert Edge is ranked 17th, while Horizon is ranked 11th).
