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SANTA RITA 43, CHOLLA 0

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A disastrous opening 16 seconds for Marana spiraled into a full-blown rout for Jeff Scurran's Santa Rita Eagles.

In that minuscule time span, Santa Rita defensive back Ian Garlets cleanly stripped the ball from a Marana running back on the game's first play from scrimmage, setting up running back Tamarin Jones for a 23-yard jaunt to the end zone on Santa Rita's first snap.

It was the first of five Eagles touchdowns on the way to a 37-0 blowout.

"All week, the coaches have us studying and studying for those edges, and I used that one," said Garlets. "We saw on tape that some of their backs were loose with the ball. So as soon as I saw a linebacker hit that guy, I came around him and just went for the ball."

The Eagles kept pouring on offense in the first 24 minutes.

With 3:57 left in the first quarter, the Eagles other explosive running back, Chris Correa, made his impact felt with a 10-yard sweep for a 14-0 lead.

After a 17-yard screen pass from Garlets to Alejandro Escarcega put the Eagles up three touchdowns, star wide receiver J.J. Holliday extended the advantage to 28-0 on a 60-yard scoring strike with exactly one minute left in the half.

"J.J. is fast, man," said Garlets, who completed 10 of 12 passes for 187 yards and also rushed for a game-high 80 yards on six carries. "All I need to do is get the ball near him, and he'll get it and be gone."

The Eagles missed out on another golden chance for six points when Jones fumbled on the Tigers' goal line.

Not to be outshined was the Santa Rita defense. After holding Pueblo scoreless in their season opener last week, the Eagles extended their scoreless quarters streak to eight, allowing Marana just 129 total yards.

"The coaches around here went to school on what they did to hurt us last year. And, especially on defense, you could see a huge improvement," said Scurran, referring to last year's 20-18 loss to Marana — the only regular-season blemish on the Eagles' 2007 schedule.

Two Tigers quarterbacks combined to complete just 4 of 9 passes for 4 yards. In the first half alone, the Tigers fumbled four times.

Already smarting from a 46-7 loss to 4A-I powerhouse Scottsdale Chaparral at home in Week 1, the Tigers, a playoff team last winter, needed to respond right away.

They didn't fulfill that objective.

Marana coach Willie Dudley used all three of his timeouts before the second quarter started, trying to steady a Tigers crew that was knocked off balance immediately.

Santa Rita eased up on the pedal by playing its reinforcements for much of the second half.

But not before Holliday struck again, scoring from 10 yards by tossing a defender to the side on the way to the end zone.