The Casteel Colts are on a winning streak

Nathaniel Garcia is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Casteel High School for AZPreps365.com

Casteel High School, now 3-2, traveled to Mesa High School Friday night. The game, which was expected to be explosive, ended with the Colts winning 42-27.

In last week's games, the Colts defeated Mountain Ridge 45-6, while the Jackrabbits defeated Dobson 41-7. Both teams went into Friday's game with momentum. It was just a question of who wanted this victory more.

The Colts started their first drive slowly with a fumble, but continued what they did last week by driving the ball down the field and capping it off with a 9-yard rushing touchdown from Isaiah Linyear to make it 7-0 . But that lead was short-lived as Mesa responded with a kickoff return to tie the score at 7-7.

Isaiah Linyear was strong in the running game, scoring multiple touchdowns for the Colts without taking his foot off the gas.

“Play-by-play, none of that matters. We try not to look at the score, because of course the decision of the game depends on the score, but we just have to focus on executing and fulfilling our duties,” Linyear said

When Mesa scored another touchdown to increase the score to 14-7, things began to look like a slippery slope for the Colts. But that didn't stop the Colts from giving up, they continued to fight and drive the ball down the field. But the game wasn't in the Colts' favor, with a 3-point deficit 21-24 at halftime.

This game was full of big plays, with Paul Palmer's #9 and Nathan McConnell's #17 taking a 70-yard gain after halftime against Mesa. This led to Paul Palmers using his legs to score a touchdown and regain the lead 28-24

The defense played a big role in the second half of the game and only allowed 3 points in the entire second half of the game. The running game against Mesa was also very effective.

“I thought I made the plays when my team needed me most. “I didn’t do too much in the passing game, but I was able to use my legs efficiently and score a touchdown,” Paul Palmer said

The Casteel Colts adjusted in the second half and ended the game with a win by scoring three touchdowns in the second half, regardless of the early start. It was a game until the clock hit triple zeros.

“We were happy with the win, you have to enjoy the victories when you get them, but we still have so much work to do, we need to play together more, be more methodical in how we approach the game itself as a team overall, were…” “It’s a better team than we’re showing,” said head coach Newcombe

There is a connection to this group of athletes, this football team.

“I love these guys, we know we have a lot of things to work on, we'll get back to it next week. We try not to focus on our records and just focus on any of it. I'm glad I trust these guys. “I love these guys, they're my family,” Linyear said