Criner, Sunrise football All-Stars prevail
Saturday's Lions Senior All-Star Football Game turned into a battle of two of the area's top wide receivers.
Western's Phillip Payne finished with the most yards, but it was Canyon Springs' Juron Criner and the Sunrise Region that came out on top.
Criner caught six passes for 106 yards and a touchdown and the Sunrise beat the Sunset 33-14 at Las Vegas High.
The highlight of Criner's night came midway through the fourth quarter when he streaked past the Sunset defense to haul in a juggling, 36-yard TD pass from Coronado's Brady McManus to push the Sunrise lead to 26-7.
Criner, who has signed to play at Arizona, was named the game's Most Valuable Player.
Moment's after Criner's TD, Foothill's Jordan Monga scooped up a Sunset fumble and rumbled 40 yards for a touchdown to put the game out of reach.
Monga was named the game's Defensive Most Valuable Player.
Payne, who was the game's Offensive Most Valuable Player, finished with five catches for 112 yards and a touchdown.
He also had a 62-yard catch to set up the other Sunset score -- a 9-yard pass from Gorman's Dylan Barrera to his high school teammate, Kamana Kaimikaua.
The Sunrise scored first when Chaparral's Ty Anthony scored on a 1-yard run with 4:27 to go in the first quarter.
The short run capped a 47-yard drive, highlighted by a 38-yard run by Desert Pines' Mike Ball.
The Sunrise scored again on its first possession of the second quarter when Coronado's Brady McManus scrambled 5 yards on fourth-and-goal with 7:25 to go in the half.
Del Sol's Bryan Grenier added his second extra point to make it 14-0.
The Sunrise had a 44-yard scoring punt return by Canyon Springs' Juron Criner called back because of a penalty, but it didn't matter as it drove 40 yards on nine plays, capped by another fourth-down conversion.
McManus hit 6-foot-7-inch Coronado teammate T.J. Knowles with a fade pass on the left side of the end zone to make it 20-0 at the half.
Sunrise running back Mike Ball of Desert Pines led all rushers with 74 yards on five carries.
