Chaparral earned the right to play for the Arizona 5A-II championship with a 42-14 dismantling of Desert Mountain Friday night at Sandra Day O’ Connor High School in Phoenix.

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The victory also serves as vindication for the Firebirds sole loss of the season in overtime on November 6.

“That loss was on me,” Firebird Coach Charlie Ragle said, “but this win is on the team.”

Chaparral took the lead for good, 21-14, just before halftime with an eight-play, 66 yard drive that was capped by a 15-yard toss from Connor Brewer to Danny Trittler. Brewer was 3-for-4 on the drive for 61 yards, all to Trittler.

Just 1:14 into the second half, Dwayne Garrett danced through a hole and slipped a tackle before cutting back towards the left sideline, where he delivered a devastating stiff arm en-route to a 70 yard touchdown run, and the Firebird lead was 28-14.

“Getting the ball in the second half and being able to score put them in a big predicament,” Ragle said. “It was huge.”

Early in the game, Desert Mountain looked to show that the first meeting wasn’t a fluke. They took the game’s opening possession 55 yards on five plays to take a quick 7-0 lead.

Chaparral’s offense was slow to respond, and the score remained 7-0 in favor of the Wolves at the end of one quarter.

But in the second quarter, Cole Tyree sparked the Firebird offense with several big runs leading to a couple of Garrett touchdowns.

Ragle said Tyree is the heart and soul of the team, adding that sometimes he gets criticized for being too emotional, “but you live and die with those guys.”

Tyree finished the game with 133 yards rushing and a touchdown.

Garrett added three more touchdowns to give him 34 on the year and rushed for 163 yards, 140 of which came in the second half.

Brewer had a solid outing, completing five of 10 passes for 113 yards and two touchdowns, both to Trittler, who finished with 73 yards receiving.

The Firebird defense was impressive in the second half, giving up just 5 yards total offense to the Wolves.

Defensive back Colby Targun made plays all night for the Firebirds. He had three interceptions and eight tackles.

Sean Kamela had five tackles and two sacks for the Firebirds.

Chaparral now faces Marcos de Niza, upset winners over heavily favored Centennial in the other semifinal, at 7 p.m. next Friday at Sun Devil Stadium for the championship.