During his Early National Signing Period press conference on Wednesday, Arizona head coach Brent Brennan told a story about four-star 2026 signee Oscar Rios leading a comeback this season. Brennan and Arizona offensive coordinator Seth Doege were at the game.
The game in question was Rios' Downey team against Inglewood. Brennan began the story by stating that he and Doege went to watch Rios play. Per Brennan, Downey trailed Inglewood by 20 points with six minutes to go in the fourth quarter.
In Brennan's words, Rios started ripping passes and they scored two quickly. Then they have this long, methodical drive. Downey then got a stop. With the clock winding down, Rios was flushed from the pocket. ripped a big, deep ball that looked like it was going to be picked, per Brennan.
Brennan stated that one of Rios' teammates, Santino Acosta, per MaxPreps, jumped up and grabbed the ball out of the air for a score. Incredibly, after Brennan stated that Downey went crazy, they received a celebrating penalty pushing the point after touchdown back 15 yards.
Downey finishes off the comeback
There is a saying about the unreliability of college kickers. That is infinitely magnified with high school kickers. Brennan stated, "It's high school, though, so you don't know how good the kickers are." Danny Yocupicio made the point after to give Downey a 21-20 lead with under a minute left per MaxPreps.
Brennan concluded the story by stating, "It was amazing because Doege and I were there to see this...incredible moment of high school football." The MaxPreps box score lists the comeback as beginning with eight minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
Rios had 12 completions in 25 attempts for 199 yards, three touchdowns and one interception and ran twice for 19 yards. Junior Damani Porras had five receptions for 101 yards and a TD for Downey. Brennan mentioned there was a player he cannot talk about who is an underclassman. That was likely Porras.
Arizona is one of 11 programs and four in Power Four that have offered Porras. Rios is the 253rd prospect, 16th QB, and 23rd player in California in the 247Sports composite rankings. Arizona signed the 37th-best class in the 247Sports composite rankings.