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Best in the West 2023: Sept. 29 Preview

Devon Henry

It is a massive week on the west side full of big games as region play begins! Let’s dive into some of the vital games taking the gridiron this weekend with only half of the regular season remaining.

 

Game of the Week: Northwest Christian @ Buckeye Union

A pair of 4A West Valley unbeatens square off in their first region game of 2023. They might not be the first teams you would expect to go half of the season undefeated, but they are proving and showcasing their talents every Friday night.

Fresh off of a 37-36 thriller on the road against Canyon View, Buckeye Union has a shot at the program’s fourth 6-0 start since 1923. And it hasn’t come easy, especially taking down a Canyon View squad that scored 60 points on Queen Creek the week prior. The Hawks entered the fourth quarter down 36-21 and put it all on the line to allow senior kicker, Rolando Negrete, to drill a 31-yard game-winning field goal.

https://twitter.com/RolandoN06/status/1705578298531786780

Senior WR/CB, Darius Haskin, put on a show with four total touchdowns last week against Canyon View, one rushing, two receiving, and a kickoff return TD. Haskin has collected 12 total touchdowns in the first half of the season while senior running back, Shamar Parker, has also scored on six occasions. Senior SS/CB, Ted Scow continues to lead the team with 44 total tackles and tacked on another interception last week to raise his INT total to five. Also, be sure to watch senior WR/CB, Puni Ellis, who not only came up with a fumble recovery last week but also recovered a crucial onside kick. 

Similar to their opponent this weekend, Northwest Christian’s flawless record was on the line last week in a narrow 37-35 victory at Eastmark. Senior quarterback, Evan Tarasenko went wild, throwing for 384 yards and four touchdowns to hold back a fourth-quarter comeback by Eastmark.

The victory propels NWC to their 11th 5-0 start since 1997 and their first since being promoted to the 4A Conference in 2020. Senior receiver, Gunnar Penzkover, has racked up 531 reception yards this year to total 8 touchdowns thus far. Senior running back, Ben Lueders, has been another staple of this offense with 402 rush yards and five TDs. Senior OLB/S/WR, Marshall Gillette leads the team with a pair of INTs this season while fellow senior, Walker Wisely, has earned a pair of forced fumbles.

This is the third meeting between these region opponents. Buckeye Union won the first meeting 29-27 in 2021 while Northwest Christian found victory 24-17 in 2022. Only seven teams remain perfect in the 4A Conference and one of these team’s flawless starts will come to an end on Friday night.

 

National Leaders Square Off in 3A

In my opinion, one of the biggest games in the state this weekend takes place in the 3A Metro West Region at Paradise Honors High School. The Paradise Honors Panthers are making themselves a 3A contender with a 5-1 record while ALA – West Foothills is also on the rise at 4-1.

No high school football player in the United States of America has thrown as many touchdown passes in 2023 as Paradise Honors’ Gage Baker. The senior has played like a man possessed, following up an inconceivable 10-TD performance against Show Low with seven touchdown passes at Valley Christian last week. Since the season opener against Thatcher, Baker hasn’t thrown for less than 385 yards in a game, including two matches where he surpassed 500 pass yards.

But everyone knows you can’t throw 39 touchdowns in six games without a receiving core that a QB can trust to execute. Senior, Isaiah Thomas, has been a standout for PHHS, catching 13 of Baker’s touchdown passes along with 806 yards through the air and another 127 rush yards. But you can’t count out more TD passes being delivered to fellow seniors Josh Morales, Garrison Ast, and Coleman Burkhart, who all have caught five or more touchdowns. And don’t let this historic offensive season take away from what the Panthers have done on defense. Senior defensive end, Bode Joncas, has already tallied 68 total tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, and 4.5 sacks. Morales and Cougar Holt both have a pair of interceptions and five different Panthers have recovered a fumble this season.

Tasked with slowing down Paradise Honors’ onslaught of offense will be junior defensive end, JJ Brutus, who according to MaxPreps is tied for 12th in the nation with 12 total sacks and leads the nation with 96 yards loss by sacks (min. 6.0 total sacks). American Leadership Academy – West Foothills is 4-1 this season in part because of solid defense to open the year. Their athletes have constantly attacked the ball, racking up seven interceptions and ten fumble causes in the first half of their season.

Senior athlete, Jack Hayward, has already swiped four interceptions for 125 yards while also picking up a fumble recovery. Hayward has also been one of the most consistent producers on offense with 268 receiving yards and a team-leading five touchdowns. Another name to watch will be Seth Goldberg, who not only leads the team with 68 total tackles but has also claimed 12 tackles for loss and two fumble recoveries and causes. Pressure will be on the ALA – WF offense too on Friday night to keep up with Paradise Honors’ tempo, so keep an eye on running back, Marquez Smith, who has accumulated 381 yards and four touchdowns this season.

This is just the second all-time AIA meeting between these two teams. Paradise Honors won the inaugural meeting last season 50-20.

 

Kicking Off the Desert West

The 5A Desert West Region is full of interesting and competitive games for the rest of the season. This year’s region play is kicked off by a fierce Desert Edge squad welcoming in a hungry Millennium crew.

Since their season-opening loss against Centennial, Desert Edge hasn’t dropped a game. The Scorpions are coming off a 21-7 victory over Sunnyslope and was missing starting quarterback, Hezekiah Millender. In the meantime, junior running back, Aryon Thomas, had a field day rushing for 200 yards on 26 carries. With Millender and his 912 total yards of offense this season back behind center, it should be fun to see if Thomas will continue to dominate the ground game.

Kansas commit, Deshawn Warner, has been an absolute menace for DEHS on defense. The senior defensive end and linebacker continues to terrorize the backfield with nine tackles for loss, eight sacks, five fumbles caused, and an interception this year. But don’t take your eyes off of Jaylen Dawson who has totaled 19 solo tackles and 40 total tackles alongside two fumble recoveries.

Millennium will be in for a challenge but looks forward to facing it. The Tigers have whipped up a 3-2 record in the first half of the season including shutouts against Westview and Willow Canyon. MHS also played a solid game against Perry in Week 3 but fell 38-24. Now they take a trip to Goodyear after a 43-13 loss to Horizon last week.

The Millennium defense did see bright spots last week by only allowing 41 passing yards and forcing the quarterback to only complete 4 of 12 passes. They also picked off two interceptions, including a 32-yard swipe by senior, Ezra Edmond. Senior quarterback, Titus Johnson, scored the Tiger’s lone TD with a rush but Jalen Dupree continued to put up absurd numbers with 201 rush yards on 21 carries.

These two foes have played against each other every season since 2016. Desert Edge has won the past three meetings by 14 points or more.

 

Be sure to head out and support your local teams this Friday night! Also, keep watch at Sports360AZ for all of our high school football content including Bleacher Talk, Zone Read, AZ Audibles, Recruiting Roundup, and more.

Join the conversation on Twitter using #FridayNight360AZ and follow @Sports360AZ to keep up with the action from across the state on Friday nights!

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Best in the West: Week 5 Preview 2019

Best in the West: Semifinals Preview 2019

Arizona native, Devon Henry, joined the Sports360AZ crew in 2018 after graduating from Arizona State's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Communication. Devon has avidly partaken in coverage of the Arizona high school sports scene since 2013 and has covered NASCAR and INDYCAR at Phoenix Raceway since 2017. Devon is also a play-by-play announcer, calling over a dozen different sports and hundreds of events.

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