Sande Sez-Postcard From Under the Friday Night Lights

Greetings from week four of Arizona high school football. 

This week we will stop first at Desert Edge, where the Scorpions defeated the Ironwood Eagles 41-7. This was the first time these two teams have ever met, and this was a battle to see who could be King of the West Valley. Desert Edge Quarterback Adryan Lara was able to lead his team to victory to keep the Scorpions undefeated. Lara looked great. He is so athletic and had a couple of really impressive throws. No wonder he is going to a Division I/Power 5 college program. The hero(es) of the game was the Desert Edge offensive line. They did a great job creating holes, so the running game, led by running back Jeryll Mcintosh, could pound the ground all night long. One thing that will have to be cleaned up for both teams, though, is the penalties. In the 3rd quarter, there was a good 8 minutes that was just filled with penalty after penalty after penalty. Even the refs were tired of throwing the little yellow flag. Congrats to the Carter Brothers on a successful start to the season. Ironwood will bounce back. Hopefully, their senior quarterback is healthy. He left the game with an injury and never returned in the 3rd quarter. According to Eric Newman with Arizona Varsity, Ironwood Head Coach Chris Rizzo said that Will Haskell would be alright. 

Next stop, ALA Queen Creek taking on Marcos de Niza. I was super impressed with this ALA Queen Creek team last week when I saw them in person for the AZPREPS365 Game of the Week. They are a really well-coached team, and I am excited to see what they can do. I think they are a bit stealth.. they are powerful, and you never hear them coming. Anyway, they defeated Marcos 59-28. What a bounce back after losing to Mesquite last week. The Patriots are led by their junior quarterback. Logan Hubler. This young athlete is a stud, and big things are in store for him. Hubler is great on the run. He is a defense’s nightmare. He might not have the big-time arm you see from Ty Thompson and others, but he really sees the field well and anticipates where he can get his receivers the ball. Big things coming for this young playmaker. 

Super excited for this stop.. week one for Chaparral! They are back! Welcome back, Firebirds! Chaparral took down Brophy to push the Broncos to an 0-4 start on the season so far. Chaparral’s quarterback, Brayten Silbor, is one of my favorite 2022 quarterbacks. He did let the game emotion get to him, though, and got chippy with the Brophy sideline, and that will need to be cleaned up. Like ASU’s Herm Edwards says, “play with passion, not emotion.” These young athletes can take a note from the Devil’s Head Coach and adopt this philosophy. Silbor and the chemistry he has with his wide receiver, Max Minor, is something special (and started when they were both 9 years old)  and shout out to the Chap offensive line for helping running back Jared Willams dominate the running game. Defensively, I can’t wait to see Anthony Lucas! He looks like the top junior and the state and will be looking to make his presence felt nationally.

Shout out to Moon Valley for getting their first win of the season!! The Rockets defeated Glendale 34-30 and are now 1-3. Moon Valley’s Jordan Richardson had two TD’s on offense and one defensive TD with two interceptions. Congrats Rockets! 

This stop is a doozy; stay with me; I am going to be bouncing around… With these next few teams, they are all ones I can’t get a handle on. They are all right in the running of being pretty even, but one will need to pull away in order to make a run for The Open. So here goes, Williams Field beat Casteel 31-38, and Liberty beat Queen Creek 35-28. So a little reminder, Casteel beat Queen Creek, Queen Creek beat Williams Field, and now Williams Field took down Casteel. The circle goes round and round and round… 

Before we sign off until next week, let’s make a quick stop at some schools in 5A and 6A that are now undefeated through the first four weeks: 

Corona Del Sol 4-0

Mesa Mountain View 4-0 

Chandler 4-0 

Desert Edge 4-0

Highland 4-0 

Sunrise Mountain 4-0