Chris Eaton
Last Friday night in Goodyear began the way that many of the practices for the Millennium High School football team have over the past three weeks. There was stretching followed by separating into position groups along with water breaks on a defined schedule. But this night would be different. On the final night of the three-week spring practice period, it turned into a time of competition.
There was a seven-on-seven game with relay segments mixed in. The Tigers threw medicine balls, pushed blocking sleds, flipped those same sleds (they’re built for that), showed individual strength and leverage in a good old-fashioned tug of war, and even finished the evening with some fun throwing water balloons.
Returning freshman, sophomore, and junior skill-position players were divided into two teams wearing their traditional home purple and road white jerseys for a scrimmage. The linemen weren’t left out either as they practiced blocking techniques, worked on inside run plays, and aligned themselves by side of the ball as the O-Line competed against the D-Line in races.
There is a lot of turnover for the 2025 Millennium squad as the starting quarterback graduated last week along with one of the top running backs, and the four defensive players with the most tackles. In addition, the Tigers’ leading receiver transferred out. All of this creates the opportunity for new players to make their marks on the varsity roster. Four different quarterbacks threw passes in the 7-on-7 game.
“With the youth, teaching them how to compete at the high level that we want them to be at,” Millennium head coach Lamar Early said in regards to improvement in the coming year. “They like each other. They hang out a lot outside of school.”
The mix at QB includes Rayden Reibel, who will be a senior. As the backup, he threw passes in five of the Tigers’ games last year. The 6-1, 195-pound signal caller competed on the track team this spring in the hurdling events.
“It felt great,” Reibel said about returning to the field for football. “The energy was really good. We are competing. It’s good to be back out doing sevens. We’re putting together a new system.”
Other quarterbacks in the MHS room include Adrian Gonzales, who will be a junior, and Cason Lanzarotto. Lanzarotto recently transferred to the Tigers from Desert Edge, where he played his freshman year in 2024. Early said the starting quarterback spot is up for grabs and he wants competition.
The top returning wide receiver, Kadin Johnson, was out for the spring game, but will be ready to go come the fall. Johnson had 24 catches for 301 yards last season and also plays defensive back. A couple pass catchers that stood out were Isaiah Rodriguez and Kasaun Franklin. Rodriguez is 6-5 and will be a difficult cover for defenders in his senior season. Franklin, who will be a junior, has that necessary speed to create separation with cornerbacks that are trying to stay with him.
While the quarterbacks were successful with some deep routes in both practice and in the scrimmage, it’s the weapon in the backfield that has Millennium’s players and coaches excited.
“D’Mari Bryant, in my opinion, he’s the best back in our district,” Reibel said. “He’s going to have an explosive year. We’re going to make the defense pay. It’s going to be fun to watch. Keep us in your radar.”
The aforementioned D’Mari Bryant had a pair of 100-yard games late in his sophomore season in 2024. He averaged more than six yards a carry and is among the strongest members of the Tigers. Bryant can squat 515 pounds, bench 270, and clean lift 255.
“I’ve been in the weight room,” Bryant said about his offseason. “We’ve been practicing as a team and getting closer. I’m very excited. I can’t wait for the season to start.”
Millennium has a new offensive coordinator as Sean Lanzarotto has moved from within the district. He was previously on the Desert Edge staff that won the 5A Conference championship in ’24. The defensive coordinator remains Devin Dourisseau, the former La Joya head coach, who won a region title with the Lobos in 2019. Another assistant with head coaching experience is Ricky Higuera, who was the head coach at Agua Fria the past three seasons. He is coaching the lines along with Mao Tosi. Tosi played at Idaho and then for a couple seasons with the Arizona Cardinals. His son, Lauifi Tosi, is a future D-I prospect.
Tosi will be a junior this fall and stands 6-4 and 300 pounds. An offensive tackle, Tosi got varsity reps as a sophomore and made Honorable Mention for the 5A Desert West Region. He carries a 3.80 GPA and can squat 455 pounds.
Despite a 3-7 record in 2024, Millennium scored 20 or more points six times. You get the feeling Early would like to pound the rock with Bryant behind his line, but will certainly take what the defense will give them.
“We want to be able to manage the ball and take care of it,” Early said. “But we also want to put points up. In this game, if you don’t score enough, you won’t win. We want a balanced offense, but it’s going to go how the game dictates.”
Another returning offensive lineman is Zachary Phillips. The 6-2, 295-pounder was a Second Team All-Region selection as a junior. He’s versatile at either center or left guard, has excellent grades (4.27 GPA), and possesses leadership skills (captain on track team). Many of the relays pitted Phillips’ offensive lineman against the D-Line counterparts.
“We’re a family at the end of the day, but with the competition, we want to make sure we’re pushing each other and also still building team relationships,” Phillips said.
Phillips thought the Flip Sled relay was the toughest event on the day. One of the noticeable things during the competition was the camaraderie of the other players not taking part rooting one another along. It was appreciated by the linemen.
“That support motivates us to push ourselves,” Phillips said. “It means more to us than just a simple competition. At the end of the day, it’s a brotherhood. We’re all going to remember this for the rest of our lives.”
Millennium runs a flex defense, designed to disguise the defensive front. It usually contains more defenders in the box than the offense can match. However, everything is predicated to the offense that the Tigers will play on a given week.
“We have some guys that are fast and can move and can tackle,” Early said. “They’re aggressive and that’s what we’re looking for.”
After all of the lineman relays were completed, the night of competition finished with the 1’s vs. the 1’s in 7-on-7 competition. The offense started at the 50, had three downs to reach the 30, then three downs to reach the 10, then finally four downs to score. The stakes were high as the winners would get to dish up first at the booster-provided postgame meal of burgers, dogs, chips, and Eegee’s while the losers would have to wait on the field.
The defense made the stop on downs and earned themselves a win. One of the linebackers was Dallas Brooks, who had 24 tackles as a sophomore playing the last five games of the season.
“Doing whatever I can do to contribute to the team,” Brooks said of his plans for this year. “Staying good on my footwork. Trying to get about 60 tackles this season.”
Brooks was also working out with the receivers during the practice portion of the night and could see some packages on that side of the ball as well.
Early is 44-41 over his eight seasons at Millennium. Other than the 2020 COVID-shortened campaign, last season was the first time the Tigers missed the postseason since 2017, Early’s first year leading MHS. He said there will be a slogan that will be unveiled this summer when the team goes to camp.
“There ain’t no expectations,” Early said of this upcoming season. “We can play kind of loose, but we can also play with a chip on our shoulder because everybody has written us off. This program has been a consistent and tough program. If you ask the majority of the coaches – they know when they play us – we’re coming tough.”
Millennium exemplified this last season, by taking Cactus to the wire in a 40-37 loss. The Tigers had nothing to play for in the final game of the season and Cactus ended up making the 5A title game.
Millennium linemen competing in a Tug of War during a Spring Challenge. pic.twitter.com/Rzx1yvBMX3
— Gridiron Arizona (@gridironarizona) May 17, 2025
As far as coaching influences for Early, he credits Chris Creighton, the current head coach at Eastern Michigan, for getting him into coaching. Richard Hoyt, who is a legendary Arizona HS Hall of Fame coach, hired Early for his first defensive coordinator job. Among others in his coaching brethren, Early said he leans on new Mesa head coach Jeremy Hathcock and also Perry HC Joseph Ortiz. In an interesting twist, two of Ortiz’s nephews will be in the Millennium football program this season.
It has been a busy few weeks during the NCAA spring evaluation period. Some of the schools that have been by to see the players have been Texas, San Diego State, Nevada, Idaho State, Idaho, and Harvard.
The varsity roster should be a little larger this season with about 60 players on it. Of those, just 15 to 20 were suiting up on Friday nights last year. However, a lot of the Tigers played both ways on JV. Early is excited about a couple dynamic receivers, offensive linemen that are back, and the still to be settled quarterback competition.
“I think the team is hungry for the season,” I know they’ve been working hard in the weight room. I’m excited to see what they’re gonna do this year.”
MILLENNIUM SCHEDULE
Aug. 29 FAIRFAX
Sept. 5 at Cactus
Sept. 12 at Agua Fria
Sept. 19 APOLLO
Sept. 26 at Shadow Ridge
Oct. 3 VERRADO
Oct. 9 at Tolleson
Oct. 17 KELLIS
Oct. 24 CANYON VIEW
Oct. 31 at Desert Edge
A fast start will be important for the Tigers as the non-region portion of the slate features just one team (Cactus) that reached the postseason in 2024. Aside from Cactus, the other four teams combined to go 11-29. Come October, Desert West play will begin and that half includes three teams (Verrado, Kellis, and Desert Edge) that each won 10 games. One thing that could aid in returning to the playoffs is an expansion from 16 to 24 for the 5A playoff bracket. There are 49 schools in the 5A Conference.
With spring ball over, Millennium finishes up its last week of classes on Thursday. The month of June will bring 7×7 tournaments at Arizona State, Northern Arizona, Shadow Ridge, and Arizona Christian. In July, the team will camp at Show Low before returning to the Valley to prep for the season.
Reach Chris Eaton at gridironarizona@yahoo.com or DM at @gridironarizona with story ideas.
