Preview: Desert Edge Scorpions vs. Notre Dame Prep Saints
The Desert Edge Scorpions have the luxury of staying home another week and will welcome the Notre Dame Prep Saints at 7:00 p.m. on November 17th. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the two teams posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.
With a playoff game on the line, Desert Edge rose to the challenge on Thursday. They breezed by Buena at home to the tune of 58-14. Desert Edge might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team's won six contests by 23 points or more this season.
Desert Edge relied on the efforts of Markhi Mckinnon, who rushed for 102 yards and three touchdowns on only six carries, and Hezekiah Millender, who threw for 258 yards and four touchdowns while completing 81.8% of his passes. The team also got some help courtesy of Jaqua Anderson, who picked up 112 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
The team's defense also helped out by holding Buena to a paltry 230 yards. A big part of that defensive dominance came down to Desert Edge's ability to keep the quarterback under pressure: the team laid the passer out four times before it was all said and done. In that department, Deshawn Warner was the leader with two sacks.
Meanwhile, Notre Dame Prep strolled past Sunnyslope with points to spare on Thursday, taking the game 35-20.
The match pitted two dominant signal callers against one another in Noah Trigueros and Luke Moga. Trigueros had a great game and threw for 311 yards and two touchdowns while completing 71.4% of his passes. Meanwhile, Moga was balling out in the loss, rushing for 123 yards on only 12 carries, while also throwing for 108 yards and a touchdown.
Desert Edge pushed their record up to 9-2 with that win, which was their seventh straight at home dating back to last season. It's not like the team was facing easy opposition over that stretch either, as it included 9-2 Higley and 9-2 Central (their opponents had an average overall winning percentage of 57.3% over those games). As for Notre Dame Prep, their win ended a three-game drought at home and bumped them up to 5-6.
We should be in store for an exciting game Friday as both teams have no problem gaining yardage. Desert Edge has been on an offensive roll this season, having averaged 380 total yards per game. However, it's not like Notre Dame Prep struggles in that department as they've been averaging 375.4 per game. With a pair of commanding offenses duking it out, the defenses are going to have their work cut out for them. Check MaxPreps after the match for a full breakdown of the game, commentary, and other football content.
Desert Edge was able to grind out a solid victory over Notre Dame Prep when the teams last played back in September, winning 35-28. Will Desert Edge repeat their success, or does Notre Dame Prep have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
