It was a tough fortnight for top-ranked teams in the Grand Canyon State. In two successive weeks of action, three No. 1 football teams fell from the undefeated ranks, and two of the state’s longest winning streaks evaporated in the process.
After Canyon del Oro ended three-time defending Class 4A-I champ Scottsdale Saguaro’s 36-game win streak two weeks ago, another streak fell on the campus of upstart Gilbert Williams Field. The Black Hawks rallied from a 24-12 deficit and linebacker Dylan Koch batted away a last-second two-point conversion attempt as Williams Field beat two-time defending 4A-II champ Scottsdale Notre Dame, 32-30, on Friday. The loss ended Notre Dame’s 28-game winning streak.
Across town, No. 2 Phoenix Northwest Christian built an early 21-7 lead and held off top-ranked No. 1 Chandler Valley Christian, 42-35, in what could be a preview of the 2A title game. 
Jordan Morgan, Valley Christian
Photo by James Conrad
Don’t figure on any more major upsets this week, given the schedule, but stay tuned. Class 5A-I’s top team, Chandler Hamilton, visits No. 2 Phoenix Brophy next week, and in two weeks, 5A-II No. 1 Peoria Centennial visits Avondale Westview, the team it has beat in the past two state title games.
Other top storylines from the week
2. Wide open: That’s how we would describe the 4A-II ranks after Gilbert Williams Field knocked off top-ranked Scottsdale Notre Dame. Of the three remaining unbeatens in 4A-II, Cottonwood Mingus, Peoria Liberty and Williams Field, two (Liberty and Williams Field) are in their first season with seniors. Can’t wait for the playoffs.
3. Thunder rolls: Once Phoenix Desert Vista made a lineup change to give 6-foot-2 freshman Brooke Honeycutt more playing time, there was no stopping the Thunder. Honeycutt had nine kills and five blocks as No. 2 Desert Vista posted a 35-18, 24-26, 15-9 win over No. 4 Gilbert in the prestigious Phoenix Goldwater Festival Volleyball tournament Saturday at Goldwater High, considered by many coaches to be the best measure of Arizona’s top teams. Gilbert has finished second in the state’s top two non-state tournaments this season. The Tigers fell to No. 1 Phoenix Xavier in the Westwood Tournament of Champions final earlier this season.
4. King and queen of Conley: Mesa Mountain View’s Sara Schmidt has been chasing her cousin and teammate, Brianna Decker, all season. On Saturday at Rolling Hills Golf Course in Tempe, she finally jumped in the passing lane. The Toros sophomore won the Doug Conley Invitational, the state’s most prestigious cross country event, with a time of 18 minutes, 40 seconds, topping Decker and Casa Grande's Kylee Kieser by about four seconds. Steve Magnuson, a senior at Tucson Ironwood Ridge, won the boys event with a time of 15:43.
5. 3A stepsisters: Lakeside Blue Ridge gets 3A top billing, but there was another important game in the White Mountains last week. No. 2 Snowflake (6-1, 2-1 East Region) pressured Show Low QB Rathen Ricedorff and shut down his favorite target, WR Josh Weeks, in a 35-14 region win. Ricedorff came into the game with 25 TD passes, 10 to Weeks. Show Low fell to 5-2, 1-1 in league.
The Fab 5
1. Mike Benjamin, Chandler Basha, Sr., QB: Ran for a school-record 283 yards and four TDs in a 37-22 victory over Gilbert Highland. The Bears also completed 12-of-15 passes for 121 yards.
2. Dillon Classen, Cave Creek Cactus Shadows, Sr., RB: Completed 23-of-36 passes for 302 yards and four TDs in a 35-28 win over Apache Jct.
3. Nathan La Barbera, Phoenix Northwest Christian, Sr., QB: Ran for 85 yards and four TDs, passed 22 yards for the game-winning TD and had an interception in a 42-35 victory over Chandler Valley Christian.
4. Nick Alred, Cottonwood Mingus, Jr., QB: Completed 12-of-23 passes for 266 yards and five TDs in a 48-6 rout of Page. All five TD passes came in the first quarter.
5. Luke Rotter, Flagstaff, Sr., QB: Tied school record with five TD passes in a 42-26 win over Flagstaff Sinagua.
On deck
No. 3 Phoenix Pinnacle seeks 5A-II legitimacy when coach Dan Zupke leads his Pioneers against his old team, No. 2 Scottsdale Chaparral, in the best matchup of the week. Zupke was an assistant under Ron Estabrook when the Firebirds were dominating the 4A ranks.
Other key games include: Mesa Red Mountain at Chandler (5A-I); No. 2 Cave Creek Cactus Shadows at No. 3 Scottsdale Saguaro (4A-I) and undefeated Phoenix Mountain Pointe, coming off a bye week, at Mesa Desert Ridge and its high-flying offense.
Recruiting news
Peoria Centennial offensive guard Nick Rowland gave Oregon a verbal commitment to play football there next fall. Rowland is rated among the state’s top five prospects by most recruiting services... Daniel Bejarano, a 6-5 senior swingman from Phoenix North, committed to play basketball at the University of Arizona… Richard Obert of The Arizona Republic reports that the University of Miami has made an offer to Chandler Hamilton junior offensive right tackle Christian Westerman's, bringing his number of offers to a sweet 16. The other schools in the mix are: Florida, LSU, Notre Dame, Arkansas, Nebraska, Michigan, Southern California, Arizona State, Arizona, Washington, Oregon State, California, Stanford, Northern Arizona and UCLA.
Craig's cranium
Arizona Republic lead prep writer Richard Obert has covered more high school football teams in this state than anyone I’ve ever met (he can also churn out more stories in a week than anyone I’ve met). Given that fact, and since I also cover games and write a weekly prep column for the Republic, I decided to pose the question to Obert: Can Scottsdale Chaparral (or anyone) hang with top-ranked, two-time defending champ Peoria Centennial in the 5A-II ranks this season?
Centennial is currently riding a 33-game winning streak, now the state’s longest, as it prepares for what should be a romp over Avondale La Joya (1-5). But there are four other unbeatens in the deep 5A-II ranks: Tucson Sunnyside, Scottsdale Chaparral, Phoenix Pinnacle and Tempe Marcos de Niza. Obert likes Chaparral’s team speed, and its line is nearly as big as Centennial’s, but the Firebirds lost probably their best offensive lineman for the season, Jake Ehm, to a knee injury.
Obert also likes Marcos’ trio of skill players, slotback Ramon Abreu, WR Justin Rodriguez and QB Zach Schira, but do the Padres have the lines to contend with the Coyotes?
Other teams he discussed this week were Tucson Sunnyside, which, like Centennial, knocked off traditional 5A-I power Mesa Mountain View; Phoenix Pinnacle, which has some proving to do this week at Chaparral; and Avondale Westview, the team that has fallen to Centennial in the past two 5A-II title games. Westview has been playing without standout, two-way player, Jourdan Grandon.
So can any of them match the powerful Coyotes? While Obert likes Chaparral and Marcos’ chances the best, ultimately he doesn’t think anyone has Centennial’s combination of firepower, size, depth and playoff experience.
Covering preps is a lonely affair. You generally garner more criticism than praise no matter how hard you work, but I won’t leave Obert on an island here. This Centennial team may be the best of the three coach Richard Taylor has fielded. The Coyotes will win the 5A-II title again, but I’m hoping they have to do it the hard way, by going through as many of those aforementioned teams as the playoff bracket allows.
Craig Morgan is a freelance writer who has covered professional, college and high school sports in the Phoenix area for the past 17 years. He currently covers the Arizona Cardinals and other pro and college teams in Arizona for CBSSports.com. He also writes a weekly column and other features for The Arizona Republic. You can reach him at craig@thewordsmithonline.com.
