Cactus Shadows is 0-5 against Notre Dame Prep since October of 2014 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Thursday. The Cactus Shadows Falcons will be playing in front of their home fans against the Notre Dame Prep Saints at 7:00 p.m. The two teams have had a bumpy ride up to this point with four consecutive losses for Cactus Shadows and three for Notre Dame Prep.
Last Friday, Cactus Shadows had to suffer through a rough 49-21 loss at the hands of American Leadership Academy - Gilbert North.
The match pitted two dominant signal callers against one another in Donivan Dixon and Conner White. White had a great game and threw for 277 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 11.1 yards per attempt. Meanwhile, Dixon was balling out in the loss, rushing for 60 yards and a touchdown, while also throwing for 216 yards and a touchdown.
Even if they lost, Cactus Shadows' defensive line still kept up the pressure with three sacks. Leading the way was Cole Mayse and his two sacks.
Meanwhile, Notre Dame Prep faced Higley in a battle between two of the state's top teams. Notre Dame Prep took a 60-42 bruising from Higley on Friday. This was one game where the offenses had no trouble playing at a high level.
Notre Dame Prep's loss shouldn't obscure the performances of Noah Trigueros, who rushed for 97 yards and a touchdown on only seven carries, and Cooper Perry who picked up 107 receiving yards and three touchdowns. Trigueros' longest rush was for an incredible 83 yards. Another big playmaker for Notre Dame Prep was Drew Jacobs, who returned a punt for a touchdown.
Cactus Shadows' loss was their third straight on the road, which dropped their overall record down to 3-4. Admittedly, the team was facing some tough opposition over that stretch, including 6-1 Higley (their opponents had an average overall winning percentage of 66.7% over those games). As for Notre Dame Prep, they now have a losing record at 3-4.
Cactus Shadows was taken down by Notre Dame Prep 52-6 when the teams last played back in November of 2022. Can Cactus Shadows avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
