By Zach Alvira
Head of Content
It’s been a long, grueling off-season for high school football programs across Arizona.
The cool winter temperatures gave way for a beautiful spring, the first chance for teams to come together as one and begin real preparations for the season ahead. Then, another break. It left players and coaches alike itching to get back on the field.
That time finally came when school ended in May, as teams began weight room sessions, field work and 7s circuits to identify areas of improvement. Finally, the time has come.
The crack of shoulder pads and helmets colliding is a welcoming sound. For many teams, the off-season seems just long enough. But for Centennial, which fell in the Open Division state championship to rival Liberty, the opportunity to get back on the field and redeem itself couldn’t have come soon enough.
“We’ve got 2,000 kids and we’re playing against teams with 4,000,” Centennial head coach Richard Taylor said. “We take pride in that. These kids are going to go out there and play as well as we can and our coaches are going to coach them as hard as we can.”
Like most teams will this week, Centennial took part in a scrimmage Tuesday night. It’s one final tune-up against opponents not wearing the same color jerseys. It’s always a welcoming sight, finally being able to hit someone else rather than your teammates.
But more than that, it’s a final look at where each player, each play in the playbook and even coaches need to improve before the first week of the season.
The Coyotes joined Open Division semifinalist Highland and 6A contenders Mountain Pointe and Red Mountain for a four-team scrimmage in Ahwatukee Tuesday night. The scrimmage was round-robin style, with each team’s first-team offense and defense facing off against each other for at least one series.
As many would have expected, it was competitive.
“We’ve got a young team and some of their eyes were real big,” Taylor said. “When the lights come on, things are different. But we got better as we went along. I know this is going to be very helpful to see the mistakes that we need to clean up. I’m happy where we’re at.”
Aside from the stature each program has based on its history, the talent level on the field took things up a notch.
Centennial is loaded to the brim with talent. From Kainan Manna returning for his third year as a starting quarterback to the behemoth of an offensive line protecting him, there’s no shortage of star power for the Coyotes offense. On defense, however, the Coyotes are young. But they showed how scrappy they could be after getting hit in the mouth early in the scrimmage.
Red Mountain also returns its starting quarterback in Simon Lopez. The Mountain Lions also picked up key transfers from rival Mountain View to further bolster its always stellar defense.
The Mountain Lions were solid Tuesday night, matching the intensity of Mountain Pointe and found success both through the air and on the ground against all three opponents. Lopez showed his arm strength and speed, while a stable of running backs showed patience behind a large offensive line that will move bodies in the trenches.
Head coach Kyle Enders was pleased overall with his team’s performance.
“We brought the physicality,” Enders said. “The film will tell us a lot more but the things we want to see is hustling, are we ready for a game physically and how we communicate as a team. Our kids are blue-collar, and they embrace that. We want to play all these guys we played here tonight.”
Highland, meanwhile, returns Kalen Fisher for his third year under center. The Division I prospect lost Greg Toler Jr. to transfer but head coach Brock Farrel expects others to step up in his absence, including senior Jalen Cross. Defensively, Highland’s linebackers lead the charge. It’s a group that seemingly reloads year after year.
“We’re good enough to compete with anybody and we’re inexperienced enough to look really bad,” Highland coach Brock Farrel said. “I think the players are ready. I think they’re ready to get into the specifics of how we’re going to beat teams and scheme against them.”
The expectations surrounding Mountain Pointe may be the highest since the Pride were nationally ranked under Norris Vaughan. Nearly every position on the defense is filled with a potential Division I prospect.
Rylon Dillard-Allen, a University of Washington commit, leads the way alongside defensive tackle and Arizona commit Kaleb Jones. At corner, Chase Shumate, a San Diego State commit, and Jacob Carter, an Ivy League prospect, are lockdown. Jaylyn Colter, who holds multiple Division I offers, mans the middle of the defense at linebacker.
Offensively, Dillard-Allen and Shumate add to a stable of weapons for quarterback Robert Knorr, who may very well be the most improved player at his position regardless of level. The offensive line is anchored by Aaron Thomas and Jayden Berrios.
“We’ve been practicing a lot faster this year,” Mountain Pointe coach Eric Lauer said. “We’ve been able to simulate competition at a greater level this year. We’re expecting that to somewhat pay off with the secondary we have or the front guys we have. We’re able to simulate and put our guys into situations that hopefully slows things down a little bit Friday nights.”
High expectations or not, Mountain Pointe wants to prove it belongs with the big dogs. That’s why the Pride welcomed the caliber of teams it did to a four-way scrimmage.
The Pride delivered in a big way. They were arguably the best team on the field, winning every series offensively and defensively. At times, both offense and defense dominated.
However, a scrimmage is still just practice. Farrel calls it a “glorified practice,” just to make it sound a little better. None of the teams dove deep into their playbooks. They remained vanilla, for the most part.
But the real thing starts next week. And every coach believes their guys are ready to go after Tuesday.
“Our goal is to have these teams come here and our guys get used to the hard heads of Centennial, the physicality of Highland and the Red Mountain that, you think they’re asleep but they’re wide awake,” Lauer said.
“We knew this was a big deal. This was one of the best four-way scrimmages in the state. It’s good stuff.”
Have an interesting story? Contact Zach Alvira at zachary.alvira@gmail.com.
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