Aug. 27-29 football games at a glance

August 26, 2015 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365


The first full week of games is upon us. Most of the top teams who opened last week prevailed (Chandler, Hamilton, Mountain Pointe, Desert Edge, Saguaro to name a few). Those that faltered did so to formidable opponents (see Centennial, Catalina Foothills). This week opens with Saguaro-Centennial and concludes with Chandler-Bishop Gorman. Competitive stuff.

Here's a glance at some of the top contests this week (Thursday Aug. 27 through Saturday Aug. 29):

Thursday Aug. 27

Saguaro (1-0) vs. Centennial (0-1) at Glendale Community College -- Playing at GCC likely to accomodate larger crowd for battle of last year's D-III champ and last year's D-II champ. Both have moved up a division and promises to be one of the top games this season. Centennial was more tested in its opening loss to Long Beach Poly than Saguaro was in its thrashing of  Valley Vista.

Friday Aug. 28

Queen Creek (1-0) at Hamilton (1-0): First-ever meeting between these schools. Hamilton was solid in beating Ironwood Ridge on the road last week. Queen Creek had its hands full with Desert Mountain and may have a tougher time getting RB Gavin Danielson loose. Look for a little more of QB Tyler Bloom for Queen Creek while the Bulldogs must contend with a more balanced offense from the Huskies than was presented by Desert Mountain.

St. Mary's (1-0) at Seton Catholic (1-0): Thirty years ago Seton was two years removed from playing 8-man football and St. Mary's was winning a big-school championship. How times have changed. Seton bested Safford, a team like itself moving up from D-IV to D-III. This week the Sentinels play up a division against their Catholic brethren. St. Mary's handled Gilbert, 31-14, in its opener behind 255 yards passing from quarterback Erik Espinosa (3 TDs and 3 INTs).

Mesquite (1-0) at Perry (1-0): Fourteen years ago Preston Jones left as an assistant for his dad, Jim Jones, at Red Mountain to take the reins at Highland High. Highland and Red Mountain never played each other during the Joneses' tenure at those schools. They've avoided one another at their current schools until now. Both schools opened with impressive wins last week -- Mesquite over Millennium and Perry over Dobson.

Highland (1-0) at Mesa (1-0): Both teams pulled off upsets in their openers with Highland downing Desert Vista with the help of a blocked field goal in the final seconds and Mesa upending Red Mountain via a successful three-pointer with seconds remaining. This will be the fifth year in a row the teams have met with Highland winning each of the prior four meetings. All have been decided by 10 points or less.

Liberty (0-1) at Desert Ridge (0-0): Liberty is getting acclimated in Division I with a second successive East Valley opponent. Desert Ridge is prepared to again to make a bid at the D-I title. Liberty bowed to Basha, 42-24, last week at Liberty. The Lions won't face as an accomplished quarterback as Ryan Kelley this week, but Interesting to see if Desert Ridge presents a more balanced attack in 2015 or continues to go with a run-oriented offense. They've flucuated offensive preference in Jeremy Hathcock's tenure.

Williams Field (0-0) at Campo Verde (1-0): Campo Verde engaged in a defensive struggle last week in beating Salpointe in overtime, 14-7, in Tucson. Williams Field begins its first tour of duty in Division II after a runner-up finish in D-III in 2014. This is a decent test vs. their neighbors to the west. Williams Field has experince at quarterback and will see what mostly newcomers can do at the vacated skill positions.

Corona del Sol at Westwood: First game for both schools. Corona testing D-II landscape as it tries to produce a winning season. Corona's last winning season took place in 2008. Westwood, fresh off a playoff campaign in D-II last year, plays its first game under new coach Jim Ewan. Ewan returns to the Valley after serving as an assistant on D-V Yuma Catholic's staff the past several years after a decade stint at Chandler High. 

Tempe Prep (1-0) at Snowflake (1-0): This is a matchup of state runners-up from last season -- Tempe Prep (D-V) and Snowflake (D-IV). The schools remain in those divisions after realignment and opened with easy shutout victories last week.

San Tan Foothills (1-0) at Joy Christian (0-0):  Former Saguaro coach John Sanders returned to head coaching this season after a stint at ASU and assisting at Williams Field last year and the team came away with a win over North Pointe last week. Might be a little tougher this week against Joy Christian, one of the preseason favorites in D-V. San Tan Foothills has a solid run of winning seasons with four successive. The last game STFH played was a first-round playoff loss to Joy Christian (42-14)

Saturday Aug. 29

Chandler (1-0) at Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nev.): Chandler and Bishop Gorman were state champs last year, respectively. Don't think Chandler's starters will get the rest they received last week in beating Pinnacle handily. In fact, this may be the only time in 2015 Chandler enters a game as the underdog. Bishop Gorman is No. 1 in the nation in MaxPreps composite rankings this week while Chandler is No. 11. Arizona schools have done a good job competing with Bishop Gorman over the last decade when the states match up. And for those who take stock in it, Bishop Gorman was the mythical national champs. Since 2006 Hamilton, Brophy, Mountain Pointe and Chaparral have taken on the Gaels with Arizona schools on top of Bishop Gorman, 3-2. This will be the debut for new Bishop Gorman coach Ken Sanchez. The Gaels are led by junior quarterback Tate Martell, who ran up nearly 3,000 yards of offense (2,537 passing, 40 TDs, 2 INTs) last year. He recently committed to Texas A&M. The game will be broadcast live nationally on ESPNU at 7 p.m.

Chaparral vs. Helix HS (La Mesa, Calif.) at Cathedral High: Chaparral will wait until its second game to test the D-I waters in Arizona. Helix was 10-3 last season and has a consistent, winning tradition. Nice opener for the Firebirds, who have a testy schedule when they start in-state competiton next week.

Mountain Pointe (1-0) vs. Bakersfield (Calif.) at Cathedral High: Mountain Pointe embarked on a good test last week and was taken the full 48 minutes by gritty Marcos de Niza. Pride established a nice running game in its opener. Perhaps more might be coming via the pass this week. We'll see. Bakersfield was 9-3 last year, has 10 consecutive winning seasons and won a CIF state title in 2013 -- the same year the Pride did in Arizona.

Brophy (1-0) vs. Carlsbad (Calif.) at Cathedral High: Brophy eased past Sandra Day O'Connor last week with a potent offense and defense that pitched a shutout. Carlsbad begins its season. Carlsbad was 5-6 last season and bowed out of the CIF playoffs in the first round.