Well here we are on August 28, 2026.

Arizona high school football is back, and oh how we’ve missed it the last nine months.

There were plenty of games on Thursday and Friday to fill our cup.

And on Saturday we get to go national, as top-25 Maxpreps ranked teams Chandler and Basha face off on ESPN.

Thursday Night

The Fiesta Bowl High School Football Showdown on CW7 was an instant classic.

Red Mountain beat Casteel 35-34, with a blocked PAT late in the game.

 

It was an offensive explosion from the jump, with long touchdowns by both teams to open the contest.

Kyle Enders coache teams are always physical, and find ways to overcome injuries and transfers sitting out every year.

This could be the year they really go on a run.

Don’t be surprised to see both of these teams meet again in an Open Division playoff matchup.

Another close contest on Thursday took place in Queen Creek, with the home team bulldogs storming back to beat Higley late, 35-31. 

New head coach for the Bulldogs, Steve Huber, seems to be doing a fine job after Travis Schureman stepped away. 

The rest of Thursday was pretty much blowouts.

Centennial beat ALA Queen Creek 44-10.

Hamilton beat Brophy 25-6.

Desert Edge beat Cactus Shadows 20-0.

Marcos de Niza beat Flagstaff 48-29. Running back Christian Garcia put up video game numbers in that one, rushing for 405 yards on 23 carries with five touchdowns. Incredible stuff!

 

Friday night storylines

You know big school football is really back in Arizona when you see Liberty scoring 50+ points.

That’s exactly what they did against Mesa, winning 58-18.

Lots of talk about the three-headed CUSD monster, but never count out Liberty. Colin Thomas is the best coach in the state when it comes to getting the most out of his guys.

Beautiful story out at Peoria high school. The Panthers painted a special decal at the 33-yard-line to honor Deer Valley junior Baxter Floyd, who passed away earlier this year. Deer Valley was allowed to return the opening kickoff to the 33 and take a knee to open the game.

 

That’s what the Arizona high school football community is all about.

Williams Field beat Campo Verde 49-21. It was an outstanding showing in all three phases for the Black Hawks. They look poised to make some noise this year.

For Campo Verde, there was a story bigger than football. Head coach Ryan Freeman stepped away last year due to medical complications with his daughter Brylee, who we did a documentary on after her first bout with cancer.

She had more issues arise after that documentary was complete. Friday night was her first game back on the sidelines. It was a truly touching, yet subtle moment for the Freeman family. More to come on that in the coming weeks…

Maryvale beat Kofa 42-0. It’s year two for the Carter brothers and this program is trending upwards quickly.

I don’t do predictions, but if I were to make a bold one, I’d say that Maryvale will be playing for a gold ball in December inside Sun Devil Stadium…

Other scores

Will have these updated soon…





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