Top Games of the Week

Football is back here in Arizona, and this week’s matchups project to be some tough, gritty games across the state loaded with talented prospects. Take a look at some of the top matchups of the week across the state: &nbsp; <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>St. Mary’s @ Brophy<img class=" wp-image-190933 alignright" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/redzone/uploads/2021/08/PRZIcon-300x300.png" alt="" width="253" height="253" /></strong></span> A huge rivalry is renewed as 4A St. Mary’s will take on the highly touted 6A Brophy Broncos. Brophy is stacked with division 1 talent with some of states best prospects such as [player_tooltip player_id="42785" first="Benjamin" last="Morrison"] (Notre Dame Commit), [player_tooltip player_id="42784" first="Zac" last="Swanson"] (Texas Commit), [player_tooltip player_id="42796" first="Tyler" last="Powell"] (Arizona commit), and many others. St. Mary’s has a promising 2022 QB prospect in [player_tooltip player_id="100731" first="Nick" last="Martinez"] where he’ll get to test himself against some of the state’s best. The energy at Brophy should be rockin all night for both teams week 1 matchup. &nbsp; <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Mountain Ridge @ Liberty</strong></span> A big time game in the west valley as Mountain Ridge will look to take down a west valley powerhouse in Liberty. Liberty comes off a 2020 open division semifinals loss to Chandler where they earned the respect of the entire state in a hard fought game. They’ll return a handful of key players which includes 2022 DB [player_tooltip player_id="42810" first="Jax" last="Stam"]. Mountain Ridge will be led by 2023 QB [player_tooltip player_id="42892" first="Brendan" last="Anderson"] where he’ll have a tough matchup against a strong Liberty defense. Anderson is on of the top 2023 QB’s in the state with big potential, so it will be interesting to see what he can do against a tough program. &nbsp; <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Higley @ Williams Field</strong></span> Another rivalry game to keep tabs on. Higley comes off a 4-5 season from 2020, but they played some tough programs and kept all of their losses within 1 score with the exception of the 63-7 loss vs Chandler. Williams Field took down Higley 28-27 last season, as they come off a 5-3 2020 season, which was very similar to Higley’s situation. 2023 prospects [player_tooltip player_id="42924" first="Kyler" last="Kasper"] and [player_tooltip player_id="42957" first="CJ" last="Tiller"] from Williams field will be a nasty duo to watch, while Higley’s 2025 freshman QB <strong>Jamar Malone</strong> will get his first high school action and start. The [player_tooltip player_id="42924" first="Kyler" last="Kasper"] vs [player_tooltip player_id="115484" first="Nijrell" last="Eason"] matchup will be fun to watch as well, as both are top prospects in the 2023 class. &nbsp; <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Cactus @ Mesquite<img class=" wp-image-136931 alignright" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/redzone/uploads/2021/04/PRZ-Generic-Helmets-300x187.jpg" alt="" width="310" height="193" /></strong></span> A rematch of the 2020 4A state championship will take place at the Northern Arizona University Skydome in Flagstaff where both teams will travel north to go toe-to-toe. Mesquite beat Cactus in the ship 39-38 thanks to [player_tooltip player_id="42581" first="Ty" last="Thompson"] and [player_tooltip player_id="42705" first="Eric" last="Lira"], which Mesquite loses to graduation. They will however return standout 2022 LB and Marshall commit [player_tooltip player_id="42805" first="Andrew" last="Morris"] who is a game changer anywhere he lines up. Cactus comes into their week 1 matchup returning numerous starters on both sides of the ball, as they are a 4A favorite to make another deep playoff run. This game checks all the boxes to be dog fight, and should be a gritty game to catch up in Flagstaff on Friday. &nbsp; <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Bagdad @ St. David</strong></span> Two 8-man teams will go at it after coming off strong 2020 seasons. In 2020, Bagdad lost in the semi’s to Mogollon while St. David lost in the quarterfinals to Williams. However, Bagdad starts the season 1-1 while St. David starts 1-0. It should be an interesting 8-man matchup with a couple ranked prospects like Bagdad’s [player_tooltip player_id="100673" first="Connor" last="Watson"] and St. David’s [player_tooltip player_id="100718" first="Talon" last="Haynie"]. &nbsp;