Weekend Winners: Highland, Centennial, & Shadow Ridge
Every week now is a big week when it comes to playoff seedings. Teams are fighting for their post season lives, and some are coming up big. Here are this week’s top winners from last week’s slate of games. Highland…
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Continue ReadingEvery week now is a big week when it comes to playoff seedings. Teams are fighting for their post season lives, and some are coming up big. Here are this week’s top winners from last week’s slate of games.
Highland Hawks
Highland traveled to face Pinnacle last Thursday night, looking for an upset against the #4 team in the Open Playoff rankings. Highland was coming in at #4 as well, but in 6A rather than the Open. Highland came in and dominated from the start, relying on that great defense and kept Pinnacle off the board. Behind the outstanding defense, and solid rushing attack, the Hawks came out with a 25-0 win and could very much see their name in the Open rankings next go around. With only losses against Hamilton (#5) and Saguaro (#6) an undefeated run the last two weeks could help Highland crack the top 8 of the Open.
Shadow Ridge Stallions
Coming into the Shadow Ridge vs Westwood game, we all knew offense was not going to be an issue. Both teams averaging around 34 points a game, points were coming for sure. The question was, who is going to score last and hold on? And that is exactly what Shadow Ridge did. Winning 63-56, Shadow Ridge won the offensive battle. Freshman QB Jayden Pico Jayden Pico 5'11" | 175 lbs | QB Liberty | 2026 State AZ led the way with 206 yards and 2 scores, and senior running back Anthony Garcia with 163 yards and FIVE touchdowns. Incredible performances by the Stallions, they improve to 3-5 on the season.
Centennial Coyotes
Centennial came into the game against Mountain Ridge 6-1 and holding onto the final Open Playoff seed. With a high scoring offense coming up in Mountain Ridge averaging over 28 points a game, Centennial knew their defense needed to step up, and they did. Holding them to only 17 points, seniors Salehe Koonooka and Braxton Taulagi combined for 12 tackles, and helped their team pull out a big win. The Coyotes have two more massive games on the schedule, Liberty (#2) and Pinnacle (#4) come to face off. Excited to see those games and see how those shake up the Open Playoff final playoff spots.