5A State Championship Preview

<!-- wp:heading --> <h2>Overview</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The #3 and #4 seeds will play each other in the 5A state championship, with Higley and Cactus both upsetting the #1 and #2 seeds. Higley's explosive offense is going to have a huge test, and vice versa, as that stout Cactus defense goes up against a high powered, score on command Higley offense. Higley finished the regular season 8-2 and have been as impressive as anyone. The main part of that is becuase of the highly touted 2025 QB [player_tooltip player_id='368904' first='Jamar' last='Malone'], who has thrown for 3,763 yards and 42 TD's and has rushed for 851 yards and 10 TD's. Malone holds numerous P5 offers and is earning every one of them with his consistent wowing performances every week. Cactus started off 0-2 vs two tough opponents (Desert Mountain, ALA-QC), and then went on a roll to finish the regular season 7-3, with their other loss coming against 6A Basha. It hasn't been easy though, as they come off 3 close playoff wins vs Willow Canyon 21-14, Horizon 26-18, and Notre Dame Prep 21-17. Cactus has a game changer in ATH [player_tooltip player_id='110106' first='Will' last='Galvan'] who has proven to excel at pretty much any position he's thrown into, and it'll be an interesting matchup tomorrow night at Sun Devil Stadium. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Cactus Key Players </strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='110106' first='Will' last='Galvan'], ATH, 2023</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='110112' first='Damian' last='Jiles'], RB, 2023</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Nikko Boncore</strong>, WR, 2025</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='358497' first='Dom' last='Solano'], DE, 2023 *23.5 sacks </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='927258' first='Braiden' last='Lagafuaina']</strong>, QB, 2024</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://twitter.com/HIGLEYFOOTBALL/status/1599893305470615553?s=20u0026amp;t=pn0oqt03-SgjpgvVFdyRdA","type":"rich","providerNameSlug":"twitter","responsive":true} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/HIGLEYFOOTBALL/status/1599893305470615553?s=20&amp;t=pn0oqt03-SgjpgvVFdyRdA </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Higley Key Players</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='368904' first='Jamar' last='Malone'], QB, 2025</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='115484' first='Nijrell' last='Eason'], DB, 2024</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Daxen Hall</strong>, ATH, 2024</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='110128' first='Carter' last='Hancock'], WR, 2023</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Dom Esposito</strong>, WR, 2023</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='368927' first='Kamarion' last='Peete'], LB, 2025</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->