Preseason Preview: Higley Knights

<!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Overview</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Higley enters 2024 looking for the three-peat after winning the 5A state championship over Desert Edge last year and Cactus in 2022, and they bring back a dangerous arsenal of players to do it again. You have to respect the demeanor that Higley squad enters each week, as they play fast, physical, and bring a ton of energy. In the past two years, only three teams have beaten Higley which include Horizon (once in 2022 and once in 2023), Desert Edge, and ALA-Queen Creek. Their explosiveness has been a significant reason on why these guys are so hard to beat, as they oftentimes find themselves in shootout scenarios and hardly anybody has been able to out duel them. And a big part of why they've been so unstoppable in these shootout situations is because they have two QB's that can absolutely deal it around and pick apart any defense in 5A, and they'll return them both in 2024 along with some really impressive, explosive weapons to feed the rock to. However, as we all know in high school football, every school has a handful of impactful seniors they'll have to replace the following year, and the biggest key graduation loss offensively to Higley is Daxen Hall, who went for over 2,800 total yards and 36 TD's, with around 2,200 of those being rushing yards alone. Defensively, they lose big time prospect Nijrell Eason to UNLV and Jacob Pitts, the 133 total tackle LB, and ball hawk Andrew Zubey. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://twitter.com/HIGLEYFOOTBALL/status/1734389813191811437","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/1734389813191811437 </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Key Players</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='368911' first='Luke' last='Haugo'], QB, '25</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1134311' first='Gunner' last='Fagrell'], QB, '26</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1145497' first='Jaden' last='Taylor'], WR '26</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1145487' first='JD' last='DeCausmaker'], WR, '25</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='368919' first='Taveon' last='Sueing'], WR '25</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1145490' first='Boston' last='Tilton'], LB '25</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Kooper Woolf, LB '25</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Justice Braithwaite, DB '26</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Schedule</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>8/30- @ Campo Verde</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>9/6- @ San Juan Hills (CA)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>9/13- @ Marana</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>9/20- Desert Edge </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>9/27- @ Cactus Shadows </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>10/11- @ ALA-Gilbert North </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>10/18- Notre Dame Prep </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>10-/24- @ Horizon</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>11/1- Desert Mountain </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>11/8- Williams Field </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://twitter.com/HIGLEYFOOTBALL/status/1779903384772100337","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/1779903384772100337 </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><em>Top 3 Toughest Games:</em></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Desert Mountain (9-2 record, Open Division playoff team)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Desert Edge (11-3 record, lost to Higley in the 5A state championship)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>San Juan Hills (11-2 record)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->