(Courtesy Ed Russell Photography/For West Valley Preps)
Desert Edge sophomore offensive tackle Jalayne Miller blocks Higley senior middle linebacker Jacob Pitts during the 5A Conference title game Dec. 1, 2023 at Mountain America Stadium in Tempe. Now a junior, Miller already has 11 Division 1 college football offers.
(Courtesy Matt Bushnell/For West Valley Preps)
Horizon junior linebacker Eli Linyard tackles Desert Edge junior cornerback/return man Jamar Beal-Goines during Friday's 5A football in Goodyear. Beal-Goines is back after committing to Texas A&M in the offseason.
The moment the whistle blew to end the 5A title game and Higley celebrated, it seemed like Dec. 1 would be all the motivation Desert Edge football needed in 2024.
That team starts play Friday and it has not forgotten the 16 players ejected in a late second quarter fight, or the controversial holding call on what would have been the game-winning two-point conversion, However, that night was only the beginning of a tumultuous offseason.
Early in the spring, quarterbacks Hezekiah Millender and Tyrell Husband moved to Georgia, and transfers Elijah Sherbin-Fox (Saguaro) and Blake Roskopf (Liberty) moved in. Then co-coaches Mark and Marcus Carter resigned in April so the AIA would lift the one-year postseason ban on the Scorpions for a recruiting violation.
By August, stability prevailed, and much of that could be attributed to the appointment of longtime assistant and weight room fixture Henry MacArthur as head coach - as well as the players sticking with the program.
“At Desert Edge we have really resilient kids and they proved that in the state championship game. So I wouldn’t say that there’s necessarily a big change,” MacArthur said. “I think an emphasis this year is trying to go 1-0 every week, and not overlooking anyone. Every game has to be a big game.”
MacArthur and most of the staff stayed.
“When we saw Henri as the head coach, we got a little happy again,” senior linebacker Joshua Hopphaus said.
If anything, he said, the tribulations and a stellar track season brought forged bonds with this team as close as any the coach witnessed in his decade at Desert Edge.
No moment encapsulates that brotherhood better than the joy on David Cabrera and Jamar Beal-Goines' faces after they finished 1-2 in the state 100-meter dash finals May 11.
“All these guys were on the track together a month after the state championship game. So they had a month or two to disperse. Now even a week or two after the state championship we started optional lifts and stuff like that, which most of these guys were at,” MacArthur said. “The jelling process was really quick.”
While Beal-Goines is widely considered the top senior in the state, let alone the top cornerback, Cabrera has not played a down for Desert Edge.
He sat out the entire 2023 season after transferring from West Point. Cabrera also signed with Eastern Washington.
He said the only point for this team is looking forward.
“We stopped talking about it and got to work,” Cabrera said.
He is at home in a basically new wide receiver until dripping with speed and potential. Sophomore Zerek Sydney already has seven Division I offers and had a cameo on the varsity last year.
Senior Breon Ballard caught 34 passes for 788 yards and 11 touchdowns at Central last year.
“This is a new group so I expect this group to get better and better as the year continues,” MacArthur said.
The two new quarterbacks had an entire offseason to get used to the new receivers. Sherbin-Fox is the more likely of the two to play the whole season.
And he's from Goodyear, grew up with Millender and knows much of the Scorpions roster.
“I’ve known coach Henri as long as our former coaches," Sherbin-Fox said.
He's the more mobile of the two quarterbacks but can throw. Roskopf is a sophomore with rare gifts as a deep ball thrower and solid mobility.
Why not add to the new personnel with a new scheme run by new offensive coordinator Rob Kujath?
“I’ll let it describe itself. I could say what I think it’s going to be and what I hope it’s going to be. At the end of the day, we have to prove it,” MacArthur said.
Juniors offensive linemen Jalayne Miller and Xzavier Johnson provide stability to the offense. Miller is a foundation piece and gaining on Beal-Goines on big school offers.
Senior running back Aryon Thomas gained 599 yards, mostly in the first five games of last year.
Defensive stars Aundre Gibson, Jonathan Kamara and Deshawn Warner graduated and are starting their college careers at Kansas.
Texas A&M bound corner Beal-Goines is a good place to start the defense. Junior Camren Hamiel can toggle between corner and safety and is starting to rack up Division 1 offers, as is sophomore cornerback Mikayl Davis.
Then there are returning rotation players that were pressed into service in the second half of the 5A final. Senior defensive end Bryan Sims, senior defensive tackle Iyod Selph, senior safeties Tony Brydie and Jerrell Johnson and senior linebacker Antonio Parra fit into that category.
“With that game, it showed us that the twos and threes — people that didn’t think they were going to play — there’s a chance you get in that game. Everyone in the locker room realizes they can impact the game,” senior linebacker Hopphaus said.
Hopphaus is the leading returning tackler after recording 90 last year. Parra joined Beal-Goines and Cabrera on the state champion 4x100-meter relay in May.
They'll get midseason help in bulk from transfers. Senior defensive end Jerry Washington (Independence), senior defensive tackle Chris Braker (Estrella Foothills) and senior linebacker A.J. Burnette joined the Scorpions.
“Sometimes when guys come in from other programs, they were motivated to get to Desert Edge, for whatever reason .Normally when you get transfers in, they remind everyone that this is a great program,” MacArthur said. “Those guys have all been great and brought great energy.”
In addition to the clear goals of winning 5A or making the eight-team Open Division, Desert Edge enters 2024 with the goal of people wrong.
Eighteen former Scorpions in the Class of 2024 signed to play college ball. The remaining players are determined to avoid a dropoff.
“They’re smelling blood in the water. They think we’re done, that we’re not going to come back from what we went though. Especially in our week one game, we have a chance to put the state on notice,” Cabrera said.
Richard Smith Senior News Editor | Glendale & West Valley Preps
Richard Smith has been with Independent Newsmedia since 2016, and worked at a Sun City-based news outfit covering the Northwest Valley for 22 consecutive years.
An NAU alum and lifelong Arizona resident, Richard began as a copy editor and page designer at Surprise Today and the Daily News-Sun, then rekindled his love of sports writing by taking the reins on West Valley Preps in 2008.
For most of the mid-2010s he was the Surprise editor and West Valley Preps reporter. Now he’s the West Valley Preps Editor and Surprise Associate Editor.
As COVID restrictions slowly lift, Richard is cautiously optimistic he will visit book stores, football fields and gyms again this fall.
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