Millennium overwhelms Cactus in 2nd half in Goodyear

By Richard Smith
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In this social media era, the trash talk and boasts flow like water during game week and carry over into the first quarter before high school football players settle down.

That never really happened Friday night between Cactus and Millennium at the Tigers' stadium in Goodyear. This was personal, and the teams picked up alternating personal foul penalties well into the second half.

Seven Cactus players transferred to Millennium in the winter. With emotions running high and two of those players - junior quarterback Myron Lee and junior defensive back Daylen Moore - starting for the Tigers, both teams tried to do too much in a 7-7 first half.

Millennium (2-0) snapped out of it from the beginning of the second half, piling on 23 points in the third quarter and pulling away for a 42-14 win.

"We went in there and Coach (Lamar) Early. We came together. Everyone had to relax, calm down and just play football," Myron Lee said.

The Tigers' defense fed their offense in the third quarter. Senior linebacker King Johnson pounced on a botched Cactus handoff at the Cobras' 32.

Four plays later, Lee faked a pitch to star running back D'Mari Bryant and handed off to sophomore back Jeremiah Carson on a fly sweep for the 10-yard touchdown and a 14-7 lead.

Millennium forced a quick three and out, then picked up a quick first down. Bryant took a draw, made one cut and was gone for a 50-yard score.

The Tigers led 21-7 less than three minutes into the quarter.

"I took the first part of it (at halftime) and my captains took the rest. I'm very proud of them because this is a veteran group. There's not a lot of talking that I need to do," Early said. "I'm very proud of the second half because they came out and answered the call.  We know Cactus is a great team and they're coached well. We knew  the emotions were high and we needed to calm that down."

After forcing another punt Millennium tacked on a 39-yard field goal by senior Desert Edge transfer Jackson Rodgers.

K.J. Johnson picked up a sack to continue the Cobras' nightmare quarter. Lee tossed his second touchdown of the night to senior Kadin Johnson, who was alone to complete the 39-yard toss.

Rodgers missed the extra point but the home team was in command, up 30-7 as the third quarter ended.

"The emotions were high, even since before I transferred. Before I even knew I was going to come here, I just knew I wanted to play Cactus," Lee said.

Senior defensive end Angelo Ortiz tipped Cactus sophomore Jacob Martin's paseed, picked it and dashed back 37 yards for a Tigers touchdown with 9:24 left in the game.

Another failed conversion left the score at 36-7 Tigers

"I've got some connections to Cactus, so it's a little personal. I felt some emotions coming in. When I caught that ball, I knew I had to score," Ortiz said.

Martin hit his sophomore backup Cash Weir for 35 yards and junior running back Nathaniels Linares scored from the 2 for the Cobras.

Bryant capped a huge second half by returning the ensuing kickoff 90 yards for the final touchdown of the night.  He also had a 52-yard run that did not lead to points, since sophomore linebacker Kameron Smith recovered Lee's fumble on the next play.

"He's playing both sides of the ball. And he got to see a little bit of kick returns. We want to do that all year," Early said.

Lee picked the perfect circumstances to complete his first pass of the game.

In a scoreless game on the first play of the second quarter, Lee dropped a dime to Johnson down the Tigers sideline and the Idaho State commit dashed to complete the 78-yard touchdown.

Lee split snaps with junior Cason Lanzarotto and senior Adrian Gonzalez in the Tigers' opening 42-0 rout of Laveen Betty Fairfax. Tuesday, Lee learned he would start against his former team.

"After that I was like, 'we're good,'" Lee said.

Cactus (1-1) tied it in the final minute of the half.  Martin tossed a middle screen to Linares, who rumbled for 51 yards.

That set up a throwback screen to Linares for an easy 21-yard score 46 seconds before halftime.

 Highlights were hard to come by for the Cobras. In addition to the turnover, Cactus committed several costly personal fouls.

"Early in the second half we turned the ball over and gave up a play for a touchdown. I think the momentum shifted pretty heavily at that point. We could never get it back," Cactus Coach Brian Belles said. "They were the better team tonight. I don't think that's a representation of who we are, but it's what we put on the field tonight."

Juniors Jericho Peralta and Elijah Coleman are the most prominent of five Cactus to Millennium transfers who did not apply for a hardship and are sitting out five games.

Angelo Ortiz is the nephew of Tigers co-offensive coordinator Joseph Ortiz, a former Cactus coach. His four years coaching the Cobras were very successful, but his departure for Gilbert Perry is best described as a mutual parting of ways.

Beyond all those reasons for animus, though, this game served as a litmus test for Millennium. With the transfers joining returning seniors Bryant, Johnson, Stanford-bound offensive tackle Lauifi Tosi and defensive back Kiaun Davison, the Tigers are expected to contend in 5A.

Beating Cactus is a major step as Belles teams reached the 5A title games in 2022 and 2024. The Cobras beat the Tigers by 7, 5, 3 and 1 in the last four meetings.

"The defense has gotten a lot of backlash from me. I love them all but I've been challenging them all year because I know everybody has talked about the other side of the ball. They answered the call tonight - the entire defense," Early said. "We're very excited and very proud of those guys."

Richard Smith
Senior News Editor | Glendale & West Valley Preps

rsmith@iniusa.org

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.