By Brittany Bowyer
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PHOENIX — After falling short in the 4A State Championship game last season, all eyes for Arcadia are set on making a return back to the playoffs.

Although making it to back-to-back state championship games is quite the challenge, Titans Head Coach BJ Pasquel says his team is up to it. Taking things week by week, Pasquel believes the team can continue improving to peak at the right time.

“We want to be playing our best football at the end of the season,” Pasquel said. “We want to play a smart, tough, physical and disciplined brand of football. That’s what we want Arcadia to be known for.”

“As long as we play smart, tough and physical, we’ll make it through the playoffs and with our dedication and our discipline, we’ll make it to the 4A State Championship and hopefully win it this year,” senior linebacker Braden Knaub said.

Arcadia has a number of players returning who were on last year’s state runner-up team. They saw the effort and the hard work it took each and every day to make it to the championship game, and Pasquel believes the experience of the deep playoff run will benefit those players this season.

“We have a standard as far as how we practice and how we work out in the offseason in the weight room,” Pasquel said. “It was a great experience last year and we have plenty of guys back who were a part of that and they’re ready to go again.”

“Last year was an amazing season and I got to experience everything, but we still were left a little short,” junior Greyson Stauff said. “I feel like that just gave me 10 times as much drive to make it back.”

Arcadia lost a number of starters on offense, but has a strong group of returning defensive players.

“We do return seven guys who played defense last year,” Pasquel said. “Braden Knaub is our leading tackler. Milo Marinick was hurt a little bit last year, but he’s a really good defensive tackle. Greyson Stauff was a defensive end, played the whole season as a sophomore at D-end. Gavin Knaub, Braden’s brother, also played linebacker for us. In the secondary, Jordan Barnes, Cayd Scheaffer and Broden Arnold all played as sophomores last year."

“The defense is going to be playing lights out,” Braden Knaub said.

“I think defensively we’re going to be one of the best teams in 4A this year,” Stauff said.

Pasquel believes the defense can be a dominating force right out of the gate this year.

“Everybody on this defense is ready to win games and play their hearts out, so I think our defense this year is gonna be a shutdown defense,” Braden Knaub said. “I think we’re going to be the best in 4A.”

Offensively, the Titans may need a little time to find their rhythm, but it’s not something Pasquel is too concerned about. He said they’ve got some youth on the offensive side of things, but he’s looking forward to seeing what they can do this season.

Pasquel mentioned players like senior WR Chase Whitmore, who got a couple of opportunities last year to play, who will see much more playing time this year. Senior quarterback Eric DeLord is another player who has been in the program all four years and got a little playing time last year, but will step into a much larger role for the team this year as the starter.

“DeLord, our quarterback, has been playing really well this offseason, and we have Konner (Kammes) as one of our wide receivers and he’s been playing really good, too,” Stauff said.

Braden Knaub described DeLord as, “an amazing guy with great leadership skills.”

Pasquel said along with DeLord, he anticipates senior Kammes to have a breakout season this year for the Titans.

“He played last year, and he had a really good season, but he’s gonna be a big offensive weapon for us.”

He said he also believes Joseph Hala will have an explosive year for Arcadia.

“He played some defense last year and was kind of our backup running back,” Pasquel said. “He could have a pretty good season on both sides of the ball.”

Arcadia has a relatively tough schedule once again this season, and if they’re going to make it back to the state championship game, they’re going to need to remain locked-in mentally. Pasquel said this is something they discussed while they were at camp, and it involves staying present in the moment and not getting too ahead of themselves.

“Practice by practice,” Pasquel said. “We’re a week at a time. A practice at a time. We don’t really talk about down the road. We talk about improving, playing our best football at the end of the season, making the playoffs and going from there. That’s kind of the big view.”

Pasquel also noted the strength of the region they’re in, the 4A Desert Sky, and how four teams from the region advanced to the playoffs last season.

When asked about what game they’re the most excited for, both Knaub and Stauff said the games against Camelback.

“We play Camelback at home and that’s our rival team,” Stauff said. “Last year it was a really tough game at their field, so I’m looking forward to playing them at our house and hopefully winning, too."

Brittany Bowyer is a Report for America corps member, covering sports for Independent Newsmedia in Arizona. Report for America places talented journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and regions.