By Brittany Bowyer
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SCOTTSDALE — After fielding a young but competitive team in 2025, the Chaparral Firebirds are anticipating an electric year on the field this season.

According to Coach Trace Carroll, this particular team loves to compete and has been tested on the field this summer. He says you can expect to see a physical, tough team on the field that plays smart but with a little bit of flash.

“We’re gonna be exciting on offense and defense,” Coach Carroll said. “We’re going to be a high-level, highly competitive football team.”

Offensively, the Firebirds return nine of their 11 starters. He thinks the biggest key piece of the offense is senior running back Jayce Wilson. Wilson was not only the team’s top rusher last season, but also the team’s leading receiver.

“I think everything goes through our running back Jayce Wilson to start,” Carroll said. “We’ve got some dynamic athletes on the outside, so we need to be efficient in that part so we can open up running lanes for [Wilson].”

Carroll said that Wilson coming out of the backfield really helps a young quarterback like sophomore Ryan Trocki, who started in seven games for the Firebirds in 2025. Coach said they had to depend a little heavier on Wilson in 2025, especially towards the end of the season, because of Trochi’s youth and inexperience.

Wilson believes things are going to look a lot smoother on the field this year, saying they’re a lot more coordinated and play more cohesively as an offense.

“Last year, I think it was very hectic because there were a lot of injuries, so a lot of younger guys had to step up,” Wilson said. “We’ve got a lot of our guys back and everybody’s just on the same page this year, so I think we’ll definitely just be a lot better offensively.”

Senior linebacker Anders Norgaard said the offense has been much more competitive at practice this season than they were last season.

“The offensie side of the ball is much more competitive this year against us,” Norgaard said. “Last year, we were more defensive-heavy on the field. We were on the field a lot more. I believe that this year we’re going to have a way better offense.”

Carroll mentioned senior wide receiver Jax Breslo could have a breakout season this year. At 6-foot-4 and 190 pounds, Carroll anticipates a strong comeback for Breslo after nearly a year of rehab. Carroll said Breslo is someone the defensive guys have trouble covering in practice.

“Nobody even really knows that he’s here,” Carroll said. “We were expecting him to be kind of our guy last year and we lost him two weeks before our first game ... I think after about week two or three people are going to realize, ‘Oh crap. That guy’s over there? That guy’s pretty good and nobody knows about him.’”

Carroll also mentioned Ryan’s twin brother Nick as someone people should keep their eyes on this season.

“He’s actually bigger than Ryan,” Carroll said. “He’s a kid that I think is going to be super, super dynamic for us. Everyone talks about his brother, because obviously the quarterback position is that position, but he is a guy that is gonna plug in ... That’s a guy that everybody about halfway through the year is going, ‘Oh man, who is this guy we’ve got to worry about?’”

Defensively, the Firebirds also return eight starters, whose experience will help the team navigate through the season.

“They’re all about creating turnovers, creating chaos,” Carroll said. “We’re going to be ultra aggressive on the defensive side of the ball. Is it gonna bite us in the butt sometimes? Absolutely, but it’s just kind of the nature of that.”

“From Chaparral, I think we can see a lot more aggressiveness this season,” Norgaard said. “I think we’re more coordinated and together. We’ve had an offseason together to prepare. We’ve worked on our plays a lot more and stuff is more honed in this year.”

The Firebirds received quite a few incoming players this year in the offseason, including players from states like Texas and California. Carroll also said they received four players who transferred from Saguaro who will be immediately eligible to play.

“We’ve got some guys who are going to come in here and make an impact right away,” Carroll said.

Chaparral plays in arguably the toughest region in 5A, bringing with it a challenging back half of the schedule. Not only are those games super important, but so are the non-region games if they have plans to make it to the postseason. While Coach Carroll acknowledged how important each week is, he said he’s most excited for the game against Saguaro in week two.

“With me being a Chaparral alumnus, week two when we play Saguaro is always kind of the marquee matchup for myself,” Carroll said. “I get a lot of texts that week, I can tell you that.”

Norgaard said he thinks the Notre Dame Prep game will be one of the best matchups on the schedule this year. Meanwhile for Wilson, he said he’s looking forward to the games against Apollo and Horizon. He said not only did he play incredibly well last year against Apollo, but the game is also their Homecoming and he’s looking forward to the energy. Horizon used to be his previous school, and he said he has a lot of friends still on the team for the Huskies.

Carroll said this year, the goal for the team is to just be the best version of themselves that they can be while continuing to trend upwards. He said their expectations for the boys is to just be present in the moment and not to look too far into the future.

“Obviously you walk through [Chaparral] and you see all of these beautiful banners and tradition that has been here, but we need to focus on where we are right now,” Carroll said. “Right now, we’re in fall camp and we’re just trying to get better every single day.”

Wilson said one of his goals for the team this year is to average anywhere from 25-30 points per game.

“I think we are very capable of doing that, and I think we can go very far this year,” Wilson said.

Norgaard, on the other hand, has high aspirations for the team and wants to end his senior season with a bang,

“I really want to make the playoffs for my senior year,” Norgaard said. “I want to win a lot more.”

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.