By Brittany Bowyer
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CAVE CREEK ­— Things will look quite different offensively for Cactus Shadows football this year as the team adjusts to a new slew of starting players.

Not only did the Falcons lose their starting quarterback, but they also lost their top three receivers from last season. Because of this, the team is going to look to its experienced defense to set the tone and help out the offense.

Taking snaps as QB1 will be junior Gage Millard. Millard was the back up for former QB Donivan Dixon and saw playing time in all 12 games last season.

“He had a little playing time last year, and he did a really good job of coming in and taking advantage of his little opportunities,” Head Coach Chris Dixon said.

Millard said previously, he would sit back and observe how Dixon stepped up as a leader and would get the job done.

“Just seeing how he’d get it done on the field,” Millard said. “[Donivan] did a great job of just executing the plan and making sure everyone was doing the right thing.”

Coach Dixon says the team also returns junior Brock Cashin at wide receiver, who he said had four touchdowns in the final four games of last season, and expects sophomore Colin Godfrey to have a breakout season this year.

“Godfrey is gonna be someone who can explode on the scene this year,” Dixon said.

According to Dixon, defense is going to be setting the tone for the offense this year, as they return seven out of 11 starters from last season. It’s headlined by an experienced linebacking core led by junior Clayton Pfaff and senior Casen Stieg. He said in the past, offense had been the team’s “big thing,” but now he hopes the defense can lead the way.

“That is probably our deepest group on the whole team,” Dixon said. “I think they are the staple of our team right now to get everybody going.”

“We have senior experience in every piece of our defense, from d-line to corners,” Stieg said. “I think that will help us communicate better and ultimately play better on defense this season.”

Dixon says both Pfaff and Stieg, along with the addition of senior transfer and Cal commit Gunnar Perry, will make for a nasty defense. He also mentioned the rise of junior linebacker Max Wilson and senior defensive end Kaden Parker as two people he expects to shine this season.

In addition to Perry, Cactus Shadows also brought in a handful of other transfers this offseason. They include senior OL Ian Frank, senior DB Eric Ferrill, senior DL Austyn Fair, and junior Bobby Clougherty. Clougherty will be immediately available, as he transferred in from La Salle in CA.

Cactus Shadows is preparing for a tough slate of games this season as the start of Friday Night Lights quickly approaches. The Falcons have a challenging schedule before them, facing some elite talent like top-ranked Desert Edge right out of the gate, and the state champions over at Desert Mountain in week six.

Dixon says there isn’t one specific game they’re excited for or have circled on their calendars as being more important than the rest, because he said they all matter for this team.

“We’re all excited about our schedule,” Dixon said. “There’s no game on our schedule where you go, ‘You know, this one’s gonna be more important than the others.’”

Dixon continued on to say that while all the games are important to them this year, the one game they’re excited to play is against Notre Dame Prep.

“Notre Dame Prep is probably the most exciting game because we’re all from the Creek and we’re all in the area,” Dixon said.

“I can speak for our whole team when I say we’re most excited about week eight,” Stieg said about the Notre Dame Prep game.

While Millard said he’s really looking forward to the Notre Dame Prep game, the one he’s most excited for is against Horizon.

“We haven’t beat them in school history, and I think we have an amazing shot this year to prove everyone wrong,” Millard said.

While their offense will have some catching up to do, both Millard and Stieg believe they have what it takes to play for a state title this year.

“We know our schedule, but we know our worth,” Millard said. “We know we are also a tough team, as well. We want teams to realize that.”

“I want nothing more than to play at ASU in December, and hopefully me getting to the quarterback can be a big part of that,” Stieg said.

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.