It was one of the first games I circled on my master football schedule every summer for the last five years.

And as the schedules trickled out on Twitter in January, I was left with the question ... Where is it? Overall, Northwest Valley teams feature compelling slates.

But I kept thinking about the game that wasn’t there — Centennial vs. Liberty will not happen for the first time since 2012.

The region’s best rivalry of this decade will take a two-year hiatus. And it may have been more a product of the scheduling process than the desire of either program to end it.

While Peoria fans lose a rivalry, and another traditional game fell by the wayside, high school football observers in Glendale will see a couple of rare neighborhood matchups.

The Peoria triangle

Centennial athletic director Brett Palmer provided a cliff notes summation of the scheduling process, which he said is not new:

"You turn in a request list to your region rep and all region reps get together and schedule based on several factors. We put a list together of who we thought would be a good matchup for us and got a couple games we requested. The others kind of fell the way they fell," he stated in an email.

While he never directly referred to Liberty in the larger email response, it doesn’t seem like a stretch to believe Liberty was on the list and was not selected. The same is true when reading the email response of Liberty athletic director Aaron Coghanour.

The Lions are now up in 6A while Centennial stayed in 5A and that could be a large part of the problem. Region and conference representatives play a large role in choosing non-league games and tended to match up teams in the same conference.

Some Arizona schools, notably 4A powers Scottsdale Saguaro and Tucson Salpointe Catholic, are playing more than one school in another class, though both of those teams are playing two schools in larger conferences.

6A representatives may have been loath to allow newcomer Liberty two games against the smaller 5A conference, even if Centennial has a larger profile than almost every 6A team. And if they could only pick one 5A foe, it’s hard to fault the Lions for opting to keep the electric neighborhood rivalry with Sunrise Mountain alive.

The path to Centennial vs Liberty was narrower, considering that for the first time, both schools wanted to schedule a home game with a team from another state.

This is old hat for the Coyotes, who bring in Las Vegas Bishop Gorman for, arguably, the marquee game in the state this year — after being in the spotlight hosting Long Beach Poly in 2015 and Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas last year. Centennial — like Chandler, Hamilton, Mountain Pointe and Saguaro — is now almost expected to face a marquee team from another state.

And like Liberty, more schools — including Gilbert Higley and Phoenix Pinnacle — are crossing the borders. The Lions plays Leland a San Jose, Calif. standout coming off an 11-2 season.

Whether the culprit was the scheduling system, growing a national profile or even reluctance from one or both schools, Centennial and Liberty should be playing, and both schools should play Sunrise Mountain. If the issue is at an AIA level, I think the scheduling process should emphasize district and local rivalries over intra-conference matchups — as long as those schools in the same district or city are reasonably close in enrollment.

Centennial has been the gold standard for the West Valley since 2006, and one of the top five football programs in Arizona. Nearby rivals were in smaller conferences or buried under the Coyotes’ weight until Deer Valley split with the Coyotes in 2011 and 2013. But even that feud proved fleeting and, frankly, turned ugly at the end.

Meanwhile, Liberty moved up from 4A and took its lumps in three losses to Centennial in 2013 and 2014. They Coyotes were the only thing standing between the Lions and a state title in 2014.

However, playing Centennial forced Liberty to morph from an offensive juggernaut to a tougher, more well rounded program. When Sunrise Mountain resumed its rivalry with the Lions in 2016, the Mustangs had to dig deeper and add some steak to their sizzle to win two games against Liberty.

Then by this fall, the most complete Liberty team yet stunned Centennial and brought the Coyotes out of their old-school shell. Centennial reached its full potential in the semifinals and both teams woke up the echoes of the legendary late 1980s Cactus-Peoria clashes in the 42-37 epic.

Now Sunrise Mountain plays Centennial in the season finale and gets to see how far its program has come — and how far it has to go. But the players, students and fans miss out on the third leg of the triangle.

Increased intersection in Glendale

Ironwood is already in a region with district rivals Centennial, Kellis and Sunrise Mountain. The Eagles weren’t done, adding a non-league game with Cactus.

The rest of Cactus’ non-region schedule is highlighted by two Tucson teams, opening at Catalina Foothills and later traveling to Salpointe Catholic.

Nearby Deer Valley, is now on the Cobras radar and in their region. These schools have only played once, in 1984.

That was Larry Fetkenhier’s first year as Cactus coach and this will be the program’s first season without the legend. Newcomer Joseph Ortiz hosts another new coach, albeit one with considerably more experience, in the Skyhawks’ Dan Friedman, in the first West Valley Region game.

Deer Valley, in its first year of 4A play, is playing more of a true neighborhood schedule. Mountain Ridge is off again, largely since the Mountain Lions remain in 6A. But nearby Glendale Union schools Greenway and Thunderbird join Cactus and the Skyhawks’ original DVUSD rival, Goldwater.

Mountain Ridge, after opening with East Valley tests from Skyline and Corona del Sol, then tours the Southwest Valley with games against Westview, Cesar Chavez and Tolleson. Desert Valley Region play starts off against two league newcomers, Chaparral and Liberty.

Dysart's Jordan Lopez (#1) catches a pass against Peoria on Sept. 22, 2017 at Dysart High School in El Mirage. After playing eight times in nine years these schools will not face off in the next two seasons. [Jacob Stanek/West Valley Preps][/caption]

More synergy in Dysart

The triangle rivalry of Surprise schools Shadow Ridge, Valley Vista and Willow Canyon started in 2011, took a break for 2013 and 2014 and has been going strong.

After playing Shadow Ridge in 2011 and 2012, Dysart High School has pretty much been on an island locally. Not anymore.

The Demons host Willow Canyon on Aug. 24, as these schools have not played since 2006.

That game starts a three-week district tour for the Wildcats, who host Shadow Ridge, then travel to Valley Vista on Sept. 14. Shadow Ridge and Valley Vista are region rivals for the first time.

Dysart will be a bit less lonely in Black Canyon Region play next year, as Coronado is replaced by Glendale. Demons coach John Ganados wanted to continue the other traditional rivalry, with Peoria, after the teams played eight times in nine years.

Despite both schools putting in for it, this admittedly minor 4A rivalry was denied. Though since overshadowed by Cactus, Dysart was maybe the Panthers’ original Westside rival ... I guess it could be Glendale but the Cardinals and Panthers have not played in at least 50 years.

Peoria coach Will Babb stated in an email interview that the Panthers were Dysart’s No. 2 choice and were Greenway’s No. 1 choice. Neither game is happening, even though both teams were prominent on Peoria’s list.

"We received two of our requests. We also received two teams we played last year and didn’t request and two teams that I don’t think either one of us requested one another. Not sure how the schedules were selected but it appears if you were represented at the scheduling meeting things worked out a little better. I know of a school who had representation at the scheduling meeting that received six out of their six choices," Babb stated in the email.

In the humble opinion of this reporter, there surely has to be a better scheduling method than the squeaky wheel getting the grease.