Ellis Gibson is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Sunnyslope High School for AZPreps365.com.

The Sunnyslope Vikings came down to the desert of Goodyear to take Desert Edge Scorpions in a homecoming faceoff.

 With the electric atmosphere that the Scorpions had for their homecoming game, Vikings head coach Sam Jacobs knew what type of game they had ahead of them for the night.

“We’re ready for a test. These guys are big and bad, and we’re going to try to match their energy,” said Jacobs. 

That showed as the Vikings began the game going three-and-out due to the Scorpions' strong defensive line, which made plays in the backfield to disrupt the Vikings' sophomore starting quarterback, Royce Vanacore.

The Scorpions quickly answered on the next drive, senior quarterback Elijah Sherbin-Fox findingAbnel Lazzerini for his first of his four touchdowns on a 12-yard pass on the way to a 38-14 for the Scorpions in a 5A matchup.

This is also Fox’s first throwing touchdown in two games. With the scoreboard being 7-0 in the first five minutes of the game, the Vikings attempted to come back with their offense to answer. But once again, the Scorpions' defense held Sunnyslope to another three-and-out with significant contributions from their secondary, especially Camren Hamiel making big tackles.

The next play of the next drive, Fox finds senior wide receiver David Cabrera down the seam for a wide-open 41-yard strike to the end zone.

 With the Vikings down 14-0 at the beginning of the second quarter, they went on the field to try to answer the Scorpions' electric offense, but again fell short due to the strong Desert Edge defense and some drive-ending penalties.

The Scorpions then continued, marching down the field with a 15-yard pass to Lazzerini, followed by a roughing-the-passer penalty to move them to the 5-yard line. A few minutes later, Fox scrambled from 4 yards to the end zone to extend the lead to 21-0.

Although the Vikings’ offense remained stagnant as they couldn’t make significant strides against a relentless Scorpion defense.

Late in the second quarter, something clicked in the Viking's offense. Quarterback Royce Vanacore found his rhythm, using his legs to extend plays, and hit receiver Aaron Johnnie for a 20-yard touchdown pass, cutting the lead to 24-7 with less than four minutes left.

The Vikings then capitalized on a fumble by the Scorpion’s offense, setting up a 14-yard touchdown pass out the backfield to Aleck Vargas, bringing the score to 24-14 before halftime. 

“We let them come back into the game, so we gotta come out like we’re down or the score is 0-0 and come back with the ball first and score and get a stop to swing the momentum back to our side,” said Scorpions coach Henri Macarthur when talking how he was going to attack the second half.

With the third quarter beginning, the Scorpions once again drove down the field. Lazzerini got all the yards for the offense and finished the drive with a 38-yard touchdown, making the game 31-14.

The Vikings had signs of life as they began to move the ball more, getting the ball out to senior receiver Mack Kump, who made key catches, but the Scorpions remained unstopped, scoring two more times before the game ended at 38-14.