Austin Gibbs is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Desert Edge High School for AZPreps365.com

GOODYEAR - Desert Edge won it all last year in Section 5A, and this year, they went 10-0 in the regular season and are now ready to push for their second straight title and third championship appearance in the past  5 years.

Their undefeated regular season earned Desert Edge the top seed in the Section 5A bracket.

For those in the locker room, it was an expectation that Desert Edge would go 10-0, and they aren’t finished yet. It’s championship or bust for the Scorpions.

“To go 4-0 in the playoffs, that's the expectation, that’s the standard. Anything short of that is a failure this season, and I think I’ve made that clear to the team,“ said Scorpions head coach Henri MacAthur.

Desert Edge is the fifth-highest-ranked overall football team in Arizona, and just one other team in the top 15 is in section 5A.

Desert Edge bolsters the best defense in  5A, and possibly the best defense in Arizona, allowing only 12.3 points per game and holding opponents to 14 points or fewer in 7 of their 10 games this season.

One of the many reasons the Scorpions defense is so good is due to how much everyone in the group trusts one another. 

“We’re super close,” said Texas A&M commit Camren Hamiel,  “I feel like we follow each other's footsteps and nobody goes off the rails, and we stay connected, and that helps us by trusting each other on the field”.

The Scorpions defense has been on lockdown come season's end. “I feel as the season went on, we were more comfortable with everything we were running,” said Scorpions defensive back Antonio Para, “Everyone knows what we're doing, and we're just one of the most physical defenses, so we just all go out there and play.”

Desert Edge heads into the playoffs with the top defense in 5A, and when the Scorpions offense takes the field, it doesn’t get any easier for the opposing team as one of the top-ranked quarterbacks in the nation leads the explosive offense.

Quarterback Blake Roskopf had an outstanding year in his first full season with the Scorpions. The Junior threw for 35 touchdowns and 8 interceptions, totaling 2639 yards and posting a QB rating of 123.2.

Roskopf threw for 6 touchdowns and 322 yards in the regular season finale against Millennium.

The most significant difference between this season and last is where the games will be played for Desert Edge.

Unlike 2024, the Scorpions have home-field advantage throughout the playoffs until the 5A state championship game on December 5th, which will be played at Mountain America Stadium in Tempe, Arizona.

“It’s gonna be great to play in front of our home crowd,” said MacArthur. “Everything's consistent, so that makes a big difference just in terms of keeping that consistency to our preparation.”

Desert Edge will host Cienega on  November 14th, 2024, to begin their championship defense. 

Desert Edge traveled to Cienega in their second game of the season, shutting out the Bobcats 26-0.

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