Falcons make it one win in a row

A new streak begins.One week after Cactus Shadows’ football team saw its 16‑game winning streak snapped by Cactus, the Falcons put a hurt on Sinagua in a  non‑region game last week.

Now, comes the fun part. The Falcons will try to make it two in a row Thursday when they travel to Paradise Valley for their first ever region game at the 4A‑Division I level. The Trojans (3‑0) have outscored opponents 93‑20 over the first three games.

“We’re excited and fired up to play a team ranked right up there like Paradise Valley,” Cactus Shadows coach Chad Degrenier said. “They are a good running team and they’re going to run right at us.”

Six of the Falcons’ final seven games are against Desert Sky Region teams. All seven teams in the region entered the week with a winning record.

Other top games this week include Pinnacle putting up its undefeated record against perennial‑5A power Mountain Ridge.

And, oh yeah, the Cardinals are also looking for their second straight win.

Here are this week’s local football picks. And, don’t forget, prep games are on Thursday this week because of Friday’s Jewish holiday Yom Kippur.

BOULDER CREEK 10, SOUTH MOUNTAIN 9. After last week’s light outage in Anthem, Boulder Creek is  hoping somebody can turn on the offense as well this week against South Mountain. BC has only scored three points in regulation time over the last three games, which won’t be enough to beat the high‑powered South Mountain offense that has scored 130 points over its first three games. This will be the battle of the Jaguars–that is unless the lights don’t turn on.

CACTUS SHADOWS 20, PARADISE VALLEY 16. Could this be the Falcons’ first upset at the 4A‑Division I level? The  Falcons found a little offense in last week’s win over Sinagua, and will need a huge effort from the defense to beat a talented  P.V. team.

GOLDWATER 31, NORTH CANYON 10. C.J. Morgan returns to the lineup this week and so should Goldwater’s entire offense. The Bulldogs looked like a completely different team last week in a 28‑0 loss to Pinnacle than it did in opening the season with two wins. This should get Goldwater back on track.

PINNACLE 16, MOUNTAIN RIDGE 10. Is it just me or does this have the feel of a big upset? Pinnacle’s defense has been outstanding so far this season, and when you’ve got a Dominating D, upsets can happen. If the Pioneers didn’t already serve notice last week that they’re ready for the playoffs in their first season at 5A, an upset here will.

ARIZONA STATE 35, OREGON STATE 31. Arizona State hasn’t had problems scoring points over the first three weeks. Now the Devils will see if they can simply outscore their opponent in a shootout. Oregon State put up 60 points last week (yes,  it was against Idaho State) and should be the first major test  for ASU’s D.

CALIFORNIA 48, ARIZONA 20. Just because the Wildcats should get killed in this game, watch them go ahead and win. They have no right doing that, of course, if they can’t even beat New Mexico at home. Plus, the Golden Bears have a high‑powered offense, which the Cats haven’t shown any signs of stopping in the early going. One question though: Why is there no big cry for the firing of Mike Stoops. I mean, fans ran Dick Tomey out of town and all he did was lead UofA to its best era ever.

NORTHERN ARIZONA 42, NORTHERN COLORADO 17. NAU last week couldn’t pull the upset of ASU–Appalachian State, that is. They’ll return home a better team because of it, though, and that’s bad news for Big Sky cellar dweller Northern Colorado.

RAVENS 16, CARDINALS 13. “You gotta believe,” baseball pitcher Tug McGraw once said. That seemed to sum up last week’s last‑second win over Seattle in Glendale. But do we really have to believe twice in a row? Nope.

Last Week: 4‑3 (.571)

Season: 13‑6 (.684)