I spent Friday night in Goodyear watching what turned out to be an instant classic between Millennium and Desert Edge. The Scorpions took a 20-10 lead into the fourth quarter, but the Tigers were able to come back and score the game-winning touchdown with 17 seconds remaining on the clock. Here are some things that stood out to me from a great game.

Anthonie Cooper had a special night. 8 tackles, two for a loss, and when Desert Edge was running out the clock to claim their victory, it was Cooper who snuck a hand in and knocked the ball loose to give the Tigers another shot on offense. Cooper also played nearly the entire game at right tackle, opening holes for Isaac Oliver.

Isaac Oliver runs with an interesting mix of patience and ability to accelerate. One one kick return, he came to a dead stop before locating an opening, and turning the return into a 60-yarder. He scored twice against Desert Edge, who actually played the run fairly well against Millennium. Had it not been for Oliver's vision, patience, and quickness once he makes a decision, there's no way the Tigers win this game.

Jaelon Taylor showed great resolve against Desert Edge. The refs took away his first touchdown, and he was either bracketed and bumped off the line most of the night. Still, when opportunities to make a play came up, he seized them. I like Taylor's size, his physicality after the catch, and his instincts- instincts that helped Millennium win the game.

I walked away from this game thinking to myself that I'm going to make it a point to check in and see how Jihad Marks does every single week. He's special, and is someone who should be touching the ball 20-25 times a game. If you can't throw it to him, put him in the backfield- eventually, Marks is going to make something happen. He made two players miss on Desert Edge's first TD, and he had a long catch to set up the Scorpions second TD (Kody Ball run), and put them in position to score a third time with a long punt return. Without Marks, I'm not sure Desert Edge would have scored on Friday.

We've got ourselves a bonafide QB hunter in sophomore Cameron Steele. Not only did he have back-to-back sacks in the red zone in the first half, he had a late, clutch sack in the fourth quarter that probably should have finished Millennium off.

Led by Nassir Sims, the Desert Edge defensive line played fairly well against Millennium. There were times when Sims was double-teamed and sophomore DT RJ Roberts was freed up to make plays, and other times where D'marco Campos or Ruiz Martinez made plays at the line of scrimmage. I noticed that a couple of them play on both sides of the ball, so as their conditioning improves, this could be the unit that helps the Scorpions make a long playoff run.

Millennium is just a great place to watch a game. It might not have the mountainous backdrops of some of the other stadiums around the state, and the field might have one of the largest curvatures outside of Paradise Valley, but the stands were packed and loud, and the strips of grass surrounding the bleachers on both sides of the field is something I've never seen before. It gives the games a bit of a spring training feel- you can hang out in the stands, or on the lawn. Awesome environment, and I highly recommend getting out there to see a game.

You can't get every call right, but oof... this was one of the more brutal missed calls I've seen in seven years of covering high school football. Top 3, for sure. Kudos to Jaelon Taylor and the Millennium coaching staff for their resolve here. If I was in their position I might have lost my composure.

Desert Edge's sideline. This is a good team- very possibly a championship team. I get the impression that they expect a lot of themselves, and when things weren't going right, they had a tendency to tighten up on the sideline, and it ultimately resulted in a team that looked like it was playing not to lose instead of playing to win. Now, don't get me wrong- this wasn't a sideline where the coaches or players were verbally accosting each other or anything of that nature- they just weren't having any fun. Perhaps it's a hangover from the previous week's game- one where they should have held on to beat Salpointe, but a loose sideline is a sideline that can overcome adversity. Just look across the field- Millennium should have been out of the game multiple times, through a rescinded touchdown, terrible red zone play, missed tackles every time Jihad Marks touched the ball, and a late 4th down offsides that gave Desert Edge the chance to run out the clock, but the Tigers' players never fell into the trap of feeling sorry for themselves. If Desert Edge is going to maximize their potential, they've got to embrace the adversity that comes with mistakes, and pick each other up when things outside their control don't go their way- especially with an injured team captain, Milton Rodgers, being indefinitely unavailable.

The Desert Edge 2021 and 2022 classes. Between RJ Roberts, Steven Ortiz, Cameron Steele and Adryan Lara, the future is very very bright.

"Did you mean to do that?" - a bewildered Millennium player after senior kicker Sebastian Montejo kicked an onside ball off a Desert Edge player, causing it to bounce right back into the hands of a MIllennium player just a couple of yards away from the initial kickoff spot. Montejo answered a confident "Yes, of course."

Millennium (3-0) plays at Higley (3-1) on 9/14

Desert Edge (2-2) hosts Poston Butte (2-2) on 9/14