WEEKLY BLOG: 10/20/23

Five times this year, Cactus Shadows had won a football game by 14 points or more. The other three games were decided by a single score with the Falcons coming up short each time (all in the past four contests). Friday night at Bemis Field in Scottsdale, the visitors from Cave Creek were determined to finish and produce a different outcome.

Cactus Shadows trailed by a touchdown entering the fourth quarter, but rallied to tie it. Then, Donivan Dixon put his stamp on it with a 51-yard touchdown run with less than four minutes remaining. In the closing seconds, he entered the game in the secondary (for the first time) on fourth down and made a game-sealing interception in the end zone to give the Falcons a 28-21 victory over Notre Dame Prep.

“Tonight we finally won the close one,” Cactus Shadows head coach Chris Dixon said. “Credit to our defense tonight. They get knocked all the time and tonight, the reason why we won this game is our defense in the second half.”

Indeed, the talk about Cactus Shadows usually starts with the offense, which entered the night leading the 5A Conference in scoring with 399 points (49.9 per game), but after allowing touchdowns on each of the Saints’ first three possessions, the defense tightened up forcing four consecutive punts before the final pick from their starting quarterback.

Cactus Shadows (6-3, 1-3 5A Northeast Valley Region) struck first, taking up nearly half of the opening quarter and going 80 yards in 13 plays. The Falcons scored on a pass from Dixon to junior receiver Alex Dafnis.

On its second play from scrimmage, Notre Dame (4-4, 0-3) answered as sophomore Gunnar Perry broke loose after escaping a tackle for a 65-yard TD run. A miscue on the snap/hold left the score at 7-6.

Cactus Shadows came right back and went with no receivers and a full-house backfield from short yardage. Senior running back Nick Stifel went up the middle to extend the Falcons’ lead.

Perry’s second touch came on the Saints’ next drive when he scored on a six-yard run. Notre Dame chased the points and was successful as Drake commit Jason Samis powered in the two-point conversion with a second effort to tie the game at 14.

Gunnar played on both sides of the ball as he was filling in for an injured linebacker. Samis, the usual tailback, was a team player and slid over to fullback.

“I was happy with the way Gunnar played,” Notre Dame head coach George Prelock said. “But, that’s a lot of snaps playing inside linebacker and then tailback.”

The Saints were celebrating Homecoming and kept momentum going with a fumble recovery by Dylan Lavinia near midfield. Three plays later, Gunnar’s older brother, Cooper, burst through the middle of the line and went 52-yards to put the Saints up 21-14 at the half.

You may have heard of Cooper. He’s an Oregon commit and the touchdown he scored was the 56th in his varsity career for the Saints. With the loss of quarterback Dylan Rarden due to injury a couple weeks ago, NDP has been more creative in finding ways to put the ball in Cooper Perry’s hands. He’s played some quarterback (and took a few snaps in the third quarter) this season, and run some plays where he just takes a short flip from sophomore QB Luke Jacobs.

After all of the early fireworks in the first half, the defenses stepped up in the third quarter. The Falcons reached the Notre Dame 27-yard line, but the Saints held with an incomplete pass. Meanwhile, Cactus Shadows was wrapping up ball carriers and finishing tackles. The Falcons held NDP to just 104 yards of offense over the final 24 minutes.

The game went to the fourth quarter still at 21-14. It looked like it would stay that way as Cactus Shadows originally planned to go for it from fourth-and-six from the Saints’ 12-yard line. However, a false start penalty immediately followed by a delay of game penalty backed the Falcons up to the 22. They still kept the offense out there and Dixon completed a pass to Carter Boggs to the 3-yard line.

From the 3-yard line, Stifel came in again and took it in from short yardage. The senior had just two carries, but both ended in the end zone with the referee extending both of his arms.

After the CSHS defense forced a three-and-out, Cooper Perry punted and got a roll all the way to the 7-yard line (59-yard punt). It would be a long field for Cactus Shadows to try and take the lead.

But this Falcon team is tried and tested. They’ve faced Higley (56-50 loss), Desert Mountain (35-28 double-overtime setback), and ALA-Gilbert North (wrong end of a 49-42 shootout). Cactus Shadows advanced the ball to midfield largely behind the running of Andrew Muirhead (22 carries for 92 yards).

“They were really coming down in the box,” Muirhead said. “I trusted my O-line just pushing for those extra yards. I was trying to make people miss.”

Dixon is one of the most electric runners in the state. He’s closing in on his second straight 1,000-yard season. After being contained by the Saints’ defense for more than three quarters (18 carries for 32 yards with sacks being deducted), he finally got that hole and exploded through it. Dixon went 51 yards to give Cactus Shadows the go-ahead score with 3:44 left.

“I feel like we have one of the best O-Lines in the state,” Donivan Dixon said. “They always make holes for me. I just have to run through them.”

Dixon has been more consistent this year. He doesn’t have to rely on the run as much as his first two seasons. Dixon completed 12-of-20 passes for 172 yards and a touchdown. But with the adversity of some tough losses and an earlier miscue, he followed the motto of keeping your head up at all times.

“I feel that’s what pushed me through tonight,” Donivan Dixon said. “My guys were behind me at all times. Even when I fumbled in the second quarter, they were still behind me.”

The Saints began their final drive from their own 30-yard line. They quickly reached midfield and then went into the red zone. It looked like Notre Dame might have a chance to tie (or take the lead) as it faced a third-and-two from the 3-yard line with 34 seconds remaining. On fourth down, Cooper Perry crossed the goal line on a run, but it was called back due to holding. From the 12, Jacob’s completed a pass to JJ Francis in the end zone, but there was also a penalty on that play. Finally, from the 17-yard line, Jacobs flipped the ball to Cooper Perry, and instead of running it, he passed it to the end zone, but Dixon made the interception.

It was the first time he had played defense all year. Coaches brought him in prior to the play during a timeout.

“They just want me to be a playmaker,” Donivan Dixon said. “It doesn’t matter where I’m at.”

For Notre Dame, it was heartbreak on a night where it was flagged 14 times for 123 yards (CSHS had nine for 75 yards). Twice it looked like they had tied the game and pandemonium ensued.

“I thought they played hard,” Prelock said. “Just had some unfortunate things go our way. With everything we’ve been through the last 48 hours, I thought our boys played hard and I’m disappointed not to come out with it.”

There was concern and wishes for prayer in the stadium for Notre Dame JV player Clay Liebman. The sophomore running back was injured the night before and is still hospitalized. Placards were raised pregame with Pray for Clay on them and the PA announcer gave a pregame prayer especially for Liebman.

Cactus Shadows could have its sights set on not just making the playoffs for the first time since 2021, the Falcons could host a game in Cave Creek giving the team a chance to win its first postseason game since 2017. Up next is Horizon for Senior Night for the Falcons. Horizon (7-1, 3-0) seemed to make a statement for the Open Division with a 27-24 win over Higley Thursday night.

“I think it gives us a lot of good momentum right now,” Chris Dixon said. “You want to be playing your best football right now and I think our defense played their best football in the second half.”

First Quarter:

CS - Alex Dafnis 7 yard pass from Donivan Dixon (Adam Lane kick), 6:12

NDP - Gunnar Perry 65 yard run (pass failed), 5:16

CS - Nick Stifel 2 yard run (Lane kick), 0:51

Second Quarter:

NDP - Gunnar Perry 6 yard run (Jason Samis run), 11:24

NDP - Cooper Perry 52 yard run (Dylan Lavinia kick), 7:57

Third Quarter:

No Scoring

Fourth Quarter:

CS - Stifel 3 yard run (Lane kick), 10:40

CS - Dixon 51 yard run (Lane kick), 3:44