This week I went old school. In other words, two games involving schools that I remember hearing about growing up on the border of Phoenix and Glendale in the 1980s. Deer Valley at Greenway on a Thursday night, followed by Apollo at Thunderbird on Friday. And, full disclosure, I have ties to both the road teams – as an Apollo graduate and a current Deer Valley parent.

Sept. 7: Greenway 32, Deer Valley 0

Sept. 8: Apollo 34, Thunderbird 13

THE STAKES

All four programs are more than 40 years old and have some brief moments of soaring success (Thunderbird’s 2010 4A-II state title, and Greenway’s 2001 and 2002 4A runners up come to mind). But none of these are “destination” football schools. And all of them went into the third week of the season with reasons to be positive, reasons to think this was a turnaround year – or a chance to build on last season’s turnaround.

THE SCENE(S)

Neither of these are rivalry games, which sounds a bit odd considering how close the schools are. Consequently the Skyhawks brought more fans to Greenway than the Hawks did to Thunderbird the next night. And that crowd got to see a halftime treat. Runners from both schools (and Paradise Valley) started and finished the 41st annual Shawn Kerr Halftime Invitational on the stadium track. Thunderbird came in 2-0 after last year’s big playoff upset of #3 seed Marcos de Niza and also had a large crowd dressed up to raise money for pediatric cancer research.

PLAYER(S) OF THE GAME(S)

The winners of these old school games, in part, were led the old school way – by running backs getting more than 20 carries a game, and getting stronger as the game went along. Greenway junior Carlos Toscano had 54 yards on 11 carries at halftime. He finished with 180 yards and three touchdowns on 22 carries. Why is that so unique? Carlos is 5-5, 145 pounds, yet simply wore the Skyhawks out over the course of the night.

"It's been great watching not only Carlos but a lot of our sophomores that started last year become major contributors. Carlos is a work horse for us, he put a lot of time in the off-season and we are starting to scratch the surface of what he is capable of," Greenway coach Ed Cook said.

Apollo’s Adam Mohammed is more expected for this award. He finished with 25 carries for 223 yards and a touchdown. On his way to U of A next year, he’s fourth in all of Arizona in rushing. He also got stronger as the night went along, with nearly 150 years after halftime. He’s also not the Apollo player of the game. That would be …

PLAY OF THE NIGHT

Senior cornerback Trey Smith is Apollo’s player of the night. And he had the play of the night. The question is, which one of his three interceptions is that play? The first was the most important, since the game was tied at 3 and Thunderbird had the better of the first quarter. He picked off junior Andrew Cohill and returned it 38 yards to the Titans’ 2. That set up Mohammed’s touchdown. Then, after a roughing the passer penalty gave the Thunderbird offense some momentum, Smith nabbed another interception and returned it 45 yards for a touchdown and 17-3 lead. The third came early in the third quarter with Apollo protecting a 24-6 lead and Cohill throwing deep to try to catch up. I’ll go with the touchdown return.

5 THINGS I LEARNED

· This summer was all about the Apollo 3, as Mohammed, offensive tackle Matthew Lado, and guard/center Michael Watkins verbally committed to play at the University of Arizona June 19. But there’s another Hawks trio making big plays and taking the burden off Mohammed and his top linemen – as well as sophomore quarterback Sylus Stevenson. Smith (3 interceptions, 84 int return yards, five passes defended, five total tackles), Kamarion Bell (four catches, 90 yards, 2 touchdowns, one pass defended) and 6-3 junior receiver Isaiah White (6 catches, 75 yards) are helping the Hawks rule the air too. And posing the question if Apollo has more than 3 Division I players on its roster.

· Greenway doesn’t have that kind of star power. On the flip side, the Demons don’t have to navigate 5A, and have an excellent shot at beating Dysart for Friday’s Homecoming game and taking their own road trip to Thunderbird on Sept. 22 as a 3-0 team. The Titans look like the Demons’ toughest opponent and Greenway should be able to hold its own against Skyline Region foes Glendale, Peoria and Youngker. Cook said juniors like QB Tyler McNally (12-22, 226 yards, 2 TD) WR Christian Shetler (4 catches, 78 yards, 1 TD) DE Andy Botic (14 total tackles), LB Aldin Hatic (2 sacks) and LB Carlos Levenda are ready to be varsity difference makers after being thrown in the deep end as sophomores.

· While Thunderbird takes a step back after this loss, Apollo will be a good barometer for the Titans when they play fellow 4A Contenders Yuma Catholic, Buckeye and Northwest Christian in West Valley Region games in October. Junior linebacker Ryan Kavalami blocked a punt and had 6 tackles, while catching two passes as a tight end. Senior linebacker Tyler Woods led all players with 11 solo tackles. Junior tailback/cornerback Elijah Little suffered after the two interceptions dug the home team a hole. He still gained 84 yards on 10 carries. There's still plenty yo like about this team. It's a stretch to call Thunderbird a 4A title contender now, but the Titans absolutely can cause teams sleepless nights in the playoffs, and get a round further to the semifinals.

· Deer Valley does have one win more than all of 2022 but is the furthest from a winning season of the four teams. The Skyhawks are at least better, and gained 230 yards. But reaching the red zone four times in the first 30 minutes of game play without scoring a point speaks to the offensive line struggles and inability to produce a consistent ground game. Deer Valley can still win 5 or 6 games with its schedule, but must protect QB Dylan English better. The Skyhawks defense simply gave out after limiting Greenway to a 12-0 halftime lead.

· Apollo and Thunderbird are, as expected, darkhorses in their conferences. Deer Valley is digging out of its hole from last year. Greenway looks like the biggest surprise of the four teams. The Demons are solid across the board. They should beat Dysart Friday. Then Thunderbird becomes Greenway's measuring stick Sept. 22. The Demons won't be favored in the SKyline Region, but have enough emerging juniors to challenge favored Peoria and fellow region title and playoff contenders Glendale and Youngker.

THEY SAID IT

· Apollo coach Aaron Walls: “We felt like the first three were playoff matchups that were going to give us great points. Thunderbird’s a great team and my hat goes off to them. They do a great job over here and they’re going to be someone to be reckoned with in 4A,” Walls said.

“I can’t say enough about how valuable these guys are to our program. The Big Three get all the attention they need to, while these guys kind of sit in the shadows. They’ve done a great job of embracing that role and being guys that can play both sides of the ball for us,” Walls said. “They definitely are a huge piece of what makes this thing go.”

“We thought we had a bit of an advantage size-wise. We looked at how many people they had going both ways. Unfortunately we had some guys going both ways. We have some guys dinged up and ddn’t even have a backup lineman going into the game. We were against the wall and proud of these guys responded tonight.”

Apollo cornerback/punt returner Trey Smith: “From the film room, I knew their guy was #19, so I’m just mirroring him the whole time. After I’d seen the first two plays of the game, the quarterback literally dropped back and threw it straight to him without reading the field. So I started cheating a little bit and I cut him off,” Smith said. “Yeah, I was a little surprised that he threw it the second time.”

Apollo receiver/cornerback Kamarion Bell: “I know my ability and what I’m capable of. I know my speed kills, so I was just waiting for the opportunity,” Bell said.

Greenway coach Ed Cook: "We had a lot of game 1 mistakes against Flagstaff - alignments and technique breakdowns. They did a great job exploiting those issues. We spent a lot of film and practice time trying to correct those mistakes. We improved but there is still more room for improvement. We have to eliminate dumb penalties and improve our tackling," Cook said.

"We took our lumps last year for sure. Our kids got after it during the off-season," Cook said. "Our offensive line is starting to gel. We see the potential in our program, but we have to keep grinding and learning. We can't afford to let off the gas."

Deer Valley coach Dan Friedman: "We punted twice tonight. We moved the ball up and down the field and when we got into the red zone, we kinda crapped the bed and didn't execute up front. It was that simple," Friedman said. "When we get behind the sticks, we don't have that top level speed burner. It's hard for us unless we get in front of the sticks."

"Winning last week felt good and the intensity was so unbelievable last week. This week we didn't practice as well as the week before and it showed," Friedman said. "We had a handful of starters miss practice, and when they miss a practice I hold them accountable and have them sit out a quarter. We'll learn from this."