Sunrise Mountain senior quarterback Max Shepherd narrowly won our first player of the week vote for week one of the football season.

In a role reversal from last week, Max Shepherd beat Trae Armstrong for the player of the week vote.

5A-II CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

Marcos de Niza cornerback Priest Willis, the top-rated recruit in the East Valley, verbally committed to UCLA in a press conference at the school Wednesday night.

No. 1 Chaparral vs. No. 5 Centennial

Sean Kamela is an equal opportunity tackler.

5A-II state semifinal

 Three-hour high school football games are often tedious. This one may be talked about for years.

On Jan. 22, Priest Willis slipped on a pair of powder blue football gloves, aligned his hands in the sign of a ‘U’ and confirmed to the college football world what everyone long suspected: He was verbally committing to UCLA.

Area football players were snubbed on the All-Arizona team voted on by the football coaches association.

In an odd twist Deer Valley junior Trae Armstrong, who has claimed sprint titles at every big meet in the last two years, has the most trouble winning at his home meet.

Centennial-Apollo was an interesting matchup on paper. And at several points, Thursday's Cox 7 game of the week was a play or two away from becoming very interesting.

A week after key penalties and turnovers proved fatal in a loss to Mesa Red Mountain, Centennial won the battle of hidden yardage against rival Avondale Westview.

For the second and third quarters of its Division II top 5 battle with No. 5 Tucson Ironwood RIdge, No. 1 Centennial seemed in complete command.

With two consecutive championships down and two stars back, it’s no wonder why Chaparral is the preseason favorite in Division II.