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Desert Ridge and Brophy square off in round one of 6A playoffs

By
Haley Stesiak
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The Desert Ridge Jaguars (4-6) match up with the Brophy Broncos (6-4) in our Arizona high school football featured GameTime matchup this week – Friday, Nov. 19 at 7:00 pm MT/8:00 pm CT.

How To Watch 

Watch it on YurView Arizona – Cox channel 4 in Phoenix and channel 7 in Tucson. Cox customers can also watch the games on their phones using the Cox Contour App. Download the Contour App on Apple and Android.

Live streams and replays of all games will be available to rent or purchase at watch.yurview.com.

Watch it now: 40 Years of Arizona High School Football 

Game Preview

Brophy was riding a five-game win streak with an opportunity to win a region title heading into Week 9 against Liberty.

The Lions, who are in the Open Division playoffs put up a difficult fight for the Broncos however, and snapped their win streak, dashing hopes of bringing the region title back to Brophy for the first time since 2014.

Brophy then matched up with Williams Field in week 10 looking to send out the regular season on a winning note, but the Blackhawks were able to capitalize on some mistakes by the Broncos to pull out the win.

“Having a two-game losing streak is not how I wanted to enter the playoffs, but like I told the kids it doesn’t matter if we’re 8-2 or 6-4, we’re in the playoffs and that’s all that matters,” Brophy head coach Jason Jewell said.

Desert Ridge head coach Roy Lopez is in his first year as head coach with the Jaguars.

Lopez led Desert Ridge to a 4-6 season turning the program around from a 1-5 season last season.

Check out the players to watch ahead of Desert Ridge v. Brophy. 

Sr. DT Zac Swanson, 6’4” 255 – Brophy

Swanson is a four-star recruit committed to playing his college ball at Texas. He is ranked as the No. 5 overall athlete in Arizona and the No. 50 defensive lineman in the country by 247Sports.

The defensive tackle also had offers from USC, Oregon, Kentucky, Auburn, ASU, Cal, Colorado, Indiana, Iowa State and UCLA among several others.

This season Swanson has 38 total tackles, 16.5 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, one forced fumble and one blocked punt.

“His first two years he was hurt both seasons,” Jewell said. “He’s been able to get through this one without missing a game or even a snap. Him being able to stay healthy has been huge for our defense.”

Sr. DE Lance Holtzclaw, 6’4” 210 – Desert Ridge

Holztclaw is rated as the No. 7 overall player in Arizona by 247Sports and the No. 36 defense end in the nation.

He is committed to Washington. He also had offers from Boston College, Vanderbilt, Colorado, Boise State and Oregon State.

This season Holtzclaw has 45 tackles, 9 sacks which is the fifth most in the 6A Division, 10 tackles for loss and two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries.

Sr. CB Benjamin Morrison, 6’0” 180 – Brophy 

Morrison is another defensive weapon for the Broncos. The cornerback is rated as the No. 4 overall player in Arizona by 247Sports and the No. 34 cornerback in the nation.

He missed some time this season due to a concussion, but has since made his return and continued to make an impact for Brophy.

Morrison had offers from Oklahoma, Oregon, Michigan, UCLA, Florida State, Northwestern, Nebraska and Michigan State among others.

He is committed to Notre Dame.

In the regular season, Morrison has 36 tackles, five tackles for loss and two interceptions.

“Ben has always been a long physical kid,” Jewell said. “Where he was able to transition a little bit to help him is he did a good job in the weight room in the offseason.”

Sr. RB Jordan Wilson, 5’10” 180 – Desert Ridge

Wilson has 1,128 rushing yards on 164 carries this season. He’s averaging 141 yards per game and has five game with over 100 plus yards, two games with 200 plus yards.

The running back was injured last year with a broken hand.

Wilson is getting some interest from some Mountain West and Big Sky conference.

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