GILBERT, Ariz. — The kickoff of the 2023 high school football season is almost here and that means 12Sports is ready for the 34th season of Friday Night Fever!
To help get you ready, we are going around the Valley to check in with some of the teams you will want to watch this season. That continues with the Perry Pumas, who play in the 6A Premier region, which is not only one of the toughest regions in Arizona, but in the entire nation, as the Pumas compete with Chandler, Hamilton, Casteel, and archrival Basha.
"It's fun, it's an honor to be in the Premier region," Perry head coach Joseph Ortiz told 12Sports at the Chandler Unified School District football media day in late July. "We're building it day-by-day, brick-by-brick, but we feel like we're going to be more competitive this year and we like what we're building. And it's going to be a fun season."
Even though their rivals to the south on Val Vista Drive, Basha, won the Open Division crown last season, Ortiz says the Pumas are not using that as motivation.
"We have the moniker Perry versus Perry," Ortiz said. "We've just got to take care of ourselves, whatever the other schools are doing in our region in our around the state, that's great, but we got to focus on ourselves. And if Perry doesn't beat Perry, we're going to have a good season."
Much of their success in 2023 will ride on the back of junior 6'5", 210 lb. quarterback Diesel Taylor, who hopes that eventually he can be remembered at Perry in the same vein as the Purdy brothers, Brock and Chubba.
"I'm trying to compete with the past like the Purdy brothers and then trying to live up to them," Taylor said. "And I'm definitely over there with some high expectations."
Like his head coach Ortiz, Taylor said it is an honor to play in the 6A Premier region and is set on what would make this season a success for him.
"Definitely our record and definitely how we play as a team," Taylor said. "And for sure, how we pick each other up after a bad play or how we celebrate. It comes down to, obviously, overall the record and the region that we play in and how we play against all of them."
Perry kicks off their season on August 24 on the road against the Desert Vista Thunder.
Be a believer and catch Friday Night Fever every Friday night on 12News until mid-December starting with our season preview show at 11:35 p.m. on August 18.