PHOENIX — Championship week is still underway as Friday Night Fever's 34th season will soon come to a close.
Already this year, we have seen Campo Verde (5A) and Mountain View (6A) win the first-ever state titles for girls flag football, Hayden claim the 1A tackle football title, Scottsdale Christian win the 2A tackle football title, Sabino win the 3A state championship and Canyon Del Oro win the title in 4A.
And for the first (and only) time this season, we have a repeat champion as the #1 Higley Knights won the 5A state championship by beating the #2 Desert Edge Scorpions 42-41 Friday night at Mountain America Stadium in Tempe, avenging their loss from earlier this season.
Higley was up 21-7 when some trouble broke out late in the second quarter.
After a Desert Edge punt was returned into Scorpion territory with just more than a minute to go, a fight broke out near Higley's sideline. It was sparked by an apparent blindside block by a Higley player on the punt return.
Once the chaos was calmed, officials ended up ejecting a total of 19 players. 16 from Desert Edge and three from Higley.
A few plays later, Higley scored once again to take a 28-7 lead.
Desert Edge's Kezion Dia-Johnson returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown to make the score 28-13 at halftime, giving the Scorpions a much-needed spark.
The Knights would add two more touchdowns in the third quarter and Desert Edge would score one of their own and then add on a two-point conversion to make the score 42-21 going into the final frame.
That's when Desert Edge's comeback began.
It started just a couple of minutes into the fourth quarter with a 79-yard touchdown catch by Dia-Johnson. Jaqua Anderson would later add a one-yard touchdown and then, as time expired, Deshawn Warner found the endzone to pull Desert Edge within one point.
The Scorpions then decided to go for two. They gave the ball to Warner once again, he scored and appeared to win Desert Edge their first-ever state championship, but there was a flag on the play.
The Scorpions were called for holding, forcing them to try the two-point attempt again, but this time at the 15-yard line.
Quarterback Hezekiah Millender tried to find Dia-Johnson in the endzone, but the ball fell incomplete, handing Higley their second straight title, 42-41.
Here's a look at the final 5A playoff bracket.
Higley finished the regular season 8-2 and #3 in the 5A Northeast Valley region. The Knights started the season with wins over Campo Verde, Clayton Valley (Concord, California), and Marana before losing to Desert Edge.
Higley then beat Cactus Shadows, ALA-Gilbert North and Notre Dame Prep before their final loss of the season, which came against Horizon.
Higley then beat Desert Mountain and Williams Field to end the regular season.
In the playoffs, Higley beat #16 Ironwood Ridge, #8 Millennium, #5 Apollo and #2 Desert Edge to claim their second-straight championship.
Highlights
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It's championship time on Friday Night Fever's 34th season as state championship berths were won in 4A, 5A, and 6A on Friday night.
Before we get to who is playing for the 5A state title, as a reminder, 2A and 3A will play their state championships on Saturday at Mountain Pointe High School in Phoenix. The 2A game (#1 Pima vs. #3 Scottsdale Christian) will be at 2 p.m. and the 3A game (#3 Paradise Honors vs. #4 Sabino) will be at 6 p.m.
The Open Division semifinals will also be played on Saturday. #1 Liberty will play #5 Highland at 6 p.m. at Mountain Ridge High School in Glendale and #2 Basha will play #3 Centennial at 6 p.m. at Dobson High School in Mesa.
Now, here are the results from the 5A semifinals.
5A Semifinal Results
- #1 Higley beat #5 Apollo, 78-14
- This will be Higley's third state championship appearance and second in a row
- Higley won the 2022 5A state championship, 41-21 over Cactus
- #2 Desert Edge beat #3 Horizon, 18-15
- This will be Desert Edge's first state championship appearance
- Co-head coaches Mark and Marcus Carter will have the opportunity to come just the second Black head coach(es) to win a state championship in Arizona
- Desert Edge beat Higley earlier this season (38-32 on September 15)
5A State Championship Matchup
- #1 Higley (11-2) vs. #2 Desert Edge (11-2)
Here is a look at the updated bracket:
The 5A state championship game will be played at 8 p.m. on Friday, December 1 at ASU's Mountain America Stadium in Tempe.
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Friday Night Fever's 34th season has hit the playoffs! The quarterfinals were held in 4A, 5A, 6A and the Open Division on Friday night, and here's a look at the results in 5A!
But first, as a reminder, 2A and 3A will play their semifinal games on Saturday. The 3A games will be played at Mesa High School and the 2A games will be played at Westwood High School in Mesa.
5A Quarterfinal Results
- #1 Higley beat #8 Millennium, 43-23
- #2 Desert Edge beat #7 Notre Dame Prep, 45-14
- #3 Horizon beat #6 ALA-Gilbert North, 35-28
- #5 Apollo beat #13 Campo Verde, 49-24
5A Semifinal Matchups
- #1 Higley vs. #5 Apollo
- #2 Desert Edge vs. #3 Horizon
Here's a look at the updated bracket:
The 5A semifinal games will be played at the higher-seed schools (Higley and Desert Edge) at 7 p.m. on Friday, November 24.
The 5A state championship game will be held on Friday, December 1 at 8 p.m. at ASU’s Mountain America Stadium in Tempe.
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Friday Night Fever's 34th season has hit the playoffs in every division!
This week, 6A, 5A, 4A, 3A and 2A all continued their playoffs with games on Thursday night due to Veterans Day. 1A is playing their state championship on Saturday and the Open Division will begin with the quarterfinals next week.
Here is a look at the results of the first round in 5A.
5A First Round Results
- #1 Higley beat #16 Ironwood Ridge, 72-3
- #2 Desert Edge beat #15 Buena, 58-14
- #3 Horizon beat #14 Canyon View, 77-21
- #13 Campo Verde upset #4 Cactus, 28-21
- #5 Apollo beat #12 Casa Grande, 56-21
- #6 ALA-Gilbert North beat #11 Marana, 48-24
- #7 Notre Dame Prep beat #10 Sunnyslope, 35-20
- #8 Millennium beat #9 Raymond S. Kellis, 24-3
5A Quarterfinal Matchups
- #1 Higley vs. #8 Millennium
- #2 Desert Edge vs. #7 Note Dame Prep
- #3 Horizon vs. #6 ALA-Gilbert North
- #5 Apollo vs. #13 Campo Verde
You can take a look at the updated bracket below.
All of the 5A quarterfinal games will be played at the higher-seed schools (Higley, Desert Edge, Horizon and Apollo) at 7 p.m. on Friday, November 17.
The 5A state championship game will be held on Friday, December 1 at 8 p.m. at ASU’s Mountain America Stadium in Tempe.
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Friday Night Fever's 34th season is now headed to the playoffs in every division as the regular season has come to a close!
The Arizona Interscholastic Association (AIA) revealed the remaining playoff brackets Saturday morning.
As a reminder, 16 teams make the playoffs in 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A and 6A as opposed to eight in the Open Division and 12 in the 1A Playoffs. The eight teams that made it into the Open are excluded from their conference playoffs, which opens the door for more teams to make playoff appearances, especially in 6A.
Here are the teams that made it into the 5A playoffs (Bold = Region Champion).
- Higley Knights (8-2, 4-1 5A Northeast Valley region)
- Desert Edge Scorpions (8-2, 4-1 5A Desert West region)
- Horizon Huskies (8-2, 4-1 5A Northeast Valley region)
- Cactus Cobras (7-3, 4-1 5A Desert West region)
- Apollo Hawks (9-1, 4-0 5A Northwest region)
- ALA-Gilbert North Eagles (6-4, 2-3 5A Northeast Valley region)
- Notre Dame Prep Saints (4-6, 1-4 5A Northeast Valley region)
- Millennium Tigers (6-4, 3-2 5A Desert West region)
- Raymond S. Kellis Cougars (9-1, 5-0 5A Central Valley region)
- Sunnyslope Vikings (6-4, 5-0 5A San Tan region)
- Marana Tigers (5-5, 4-1 5A Southern region)
- Casa Grande Cougars (7-3, 4-1 5A Southern region)
- Campo Verde Coyotes (5-5, 4-1 5A San Tan region)
- Canyon View Jaguars (5-5, 3-2 5A Desert West region)
- Buena Colts (7-3, 2-3 5A Southern region)
- Ironwood Ridge Nighthawks (8-2, 4-1 5A Sonoran region)
Here are the matchups for the round of 16:
- #1 Higley vs. #16 Ironwood Ridge
- #2 Desert Edge vs. #15 Buena
- #3 Horizon vs. #14 Canyon View
- #4 Cactus vs. #13 Campo Verde
- #5 Apollo vs. #12 Casa Grande
- #6 ALA-Gilbert North vs. #11 Marana
- #7 Notre Dame Prep vs. #10 Sunnyslope
- #8 Millennium vs. #9 Raymond S. Kellis
All of the games will be played on Thursday, November 9 at 7 p.m. at the higher-seeded school. You can take a look at the full bracket below.
The 5A state championship game will be held on Friday, December 1 at 8 p.m. at ASU’s Mountain America Stadium in Tempe.
Here's a look at the past 10 5A state champions.
- 2013 (Note: 5A was known as Division II): Salpointe Catholic
- 2014: Centennial
- 2015: Saguaro
- 2016 (Note: Division II re-named 5A): Williams Field
- 2017: Centennial
- 2018: Centennial
- 2019: Williams Field
- 2020: Sunrise Mountain
- 2021: Horizon
- 2022: Higley
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