Arizona high school football teams make' expanded Top 100 national preseason rankings

Thus none of the teams in the bracket are in the list of top 25 teams; however four of the Arizona high school football teams made it to the preseason national football ranking which was released by MaxPrep on Monday.

Other teams making it to the Top 100 are; Open state champion Peoria Liberty with (48), Open runner up Peoria Centennial with (70), Chandler with (89) and Phoenix Brophy Prep with (100).

Next week Liberty is scheduled to play Centennial from Corona, California a team featured as the eighth best preseason team by MaxPreps. Last year, the only time Liberty lost was to Corona Centennial and the final score was 42-35.

Every school but Centennial moved their quarterback from the previous year up to varsity level.

Some of the team players include Liberty graduated Arizona Republic Offensive Player of the year Navi Bruzon now with Arizona state, starting tail back Jon Wilson who rushed over 1200 yards, and three promising wide receivers more details, Braylon Gardner, Chris McKivitz and Ryan Wolfer. All those three receivers caught 135 pass, for 2380 yards and collected 22 touchdowns last season.

The Lions’ defense on the other hand will be much ferocious with linebacker Hudson Dunn, safety Cannon Garday, and Defensive linemen Caden Branston and Paz St. John all returning. They have signed previously with Scottsdale Saguaro Melvin Zeth Thues the safety position and Kamden Segall the tight end and wide receiver positions.

Centennial returns passing leader Kainan Manna 2,180 yards, 21 touchdowns, one interception last year and Aaron Alvarez over 100 tackles, linebacker. The Coyotes also got some crucial transfers in the receiving corps in Nikko Boncore from Glendale Cactus High School, the Berryhill brothers Shamar and Romeo of Tucson Sabino High School.

Chandler, which finished 8-3 and was knocked out in the Open quarterfinals by Gilbert Highland, needs to replace quarterback and 2,000-yard threat Blake Heffron and 1,000-yard back Ca’Lil Valentine who transferred to Illinois. However, one has to admit that the Wolves have a great group of receptors; Carter Ochoa who caught 37 balls for 495 yards and 4 TDs; and a sophomore Jai Jones. Tempe Corona del Sol freshman had 35 catches on Jones during the season on the varsity team.

Brophy Prep was the only team of the four that failed to get into the Open the previous season. Novelist Gerald Brophy has, to date, never qualified to be selected in the Open eight. But this should be coach Jason Jewell’s best team with fourteen players in the roster with Division I college football offers.

Secondary and his wide receivers group as well as the offences line are some of the prominent players that have presented the Bronco. One of Brophy’s top players is junior wide receiver Devin Fitzgerald who is the son of Larry Fitzgerald, a former player of the Cardinals. Sharper and McNabb Jr. also play at the receiver position and Daylen completes the list of receivers.

During the early nineties, Brophy must find a new quarterback because Charlie McGinnis played with the Broncos the previous two years as the quarterback. Last year Brophy made 6A semifinals, however it suffered a defeat to Mesa Red Mountain in an overtime match.