No. 7 Goodyear Desert Edge (7-4) at No. 2 Tucson (9-2)
Date: Friday
Kickoff: 7 p.m.
Desert Edge coach: Henri MacArthur (7-4, first year at Desert Edge and overall). Assistant coach with the Scorpions for almost a decade before becoming the head coach this season.
Tucson coach: Zach Neveleff (14-7, second year at Tucson and overall). Coached the Badgers to their first playoff win in 53 years last week (14-7 over Cienega).
When Desert Edge has the ball:
Run percentage: 43.1 percent (237 rushes)
Pass percentage: 56.9 percent (314 passes)
Desert Edge has a passing offense that has utilized two quarterbacks — sophomore Blake Roskopf and senior Elijah Sherbin-Fox. .. Roskopf, a 6-foot-6 prospect who is a transfer from Peoria Liberty, has played most of the second half of the season after becoming eligible as a transfer. He completed 23 of 32 passes for 252 yards with three touchdowns in last week’s 42-19 win over Cave Creek Cactus Shadows in a first-round game. He has passed for 1,511 yards in six games while completing 112 of 191 pass attempts. He has 12 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. … Sherbin-Fox is the top rusher with 410 yards on 67 carries. He has five touchdowns. … Senior WR David Cabrera has 36 catches for 556 yards with five touchdowns. … Tucson junior LB Dominick Drow leads a defense with five players with at least 50 tackles. Drow has 95 tackles, six for loss. … S Kevin Bruns, who is second on the team with 86 tackles, is coming off one of his best games in the first-round win over Cienega — 10 tackles and an interception. … Freshman CB Ezra Spivey, younger brother of Salpointe standout senior Nathan Spivey, has 52 tackles, team-high seven interceptions, and four fumble recoveries. … Junior LB Taysean Romero leads the Badgers with six sacks while Drow has five.
When Tucson has the ball:
Run percentage: 58 percent (269 rushes)
Pass percentage: 42 percent (195 passes)
This has been a breakout season for junior QB Derek Mesa, who has completed 109 of 195 pass attempts for 1,825 yards with 23 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. … ATH Noah Chanez is one of the top all-purpose threats in the state with a team-best 723 yards rushing on 127 carries with eight touchdowns. He also has 372 yards on 28 catches with three touchdowns, and averages 45.8 yards per kickoff return and 22.8 yards on punt returns. … WR Joseph Romero, a senior, leads the Badgers with 509 yards on 26 receptions with nine touchdowns. … Senior LB Joshua Hopphaus leads Desert Edge with 109 tackles, 21 for loss. … DE Jerry Washington has 13 tackles for loss, a team-high 7.5 sacks. … In addition to his time at quarterback and running back, Sherbin-Fox is also a formidable linebacker with six sacks. … Two players have three interceptions each as part of a defense that has tallied 14 interceptions this year — senior S TJ Tucker and junior CB Camren Hamiel.
Series record
First meeting between the schools.
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon. He became an educator five years ago and is presently a special education teacher at Gallego Fine Arts Intermediate in the Sunnyside Unified School District
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