Higley Wins HS Division of Gotta Believe Desert Duel
- Mason Byers
- Feb 28
- 5 min read
Updated: 7 days ago
On Saturday, the Gotta Believe Desert Duel tournament took place, which saw teams from Arizona battle it out in the one-day tournament at Mountain View High School.
Here are the games we covered during bracket play.
The first round of bracket play saw The Creek Boys Navy and Pinnacle Gray square off.
Pinnacle Gray would be the first team to strike first.
Pinnacle 2027 quarterback Jackson Reader would throw his first touchdown pass of the game to his big target, Pinnacle 2028 wide receiver Dyson Robinson.
After the great start, though, Pinnacle Gray would start to fall behind.
Out of nowhere, The Creek Boys Navy started to find a rhythm as they scored two touchdowns to take a seven-point lead over Pinnacle Gray.
Down the stretch, Pinnacle Gray would once again find the endzone.
Reader would throw his second touchdown pass of the contest and send the game to overtime.
The Creek Boys Navy would win the overtime duel and move on to the quarterfinals after taking down Pinnacle Gray 15-14.
The OWTK Hawks and the Colts would face off as they have multiple times already in the 7’s circuit.
From start to finish, both teams would exchange touchdowns.
To open the game, Highland 2027 quarterback Paiden Cash Dalhaug would throw two touchdown passes for the OWTK Hawks.
On the other side, Casteel 2027 quarterback Tee Smith also opened up the game with two passing touchdowns for the Colts.
The OWTK Hawks would start to slightly pull away, though, as built a double-digit lead.
Dalhaug would throw another touchdown pass, this time a one-play score to Highland 2027 wide receiver Deshown Johnson.
On the following drive, Dalhaug would throw another touchdown pass, this time to Highland 2027 wide receiver Antoine Meeks.
The Colts would be able to cut into the lead as Smith was able to keep firing touchdown passes of his own.
Ultimately, the OWTK Hawks would be able to seal the victory on their last drive.
Dalhaug was able to connect once more with Johnson and give the OWTK Hawks a 33-28 victory over the Colts.
The Knights began their championship path by defeating Mountain Ridge Maroon 37-15.
Then in the quarterfinals, they squared off against SB Elite.
SB Elite would be the ones to strike first.
Throwing the touchdown pass was Horizon 2028 quarterback Kai Knudson, who got the game started.
The Knights would follow suit, though, as Higley 2028 quarterback Cayden Schlueter would find Higley 2027 athlete Allan Turner in the back of the end zone for a score.
SB Elite and the Knights would turn it into a classic shootout game.
Knudson once again threw a touchdown pass for SB Elite.
Just like the first drive, Schlueter connected with Turner, who made a defender miss and scampered into the end zone.
Both teams wasted no time scoring.
Knudson was able to hit Horizon 2027 wide receiver James Klopfenstein for two more touchdowns for SB Elite.
For the Knights, Schlueter and Turner connected for a third touchdown.
Schlueter would also find Higley 2027 wide receiver Kam Richardson for a crucial touchdown to tie the game up at 35.
With both teams tied up at 35, the Knights had one last play to win the game.
Schlueter would step up big time and launch a bomb to Higley 2027 athlete Anthony Palka for a game-winning Hail Mary touchdown.
The Knights would win 42-35 over SB Elite and advance to the semi-finals.
The semifinals matchup between the Knights and the Toros would prove to be another stellar game.
The Knights would jump out to an early lead.
Schlueter threw a great pass to the corner of the end zone for his first touchdown pass of the game to Richardson.
The next drive, Schlueter would throw another deep bomb to Palka to give the Knights a 14-0 lead and all the momentum.
Momentum suddenly stopped for the Knights, however, as the Toros would score 14 unanswered points and tie the game up.
From that point on, both teams' offenses couldn’t be stopped.
Schlueter would throw another pair of touchdown passes, one of which landed in the hands of Turner.
The Toros kept up with the pace and also scored another pair of touchdowns.
With the game being tied up at 28, it was once again the Knights who had a chance to win the game.
Schlueter would fire a pass to the middle of the field to Richardson for his fifth and final touchdown pass of the game.
The Knights' defense would then get one last stop on defense and prevent the Toros from tying it up.
The Knights would go on to win 35-28 and move on to the championship game of the Gotta Believe Desert Duel tournament.
The Knights and Pinnacle Blue would go against each other for the rights to be called champions of the weekend at the Desert Duel tournament.
As exhaustion and the beaming sun started to hit more throughout the day, both teams got off to a slow start.
The Knights would be the ones to strike first in the championship game, however.
Like they did multiple times already in the tournament, Schlueter would fire a 40-yard deep ball to Palka to get the Knights on the board.
Offenses on both teams then proceeded to exchange interceptions and make the score 8-1 with the Knights leading.
Pinnacle Blue was able to get in the end zone after struggling early on and tied the game.
Bull would get his first touchdown pass of the game to Pinnacle 2028 wide receiver Max Libman.
The Knights would start to find rhythm, though, as they got a methodical drive going that ended with Schlueter once again connecting with Palka for a score.
The duo between Bull and Libman for Pinnacle Blue proved to be a challenge for the Knights, though.
In almost an identical fashion, Bull would connect with Libman for another touchdown to tie the game at 16.
It was the same song and dance, however, for the Knights, who have already won multiple clutch games during the tournament.
With the entire weekend on the line, Schlueter would step up and give the Knights the lead as he connected with Turner for the go-ahead touchdown.
Pinnacle Blue wouldn’t be quite out of it yet, however, as they had one last chance to either win or tie the game.
For the third time in the game, Bull would hit Libman in the end zone for a touchdown.
Instead of sending the game to overtime, Pinnacle Blue opted to go for a two-point conversion and the win.
When they needed it the most, the Knights' defensive unit came up big and stopped Pinnacle Blue from converting the two-point attempt.
The Knights would defeat Pinnacle Blue 22-21 and be crowned the champions of the 2026 Gotta Believe Desert Duel.
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To view & download camera clips from the tournament: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1Utlx4_aM9BD9NJ2IfQtVZ7gTQ9bNqhVR
To download any clips that we posted to the BJ Media Twitter, copy and paste the link of the tweet to this website: https://ssstwitter.com/.
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