Chandler, Hamilton set to clash in Battle of Arizona Avenue with playoffs looming
There are many great high school football rivalries in the state of Arizona.
St. John’s and Eagar Round Valley have been playing each other for over 110 years now. Miami and Globe fight for the Cooper Kettle trophy. Lakeside Blue Ridge and Show Low battle it out for White Mountain bragging rights. Mesa Mountain View and Red Mountain play in the Brown Derby. Phoenix Desert Vista and Mountain Pointe duke it out over the Ahwatukee Bowl.
The Battle for Arizona Avenue, the matchup between Chandler and Hamilton, is up there with some of the best there is in the Grand Canyon state.
It is the 24th year that the game has been played since Hamilton’s inception as a school in 1999. And in those years, they’ve put together some memorable games in the regular season and postseason.
2009. 2011. 2013. 2015. 2019. 2020. 2022.
Fans will remember those years as some of the best games in this rivalry, with many more in between. It looks like 2023 is shaping up to be another great installment in this storied rivalry.
Every year, this is the game that Hamilton coach Mike Zdebski circles on the calendar. The Huskies always play a gauntlet of a schedule being in the 6A Premier Region, but no matter what, the game with Chandler at the end is what they build toward.
“It’s a year-round message,” Zdebski said. “For our program, it’s the most important game of the year. The kids know it. We talk about it all year long. It’s what it is.”
Both teams, each coming in with a 7-2 record in the 6A Premier Region, are neck-and-neck in the rankings. The Republic’s Super 10, which combines the 6A and 5A conferences, has Chandler at No. 4 and Hamilton at No. 5. The Arizona Interscholastic Association has placed Chandler at No. 5 and Hamilton at No. 7 in the Open Division in their latest set of rankings with playoffs starting next week.
Each school is no stranger to success. Hamilton has won seven state titles while Chandler has six to its name. They’ve produced countless Division I recruits over the years.
But this Hamilton team is a little different than years past. There’s no “the guy,” a blue-chip prospect that the Huskies can turn into a moment of need. They are just a really good team from top to bottom that plays clean football.
Don’t get it twisted — senior running back Breylon Blount is one of the top rushers in the state. Blount is second in the vaunted 6A Premier Region with 1,020 yards and 9 touchdowns on the season.
The Huskies will have to rely on a backup at quarterback with senior Beckham Pellant out with an injury. Enter junior Rich Lucero Jr., who gets the second start of his career. Lucero Jr. filled in admirably last week in a 49-28 win against Mesa Red Mountain, finishing the game 18 of 25 passing for 297 yards with 4 touchdowns.
Zdebski has all the faith in Lucero Jr.
“He’s young, he’s extremely talented,” Zdebski said. “He understands the offense, understands defenses. He’s working towards it. But at least he has one game under his belt before getting into this one. Throwing for 297 as a first-time starter is a really good night when you’re playing a good opponent. That was one of the things we talked about early in the season, if there was one position we have depth at, it was quarterback.”
For Chandler, they too are led by a dynamic playmaker out of the backfield with senior Ca’lil Valentine. The Illinois commit is just ahead of Blount in the conference with 1,107 rushing yards. Valentine also has 14 touchdowns.
The Wolves have senior Blake Heffron at quarterback. He’s No. 12 in 6A for passing yards with 1,553 and is completing 68 percent of his passes. Heffron has one of the best touchdown to interception ratios in the conference at 17 to 2, so he rarely puts his team in a bad spot.
Just like for Zdebski and Hamilton, this game is always important for coach Rick Garretson and Chandler. But Garretson and his team have been playing like it’s been November for a while now.
“We said we’ve had a playoff mindset ever since we played Highland (on Sept. 22),” Garretson said. “We went Highland, Casteel, Centennial, Basha, Perry, and now we got Hamilton. That’s a positive thing playing teams like that, is that it prepares you for games like this.”
Even with a backup under center, Garretson is not taking this Hamilton team lightly.
“He played really well the other night,” Garretson said. “For a young guy, he did his job and threw four touchdowns. He has the potential to be a problem, so we got to focus on ourselves and see if we can take care of business.”
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Chandler, Hamilton football set to clash in Battle of Arizona Avenue
