Desert Edge takes down Horizon with last-minute TD to move onto 5A state championship game

They do things their own ways. They are vocal about it. They have laid out a vision.

And on Friday night, fulfilling that vision became one step closer as No. 2 Goodyear Desert Edge, led by twin coaches Marcus and Mark Carter, beat No. 3 Scottsdale Horizon 18-15 to advance to the 5A state championship game next week at Mountain America Stadium.

Here are key takeaways from the game:

A sputtering start before a burst

Maybe it was the nature of the matchup, with so much riding on the line. Maybe it was the two teams feeling each other. Maybe it was that two teams lined up perfectly with one another.

Whatever it was, the offense was hard to come by as this game was tied 3-3 at halftime.

The game got off to a great start for Desert Edge, which had a 59-yard kickoff return from Aundre Gibson. The Scorpions worked their way down the 14-yard line before stalling out. Junior kicker Kole Rogers came on for the 31-yard try but the kick went wide left. After special teams doomed Desert Edge the last time it played Horizon in 2021, there some flashbacks from the past.

Then a sequence of plays happened in the second quarter that left Desert Edge coach Mark Carter dumbfounded. With the ball in the red zone, senior wide receiver Johnny Arvallo dropped a would-be touchdown, junior quarterback Hezekiah Millender missed a wide open receiver for a would-be touchdown and then senior wide receiver Jaqua Anderson dropped a would-be touchdown.

Three straight plays that should have ended with a score, but no points. Desert Edge turned it over on downs.

Horizon, mixing in juniors Jase Ashley and Zack Jones at quarterback, could not find a rhythm on offense either. Ashley came in to be determined with an ankle injury and split time with Jones.

The Huskies were able to squeeze in a 25-yard field goal from senior Kanyon Floyd to go up 3-0 with 1:20 left in the first half.

Millender, with his legs, was able to use an up-tempo offense and get Desert Edge down into Horizon territory just before halftime. Rogers redeemed himself with a 33-yard field goal to tie it up.

That’s when the boom came. And the boom came in the form of senior running back Markhi McKinnon. On the second play of the first drive of the second half, McKinnon took the hand off and went 60 yards to score the game’s opening touchdown. It was a huge play at the perfect time for the transfer.

“I come from Barry Goldwater, nobody expected me to come this far,” McKinnon said. “I just knew I was getting the ball and I had to get the job done. Words can’t explain. Everybody say I was going to be a bust coming over here. I don’t even know what to say. We here. I did it for Goldwater, I did it for the city.”

The play call came from a late night conversation.

“My assistant coach, Nick Ludovico, called me about midnight last night and said he had found something,” Mark Carter said. “We stayed up last night until about 12:30 (a.m.) going through it, and you know, I believe in him. We have some great assistant coaches and I saw what he was seeing coming out the half. I told him I trusted him, I loved him and that he didn’t stay up all night for nothing. When he called it, he said, ‘Coach, run it.’ And that’s when Markhi bust and got us rolling.”

Late-game heroics

Following the touchdown from McKinnon, it was Horizon who responded with a touchdown at the beginning of the fourth quarter on a 8-yard pass from Ashley to senior wide receiver Kaden Cox to bring the game within 1 point. But, in a reversal of roles from that 2021 game, it was Desert Edge who blocked the extra point attempt to hold the 10-9 lead with 10:28 to go in the game.

The Horizon defense clamped down on the ensuing drive, forcing a punt. That’s when Litten dialed up his thunder and lightning package with senior running back Anthony Segura and sophomore Bodie Zamorano with a little dose of senior tight end Karson Kolb.

It was Segura who scored on a 27-yard run to put his team ahead 15-10 with 3:51 remaining on the clock.

Then it was on Millender. Mark Carter pulled his talented young quarterback aside and delivered a message.

“When he came here, I told him he was going to leave here as the greatest one to be here,” Carter said. “I told him, this is your moment. And he said, ‘Coach, I got you. I’m going to win it for you.’ I said, ‘Boy, I already know. Let’s round your troops and let’s go.’”

Millender connected with Anderson for a 13-yard catch to get the ball moving. Then a big run by senior wide receiver Kezion Dia-Johnson, plus a late-hit penalty on Horizon, put Desert Edge deep into opponent territory.

A run by McKinnon put it at the 2-yard line with 29 seconds left. The next play, Millender bulldozed his way in for the go-ahead touchdown. He also converted the two-point conversion to make it 18-15. The Huskies were unable to muster any last-second magic like 2021 and the game ended on a sack.

For the second-year signal-caller, the moment is a special one.

“Man, just excited,” Millender said. “We worked all year for this and we’re in the ‘ship. We gotta finish.”

A chance to make history

They’ve made impressive playoff runs in the past with Desert Edge, losing to Chandler in the Open Division in 2020, Tucson Salpointe Catholic in 2021 and Gilbert Higley in 2022.

Each one of those teams was a state finalist or state champion.

Now, it’s their chance to play for golden ball. Marcus and Mark Carter will look to make history in more than one way next week in Tempe.

They’ll seek to become the first twin brothers to win a state championship in Arizona. And they’re tying to become the first known Black coaches at a large school to win one in the state. Rishard Davis won the 2A title with Eloy Santa Cruz in 2019.

The journey to this point has been a winding one.

“It’s going to mean everything,” Marcus Carter said. “For me, for my family, for the culture, young Black coaches. We started off in Pop Warner and then worked our way up. We were assistants for 8 years over at Cactus, then we go to Georgia and be assistant coaches where football is crazy. Then we come back here, get assistant jobs at Central for 2 years, then being head coaches at South (Mountain). Then coming out here, we paid our dues. We worked the hard road. We want to win a championship for the community, but most importantly, for the culture.”

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Desert Edge takes down Horizon on last-minute TD to move onto 5A state final