Staff picks for Desert Hot Springs football at Coachella Valley, plus rest of schedule
It's Week 6 of the high school football season, and it's a smaller slate of games due to four of the six Desert Empire League teams being on a bye week before the start of league play.
Sports reporter Andrew John and sports columnist Shad Powers are back with their picks, and they've added a new wrinkle now that we are halfway through the season. Starting this week, we'll also include the Cal Preps predictions, which use a computer algorithm to determine who is favored to win each matchup in all California sections.
Andrew was 9-2 last week, missing on wins by Yucca Valley and Twentynine Palms last Friday. He's 36-18 overall for the season.
Xavier Prep, La Quinta top our Week 6 high school football rankings
Shad was also 9-2 with his picks last week. He was incorrect in picking Shadow Hills to beat Diamond Ranch and Rancho Christian to beat Xavier Prep. He is 39-15 overall for the season.
Here's who they like this week:
Andrew's picks
Cathedral City 34, Twentynine Palms 13
Yucca Valley 42, Banning 6
Indio 27, Desert Mirage 7
Coachella Valley 34, Desert Hot Springs 21
Vista Del Lago 28, La Quinta 20
Tri-City Christian 27, Desert Chapel 7
Palm Springs 34, Palo Verde Valley 14
Andrew's pick of the week
Palm Springs over Palo Verde Valley. Having already seen the Yellow Jackets against Coachella Valley, I think Palm Springs should cruise in this one. With all due respect for Palo Verde, a team that won a CIF championship last season, the team is not as talented, collectively, as it has been in recent years and Palm Springs should be hungry for its first win of the season.
Shad's picks
Cathedral City 38, Twentynine Palms 27
Yucca Valley 50, Banning 0
Indio 30, Desert Mirage 0
Coachella Valley 49, Desert Hot Springs 21
Vista Del Lago 33, La Quinta 14
Tri-City Christian 44, Desert Chapel 12
Palm Springs 27, Palo Verde Valley 20
Shad's pick of the week
Coachella Valley vs. Desert Hot Springs: I saw the Golden Eagles last week, and I loved the fight and the desire they play with under new coach Roy Provost. We know about some of their talented skill-position players now, but the defense was pretty impressive, too. However, Coachella Valley is a different beast. The four teams that DHS has beaten have all been relatively offensively challenged. If they can slow down Aaron Ramirez and Company, I'll be wildly impressed. I still believe in DHS as a playoff team, but I don't like this matchup for them. So unlike Andrew and Cal Preps, I don't think this one will be close.
Cal Preps' picks
Cathedral City 35, Twentynine Palms 6
Yucca Valley 48, Banning 13
Indio 26, Desert Mirage 6
Coachella Valley 35, Desert Hot Springs 26
Vista Del Lago 31, La Quinta 21
Tri-City Christian 42, Desert Chapel 7
Palm Springs 28, Palo Verde Valley 7
Andrew John covers sports in the Coachella Valley for The Desert Sun and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at andrew.john@desertsun.com.
Shad Powers is a sports columnist for The Desert Sun and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at shad.powers@desertsun.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Pick Six: Who will win these Week 6 high school football games?
