The Desert Vista Thunder (3-4) match up with the Mesa Mountain View Toros (6-1) in our Arizona high school football featured GameTime matchup this week – Friday, Oct. 29 at 7:00 pm MT/9:00 pm CT.
How To Watch
Watch it on YurView Arizona – Cox channel 4 in Phoenix and channel 7 in Tucson. Cox customers can also watch the games on their phones using the Cox Contour App. Download the Contour App on Apple and Android.
Live streams and replays of all games will be available to rent or purchase at watch.yurview.com.
Watch it now: 40 Years of Arizona High School Football
Game Preview
This is a matchup featuring two head coaches in their first year with their programs.
Desert Vista head coach Ty Wisdom takes the helm for the Thunder after spending the last five seasons at Horizon.
When Wisdom took over at Horizon in 2016 he inherited a program that had gone winless in the previous season. He managed to build the Huskies program up in four seasons to a team that made the Open Division quarterfinals in 2019.
This year he came into a similar situation as last season Desert Vista went 0-6. Wisdom hopes he can have similar success that he previously had in the coming years with the Thunder.
“I was ready for a different challenge,” Wisdom said. “Something where we could build it to be top five power in Arizona. That’s the goal.”
Mesa Mountain View head coach Joe Germaine returns to his alma mater as the head coach this season.
Germaine was an All-State quarterback for the Toros and helped lead his team to a 13-1 record and a State Championship in 1993.
“Mountain View is a special place to me,” Germaine said. “I turn around and look our scoreboard that says Jesse Parker Field, that’s who I played for. He’s one of the all-time great coaches and great men. It’s awesome being back.”
Last season, Germaine was at Queen Creek in his second stint as head coach for the Bulldogs.
He was previously head coach from 2010 to 2012 where he led the program to a State Title in 2012 before stepping back from some of his coaching duties. He then returned as head coach in 2019.
Last season, Queen Creek was 6-2 and made it to the 6A quarterfinals.
Sr. OT Jai Rodriguez, 6’6” 275 – Desert Vista
Rodriguez is rated as the No. 25 overall player in Arizona in the 2022 class by 247Sports.
The offensive lineman is a Northern Arizona commit.
Excited and blessed to announce my commitment to NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY🌲🪓 thank you to @BlkLima17 for making me the man I am today and thank you @Coach_Connelly and @CoachChrisBall for welcoming me into the brotherhood! pic.twitter.com/H4FwigNeUT
— Jai Rodriquez (@JaiRodriquez) October 3, 2021
“Jai has been a great leader for us since day one,” Wisdom said. “He’s well respected by his teammates. He continues to get better each game and has had a great year for us. NAU is getting a great offensive lineman in Jai.”
Jr. TE Jackson Bowers, 6’5” 235 – Mountain View
Bowers is a 4-star tight end rated as the No. 3 overall athlete and the No. 2 tight end in Arizona in the 2023 class by 247Sports.
The junior has offers from USC, ASU, Washington, Utah, Colorado, Michigan State, BYU, Yale, Georgia Tech, Arizona, Florida State and Cal.
After a great conversation with @CoachDoege I am blessed to receive an offer from the UNIVERSITY of SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ❤️💛 @JGermaine7 @MVToro_Football @5starD1 @USC_FB @bangulo @BrandonHuffman @JeremyBoatrigh6 @adamgorney @JoshuabRoberts1 pic.twitter.com/3UWOhBF4ot
— Jackson Bowers (@jackson_bow3rs) September 30, 2021
“Jackson is a really talented player,” Germaine said. “What I like about him most is his knowledge and understanding of the game. He’s extremely smart, he understands what’s going on out there and has a really good feel for the flow of the game.”
Through five games, Bowers had 19 catches for 250 yards and a touchdown.
So. RB Christian Clark, 5’11” 185 – Desert Vista
Clark has 80 carries for 352 yards with seven touchdowns on the year.
This season, he’s stepped up to fill a void in the running backs corps for senior running back Devon Grubbs who suffered an injury in the Thunder’s fourth game of the season.
Before Grubbs got hurt, Clark was playing safety.
Mid-Season Sophomore Highlights https://t.co/qrwRS69GBP
— Christian Clark (@christian6clark) October 14, 2021
“He’s a very, very talented kid with great balance,” Wisdom said. “He practices hard every day. He’s a great leader. I really don’t see a ceiling for him, I think he’s a Power 5 kid, that’ll continue to get better.”
Sr. DE Malaki Ta’ase, 6’2” 240 – Mountain View
Ta’ase had 29 tackles, 1.5 sacks and one blocked field goal in five games for the Toros.
Here comes @MVToro_Football with Malaki Ta’ase in the back, one of the state’s leaders in sack #VXLive #TeamAZV pic.twitter.com/tX1JCIJZRZ
— Zach Alvira (@ZachAlvira) November 7, 2020
“Malaki is an amazing player,” Germaine said. “He’s one of our best players on the team. He’s a really big part of what we do and I love how physical and tough he is, but I also love how selfless he is.
“Playing in the defensive scheme that we have him playing in, as a defensive end, a lot of times he’s required to take on blockers and take on double teams to free up his teammates to make plays, so sometimes he doesn’t get credit for tackles. But the people that really know football know that he’s probably one of the bigger impact players that we have.”
The defensive end has offers from Nevada, Utah State, Idaho and Southern Utah.
The Desert Vista Thunder (3-4) take on the Mesa Mountain View Toros (6-1) in our GameTime Arizona featured matchup – Friday, Oct. 29 at 7:00 pm MT/9:00 pm CT.
