Bennett Silvyn is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Shadow Mountain High School for AZPreps365.com.

The Shadow Mountain football team has had a slow start to the season with a record of 0-2. Last week, the Matadors lost on the road to Deer Valley 55-7. Even though it was a tough road loss, there is still hope as Shadow Mountain returns home to play Vista Grande at 7 p.m. Friday.

Despite the rough loss to Deer Valley, this is a young roster featuring mainly sophomores who are starting their first varsity games.

“I think with all these young guys we just need to get them to get rid of the nervousness because they play great in practice. Then in the game they get nervous and make simple mistakes,” said head coach Ron Fagan. 

On top of this being one of the youngest teams Fagan has coached in his six years with Shadow Mountain, it is also the smallest with only 28 players listed on the roster. 

The Matadors have a new quarterback, sophomore Nico Alvarez, who is starting for the first time this season. Alvarez is replacing Christian Thomson, who opted not to play his senior year after his twin brother Anthony Thomson also opted out. Thomson threw for 1,753 yards and 14 touchdowns last season, and also rushed for 139 yards on 70 carries.

Alvarez has improved in each game and will be starting in the third game of his varsity career. He will look to light up the Spartans defense who gave up 34 points in their last game to the Canyon View Jaguars.

One of the leaders on the offensive side of the ball is senior Carson Becktold, who has been on varsity for three years. 

“Becoming a senior to me means you have to be a leader and step up,” Becktold said. “I also teach the young ones how to run the ball and not be scared in their first games.”

Looking ahead to Vista Grande on Sept. 24, Becktold wants the offense to dominate the time of possessions and come away with points on every drive. 

In the previous two games, the Matadors defense has struggled to stop the run, allowing 626 rushing yards combined in the first two games. The Spartans will look to test the rush defense of Shadow Mountain because they love to run the ball. In the Spartans’ first game, only two passes were attempted the entire game, and as a team, Vista Grande rushed for 457 yards.

To stop opposing teams from running, senior linebacker Edward Welch wants the defense to “push the lineman back into their gaps, forcing the opposing running back to make a decision, and then punishing the running back for that decision.” 

Fagan believes the team has a good chance of beating the Spartans if they can do one thing: tackle. 

“Tackling is our biggest problem; we just have a problem tackling,” he said. “In practice, we are great at tackling but for some reason, in the game, we just cannot do it.”