Alex Chenevey is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Cactus Shadows for AZpreps365.com.

Nestled 30 miles north of downtown Phoenix lies Cactus Shadows High School in Cave Creek. Cactus Shadows has not historically been known as a football powerhouse, but things are trending in the right direction for the Falcons under new leadership and a culture shift.

Cactus Shadows moved to the 5A Northeast Valley division before the 2018-2019 season, and have since been going up a win a season, with last season being its best in the conference, going 5-1 in section play. Heading into this season, Cactus Shadows made a change and hired former Indoor Football League and Arena Football League quarterback Chris Dixon as its new football coach.

Dixon has brought a new culture to the program, one that centers on being mentally tough.

“I think it’s just mental toughness. I think you teach that. I think any championship team, the first thing you have to have is grit, grind and mental toughness,” Dixon said. “The first thing we are working on is getting mentally tough. That’s the first thing with any coach is trying to bring a culture, trying to change the mindset, the work ethic, tying in how you are going to approach every day, not just football but life in general.”

Dixon has had success. In 2020, he led the Shepherd Mustangs in Shepherd, Mont., to their first home playoff game in 15 years. However, Dixon hasn’t let this success get to his head, as his approach when he first came to the Cactus Shadows program was to listen.

“Sometimes, as a man, you have to come in, try not to just think it’s your way, but listen and see where the program was and where the program was going to go,” Dixon said. “Why didn’t it get to where it needed to? One thing about me, I love to listen and learn and always grow as a person. That’s what I expect my players to do, is to grow as a person.”

Cactus Shadows has had to overcome adversity, from learning a new system in the offseason to weather delays in its first two games. But according to Dixon, overcoming adversity is just the norm.

“Our team has been through a lot this off-season,” Dixon said. “Credit to our senior class, they have handled all this adversity pretty well. To be 3-2 right now, is a pretty good thing. It’s not the all in, we know we want to keep on improving. I’m proud of these guys. If you really think about everything these kids have been through since late May, they’ve handled this and then some a lot better than I thought they would.”

Cactus Shadows' three wins have come at Falcon Field, where it is undefeated. The Falcon fans have done all they can to represent their school when Cactus Shadows has been at home.

“Credit to our home crowd, they have been amazing,” Dixon said. “We feed off their energy. Our student section has done a good job of showing out. Whoever is in the building, I thought they’ve done a good job helping us overcome any adversity that has come during our games.”

Cactus Shadows has been led by seniors, including defensive tackle Dillon Roberts and running back/defensive back Jaivon Swecker. Heading into the season, they both knew how important it is to be a leader.

“Just seeing how other people look up to my brother and seeing how he’s been a leader and my sister, it’s helped me out a lot because I’ve learned a lot from them being just under their wing,” Roberts said. “I’ve tried to carry that over to the football team and baseball team because I like being out there”

Roberts is the anchor of a Falcons defense on the rise, as it's allowed an average of 22.3 points per game in its victories.

“I just take it day by day. I help out everybody if I can, help them try to understand what their position is doing, if they’re confused, motivate them, help them up,” Swecker said. “If they make a mistake you don’t want to put them down, you kinda wanna bring them back up, that’s what a leader should be doing."

Swecker punched in three touchdowns in his last game, a season high for him, and is leading the team in rushing attempts and rushing yards this season.

With the seniors leading the way, Cactus Shadows is on the cusp of becoming a mainstay in the 5A division. To do that, it will need to overcome adversity in the future, which is something that the team is already doing plenty of this season.