Alexander McDonald is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Millennium High School for AZPreps365.com

Millennium (3-3) and Verrado (3-3) are two Agua Fria District rivals, separated by just 7.3 miles on Camelback Road, set to face off on Friday, Oct. 21, at 7 p.m.

Due to their proximity, each team's players often grew up playing football together.

“Both schools are good schools. They compete in academics and sports. They are both in the Agua Fria School District, and out of the five schools in the school district, these two probably have the highest income families," former Millennium teacher Paty De La Rosa Acosta said.

One of the biggest differences between both schools is Millennium has a larger campus with multimillion-dollar athletic facilities, and has a strong winning tradition in multiple sports outside of football.

“Millennium is known to be the bigger school of the two and is very relevant in the Litchfield Park and Goodyear areas,” said former Millenium soccer player Danny Coogan.  “MHS historically has had the better basketball and volleyball teams. ...

"They (Verrado) have usually prided themselves in football.”

Over the past five years, Millennium has the edge winning three games of their last five matchups against Verrado. However, Millennium enters the game on a three-game losing streak. The margin of victory is usually small between the Tigers and Vipers at about 11 points. The biggest landslide victory was in 2020 when Verrado ousted Millennium at home, 47-12.

Millennium lost by just five last season.

“The game ended with us on the 10-yard line and the ball being snapped over our head,” said Millenium head coach Lamar Early. 

The Tigers' top offensive threat to watch out for junior running back Zues Pindernation. He's rushed for their team-best 875 yards at an average of 6.6 yards per carry. He's fifth in the 5A for rushing, and his 13 touchdowns currently rank the same in the conference. 

In the passing game, senior quarterback Derek Berry has seven passing touchdowns, one rushing TD, a 59.6% completion rate, and an overall 75.7 QB rating. His favorite target this season has been senior wide receiver Kyan Fields, who has 25 catches, 388 receiving yards, and six TDs. 

Millennium's best defensive players are seniors Jax Adair, Shahid Wilson, Xavier Sanchez, and Daniel Delponte. 

Adair has 45 total tackles, Wilson has 48, Sanchez pulled down 41, and Delponte is the team's leader at 65. Together, they've averaged just over eight tackles for loss per game among them, and Adair's 7.5 sacks leads the Tigers.

“It’s gonna be high intensity like I said a lot of these boys played with each other so it should be a fun game. But I think it will be a very physical game also," Early said.