Mihir Sinhasan is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Sunrise Mountain High School for AZPreps365.com 

The Sunrise Mountain Mustangs had another practice on Wednesday afternoon.

But this time, the coaches and captains were more energetic. They pushed their players to hustle and focus, because they have two big weeks ahead.  

The Mustangs (3-5) are currently ranked No. 15 in 5A, which puts them in the conference’s playoff picture. They look to make the postseason after failing last season, with their final two games being at home against No. 11 Millennium and on the road against No. 16 Canyon View.  

“They are really important,” Sunrise Mountain head coach Steve Decker said about the upcoming games. “I feel like we need to win both to make the playoffs.” 

Sixteen teams make the 5A tournament. Three teams from the conference are expected to make the Open tournament. So, if the season ended today, the Mustangs would make the playoffs as the No. 12 seed.  

Sunrise Mountain fell at home to Cactus in triple overtime 48-45 last week. While the visiting Cobras sit at the No. 3 seed, the loss caused the Mustangs to fall a few spots in the conference rankings.  

Nonetheless, the team captains, including senior middle linebacker/fullback and co-captain Brandon Robbins, are encouraging their teammates to continue working hard for a postseason spot.  

“I just let [the young guys] know that even though we lost, we can’t give up,” Robbins said. “There’s no point in acting like our season is over, because it is not at all. We just need to keep coming out, practicing hard.” 

Their meeting against the Millennium Tigers (5-2) will be their third overall. The Mustangs won the first meeting 22-20 on the road in 2021. However, the Tigers took last year’s game, winning 45-7 at home. This was the final game of the season for the Mustangs, who ended the year on a six-game losing streak. 

Afterwards, they will face the Canyon View Jaguars (3-5) for the first time. The Jaguars, who moved to 5A Desert West after years in the 5A Northwest region, have made the postseason the past two years as the No.14 seed.  

"We got to have that 'dawg mindset,’” senior offensive lineman and co-captain Andrew Harris said. "We got to come out on the field, and we got to win. We got to buckle down, and we got to do our jobs. We got to outplay our opponents.” 

The battle for seeding in 5A is tight. There is less than a 4-point difference in AIA rating between No. 12 seed Sunrise Mountain and No. 3 seed Cactus. That is the smallest difference between those two seeds in all divisions, excluding Open.  

On the other side, there is about a 3.65-point difference between the Mustangs and Sunnyside, who would be the first team to miss the postseason if it started today.  

Getting the two much-needed wins will be tough for the Mustangs. Since joining 5A in 2018, the Mustangs have only won their last two games once. It happened in 2021, where they made the playoffs as the No. 5 seed. They beat eventual No. 8 seed Verrado and Fairfax, who missed the playoffs that year.  

But Decker said he believes that the Mustangs can do it and return to postseason play this year. 

“These guys are close,” Decker said. “They’re connected. We just need to get some wins to get into the playoffs, and I think we can make a deep run in the playoffs in 5A.”