It is nearing noon on Saturday (Sept. 8) and I am just now catching my breath after walking – more like sprinting – up and down the sidelines trying to keep up with the ball in a couple of high-scoring games the last two nights.

Mesa Red Mountain defeated Phoenix Brophy Prep 33-31 on Friday night (Sept. 7) and Peoria Liberty rolled past Phoenix Paradise Valley 65-31 on Thursday night (Sept. 6).

Can anybody here play defense?

It certainly doesn’t look like it. But looks can be deceiving.

For all of the offense, I’ve seen some pretty good defensive plays and a few slobber-knocking hits along the way.

A play that probably would normally go unnoticed caught my eye in the Red Mountain-Brophy game. Red Mountain linebacker Diego Hernandez knocked down a laser pass from Brophy’s Tyler Bruggman over the middle with a full-out dive.

Like the NFL and colleges, offenses in high schools have evolved into a pass-first mentality. Short, long, in between, you name it.

The quarterbacks put it all into motion, and Arizona has some good ones this year – Bruggman, Red Mountain’s Mason Thorman, Liberty’s Tyler Rogers and Paradise Valley’s Ryan Finley, just to name a few.

The defenses are trying to keep up as best they can.

All of that makes for some entertaining football. It leaves us out of breath, and that’s a good thing.