Chandler High's murderer's row schedule was by design.

“I did that on purpose…to see what kind of team I had in the beginning,'' said coach Shaun Aguano. "We suffered seven or eight injuries. I want to see how our team handles adversity at the beginning of the year.” 

The test continues Friday against No. 2 Mountain Pointe at home.

The Wolves, who have won two state championships in the last three years, have a 2-1 record with wins against No. 2 Red Mountain and No. 3 Pinnacle while falling to nationally ranked No. 2 IMG Academy (Bradenton, Florida).

The Wolves have seen their fair share of adversity early in the season. They lost starting quarterback Jacob Conover in their loss to the IMG Academy, forcing backup Billy Bolger to take the reins.

Also in the game against Pinnacle, the Wolves lost six players to injury, according to Aguano.

The injury to Conover might be the biggest adversity the Wolves will face all year. Conover is ranked No. 6 by Rivals.com in the class of 2019 in the state of Arizona and  has six D-1 offers, includingoneto play for Nick Saban at Alabama.

Bolger took his new role in stride and led the Wolves to their win over Pinnacle. “He (Bolger) understands the offense as good as anybody so we just plugged him in. We told Billy, ‘At any time he needs to be ready,’” Aguano said.

Bolger used good communication within the quarterback group to help with the transition from backup to starter. “It was pretty smooth. We do a really great job as a quarterback group… of communicating,” Bolger said.

The Wolves high-powered offense is centered around running back Drake Anderson, wide receiver Gunner Romney, and quarterback Bolger. “It is built into our progression…going to those two (Romney and Anderson)” Bolger said. Anderson already has seven touchdowns, and Romney has three.

The Wolves defense often is second in conversation because of strengths of the offense; however, their defense is just as important.  Aguano believes the defense starts fromits defensive line and safety Avery Carrington anchors a defense which focuses on being a “No Fly Zone.”

“We lock down in the secondary. We are the last line of defense,” Carrington said. Carrington also credits the offense for motivating the defense to step up because of the attention the offense receives.

The biggest problem the Wolves have faced this season has been taking too many penalties.  Aguano is not pleased. “I’m not real happy about that especially when we’re giving away 15 yards off of mental mistakes. Come Monday they knew they had to pay. I got that taken care off,” he said.

After their next game against No. 2 Mountain Pointe the Wolves schedule relaxes for a bit. They have games against O’Connor, Mountain Ridge, and Basha before closing against No. 3 Perry, Brophy Prep, and No. 5 Hamilton.