Carl Hayden Community High School (0-5) will face off against Independence (0-5) in a 5A Union Region matchup Friday night at Independence High School.

Both these teams are coming into the game without a win halfway through the season. Despite this, the players and coaches believe this year is far from over. 

“If you look at some of our losses, we’ve fought hard,” Carl Hayden coach Randy Gross said. “Sometimes the ball just hasn’t bounced our way.”

For an example of this, one must look no further than last Friday night when Carl Hayden suffered a narrow loss at the hands of non-region foe Maryvale, 26-25.

Down by one point with a few minutes left, the Falcons were unable to lead a scoring drive and turned the ball over on downs, effectively ending their bid for an opening win. 

Despite a few tough losses like this, Carl Hayden had an upbeat week of practice and is looking forward to the opportunity to play their first game against a regional opponent.

Through five games this season, Carl Hayden has scored just 52 points offensively. After being held scoreless in their first two games, they’ve gotten progressively better at scoring each week.

“Our offense struggled a bit at the start,” junior quarterback Justis Delgado said. “But lately we’ve been gelling as a team and moving the ball a lot better.”

Getting better offensively has translated to plenty more opportunities for senior running back Eric Baeza, who leads Carl Hayden in total yards and touchdowns.

“My guys have been blocking well for me,” Baeza said at practice Wednesday. “Without them, I wouldn’t be able to have the success I’m having.”

Baeza has been the main weapon for the Falcons offense, keeping them competitive in games even when their defense doesn’t play well.

For Independence, the goal should be to focus on stopping Carl Hayden’s run game that has been giving teams fits in the last few weeks.

“They don’t have much of a passing attack,” Efran Cano, a senior defensive back for Independence said. “They almost always run the ball, and that’s what we’ll have to stop.”

Independence has not found much success in stopping offenses this year, giving up an average of 44 points per game to opposing teams.

“We’ve been getting scored on far too often,” Cano said. “If we want to start winning games the defense needs to step up and make more plays.”

Although no team is equipped with a particularly potent unit on one side of the ball, it will take a group effort to pull out a win. For Carl Hayden, a big focus during this week of practice was staying healthy.

“We’ve only got 26 guys on this team,” coach Gross said. “That means we can’t have guys cramping up and coming out of the game.”

Coach Gross instilled in his players that hydration throughout the week is a key if they want to be feeling prepared for battle come Friday night. 

“It’s going to be a tough game,” Baeza said. “We wouldn’t want it any other way, we’re ready.”