The mantra for the season leaves no doubt as to what ALA-Gilbert North feels like it can accomplish after having the season end in the 5A semifinals two years in a row.

'It is on us.'

After a third straight blowout victory Friday, Eagles coach Ty Detmer said all they can do is focus on what happens in their film room, on their practice field, in their week of preparation and in their huddles.

In doing so, ALA-Gilbert North will put the program in a position to push past the semifinals and win its second state title, matching the 4A 2022 squad.

It’s a long way away and the schedule gets much tougher after beating Gilbert 69-0 this week as the Eagles (7-0, 2-0) get ready for games against Arizona College Prep, Campo Verde, and Mountain Pointe to close out the season.

“The effort and intensity in practice and in games has to be looking to the future,” Detmer said. “Our motto is – It is on us. It’s not really about how the other teams are doing. It’s how we are doing. Are we doing the little things that will get us there?

“It’s been the focus all year.”

The Eagles weren’t exactly sharp – seven false starts with the starters in the first half and several high shotgun snaps – against the Tigers (1-6, 0-3), but the talent discrepancy allowed for the miscues to be nothing more than adding more yards to their offensive stats.

That won’t be the case going forward and into the postseason.

“We weren’t very clean tonight,” Detmer said. "You get away with things sometimes and it gives you fall sense of security. It’s going to ramp up here real quick next week.”

ALA-Gilbert North coach Ty Detmer speaks to the players after the Eagles' 69-0 win over Gilbert. (Jason P. Skoda/AzPreps365)It means practice has to be better, the due diligence within games has to be on point and they can't let winning by a total of 184-0 the last three weeks develop a false sense of self.

Because – ‘It’s on us’ – to make sure the season ends differently this time around.

“For us, we are looking for the end goal,” senior wide receiver Issac Massey said. “We had the big win against Desert Edge, and we’ve been building off of that. We're trying to get better every day.

“We’ve lost in the state semifinals the last two years and we’re to try to push through to state and it is on us to make it happen.”

Massey found the end zone twice; quarterback Ben Livingston ran for two scores and completed 10 of his 11 passes for 202 yards with three touchdown passes and McRae Skinner had two rushing scores as well to help the Eagles to a 48-0 first half lead.

The defense held Gilbert to two first downs and a total of 40 offensive yards in the first half as Houston Hawkins, Walker Williams, SJ Reif, Weston Powell and Skinner were dominant in the first 24 minutes.

Gilbert was overmatched, and has been most of the season, after losing a large senior class. Third-year coach Stevann Brown and his staff continued to coach throughout and focused on getting better and not letting any negative attitudes infiltrate the sidelines.

Young players like Marcus Ronquillo, Thomas Reese, Vance Peay and Christian Seeley are receiving a ton of playing experience this year and the hope is it will pay dividends in the years to come once the new two-year block opens up their weekly schedule to some success.

“What’s been going well is the buy in,” Brown said. “Our kids are doing the right things off the field, in practice and it comes back to fielding a team that has a bunch of players getting a chance to playing varsity football for the first time.”  

Send comments and story ideas to jskoda@azpreps365.com. Follow him on X and Instagram @AzPreps365Skoda for additional stories, insights, opinions and in-game coverage.

Here is the link to in-game live coverage of this game: