Practice is about to turn into games this week around the state. (AzPreps365 photo).

 

 

The first games for many head coaches at their new schools across the East Valley and Scottsdale highlight season openers Friday (Aug. 18) for the 2017 prep football season.

There are 11 coaches in the aforementioned geographic areas who coached elsewhere or not at all last season. Schools with new head coaches since the end of 2016 are: Red Mountain, Hamilton (interim), Horizon, Desert Mountain, Corona del Sol, Highland, Westwood, Basha, Notre Dame Prep, Arcadia and San Tan Foothills.

Here's a thumbnail look at this week's contests:

6A

Hamilton at Boulder Creek: Interim Hamilton head coach Dick Baniszewski, a longtime coach at various levels and assistant in the Karl Kiefer heydays at McClintock, matches up with Boulder Creek and second-year head coach Tony Casarella. The Jaguars were 4-6 last year. Several of their losses were by a TD or less. Their loss to Hamilton was not (46-0). Hamilton is attempting to rebound from its worst season ever  -- on and off the field.

Red Mountain at Chandler: Two consensus top-10 teams in the preseason, Red Mountain debuts Mike Peterson, a former assistant at Chandler earlier in the decade. Chandler is the defending 6A champ and trying for its first-ever repeat.

Perry at Desert Vista: No new coaches here and another matchup of consensus preseason top-10 teams. Perry features Brock Perry at quarterback in his third year as a starter. Desert Vista unveils Nevada transfer QB Derek Kline. The teams played to overtime to get a decision last year with Perry prevailing.

Corona del Sol at Highland: One of those rare games in first half of the season that is a region battle (Central Region). First game at the helm for both Jon Becktold (Corona) and Brock Farrel (Highland). These are schools aiming to find a postseason niche.

Mesquite at Mesa:  Mesquite settled in with a 5A playoff berth last year while Mesa had its moments trying to do the same in 6A. Both coaches are in their second year -- Chad DeGrenier (Mesquite) and Kap Sikahema (Mesa). 

Westwood at Skyline: Tough initial game for Westwood coach Kyle Ide, a Warrior alum in the mid-1980s. Skyline has been the best team inthe Mesa district of late under Angelo Paffumi. This is an East Valley Region game as well.

Basha at Westview: New Basha coach Rich Wellbrock won't feel completely out of place in his debut facing a westside school fairly close to his old neighborhood at Desert Edge. Good matchup and test for Basha to see if defense can be more stout. Westview won last year's meeting, 54-36.

Mountain Pointe at Sandra Day O'Connor:  This figures to be another good year for Mountain Pointe, firmly entrenched as one of the elite programs in the conference. O'Connor debuts new coach Steve Casey, former head coach at Kofa and Horizon. 

Horizon at Cibola: Horizon struggled the second half of last season after a sizzling start. The Huskies fade resulted in missing the playoffs at 6-4. New coach Ty Wisdom takes his squad on a long trip to to the state's southwest corner facing Yuma's top program of late led by Lucky Arvizo.

Chaparral at Desert Mountain: An influx of offensive firepower in and out of state should help Chaparral rebound toward 5A playoff status this fall. Desert Mountain returns some accomplished backs/receivers for new coach Dave Sedmak, who will see what kind of rapport Nick Hill and Josh Walker have developed with new QB Kedon Slovis.

Cesar Chavez at Queen Creek: Queen Creek opens with a mix of solid veteran players and a large group of untested folks that coach Travis Schureman thinks will keep the Bulldogs at the level of title contender. Chavez sports new coach Manuel Alcantar, taking over for retired Jim Rattay. The Champions are heavy on offensive experience, lighter on the the defensive side in this opener.

5A

Campo Verde at Agua Fria: Campo Verde won seven games last year, but its strength of schedule wasn't enough to snare a playoff berth since it didn't win its region (state champ Williams Field did). Campo must get a win or two against region foes Mesquite, Williams Field and Queen Creek to make up for a rather light schedule overall. Agua Fria was 2-8 last year and steamrolled by Campo Verde, 43-0.

Willow Canyon at Maricopa: Maricopa has been a .500 program for the decade (35-36) and aiming for a postseason breakthrough. Coach Chris McDonald is in his fourth year and has a more experienced offense than defense to start with. Maricopa topped Willow Canyon last year, 20-6.

Notre Dame Prep at Shadow Ridge: Last year's freshman head coach George Prelock guides Notre Dame in its opener with a better outlook ahead after a season of turmoil and sanction. Notre Dame has solid talent and figures to make a nice showing in this one. Shadow Ridge was 2-8 last year and hasn't had a winning season since 2013.

Arcadia at Williams Field: Arcadia unveils its new coach Tony Stillings. Stillings is in the unenviable role of facing last year's state champs and a perennial title contender. Williams Field has some holes to fill at the outset, but have been successful in making them short-term deficiencies in the past. 

4A

Saguaro at Catalina Foothills: A rematch of last year's title game. Saguaro has a title streak intact at four and is heavily favored to repeat led by quarterback Max Massingale. Catalina Foothills suffered widespread graduation losses and will focus on getting better each week rather than concentrating on an upset. 

Tempe at Estrella Foothills: Brian Walker enters his ninth year as head coach at Tempe as it tries to break out of the .500 mold of the past two seasons. Estrella Foothills has a new coach in veteran mentor Derek Wahlstrom, who moved over late in the spring from Verrado.

Apache Junction at Seton Catholic: A rugged opener for Apache Junction with very little experience returning. Seton won a couple more games last year to than in 2015, but will have to find some success in the Desert Sky Region (Higley, Marcos de Niza, Tempe and Casa Grande) -- a tall order. Seton was 0-4 in the region last year.

3A

Globe at Casteel: Casteel bumped up its schedule replacing two games with better opponents after last year's 9-2 mark. Those come later in the season. Casteel should roll in this one as it did a year ago in a 58-0 triumph. Globe managed to go 4-5 in its other games last year.

American Leadership at Benjamin Franklin: This is also a region opener. Both teams compete in the Central Region. American Leadership is the defending state champ and brings an 11-game winning streak to the contest. Ben Franklin was one of those 7-3 teams that came up short in qualifying for postseason a year ago, bumped by an automatic qualifier (Page).

2A

San Manuel at San Tan Foothills: It's the debut for George De La Torre at San Tan Foothills, De La Torre's fourth head coaching stop (South Mountain, Florence, Dobson) since 2005. San Tan Foothills was 6-3 a year ago and posted a 20-7 win over San Manuel to begin 2016. San Manuel finished 1-10 last season.

Glendale Prep at Scottsdale Christian: Scottsdale Christian believes it can prosper without a handful of players who transferred in the offseason. The Eagles were 10-3 last year, all its losses at the hands of quality playoff teams (Santa Cruz, Phoenix Christian, Tempe Prep). Glendale Prep was 4-5 last year, but had a tough time with SCA (49-12 loss).