The 5 most interesting things from Week 2 of high school football

Nairavoice | Aug 29, 2026 5h ago 394 0 5 min read

The 5 most interesting things from Week 2 of high school football

An eventful Week 2 of the high school season saw some wet bulb delays, a coach get his first-ever victory, and a Sun Valley sweep.

Here is “The Friday Five” — that’s what we call our new feature rounding up the five most important things that happened in Week 2.

Congratulations to Nick King. The former Palm Springs high athletic standout and now first-year head coach at Shadow Hills picked up the first victory of his coaching career Friday. The Knights’ defense solved the Wing-T offense of Palo Verde Valley and the offense got on track as Shadow Hills pulled away for a 26-6 victory. Damian Walls had a pair of rushing touchdowns in the win. King and Company will have a short week and a tough task in Week 3 as they play at Yucaipa on Thursday. But tonight, Coach King can go ahead and exhale and celebrate the fact that he’s a winning high school head coach.

Last week, the Rancho Mirage defense bent, but rarely broke, as they turned away and shut down a solid Yucca Valley offense. This week, the Rancho Mirage defense bent, but rarely broke, as they turned away and shut down a solid Coachella Valley offense. The Rattlers flummoxed their second straight DVL team and have found a nice mix of offense and defense early this season. There’s been a lot of talk about the Rattlers sophomore class and that was on display in this one as the four touchdowns were scored by four different sophomores. Wow! Bentley Arredondo, Jadarius Hester, Reid Keane and Jayden Ayers all scored. That’s 2-0 for the Rattlers and that’s a good feeling.

The Blackhawks took their usual opening week bye week and there was absolutely no rust to be found as La Quinta ran around, over and through Yucca Valley for a 58-28 victory. The only thing that slowed them down was a wet bulb delay to start the game as La Quinta showed off its balanced offense. Talented tailback Colton LaCrone did his thing with 136 yards rushing and two TDs on 16 carries, while QB Mason Flores threw for 187 yards and three touchdown passes. The defense did its part getting a safety from Dominyck Gonzalez and a pick six from Alfredo Castro. Sure there was some sloppy play that gave coach Juan Ruiz something to talk about during film sessions, but he said it best “Even if there was some sloppy moments, nothing beats starting off the year with a W.” One note for Yucca Valley in a mostly forgettable night, Aiden Pope did return a kickoff for a touchdown.

The Aztecs and Central (El Centro) played a game that was so close all night, it felt like the last team to have the ball might win it. And that is exactly what happened. Unfortunately, the Aztecs didn’t have the ball last. Central kicked a late field goal in regulation to tie the game at 20. Both teams scored a touchdown in the first OT to make it 27-27. The Aztecs had the ball first in double OT, but were held to a field goal (the third of the game for impressive kicker Reese Johnson). Central then found its way into the end zone leaving Palm Desert with the win.

It was a banner week for the Sun Valley League as they went 4-0 as a collective. Three of the teams won on Thursday so it was up to the Cathedral City Lions to complete the sweep and they did with a narrow 22-20 road win over San Bernardino. The Lions fell behind 14-0 at the half, but coach Richard Lee recharged the troops and they got going. Trace Vargas found the end zone twice, and the Lions held on late to secure a happy bus ride home.

Four desert teams played and four desert teams won in Thursday games this week.

Indio 28, Indian Springs 7: Offense and defense play well on same night for the Rajahs.

Palm Springs 35, Grand Terrace 0: Palm Springs rode a stingy defense and two early touchdowns by Marcus Kennedy to an easy win over Grand Terrace to help wipe the taste of a clunker in Week 1 out of their mouths.

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Desert Mirage 24, San Jacinto Academy 6: The Rams moved to 2-0 with a solid win over San Jacinto Valley as Gabriel Huante ran wild with 193 yards and two touchdowns on the ground in the win.

Twentynine Palms 28, Riverside Prep 27: The Wildcats may have had the most dramatic win of the week. Josh Reynoso threw for 200 yards and a pair of touchdowns and added one on the ground. Nate Galvan had a TD run, Aaron Haney had 12 tackles but it was Jax Langdon who stole the show with 10 tackles, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and he caught the game-winning two-point conversion as the Wildcats scored late to pull out the win.

If any of you know me, you know that I get really excited to find an interesting stat or factoid. So my goal is to share one with you each week. A little something that makes you say “That’s interesting.” Here is this week’s, and if you read this and actually say “that’s interesting” please let me know.

Flipping the script: The last place teams in the DEL (Rancho Mirage), DVL (Indio) and Sun Valley League (Desert Mirage) in 2025 have all started 2026 with a 2-0 record. In 2025, those three teams combined to win a total of seven games in the entire 10-week season. In 2026 they have combined for six wins in just two weeks.

Sept. 3 (Thursday)