Averi Roberts is a student journalist at the Walter Cronkite school at Arizona State University assigned to cover the Arcadia football team.

After one season of total defeat, Arcadia’s football team managed to improve its record the following year. Now, this season, the players are hungrier than ever and have their minds set on one common goal: A championship. 

Arcadia High School’s football team looks to once again improve its record in 2019 from previous seasons and show that they are able to compete with the 4A Desert Sky Conference. 

In 2017, Arcadia was known as the team that ended every game with the same outcome: a loss. Once former NFL player Kerry Taylor took over as head coach in the 2018 season, the outcome of their games improved.

Now, coach Taylor has returned for his second season with Arcadia football. 

“This year we are just trying to build off last year. Our ultimate team goal is to win a championship. I think we are capable of doing that this year,” Taylor said. 

However, Taylor is not alone in his pursuit to guide this team to a championship. 

Arcadia football’s assistant coaches bring young energy to the field. They believe and teach the same views as Taylor. They come from different parts of Taylor’s time as a player including high school, college, and professional football. 

“Last year was our first year here as coaches, and we had to teach a lot to young guys who didn’t really understand the game," Taylor said. 

As a former player with many experiences to share with his team, Taylor’s coaching style and his expectations for his athletes this year go beyond the field. 

“Teach football and teach life skills through football, teaching these kids how to be accountable, how to study, how to prepare for a game, which is going to be the same things preparing for life,” Taylor said. “Let them be them, teach them and guide them through life and football. Just here like a father figure, a coach, a mentor, all that in one.”

The players are just as eager as the coaches to show the competition in the 4A Desert Sky Conference their improvement from the previous season to now. 

Nixon Nolan, a junior middle linebacker and wide receiver for Arcadia, is one player who Taylor looks to lead the defense. Nolan pointed out how their defense has improved in the off-season and what he’s expecting for the team this year.  

“Finishing our tackling — our tackling has become a lot better and just our chemistry together as a team,” Nolan said.  “We just need to do better than what we did last year. There's always room for improvement and doing better than we did last year is always our main goal.” 

On the offensive side of plays, Taylor looks to senior quarterback, Kadin Beler. Beler has started his season strong in non-conference play and hopes to continue his momentum and inspire his team. 

“Mainly be there for them, be a big brother to them, lead by example make sure they do the right thing on and off the field” Beler said. “We’re family. We got to take care of each other... So getting on them about doing their work and working hard in practice, because we are all pushing to get that goal.”

Beler, after playing on varsity for three seasons, has witnessed the change of the football program at Arcadia. He now envisions how the improvement this season will take them further.

“We’ve worked on throwing, line blocking, protecting me, little details, everything. The way we run our routes, drop steps, everything down to a T,” Beler said. 

Arcadia football has started their non-conference play with a clean sweep, including a win over rival Coronado High School. The Titans hope to keep the momentum going for the rest of the season. 

There are no specific games that the players or coaches look forward to. To them, every game is a big game that they are excited about. They want to show everyone that this season they are bigger, better, faster, hungry for a championship, and ready to go.