Flag football preview: Shadow Ridge eyes 4-peat in stacked 5A

Shadow Ridge flag football coach Matt Nighswonger said he knows his team will get every opponent’s best shot this season.

The Mustangs are the three-time defending Class 5A state champions and have become the standard for flag football teams in the state.

The new season begins this week. Shadow Ridge is again expected to contend for the title, but will stiff face competition in a loaded 5A with several contenders threatening to end the Mustangs’ reign.

“We’re looking forward to it,” Nighswonger said. “Everyone’s coming after us after three in a row. We’re anticipating a lot of challenges, a lot of people being pumped up to play us.”

Palo Verde, last year’s state runner-up, Desert Oasis, Liberty and Bishop Gorman will all be threats to win the title. Two of the top teams will meet Tuesday when Shadow Ridge hosts Desert Oasis at 4:30 p.m. in both teams’ season opener.

“We’ll have a good squad, but we shouldn’t take anything for granted,” Nighswonger said.

‘Pretty talented athletes’

Two-way standout Jaylani Palmer will be the focal point for Shadow Ridge’s efforts to win a fourth straight title. Palmer recorded 32 total touchdowns, 1,734 receiving yards and 13 interceptions on defense to help the Mustangs go 22-2 and win the title last season.

“We’re going to be asking (Palmer) to do a few different things, and she’s really bought into that role,” Nighswonger said. “I’ve asked her to take a bit more of a leadership role, and she’s done a good job of that.”

What Nighswonger said he is most interested to find out is who else will step up for his team. The Mustangs graduated leading rusher Kyla Moore and two-way player Jyniah Sanders.

“When we need somebody to make a play besides Jaylani, we’re going to have to have two or three other girls that are going to step up and make plays when they’re needed,” Nighswonger said. “That’s something I hope, not too far down the season, we find somebody who could do that for us.”

Desert Oasis will also be incorporating some new additions to try and fill the void from graduating players, such as first-team All-Southern Nevada selection Brooklin Hill, coach Todd Thomson said.

“It’s that balance of trying to replace the players that we’ve lost while also tailoring the schemes to the players that we have,” Thomson said. “That’s going to be the biggest challenge for us. We got some pretty talented athletes.”

The Diamondbacks will lean on their dynamic passing attack from twins Akemi and Akiko Higa. Akemi Higa set state records with 7,020 passing yards and 121 passing touchdowns last season.

“Just knowing where they are and the work they put in, I expect big things out of both of them,” Thomson said.

Palo Verde knocked out Desert Oasis in the state semifinals last season, and the Panthers played Shadow Ridge to two one-score games in the regular season before losing 19-2 in the final. They return first-team All-Southern Nevada selections Madeline West and Alexis Manzo.

Palo Verde is “well-coached,” Thomson said. “Person to person, they probably have the largest group of athletes, and that makes them hard to defend. They run a good system, and when you load that system up with the amount of athletes they have, it’s a tough matchup for anybody.”

Thomson said Liberty might have the most talent of any team in the city, led by Kiona Westerlund, who played with USA Football’s 17-and-under team this summer at the Junior International Cup.

Class 4A

Coronado is the defending state champion and will have to replace quarterback Maci Joncich, who threw 81 touchdowns last season.

The Cougars return Bailey Goldberg, an Oregon softball commit who caught 21 touchdowns last season, and Samia Linton-Rivera, who had 42 sacks in the Cougars’ 20-2 campaign last year.

Arbor View, last year’s state runner-up, should battle Coronado for the title. Foothill and Bonanza could also contend.

Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.