No. 25 Hamilton [AZ] visits Chandler [AZ] in top matchup

Kendall Webb

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AllSportsPeople High School Football Game of the Week: No. 25 Hamilton [AZ] at Chandler [AZ] image

TBD

AllSportsPeople High School Football Game of the Week was supposed to be a Top 4 battle Friday night between the No. 1/SN No. 1 IMG Academy [Bradenton, FL] Ascenders and the No. 4/SN No. 4 St. Frances Academy [Baltimore, MD] Panthers.

The game was scheduled to be played in Bradenton, but reports midweek indicated that the game was being moved to December 10 to accommodate a national TV broadcast. IMG is currently the nation's No. 1 team in AllSportsPeople Composite Rankings where it holds the top position in AllSportsPeople High School Football Top 25, the ESPN high school football rankings, and USA Today's Super 25 rankings.

St. Frances Academy is also receiving No. 1 votes in the composite rankings via MaxPreps and SI.com, and the contest was scheduled to be the final game of the season for both schools. Then on Friday, the hammer dropped when IMG Academy issued a statement on X.com indicating it was backing out of the game altogether:

 

 

With no other games on the schedule between teams ranked in the national Top 25, SN's Game of the Week will instead be the rivalry game in Arizona between the Hamilton [Chandler, AZ] Huskies and the Chandler [AZ] Wolves. Hamilton enters the contest undefeated at 9-0 and ranked No. 25 in the SN Composite Rankings while unranked Chandler is 8-1 with a 24-23 loss to the Cathedral Catholic [San Diego, CA] Dons being the only blemish on their 2025 ledger.

Chandler, Arizona, is also home to the Basha Bears who spent time ranked in The SN Top 25 until their loss to Hamilton two weeks ago. It's been a banner year for the city's high school football programs, and Chandler can shake up the postseason picture in the Grand Canyon State with a win Friday night in this battle between crosstown rivals.

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Hamilton Huskies visit Chandler Wolves

LAST WEEK'S GAME OF THE WEEK SN No. 15 Mater Dei [Santa Ana, CA] Monarchs 36, SN No. 1 St. John Bosco [Bellflower, CA] Braves 31

Friday, November 7, 2025
Chandler High School's Austin Field, Chandler, Arizona | 10 p.m. EST (7 p.m. PST local)
TV/Streaming: NFHS Network

Local Media Coverage: AZCentral.com High School Sports

School Athletics Websites: Hamilton Huskies Football | Chandler Wolves Athletics

School Social Media: Hamilton Huskies Football on X.com @Huskey_Football7 | Chandler Wolves Football on X.com @chandler_wolves

The Background

Hamilton is currently the team in the national spotlight, ranked No. 25 in AllSportsPeople Composite Rankings, but both of these schools have spent time in the national Top 25 in recent seasons. Hamilton is ranked by five of the eight selectors in SN's composite index, but it's possible Chandler would take their place with an upset Friday night over the Huskies.

Best Prospects

  • Hamilton  has the edge in ranked recruits on 247sports.com's list of Arizona prospects. Six of the Huskies' Class of 2026 seniors are listed as 3-star prospects led by OT Rex Waterman (6-5, 295 lbs.), a Nebraska Cornhuskers' commit. He paves the way for RB Jacob Brown, but the Huskies are especially loaded on defense where LB Beau and S Niko Jandreau, both committed to the Oklahoma Sooners, are the top-rated recruits. Hawaii Rainbow Warriors' commit Marquis Richardson is the other safety, and CB Kingston Spivey (New Mexico Lobos) makes it three ranked prospects out of four in the secondary. Two juniors have also received three stars with big OT Richie Dexter (6-7, 320 lbs.) And DL Derrick Leblanc Jr. (6-1, 215 lbs.) Still uncommitted for now.
  • Chandler's  talent is built around a quartet of 3-star juniors led by their QB Will Mencl and ATH Jai Jones who are both ranked in the Top 10 of Arizona's Class of 2027. OT Sire Stewart (6-5, 255 lbs.) Isn't built like Hamilton's behemoths, but he's more than capable of handling his own. EDGE Jaxon Zembrycki (6-5, 245 lbs.) Handles one side of the defensive line, and ATH Hamisi Juma is the lone ranked senior among the Wolves' Class of 2026 prospects.

When Hamilton has the ball...

Hamilton's offense runs through prolific sophomore QB Jax Sculley who has passed for 2,835 yards with 41 touchdowns and only 7 interceptions this fall. Sculley completes 69.2 percent of his passes, and he's got one of the nation's top receivers in fellow sophomore Roye Oliver III who has caught 62 of Sculley's offerings for 1,400 yards and 25 touchdowns. If there's any drawback to the Huskies' offense, it's the fact that the second-leading receiver – senior Montan Duncan – only has 22 receptions for 303 yards and 4 touchdowns. So far, the heavy reliance on Oliver has worked, and as long as he and his triggerman stay healthy, there's no reason to believe that the Huskies won't continue to find success with their formula.

The running game is a little more balanced with Brown carrying the ball 98 times for 563 yards and 13 touchdowns while sophomore Devante Roebuck (56-350 yards, 2 TDs) and junior Skyler Cole (51-628 yards) get their share of opportunities. Cole has only carried the ball half as much as Brown but actually leads the Huskies in rushing thanks to his 12.3 average yards per carry.

When Chandler has the ball...

Mencl is also the key to the Wolves' success on offense passing for 2,971 passing yards with 28 touchdowns and only 2 interceptions. And while Sculley isn't very effective in the ground game for Hamilton, Mencl is a true dual-threat with 442 yards rushing on 71 carries with 8 touchdowns. That's second on the team to sophomore Chase Ochoa's 559 rushing yards (5 TDs). Mencl also spreads the ball around better than his Huskies' counterpart with senior Skyler Ormita (49 rec.-618 yards, 5 TDs), junior Jai Jones (44 rec.-755 yards, 8 TDs), junior Maxwell Sprott (33 rec.-565 yards, 5 TDs), and junior Kaydon Gray (24 rec.-315 yards 3 TDs) all playing key roles in the passing game.

Game's keys

Hamilton wins if Sculley and Oliver are able to connect like they have all season through the airways. Oliver is truly one of the nation's most exciting young receivers, and Sculley has been more than reliable when it comes to finding his main target. Chandler probably doesn't have the defenders to contain Oliver so it may come down to whether or not the Wolves can generate a pass rush that forces Sculley to make some throws under pressure. That means finding a way around Hamilton's big bookend tackles, but if they can't, then the sophomore quarterback has proven to be deadly when he's in a clean pocket. And that means he's likely to find Oliver in the clear downfield.

Chandler wins if Mencl continues to find success spreading the ball around to different receivers. But against Hamilton's top-ranked, senior-led secondary, that might be harder than it's been against lesser competition. This game could come down more to the other aspect of Mencl's game – the ability to know when to pull it down and use his feet to make a difference. If Hamilton locks down the passing lanes, then Mencl has proven he's not afraid to take advantage of the space the defense provides underneath. His ability to be an effective dual threat could be the difference in a game where Hamilton is likely to have the better secondary.

Future Focus

This is the final game of the regular season, and these two Arizona powers could potentially both end up in Arizona's AIA Open Division bracket where a rematch wouldn't be out of the question.

Series' past

"The Battle for Arizona Avenue" tips in Hamilton's favor as the Huskies have won 21 of the 32 matchups historically, including a 56-14 win last year. During one stretch, Hamilton won 17 straight games in the series, but Chandler also had a seven-game win streak in the series that ended in 2020. Hamilton has won three of the last four games in the series since ending that losing streak with Chandler's most recent win coming in 2023.

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Staff Writer