Desert Valley Blitz

Send us Fan Mail The “preseason record” argument ends the second league play starts, and that’s exactly where we are on Desert Valley Blitz. We open with a sharp week five recap that gets past the final scores and into the real stuff that decides games in Coachella Valley high school football: ball security, penalties, the missing big-play pass, and whether an offense can function when the defense...

Send us Fan Mail You can feel it when the desert football season flips from “non-league guesses” to “league play consequences.” We’re at that midpoint now, and we bring in Desert Sun journalist Shad Powers to help us make sense of what’s real and what’s noise across Coachella Valley high school football. We start with Shad’s story and why his coverage leans into opinion, picks, and the kind of det...

Send us Fan Mail A muffed punt at the five. A pooch kick that bounces back perfectly. A spike on fourth down. Week Three is a reminder that desert high school football is never just about who has the better offense or the tougher defense, it’s about the moments that flip a night in two plays. We break down the Week Three scoreboard across the Coachella Valley and nearby matchups, calling out where...

Send us Fan Mail Week two told us who can travel, who can take a punch, and who is starting to look like a real contender as the Coachella Valley high school football season ramps up fast. We open with a rapid-fire recap of the biggest results, from Notre Dame jumping on Cathedral City early to Desert Mirage throwing down a 43-0 road shutout that makes their 3-0 start impossible to ignore.  We als...

Send us Fan Mail Friday Night Lights looks like a festival from the street, but what’s happening under those lights is something more lasting: kids learning football, families building routines, and a whole community showing up for each other. We’re joined by John Mollinato, the commissioner of Friday Night Lights in the Coachella Valley, to tell the origin story of the league and how it grew from...

Send us Fan Mail One week is enough to shake every preseason assumption, and we feel it all over the desert. We break down the biggest week one results and what they actually mean, starting with Indio’s 2-0 surge that looks built on a real run game and a defense that can hold up when the competition steps up. Palm Springs flips the script with a shutout and flashes of last year’s perimeter athlete...

Send us Fan Mail Week zero just gave the desert a whole lot to argue about and we’re here for all of it. We break down what actually mattered on the field, from Palm Springs running into a dominant Hemet front to Desert Mirage proving again that running the ball and playing defense can win anywhere, especially on the road. We also talk about why early-season football can look messy, how turnovers...

Send us Fan Mail A college offer can feel random until you see the pattern. We’re joined by Coach Aaron Gasu of GOAT Training and Recruit Coachella Valley, and he breaks down what really moves the needle for high school football recruiting in an under-recruited area like the Coachella Valley: development, exposure, grades, and a plan you actually follow. If you’re a parent trying to spend money wi...

Send us Fan Mail Hockey in the desert sounded like a gimmick until the Coachella Valley Firebirds turned Acrisure Arena into one of the loudest, most consistent home crowds anywhere. That ripple is real, and it’s changing the entire Coachella Valley sports scene. We’re joined by Emmy Award-winning sports director Tim O’Brien to talk about watching the Firebirds grow from the ground up, why the are...

Send us Fan Mail Preseason rankings are supposed to be fun until they’re your team. We bring Desert Sun high school football writer Andrew John into the Desert Valley Blitz studio to explain what fans rarely see: how a list like the Elite 11 is actually built, why it starts months before kickoff, and how coaches’ feedback, returning production, and role changes can matter as much as last season’s...

Send us Fan Mail One bad social media post can cost a scholarship, and Devin Jones has seen it happen up close. Devin is a former LSU player who fought through the undrafted NFL grind with stops at multiple training camps and practice squads, then kept his career alive in arena and semi pro football. Now he’s pouring that hard earned perspective into youth sports training in the Coachella Valley t...

Send us Fan Mail One two-point call can change a season, but Coach Roy Provost says the real work happens on ordinary days. We’re joined by the all-time wins leader at Desert Hot Springs High School to talk about how a program once labeled inconsistent turned into a team nobody wants to see late in the fourth quarter. From his beginnings coaching youth football to building DHS into a playoff regul...

Send us Fan Mail A head coaching job lands in your lap one week before the season. You’re 25, you’re leading kids who are basically your little brother’s age, and you’re trying to build a winning culture without a feeder program. That’s the reality Coach Jesus “Flip” Philippe shares as we head to the east side of the Coachella Valley to talk Desert Mirage Rams football and the real work behind the...

Send us Fan Mail An NFL legend walks onto a sunbaked practice field in May and starts talking about discipline, not fame. From the Coachella Showcase 2026, we sit down with Pro Football Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk as he explains why he’s in the Coachella Valley, what he wants kids to learn at a football showcase, and how great coaching turns raw excitement into real growth.  Marshall breaks down...

Send us Fan Mail Going 10-0 sounds like the finish line, but Coach Chris Johnson doesn’t talk like a coach who’s satisfied. We sit down with the Desert Christian Academy head man to unpack what an undefeated regular season really means, why the standard is CIF and a state championship, and how a young roster can become a long-term Coachella Valley high school football problem for everyone on the s...

Send us Fan Mail A CIF championship quarterback becomes a head coach, and the mindset shift is bigger than any playbook. We sit down with Xavier Prep Saints head coach Michael Carls to trace how a lifelong love of football turned into a leadership mission after an injury ended his playing career. He breaks down the addictive part of coaching: building a plan during the week, installing it with pre...

Send us Fan Mail You can hear it in Coach LD Matthews’ voice: high school football isn’t just a sport to him, it’s a community engine. We talk about how a kid from rural Montana grows up on Friday night lights, survives a winding college football journey full of injuries, and eventually lands in the Coachella Valley to coach and teach. What starts as a leap with no job lined up turns into two deca...

Send us Fan Mail A familiar Coachella Valley name is stepping into a brand-new role. We’re joined by Nick King, the newest head coach at Shadow Hills, to unpack the real story behind the headset: how a three-sport standout and former pro baseball player turns experience into a clear, grounded plan for building a high school football program that lasts. We talk about why he chose coaching through t...

Send us Fan Mail What does it take to turn a high school program into a perennial contender without chasing trends or making excuses? We invited Coach Pat Blackburn—the godfather of Palm Desert Aztec football—to share the straight story: how mentors at Utah State lit the fuse, why college coaching’s churn sent him back to build at the high school level, and how a simple, relentless philosophy—alig...

Send us Fan Mail The Rajahs have waited three decades to feel this kind of buzz—and we’re ready to say it out loud: the turnaround starts now. We sit down with Coach Doc, who left a nine‑year run at Xavier Prep to lead Indio with a bold, simple plan: close the borders, rebuild the trenches, and make staying home the obvious choice for Indio families. We dig into why Indio was the right fit and how...

Send us Fan Mail Ever wonder how a high school program finds its backbone and keeps it through decades of change? We invited Coach Ramon Ruiz of La Quinta High School to share the unglamorous truth behind sustainable success: January commitments, classroom standards, and a culture that refuses shortcuts. From his start in Sacramento to shaping the Blackhawks into a consistent playoff team, Coach R...

Send us Fan Mail Want a real roadmap from high school hallways to D1 sidelines? We sat down with Angel Meraz, head athletic counselor at College of the Desert and president of California’s statewide counselor association for student athletes, to decode the rules behind recruiting, eligibility, and the transfer portal. Angel brings the counselor’s perspective—clear steps, no fluff—and shows how sma...

Send us Fan Mail A head coach who never planned to be one. That’s the heart of our conversation with Palm Springs’ Darryl Gore—an assistant who almost walked away when his mentor retired, then stepped up because his players asked him to. What follows is a story about tradition, buy-in, and the quiet work that turns a program into a family. We trace Coach Gore’s journey from Pop Warner fields in 19...

Send us Fan Mail Football isn’t just a season for Rudy Forty—it’s a family lineage, a craft learned on long bus rides in El Paso and refined across college fields and high school sidelines. We sit down with the Palm Desert head coach to unpack how a second-generation coach builds a durable program in a valley where the heat is brutal, the rivalries are real, and the community shows up every Friday...

Send us Fan Mail A tough childhood in the Inland Empire, a life-altering loss, and a sideline that started with youth flag—Coach David Palmer’s path wasn’t linear, but it forged a leader who builds teams that learn fast and hit faster. We sit down with the Shadow Hills head coach to unpack how he combined humility, aggression, and adaptability to turn a defense-first program into a balanced, high-...