Starting the season 3-0, Notre Dame Prep aspires to continue its winning streak this week. The Saints face the Apollo High School Hawks (1-2) at 7 p.m. this Friday night in Scottsdale.

After winning their first three games by an average margin of 23 points, Notre Dame Prep will be looking to continue their dominance.

“Our goal this week is to be 4-0,” defensive back James Garrison said. “And to play to the best of our ability.”

Due to last week’s shutout (47-0) of Gilbert High School, Notre Dame Prep was able to play some of the younger players, who were able to gain varsity experience as underclassmen.

Sophomore James Jaquint had three tackles and two assists and sophomore Michael Graham had one tackle.

“Our young guys are getting lots of experience,” Garrison said. “We’re very excited about how they’re developing.”

Apollo enters the game this week under senior quarterback Frank Sanchez. Sanchez leads Apollo with 319 yards and four touchdowns. The Hawks will have to bring a strong balanced effort this week in order to be successful.

The Hawks came out of last week’s game suffering a close loss of 27-20 to Maricopa High School.

Last season the Apollo Hawks went 8-3, with an average winning margin of 28 points. They had a rough start to their season last year as well with a 41-0 loss. The team quickly turned its season around after that.

The Saints will still have to bring their best game and not let prior wins get to their heads.

“I think this week’s game is going to be a good one,” Notre Dame Prep senior Zack Gray said. “A big point of emphasis for us this week is to ‘finish’”.

The Saints have had a great preseason so far, entailing wins, experience and team growth.

“[Last week] was a great team win,” said quarterback Jake Farrell. A win this week for Notre Dame Prep, “will set us up for regional play in the coming weeks.”

Notre Dame Prep is ranked 16th in the state and fourth in the Arizona Division 5A ranking, which brings high hopes for this season as well as the possibility of playoffs. Last season the team entered the state playoffs 10-0. The team made it all the way to the fourth round of playoffs where they then lost to Centennial High School.