With the Buckeye Verrado defense keying on Goodyear Millennium junior running back D’Mari Bryant – the state’s leading rusher entering the Oct. 3 contest between the 5A West Valley schools – the game was put into the hands of senior quarterback Rayden Reibel.
Reibel delivered in a big way, accounting for four touchdowns in a 45-38 win over Verrado to move to 5-1 on the season. The senior had three passing touchdowns and one rushing score to help lead the Tigers in the first game of 5A Desert Sky region play.
“That’s what he’s been doing all year for us,” Millennium coach Lamar Early said. “We talked about this in the offseason, and tonight the ball was in his court. Everybody was focusing on our back, rightfully so, but he made the right read, he got the ball to our guys in space. I’m very, very happy and very proud of Rayden.”
For the game, Reibel had touchdown throws of 40, 34 and 18 yards. His first score of the night came on a 1-yard run with 49 seconds left in the first quarter to take a 10-7 lead.
Millennium fell into a hole early after surrendering a 78-yard touchdown pass from Verrado senior quarterback Malachi Wilt to senior wide receiver Wyatt Locke on the third play from scrimmage. The 44 Shoot offense went to quick work.
Verrado strikes first.
QB Malachi Wilt connects with WR Wyatt Locke for a 78-yard TD.
Verrado 7, Millennium 0 | 10:26, 1Q. pic.twitter.com/j4jT3gcAgG
— Logan Stanley (@LSscribe) October 4, 2025
The Tigers came back with a short field goal before forcing a punt on the Vipers’ next drive and then Reibel running it in.
Reibel connected with senior wide receiver Isaiah Rodriguez, in his first season playing football, for two of his touchdowns. One was a walk-in 40-yard touchdown and the other was an acrobatic catch in the back of the end zone.
“He’s a big part of our team,” Reibel said. “6-foot-5, always open in my opinion. A quarterback’s dream right there, honestly. Bails me out. He’s open 24/7. What can you not like about it?”
And then Millennium comes right back and scores. 40-yard TD to WR Isaiah Rodriguez, who walks it in.
Millennium 31, Verrado 24 | 5:58, 3Q. pic.twitter.com/rjFKc4u0nB
— Logan Stanley (@LSscribe) October 4, 2025
Millennium jumped out to a 17-7 lead early in the second quarter before Verrado clawed its way back to tie it at 17 heading into halftime.
The two teams went back-and-forth in the third quarter, with Millennium scoring twice on a 20-yard run from Bryant and a long pass from Reibel to Rodriguez and Verrado scoring once to make it 31-24 heading into the fourth quarter.
After a fourth-down stop from the Millennium defense, the Tigers responded with a nine-play scoring drive to go ahead 38-24 with 11 minutes to play in the fourth quarter.
The Vipers refused to go away quietly, quickly coming back and scoring in under two minutes on a 10-yard pass from Wilt to senior wide receiver Carter Bliss to make it 38-31 with 9:04 left in the fourth quarter. On the next drive, Millennium turned back to Bryant at running back, who scored on a 20-yard run to extend the lead to 45-31.
Reibel hits WR Isaiah Rodriguez in the back of the end zone for a 18-yard TD. Second TD of the night for Rodriguez.
Millennium 38, Verrado 24 | 11:00, 4Q. pic.twitter.com/tVloYzRKIT
— Logan Stanley (@LSscribe) October 4, 2025
Verrado responded in rapid fire again, putting together another scoring drive that took less than two minutes, with a 10-yard pass from Wilt to Locke to cut it to 45-38 at the 4:24 mark.
Then disaster almost struck for Millennium as the kick off returner let the ball go, thinking it was an easy bounce into the end zone. But the ball slowly bounced, and Verrado almost scooped it up for a touchdown before it trickled in for a touchback.
It was probably the difference of half a second.
“In the big games, it’s a game of inches,” Verrado coach Brett Davis said. “We were centimeters away from still playing. There’s a lot of little things. You can’t make the little mistakes and try to win in the big games. These things get us ready for the playoffs, because this was a playoff atmosphere tonight.”
Millennium, needing to shave off four minutes to end the game, went with a heavy dose of Bryant to close it out. His six consecutive runs sealed the win for the Tigers.
Verrado drops to 4-2 on the season and has another huge game next week against Goodyear Desert Edge, the No. 1-ranked team in 5A by The Republic.
Millennium has now rattled off four straight wins since the tough 28-27 loss to Glendale Cactus in early September. The team is gaining confidence. Next week is a short road trip to take on Tolleson, which is 6-0 on the year.
“This is a big win,” Reibel said. “This was a tone setter for the rest of our region. Verrado, a very good program. They got a lot of talent. We put AZ on notice now in the West Valley. Watch out for us.”
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Logan Stanley is a sports reporter with The Arizona Republic who primarily focuses on high school, college and Olympic sports. To suggest ideas for human-interest stories and other news, reach out to Stanley at logan.stanley@gannett.com or 707-293-7650. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @LSscribe.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Millennium High football beats Verrado 45-38
