Desert Valley Blitz
Welcome to Desert Valley Blitz – the podcast dedicated to spotlighting our local tackle football scene. From the youth leagues to Friday night lights and everything in between, we’re bringing you the stories, players, and coaches that make the desert gridiron special.
If you love CV football as much as we do, hit that follow and join us on this journey. New episodes dropping soon! 🎙️
#DesertValleyBlitz #CVFootball #CoachellaValleySports #FridayNightLights #DesertFootball”
Episodes
45 episodes
EP#44-When Records Lie And Rivalries Tell The Truth & DEL Preview Revision with Andrew John of the Desert Sun
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 Coach...
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EP#43-Week Four Desert High School Football Recap With Shad Powers of the Desert Sun
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 a...
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EP#42-What If The Best High School Football Team In The Desert Is The Smallest School
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...
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EP#41-Week Two Scoreboard Shockers & You Can't Fake 3 & 0
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 ...
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EP#40-How A Youth Flag League Became Coachella Valley’s Friday Night Tradition-The FNL Story
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 J...
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EP#39-Week One Recap:Indio Looks Real While Desert Hot Springs Wins On Belief And Defense
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 defens...
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EP#38-Coachella Valley High School Football Week Zero Takeaways
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 bal...
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EP#37-Recruit Coachella Valley-Recruiting Made Simple with Coach Gasu
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...
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EP#36-Coachella Valley Sports Boom And High School Football DVL & SVL Preview with Emmy Award Winner Tim O'Brien
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 scen...
EP#35-Relegation And New Coaches Will Redraw The DEL-2026 DEL & DCA Preview with Andrew John of the Desert Sun
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, ...
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EP#34-How A Pro Football Journey Became A Youth Training Mission-The Devin Jones Story
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 care...
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EP33-How Coach P Built A Winning Football Culture in Desert Hot Springs
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 i...
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EP#32-How Coach Flip & Desert Mirage Built A Run-First Program Without A Feeder System
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 ...
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EP#31-Coachella Valley Football Showcase Highlights with NFL Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk
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 Valle...
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EP#30-Coachella Showcase 2026-Shining a Spotlight on Coachella Valley Football Talent
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 ...
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EP#29-From CIF Quarterback To Xavier Prep Head Coach-The Michael Karls Story
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...
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EP#28-From Pro Athlete To Head Coach-Nick King On His Vision For Shadow Hills Football
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 e...
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EP#27-How Coach LD Matthews Built A Consistent High School Football Power
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 o...
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EP-#26 How A Local Legend Built Consistent Winners And Shaped Generations-The Pat Blackburn Story
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 Sta...
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EP#25-Rajah That!! Rajah Nation Reborn with Coach Doc
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 ...
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EP#24-How Coach Ruiz Rebuilt A High School Powerhouse By Prioritizing Strength, Structure, And Student Success
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 stan...
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EP#23-How Athletes Can Get To The College Level
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 rule...
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EP#22-How A Reluctant Assistant Turned Palm Springs Football Into A Powerhouse
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...
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EP#21-From El Paso To Palm Desert: Building A High School Football Program That Lasts-The Rudy Forti Story
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-gene...
EP#20-How A Coach Turned Loss, Grit, And Innovation Into A Winning Program-The David Palmer Story
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 Shad...
