The biggest factor in the Class 5A Desert West Region football game against Lake Havasu and Desert Edge is the amount of players on the field.

“For us it’s a numbers game,” Lake Havasu coach Karl Thompson said. “We’re down a couple players, for whatever reason, at Lake Havasu football. We only have 90 kids in the whole program, so we’re going to be dressing about 31 kids.”

Desert Edge (5-2, 2-0 region) will have roughly double the players as Lake Havasu (3-4, 0-2) this Friday.

“We have the tendency with the way we play offense to wear on people,” Desert Edge coach Jose Lucero said. “That always plays to our advantage. If they’ve got a lot of players playing both ways, it’ll help us.”

Its shortage of players isn’t the only thing that troubles Lake Havasu. The large size of the Desert Edge’s linemen is something that other teams have had a tough time dealing with this season.

“When you got some good running backs behind an athletic and big offensive line, that’s going to be a hard task for any team this year,” Thompson said.

It has been a hard task for opposing teams to stop Desert Edge with its offense averaging 269 rushing yards a game.

“I feel like our offensive line, we dominate the line of scrimmage week after week,” Desert Edge freshman offensive lineman Benjamin Roy Jr. said. “I wouldn’t expect anything less.”

While Desert Edge’s offense has been running strong and Lake Havasu may have significantly fewer players, Lake Havasu has some plans in mind to try to pull off an upset.

“We’ve got a couple of tricks up our sleeves to see what we can pull off and do a few different things,” Thompson said. “But again, I think it’s going to come down to we’re going to get worn down, not only by the sheer size of their line, but I think playing so many guys both ways is going to catch up to us.”

Lake Havasu is looking forward to finally being able to compete at home after playing on the road for its past two games.

“The best part is we don’t have to go on the bus and travel,” Thompson said.

However, Desert Edge is not underestimating the long road trip. The team will have to travel about three hours for the matchup in Lake Havasu.

“(It’s a) big challenge for us going on the road,” Lucero said. “(I’m) looking forward to seeing how our kids respond and hopefully they can step up.”

Desert Edge is looking to continue its five game winning streak on Friday at 7 p.m. in Lake Havasu.