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No. 27
CHAMPIONSHIP: Class 5A
SCORE: Mesa Mountain View 21, Sabino 14
DATE: December 10, 1999
SITE: Sun Devil Stadium
GAME SUMMARY: Sabino’s bid for a perfect season came to an end in the last game played with Jeff Scurran as coach. The Sabcercats’ loss came at the hands of prolific-passing quarterback John Beck, who went on to be a standout at BYU.
The Sabercats (13-1) trailed Mountain View (13-1) by two touchdowns before a scoring strike from Blake Kinart to Jovan Vercel with 1:32 left cut the lead to 21-14. The Toros’ onside-kick recovery effectively quelled Sabino’s chances.
Beck’s touchdown passes of 25 and 57 yards in the third quarter built the lead to 21-14. His three TD passes in the game gave him 42 in his career — a state record, eclipsing the 41 Ryan Kealy had at Phoenix St. Mary’s in 1995.
Sabino running back Danny Perry led all rushers with 116 yards on 24 carries, including a 1-yard touchdown that gave the Sabercats a 7-0 lead in the first quarter.
THEY SAID IT: “(Suitors) kept saying, ‘We’ll talk to you after the season’s over.’ But I don’t think a lot of them envisioned it going this long. I know I certainly didn’t.” — Sabino coach Jeff Scurran said to the Tucson Citizen after game, his last with the Sabercats after leading the program for 12 seasons.
DID YOU KNOW: Scurran resigned at Sabino citing a change was necessary because of a lack of emphasis he felt was placed on football by the school and TUSD. He told the Arizona Daily Star “political agendas in education” forced him to leave. Two seasons after the 1999 championship game, Scurran started his tenure at Pima College. Starting from scratch with the Aztecs, Scurran won 26 games in four years and beat the top-ranked team in the nation before returning to the high school level in 2007 with Santa Rita. Scurran, 74, is going into his first season as Rio Rico’s coach. He has amassed 228 career wins in high school coaching CDO, Sabino, Santa Rita and Catalina Foothills and has three state titles (all with Sabino) and five runner-up finishes.
BOX SCORE (printed in the Tucson Citizen):
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