Today marks only 23 days until the kickoff of the 2023 Southern Arizona high school football season with games scheduled Aug. 18. AllSportsTucson.com is listing 50 of the top seniors in Southern Arizona during this stretch. This is not a ranking. We acknowledge more than 50 quality seniors will play on high school fields locally this fall and we will report on them accordingly.
Kayden Luke, 5-foot-11 and 220 pounds, is a bulldozer as running back who is difficult to tackle up front and too powerful for most defensive backs to bring down. He also has deceptive speed for his size. … He played in only six games last season because of personal reasons and finished with 494 yards on 51 carries, an average of 9.1 yards a carry. In two years as a varsity starter after transferring from Ironwood Ridge his freshman year, he has 1,302 yards on 170 carries with an impressive 23 touchdowns. … Also plays at middle linebacker and had 18 tackles, one for loss, in limited time last season. … He went 51-0 as a wrestler last season, culminating with a state title in the 215-pound class. … Accomplished student with a 3.52 ERA.
CDO coach Dustin Peace on Luke: “Kayden Luke is the toughest young man in this city. Yup, I said it and I am sure he would love to challenge anyone on the field or the wrestling mat. Kayden is a throwback player from the ’90’s that coaches love to have on their side. I always joke with the players that I can always ‘take’ them even as old as I am, but he may be the one player I would be lying about. He holds our all-time clean record for the school at 325 pounds. With his level of physicality and competitiveness, teams will be forced to get nose to nose with our team and stop us. Kayden embraces and thrives in those challenging moments. I mean to go the whole wrestling season undefeated takes immense focus to every detail. Coupling the focus he has worked hard on with his physicality, he is going to be fun to watch this season.”
2. CANYON DEL ORO (13-0)
Head coach: Dustin PeaceDorados compete in the 4A Kino. Bold are playoff games. Championship 12/1 starts at 4 p.m. at ASU.
| Date | Opponent | W/L | CDO | Opp |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8/25 | Eastmark | W | 21 | 14 |
| 9/1 | at Bradshaw Mountain | W | 42 | 7 |
| 9/8 | Desert View | W | 50 | 20 |
| 9/15 | at Amphi | W | 41 | 0 |
| 9/22 | at Marana | W | 49 | 21 |
| 10/6 | at Catalina Foothills | W | 50 | 14 |
| 10/13 | Mica Mountain | W | 17 | 15 |
| 10/20 | at Pueblo | W | 46 | 7 |
| 10/27 | Sahuaro | W | 42 | 0 |
| 11/3 | Walden Grove | W | 21 | 9 |
| 11/9 | Poston Butte | W | 45 | 20 |
| 11/17 | AZ College Prep | W (4OT) | 33 | 27 |
| 11/24 | Mica Mountain | W | 23 | 7 |
| 12/1 | Yuma Catholic |
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon. He became an educator seven years ago and is presently a special education teacher at his alma mater Sunnyside High School.
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