Tanque Verde’s surge under first-year coach Jeff Bollnow continued Friday night with an impressive 30-3 win on the road against Glendale Prep. The non-region win improved the Hawks’ overall record to 7-2 overall, breaking the school record for most wins in a season. They are tied atop the 2A San Pedro standings with Willcox at 4-1 in the region. The Jay Dobyns-coached Hawks set the previous mark of six wins two seasons ago with a 6-3 record. …
The difference for Tanque Verde is its “Bollnow Ball” defense — Bollnow’s forte with a background as defensive coordinator under Pat Nugent at Cienega. Bollnow also was Sahuarita’s defensive coordinator in 2021 and 2022 before taking over at Tanque Verde for Dobyns, who resigned after he led the Hawks to their first postseason appearance last season. The program is in its 17th year of existence. … Tanque Verde has allowed only 24 points in its last seven games. The Hawks shut down the potent offenses at Tombstone and Bisbee in recent wins at home. Tombstone leads the 2A San Pedro averaging 38.9 points a game. Tanque Verde shut out the Yellow Jackets 31-0 on Sept. 29. Bisbee features Sebastian Lopez, an all-state candidate at quarterback, and Tombstone beat the Pumas 26-8 last week. …
Willcox (5-4 overall) holds the tie-breaker for the region title and automatic bid to the state playoffs because it beat Tanque Verde 7-0 at home on Oct. 6. The Hawks end the regular season at Benson (4-5, 2-3) on Friday while Willcox plays at Catalina (3-6, 0-5). Although it appears Bollnow’s team will likely finished second, the Hawks will be in the postseason again and may host a game in the first round. They are No. 8 in the 2A power ratings. The top eight teams host in the opening round. …
Salpointe @SCLancerNation over Mountain Pointe. A win is a win at this stage of the season. There are no breaks. (Gilbert Alcaraz/AllSportsTucson Photo) https://t.co/cUr1ejzbLG https://t.co/1zQdELBeCz pic.twitter.com/LLSZZYLqIF
— Andy Morales (@AndyMorales8) October 21, 2023
Salpointe leads the 6A Central with a 3-0 record in its first season in that region. The Lancers, rated 12th in the 6A, are 7-1 overall heading into Friday’s non-region game at Scottsdale Saguaro (4-4 overall after losing three of its last four games under new coach Zak Hill). A game for the 6A Central title looms against Phoenix Brophy Prep (6-2, 2-0) at Phoenix Central High School in the last regular season game in two weeks. … Nathan Spivey, a junior linebacker at Salpointe, came up with his fifth interception of the season in the win over Mountain Pointe. Arizona coach Jedd Fisch and defensive backs coach Chuck Cecil were on the sidelines. They are recruiting Mountain Pointe athlete Rylan Dillard-Allen, also a junior standout. They should also look at Spivey, who is listed as a linebacker but has the size of a safety at 6-foot-1 and 200 pounds. …
Buena, rated No. 7 among 5A schools in the state, suffered an upset loss of 17-6 at No. 27 Cienega on Friday. The Colts, 6-2 overall and 1-2 in the 5A Southern, play at Sunnyside (4-4, 2-1) on Friday. The Blue Devils are playing for a potential playoff spot rated No. 19 among 5A schools. They lost 14-12 at No. 13 Casa Grande (6-2, 3-0) on Thursday. … Although it has struggled this season, Marana, at No. 21 among 5A schools, still has an outside chance of making the playoffs after Friday’s 49-8 win over Desert View. The Tigers (3-5, 2-1) can strengthen their playoff hopes with a game at Casa Grande on Friday. … No. 8 Ironwood Ridge continues to have the most impressive turnaround from last season. Second-year coach Dale Stott has led the Nighthawks to a 7-1 record following Friday night’s 54-0 win at Nogales after struggling with a 1-9 mark last season. Ironwood Ridge had only one returning starter last season. The team is much more seasoned and experienced led by playing quarterback Dominic Norris, a senior. … Mountain View and Ironwood Ridge are 3-0 in the 5A Southern. The Mountain Lions (4-4 overall) have won three straight games, including Friday’s 42-14 win over visiting Maricopa. Mountain View plays its last two games on the road against Tucson (3-5, 2-1) and Ironwood Ridge. The Mountain Lions have their eye on a potential region championship with the game against the Nighthawks, but the Badgers can spoil those plans Friday. …
TD Mica Mountain, Josiah Thornwell makes the defender miss and takes it to the house. Mica leads 28-7 with 4:14 left in the 2nd. pic.twitter.com/9TVznwalRa
— AllSportsTucson.com (@AllSportsTucson) October 21, 2023
The 4A Kino matchup Friday of No. 11 Walden Grove (6-2, 3-0) at No. 5 Mica Mountain (7-1, 2-1) is one to watch. The Red Wolves increased their winning streak to six games with Friday’s 49-34 win at Catalina Foothills. Mica Mountain bounced back from last week’s loss at No. 2 CDO (8-0, 3-0) with a 55-20 win against visiting Sahuaro. Walden Grove has the daunting task of playing at Mica Mountain and CDO to end the regular season, but coach Corey Noble’s team should get a power-rating boost by playing both of those teams. … Amphi, Douglas and Empire could finish tied atop the 4A Gila standings with a 5-1 record. Each of them have winnable games in the last two weeks of the season. Amphi defeated Douglas but lost to Empire. Douglas defeated Empire, so a head-to-head tie-breaker does not exist. The next form of tie-breaker is power ratings. Amphi is No. 28 among 4A schools. Douglas is No. 33 and Empire is No. 38. …
Sabino senior Cameron Hackworth had two touchdown passes in the Sabercats’ 31-28 loss at Morenci on Friday night. That gives him 85 for his career, one short of Trenton Bourguet’s record amassed from 2015-18 at Marana. Sabino concludes its regular season Friday at home in a non-region game against Mohave, the No. 1 3A team in the state with a 9-0 record. It will be Senior Night with Hackworth and his fellow senior teammates honored. … The ultra-competitive 3A South has Thatcher on top with a 3-0 record with Morenci second at 2-1. The Eagles (6-3 overall) host Morenci (6-3) at Eastern Arizona College on Friday. All five of the region teams are in contention to be part of the 16-team 3A state-playoff field. Pusch Ridge is in last place in the 3A South with an 0-3 record but will likely be rated in the top 10 among 3A schools on Tuesday when the ratings are released. Pusch Ridge is presently No. 8 and Thatcher is No. 6. Sabino is No. 4, Morenci No. 11 and Safford No. 15. …
SOUTHERN ARIZONA 2A-6A CAREER PASSING TD LEADERS
1 Trenton Bourguet, Marana: 86 (2015-18)
2 Cameron Hackworth, Sabino: 85 (2020-current)
3 Rhett Rodriguez, Catalina Foothills: 77 (2013-16)
3 Reggie Robertson, Sahuaro: 77 (1996-99)
5 Andrew Cota, Sunnyside/Salpointe: 71 (2010-13)
Thatcher is playing well at the right time, picking up big win against Pusch Ridge last night for its fourth-straight to remain first in 3A South. @AllSportsTucson https://t.co/BxkXUTck4w
— Kevin Murphy (@KevinMurfee) October 21, 2023
The 1A state playoffs started Friday and No. 9 St. David pulled off somewhat of an upset, beating No. 8 San Manuel 44-38 on the road. Two weeks ago at San Manuel, the Tigers lost 16-14 in overtime. St. David’s reward for beating San Manuel Friday? Traveling to No. 1 Hayden (9-0) on Friday for a quarterfinal game. Hayden routed St. David 54-0 last week in the last regular-season game. … No. 10 Baboquivari came close to winning its first postseason game in program history (dating to 1969) but lost 28-22 at No. 7 Mohave Accelerated. First-year coach Cody Garcia is to be commended for how he elevated the Warriors this year. Former head coach Pete Delgado left the program in good shape before leaving to become Tanque Verde’s offensive line coach this season. … No. 12 Valley Union’s season ended with a 60-16 loss at No. 5 El Capitan/Academy. El Capitan is located at Colorado City, which is on the Arizona-Utah border. The bus ride from Elfrida on Thursday took nine hours. The Blue Devils, under second-year coach Skyler Hill, finished 6-4. They were 6-16 in their previous three seasons. …
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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 in 2016 and is presently a special education teacher at Sunnyside High School in the Sunnyside Unified School District.
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