2024 High School Football

2024 Southern Arizona high school football schedules: 6A Central

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NOTE: With the AIA officially releasing the 2024 football schedules recently, AllSportsTucson.com will take a look at the schedules of each region 1A-6A in Southern Arizona in a series of posts. Click on the conference to access the stories in the series.
1A South
2A San Pedro
3A South
4A Gila
4A Kino
5A Sonoran
5A Southern
6A Central (this post)

Salpointe Class of 2025 strong safety/slot receiver Nate Spivey is one of the top returners in the state this fall (Gilbert Alcaraz/Special to AllSportsTucson.com)

6A CENTRAL SCHEDULING NOTES

— After more than 30 years of coaching experience in Tucson, including two seasons as the head coach at Rincon/University in 2007 and 2008, Pat Ryden is now leading of one of the highest profile programs in the state — Salpointe Catholic.

— Ryden, 53, was defensive coordinator at Salpointe since the 2019 season under Eric Rogers, who previously was on the same staff as Ryden at Pima Community College. Rogers was 35-12 in his four seasons with the Lancers. Salpointe went to the 5A state championship game in 2021 under Rogers, who was hired in 2019 after Dennis Bene resigned. Rogers resigned last December after he and the school mutually decided to part ways. Rogers is now an assistant at Chandler Basha, where his son Jake is a sophomore quarterback.

— Salpointe’s schedule is challenging but that is to be expected for Tucson’s perenially strong program. It starts out difficult with a game at Marana, which should compete for a 5A state championship this year. The Lancers’ 27-game winning streak against Southern Arizona teams dating to 2017 will be on the line. Mission Hills (Calif.) Bishop Alemany then visits. It was 1-9 last year including a 52-21 loss at home to Salpointe. But that program won eight games in a season three years ago and 10 games five years ago. A difficult game at Peoria Centennial on Sept. 19 begins a stretch of three consecutive games on the road with region opponents Phoenix Desert Vista and Tempe Corono del Sol following. Centennial, which played in the Open Division championship game last year, features former Sabino receiver Shamar Berryhill and his brother Romeo. The Berryhills moved to the Phoenix area earlier this year.

— Salpointe plays three of its last four games at home against Peoria Liberty, Scottsdale Saguaro and region foe Phoenix Brophy Prep — schools that combined for a record of 31-9 last year with Liberty winning the Open Division title and Saguaro capturing the 6A title a week after topping the Lancers in the semifinals at Ed Doherty Stadium. Brophy lost in the other 6A semifinal game against Mesa Red Mountain. A region game at Phoenix Mountain Pointe is in the middle of this stretch.

— Saguaro coach Darius Kelly (Buena/Pima CC grad), offensive coordinator BJ Denker (former Arizona QB) and wide receiver coach Terrence Miller (another former Wildcat) will have a homecoming in Tucson on Nov. 1 at Ed Doherty Stadium.

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2024 SOUTHERN ARIZONA COACHING CHANGES

SchoolClassFormer coachNew coach
Benson2ADustin CluffChris Rasmussen
Bisbee2AShawn HolleyCarlos Lopez
Canyon del Oro4ADustin PeaceScott McKee
Catalina 2AGreg McKinstry IIIAndy Fetsis
Catalina Foothills4ADaniel SainzGreg McKinstry III
Cholla4AVirgil HendersonPaul Tripp
Desert Christian1A(New program)Jason McKibben
Morenci3ARishard DavisFrankie Gonzalez
Pueblo4AJake AllenSly Lewis
Rincon/University4AKhyree CopelandJohnny Chan
Rio Rico4AJeff ScurranCarlos Duran
Sahuarita4AJake PriceJake Allen
Salpointe6AEric RogersPat Ryden
Willcox2AEric HjalmarsonJeston Lotts
Rasmussen, Lopez, Fetsis, Tripp, McKibben, Gonzalez, Lewis, Chan, Duran and Ryden are in their first stints as head coaches in football.

5A SOUTHERN

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5A SONORAN

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4K KINO

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4A GILA

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3A SOUTH

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2A SAN PEDRO

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1A CONFERENCE

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FOLLOW @JAVIERJMORALES ON TWITTER!

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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