Jake Allen was hired in January by the Sahuarita School District as the new head football coach at Sahuarita following four years in the same position at Pueblo High School in Tucson. His tenure at Pueblo included a 6-4 record in 2022 in the highly competitive 4A Kino region.
The Sahuarita football program is entering the season with a new coach and a new mentality based on hard work and relishing opportunities.
Allen takes over for Jake Price, who went 3-26 in three years at Sahuarita, including a 2-8 season last year.
He brought eight coaches from his Pueblo staff with him and retained five coaches from the previous Mustangs coaching staff. He says the melding of coaches and the sheer number of them has been key to the team’s growth this summer because it allowed each of them to solely focus on one area of coaching.
“We have a full offensive staff that doesn’t coach any defense or JV, and the same with our defensive staff,” he said.
The new coaching staff wears T-shirts that read “Sahuarita Grit.” The word “football” was omitted on purpose. Allen and his coaches began instilling the grit mentality in January when the offseason weightlifting program began, and the philosophy continued into long summer practices.
“The mindset we’re building is that we’re lucky and blessed to get to do those workouts. To get to have this team, this talent, this coaching staff. It’s not something we have to do. It’s not a chore,” Allen said.
Some notable players who graduated last season include defensive back Santiago Caudillo, defensive/offensive lineman Wyatt Dahl and linebacker Hayden Niedt. All three were named to the 4A Gila All-Region second team.
The Mustangs return 2023-24 all-region players: senior wide receiver/safety Alden Fox, senior long snapper Joe Thomas, junior linebacker William Thwaits and junior placekicker Raphael Villa Arzate.
Sophomore quarterback Rasheed Martin is someone Allen believes will leave his mark on the program for years to come. He was called up to the varsity team during last season.
“People are going to know his name for three years, I promise you that,” Allen said of Martin. “He’s an exceptional talent and a good leader for his age.’
Martin says he can’t wait for Friday nights and that he appreciates how the coaches are pushing the players to be their best.
“Us just being out there as a family moving the ball on offense, stopping the offense on the other side defensively, and just seeing my brothers succeed, I’m excited for that, I’m real excited,” he said. “We’ve got a great coaching staff out there to keep us right and keep us getting better.”
Other key returning players include seniors wide receiver/safety Wyatt Butler, wide receiver/cornerback Raul Velez, running back/linebacker Alex Douglas, junior Quinn Boveington on the line and sophomore running back/linebacker Trent Hubble.
Butler says his chemistry with Martin has been great so far in preseason practice.
“Rasheed’s really good and reading the field and reading the defense. He’s a giant playmaker. He’s always able to get the ball out quickly or he’s able to read what the defenders are doing pretty well,” Butler said.
The grit philosophy is something Boveington is embracing as he enters a bigger leadership role with his fellow lineman this season.
“I love it. I feel like the energy is just so much better. Everybody is like more into this year. You just got to live into that grit mentality. It makes you better,” he said.
Sahuarita will be playing its first home game against Phoenix-Alhambra. The Mustangs started last season on a high note against Alhambra, winning 9-6 in Phoenix before dropping eight of the nine remaining games.
The next two games of the season for the Mustangs will be on the road against Glendale-Deer Valley and Maricopa, followed by a home game against Flowing Wells before entering region play.
“We start the season with three out-of-town Phoenix or Maricopa area opponents. Three teams I’ve never played in my thirteen years of coaching in Tucson,” Allen said. “So, we have some really good tests at the beginning of the year, but I think this group is starting to believe that there’s not a single game on the schedule that we can’t win.”
Sahuarita’s final six games against 4A Gila competition are bookended by a matchup at Empire and a home game against Douglas — both had 6-4 records last season. The Mustangs play at home against defending 4A Gila champion Amphi in the second-to-last game of the season. The Panthers finished 7-3 last season.
“If we win our region, then a lot of our loftier goals are on the table,” Allen said.
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com writer Kevin Murphy was born and raised in Tucson, and has followed Arizona Wildcats athletics since childhood. Murphy is a journalist product manager with the Green Valley News & the Sahuarita Sun. He has a bachelor’s degree from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at ASU.
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