2024 High School Football

Week 1 Roundup: Sabino dominant in start of defense of 3A title; girl scores TD in St. David’s win

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Paul Ortiz returned a fumble 20 yards for a touchdown in Sabino’s 40-0 win over Coolidge on Friday night (Stephanie van Latum/AllSportsTucson.com)

This is supposed to be a season of adjustment for Sabino and coach Ryan McBrayer coming off a championship season in which more than 20 seniors graduated, including the most prolific passer in Southern Arizona history — Cam Hackworth.

If Friday night’s 40-0 drubbing of visiting Coolidge in the season opener is any indication, the Sabercats have reloaded quite nicely.

“We’re a young team; we knew we had a lot of skill,” said McBrayer, who is now 57-20 in his eighth year as head coach at his alma mater. “We had to put it together. So these guys came out and played a very good game.

“It’s a game we can build on, and seeing those names we have to replace, we’ve got guys coming back in. They weren’t backing down to any challenge.”

Sabino senior defensive tackle Paul Ortiz, a point guard on the varsity basketball team, was not with the football team last year when it went 11-3 and won the 3A state title for the first time in 25 years. He mentioned he took a year off from football because he got in an automobile accident and wanted to work to pay expenses to get his car fixed.

Ortiz was in the Coolidge backfield constantly. He recorded four tackles with a sack and also recovered a fumble and returned it 20 yards for a touchdown as well as scored after recovering a blocked punt in the end zone.

“I don’t know how to explain it, I’m just excited to be back,” Ortiz said. “Just being out here with my boys, my family right here, my second family, it’s amazing.”

Ortiz was the leader of a very active defense, coached by coordinator Mike Wells, defensive line coach Baharen Perez, defensive secondary coach Jason Welch and linebackers coach Danny Navarro.

Coolidge was limited to 28 yards of total offense and only four first downs — all within one possession in the third quarter after Sabino built the 40-0 margin.

The Bears completed 3 of 15 pass attempts for 18 yards, going without a completed pass until 6:46 remained in the third quarter. Their initial first down did not take place until 3:55 was left in the quarter.

Sabino limited Coolidge to 10 yards on the ground in 22 attempts, including four sacks (two by senior defensive end Jeremy Edmonds). The Sabercats tallied 10 tackles for loss in the game.

“The defense is flying,” McBrayer said. “Coach Wells does a very, very good job. That’s why we have him over here. He came over as a state champion his first season. We see the results of having good coaches around.”

Sabino junior running back/linebacker Zach Haley finally got the opportunity to play on meaningful downs after backing up Mason Cade last year and he had an impressive performance.

He rushed for 119 yards on 15 carries with two touchdowns. He also had a sack and caused a fumble.

“We’ve been talking about this since January, working hard to get to this point,” Haley said. “We just need to stay dialed in and keep our energy up.”

Other breakthrough performances in Sabino’s opener:

— Freshman quarterback Bodhi Sanford, the latest student of Sabino quarterbacks coach Collin McBrayer (Ryan’s brother), showed poise and a strong arm with his frame of 6-foot-2 and 180 pounds. His accuracy should improve over time after going 6 of 17 against Coolidge. He passed for 96 yards, including a 30-yard touchdown strike to Brit Roberson. He also connected with Roberson for an 18-yard touchdown. Collin McBrayer has trained a lineage of prolific quarterbacks from Alex Bell to A.J. Skaggs to Hackworth over the last eight years.

— Roberson, who was Hackworth’s third target last season behind the Berryhill brothers (Shamar and Savaughn), had three catches for 66 yards with the two touchdowns against Coolidge.

Sabino next plays eastside rival Sahuaro on Friday at home at 7 p.m.

WEEK ONE SCOREBOARD
3A SOUTH
Sabino 40, Coolidge 0
Payson 20, Safford 6
Thatcher 32, Paradise Honors 0
ALA-Ironwood 35, Morenci 34
2A SAN PEDRO
Phoenix Christian 26, Tanque Verde 13
Willcox 18, Arizona Lutheran 16
Highland Prep 46, Catalina 6
Benson 27, Shadow Mountain 10
1A SOUTH
Lincoln Prep 14, San Manuel 6
Fort Thomas 36, Baboquivari 20
Bagdad 1, Desert Christian 0, forfeit
St. David 60, Cicero Prep 6
Desert Heights 40, Valley Union 36

ST. DAVID FEMALE RUNNING BACK SCORES TD

Katelyn Patton during a practice session at St. David (MyHeraldReview.com photo)

St. David sophomore running back Katelyn Patton scored on a 17-yard touchdown run — her first career score — in the fourth quarter of the Tigers’ 60-2 win at Cicero Prep on Friday night.

Patton, 5-foot-2, also plays cornerback for St. David.

Patton played in five games last season and recorded 11 yards on 10 carries.

St. David freshman Vincent Ciccariello completed 9 of 19 pass attempts for 148 yards with five touchdowns.

Chase Pacheco had 11 carries for 78 yards with a touchdown and Cedar Haynie rushed for 76 yards on 13 rushes.

Grayson Merrill had six receptions for 100 yards with two touchdowns.

St. David’s home opener next week has been rescheduled for Saturday at 7 p.m. against Baboquivari because of a referee shortage on Friday. The same situation affected Pueblo’s home opener against Nogales, moved from Friday night to Saturday morning at 10 a.m.

TANQUE VERDE COMPETITIVE IN SEASON OPENING LOSS

The following is a report from Andy Morales of AllSportsTucson.com:

Phoenix Christian rushed for more than 300 yards in a 26-13 win at Tanque Verde Friday night but the game was still in doubt until the Cougars literally ran out the last 7:59 of the game after the Hawks scored on a 21-yard pass from Rocco Haggard to Jacob Dickens a few seconds earlier.

Phoenix Christian was a powerhouse with six state championships between 1984 and 2004 and a runner-up finish 2008, and another in 2019, but the program shifted from the 2A level to the 3A in 2020 where the program hit bottom with a 1-9 record in 2022. That’s when Jason Kindred stepped in to take the program over at the same moment the school was placed back in the 2A ranks. The former Maryvale standout led the Cougars to an 8-3 record last year with a playoff berth.

Likewise, Tanque Verde went from an 8-man program to a 3A Conference placement in a matter of a few years due to increasing enrollment. The team only won eight games in four years and the program suffered a 15-game losing streak that was snapped in 2020 when the school moved down to the 2A level in conjunction with the hiring of legendary Arizona receiver Jay Dobyns.

Dobyns brought the program to instant success and his final year in 2022 produced a playoff spot.

Former Mountain View Marana standout Jeffrey Bollnow kept the winning culture going after he replaced Dobyns and the Hawks went 9-3 with a playoff win and, despite the loss to Phoenix Christian, Bollnow sees many positives.

“Incredibly proud of them,” Bollnow said. “Because it takes some guts to go out there and play that type of football game. It’s very physical. That was a great team. They’re going to do really well this year. You know, I’m excited to see how we bounce back from this, we do have a bye week so we can kind of get things reorganized and take these lessons to heart and hopefully learn and move forward.”

The game started out on a positive note for Tanque Verde with a fumble recovery that set the Hawks up at the 32 and Haggard hit Jacob Dickes from 17 yards out four plays later to put Tanque Verde up 7-0 with 8:21 left in the first quarter.

Phoenix Christian started to move the ball and the Cougars marched 72 yards in 17 plays to cut the lead down to 7-6 with a missed two-point conversion with only 18 second left in the first. The time-consuming drive was a sign of what was to come.

Tanque Verde gave up the ball on downs and Phoenix Christian took advantage with sophomore Gio Young running the ball in from five yards out to put the Cougars 12-7 with 6:23 left in the half. This was Young’s first game as a football player and Kindred’s efforts to get him on the gridiron paid off.

What proved to be the turning point came next with the Cougars converting an onsides kick, which kept Tanque Verde’s offense off the field for a few minutes. The Hawk defense forced a turnover on downs with 2:29 left in the half but two penalties changed the game plan for the Hawks. In an attempt to run out the clock, a fumble gave the ball back to Phoenix Christian with 25.5 seconds left and Young ran the ball in from seven yards out to give the Cougars an 18-7 lead.

“We just needed a good break and then it seemed like we shot ourselves in the foot,” Bollnow added. “You know, the football is a funny shape. It bounces in many different ways, this is how it goes.”

To make things more difficult, Michael Harmon came up with an interception to put the Cougars back in position to score at the 12 with seven seconds left but a sack ended the first half.

Tanque Verde drove deep to start the third but the team gave up the ball on downs at the 19, but Haggard came up with an interception with 4:07 left in the third to give the Hawks the ball back. That drive also stalled on downs which led to another Young scoring run to put Phoenix Christian up 26-7 with Reuben Guererro hitting Kevin Palafox on a two-point conversion with 9:05 left in the game.

The Hawks only needed a minute to score with Haggard finding Dickens from 21 yards out to cut the lead down to 26-13 with eight minutes left but the Cougars the game out the rest of the way.

Tanque Verde was led by Nixon Hills’ 46 yards rushing. Haggard went 4 for 9 for 79 yards and two TDs and Dickens had 62 yards receiving.

Phoenix Christian (1-0) travels to Benson (1-0) next Friday and Tanque Verde (0-1) has a bye before hosting Glendale Prep a week later.

FIRST-YEAR COACHES HAVE VARIOUS RESULTS

Catalina first-year coach Andy Fetsis experienced a 46-6 loss at Superior Highland Prep on Friday night while Benson won its first game under Chris Rasmussen, 27-10 at Phoenix Shadow Mountain.

The Bobcats limited Shadown Mountain to 176 yards in total offense.

Desert Christian coach Jason McKibben, a former Walden Grove standout, will have to wait another week — potentially — to coach his first game. Desert Christian was forced to forfeit Friday’s game at Bagdad because of a lack of healthy players following a scrimmage.

Desert Christian is in its first season of football although the school opened in 1986.

The Eagles are scheduled to host Desert Heights on Friday at 7 p.m.

Catalina’s first home game under Fetsis, a longtime local coach who played for Sabino’s state title team in 1990, is Friday against the NFL Yet Academy.

The following is from Richard Smith, sports editor of ArizonaVarsity.com:

The Trojans’ offense typically lined up with one wide receiver, but occasionally employed a full house backfield with no players split wide in the game at Highland Prep.

Festis said he would like to see how his team stacks up with Highland Prep in Week 7.

“This team we played, they are good at what they do. They’re an Air Raid offense. Our disadvantage this week, for this kind of game to open up the season was our football program did not have a 7-on-7, or spring ball. We had no offseason program,” Festis said. “We never got to compete with our young kids against a very disciplined offense.”

Even among its senior class, Catalina does not have much football experience.

Trailing 8-0 in the first quarter, the Trojans saw their hopes dashed. Junior Levi Samuels burst into the clear on a counter play, racing for a 68-yard touchdown.

A false start dashed Catalina’s hopes to tie, and four fumbles and a interception later, the visitors trailed 38-0 at halftime.

“The problem with this team is, when they get down, they leave the game and mentally check out. That second series, when we hit that 70-yard touchdown and got it called back for a false start was a huge blow for these guys. You saw their demeanor change,” Festis said.

Turnovers and finger pointing in the first half.

“I’m proud of them and the way they came out and responded in the second half,” Festis said. “We’re going to do a ton from this to Week 2 and Week 3. That’s usually your greatest improvement. I’m excited for what these kids are going to do the rest of the season.”

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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