Buena coach Joe Thomas and his team celebrated his 50th career victory Friday as a head coach after the Colts defeated Laveen Fairfax 68-19 on the road in the season opener.
Thomas is 50-67 in his 13th year as a head coach — the last 10 with Buena after coaching three years at his alma mater Tombstone.
“I definitely feel blessed to reach 50 career wins,” Thomas mentioned to AllSportsTucson.com. “The wins don’t always come easy. A lot of work goes into running a football program.
“I love all the athletes that I’ve ever coached and the schools I’ve coached for. It couldn’t be possible without the schools. It wouldn’t be possible without the players., and it would be really hard without the administration and community support. I love what I do.”
After starting 0-21 at Buena — two 0-10 seasons in 2015 and 2016 and losing the season opener in 2017 — Thomas has established the Colts’ program as one of the most revered by area coaches, players and Southern Arizona football followers.
He is 39-27 over the last eight seasons since that rough start that made him wonder if he made the right move taking over at Buena, which had a drastic downturn in talent in 2015 and 2016 after Ryan Scherling coached the Colts to the playoffs in 2012 and 2013.
“We lost every game for two years,” Thomas said incredulously in a 2020 interview with AllSportsTucson.com. “The kids made me want to stay. We’ve got some good kids here. I didn’t want to give up on them.”
Thomas coached Buena to the 5A postseason in 2019 and last season. His 7-3 team in 2022 did not make the playoffs because of the AIA’s power-rating system.
Buena will be one of the contenders this season in the highly competitive 5A Southern, a region that includes Marana, Cienega, Casa Grande, Sunnyside and Desert View.
The Colts, coming off a summer in which they were successful in 7-on-7 and big-man competitions, routed Fairfax behind senior quarterback Nash Moore completing 7 of 8 passes for 231 yards and five touchdowns and senior running back Andres Bonilla gaining 109 yards on 10 carries with two touchdowns.
Jayden Thomas, Thomas’ son, is a junior wideout who had three receptions for 137 yards and two touchdowns.
Senior defensive end Shawn Bookman tallied seven tackles, three for loss.
These are just a few of the many standouts Buena featured against Fairfax.
“I do the best to impact the lives of my athletes in a positive way and teach them the life skills through football,” Joe Thomas stated. “Holding them accountable, keeping them committed and teaching them how to be team players, when they go out in the world, I pray they can be good citizens.”
Buena hosts Ironwood Ridge (1-0) on Friday at 7 p.m. The Nighthawks are coming off a 28-20 win over Chandler Seton Catholic last week.
JOE THOMAS COACHING RECORD
| Year | School | Wins | Losses |
| 2012 | Tombstone | 5 | 5 |
| 2013 | Tombstone | 4 | 6 |
| 2014 | Tombstone | 2 | 8 |
| 2015 | Buena | 0 | 10 |
| 2016 | Buena | 0 | 10 |
| 2017 | Buena | 6 | 4 |
| 2018 | Buena | 5 | 5 |
| 2019 | Buena | 8 | 3 |
| 2020 | Buena | 2 | 2 |
| 2021 | Buena | 3 | 7 |
| 2022 | Buena | 7 | 3 |
| 2023 | Buena | 7 | 4 |
| 2024 | Buena | 1 | 0 |
| TOTAL | 50 | 67 |
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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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