2024 High School Football

Frog & Firkin Football Friday: Ironwood Ridge continues remarkable turnaround under Stott

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Ironwood Ridge’s Grant Dooling (11) celebrates a touchdown reception by teammate Matthew Kroner in a 37-7 win over visiting Sahuaro on Friday (Stephanie van Latum/AllSportsTucson.com)

Dale Stott knows all about building a championship pedigree in a program after playing on the offensive line and at linebacker as a senior for legendary coach Jerry Loper at Amphi when the Panthers won the state championship in 1975.

Amphi finished 12-1 that season.

Ironwood Ridge with Stott as head coach is 12-4 in the last two seasons — following a 37-7 win over visiting Sahuaro in the Homecoming game Friday night — with the 5A Sonoran schedule ahead.

The 12 wins for each school are fascinating in their own way with Stott involved.

Dale Stott when he was a senior on Amphi’s 1975 state championship team

Amphi, which started playing six-man football in 1939, set a school record with the amount of wins in 1975.

Ironwood Ridge’s 12 wins (that includes this year’s 4-1 start) have been achieved after the Nighthawks went 1-9 in Stott’s first season as a high school head coach in 2022.

“You start with the weight room; we totally rebuilt the weight room,” said Stott, a certified strength and conditioning coach. “We raised the money ourselves and got a grant as well. We put time and money into it.

“These kids work their tails off trying to get stronger.”

Formidable defensive lineman David Baba, who is listed at 6-foot-2 and 215 pounds, is an example of the benefits of Ironwood Ridge’s strength and conditioning program led by Joshua Hyde.

Hyde, who started Velocity Sports Performance in 2006, earned a bachelors degree in exercise science at Arizona in 2004.

“David Baba put on 30 pounds this year,” Stott said. “He’s not fat. He really got strong by working hard.

“We’re getting stronger during the season. We hope to peak in the playoffs.”

IRONWOOD RIDGE: A QUARTERBACK’S OFFENSE

Ironwood Ridge has not skipped a beat with junior quarterback Jaiden Martinez replacing prolific passer and rusher Dominic Norris, who graduated after leading the Nighthawks to an 8-3 record last season.

Norris passed for a Southern Arizona-record 502 yards last season in a win over Tucson High. He was a dangerous dual-threat quarterback passing for 2,254 yards and rushing for 439.

Martinez has developed similarily in his first season as a varsity quarterback as his predecessor did after Norris did not play the position upon starting his career with the Nighthawks.

Martinez completed 9 of 12 pass attempts for 94 yards with three touchdowns in Friday’s win over Sahuaro, which entered the game 3-1.

The elusive and quick 5-foot-8 and 168-pound Martinez rushed for 133 yards on 11 carries. His 33-yard sprint down the middle of the field to the end zone culminated Ironwood Ridge’s first possession, giving the Nighthawks a 7-0 lead with 1:24 left in the first quarter.

“It all kind of depends on our pass blocking,” Martinez said about his ability to run the ball. “I’ll make my progressions, but if not, I’ll take off. Since I’m capable of picking up a first down (running), I’ll take it.”

DOOLING & KRONER ONE OF BEST ONE-TWO PUNCHES IN THE STATE

The ability of Martinez to have the options of senior wideouts Grant Dooling and Matthew Kroner to pass to is very difficult on opposing defensive coordinators because Dooling and Kroner stretch the defense as well as any pair in the state.

Dooling is a 6-foot-1 and 195-pound target and Kroner is 6-foot-1 and 180 pounds. Both are physical, athletic and tough to bring down once they catch the ball. They are also shut-down defenders in the secondary.

Martinez connected with Dooling on a 35-yard touchdown pass with 5:46 left in the second quarter to give Ironwood Ridge a 14-0 lead over Sahuaro.

Ironwood Ridge’s Corbin Crosby returned an interception 84 yards for a touchdown on the last play of the first half, increasing the lead to 20-0.

The Nighthawks opened the second half with possession of the ball and increased the lead another touchdown with Martinez’s 7-yard pass to Kroner, who earned an Ed Doherty Award nomination medallion after recording eight catches for 214 yards and three touchdowns, along with 10 tackles (seven solo), in last week’s 35-9 win at Douglas.

Ironwood Ridge’s lead over Sahuaro ballooned to 34-0 in its next possession, capped by Martinez’s 3-yard touchdown pass to Kroner. The pair connected on a 25-yard pass in the previous play.

“I think it starts with iron sharpens iron; when me and him go against each other in practice, we push each other,” Dooling said of Kroner. “Ever since sophomore year, we’ve been playing on varsity and pushing each other. I couldn’t ask for a better co-receiver, slash DB to play with.”

Kroner added that he and Dooling are “two very dangerous players.”

“When we’re on the same side, it’s hard to double-team one of us,” he stated. “You can’t guard both of us at the same time.”

“You can’t leave one of us open,” Dooling interjected.

IRONWOOD RIDGE DEFENSE BIG PART OF THREE-GAME WIN STREAK

Sahuaro mustered 180 yards in total offense, including 35 through the air, against Ironwood Ridge’s aggressive, physical defense.

The Cougars’ lone score was provided by their defense — a 25-yard fumble return for a touchdown by cornerback David Gutierrez with 9:21 remaining following an errant lateral pass.

The Ironwood Ridge defense allowed only two touchdowns, both on the ground, in the Nighthawks’ three-game winning streak over Empire, Douglas and Sahuaro after losing 49-21 at Buena on Sept. 6. Ironwood Ridge has outscored its last three opponents 125-22.

“Every drive, every play we hit hard and we hit as hard as we can and we make sure that the other team knows we’re here to play,” defensive lineman Samuel Kleving said.

Baba was part of the 1-9 team in 2022 when the Nighthawks did not possess a fear factor for opponents.

“My first couple of years here we definitely weren’t known for having a physical team,” he said. “We had a little stigma before but we have definitely changed that this year. We come out and hit every play. We hit hard and we love doing it.

“We have fun playing the game, so it’s good.”

CAMERON DENSON’S SOUTHERN ARIZONA RECEIVING YARDS RECORD BROKEN BY MARANA’S DEZMEN ROEBUCK

Marana senior Dezmen Roebuck needed only 16 receiving yards on Friday night at CDO to reach Salpointe great Cameron Denson’s Southern Arizona career record of 3,537 yards from 2010 to 2013 with the Lancers.

The record was broken immediately in the first quarter against CDO with Roebuck recording two 40-yard touchdown receptions. Marana has not posted its stats from the game on MaxPreps as of Saturday morning.

Denson, an assistant coach with Sahuaro, was congratulatory of Roebuck breaking his record before the Cougars’ game with Ironwood Ridge.

“It’s good; records are meant to be broken,” said Denson, who went on to play at Arizona and NAU.

Denson’s receiving yards at Salpointe were produced in only three years as a receiver. He was forced to play quarterback one season for the Lancers because of injuries at that position.

REGION SCHEDULES, TRANSFERS BECOMING ELIGIBLE IN PLACE NEXT WEEK

Ironwood Ridge and Sahuaro concluded their non-region schedules with Friday’s game.

The Nighthawks open the 5A Sonoran schedule with games at Flowing Wells on Friday and at Tucson High on Oct. 11.

Ironwood Ridge and Tucson are each 4-1, which means that matchup in two weeks will likely go a long way to who earns the region title.

Sahuaro will begin play in the 4A Kino with its first four games at home against Catalina Foothills (0-5) on Friday, Walden Grove (2-2) on Oct. 11, Mica Mountain (5-0) on Oct. 25 and CDO (3-2) on Nov. 1. The Cougars’ lone road game in region play is the season-finale against Pueblo (2-3) on Nov. 8.

With all teams now on to their sixth game, that means transfers forced to sit the first five games of the season per AIA rules are now eligible.

The Cougars will welcome former Salpointe player Xavier Shelton, a junior receiver and returner who controversially was denied an appeal for immediate eligibility by the AIA before the season started.

Shelton’s family generated the transer due to financial difficulty paying for Salpointe’s enrollment fee. Salpointe, a private Catholic school, did not contend the transfer — a normal practice for a school that does not agree with the athlete leaving the school.

Despite the hardship factor and Salpointe condoning the transfer, the AIA still denied the appeal request, which understandably makes Sahuaro coach Al Alexander upset every time he talks about it.

MICA MOUNTAIN AND MARANA LONE UNBEATEN SOUTHERN ARIZONA TEAMS

Mica Mountain and Marana are each 5-0 after beating credible opponents Casa Grande and CDO, respectively, on the road on Friday. Casa Grande was previously unbeaten at 4-0 but was routed 41-7 by the Thunderbolts.

From AllSportsTucson.com’s Andy Morales, who covered the game at Casa Grande for AZPreps365:

Mica Mountain’s defense has only given up 15 points all year and has an offense that is averaging almost 33 points a night. It’s hard to compete with a program moving at that pace, especially when they limit what you can do with the ball.

The Thunderbolts scored off an opening drive against Casa Grande. They also scored on a drive resulting from an interception, a drive coming off a turnover on downs, a drive resulting from a fumble, another drive off of a turnover on downs and a closing drive engineered by the second team.

The Thunderbolts scored on every possession except for a drive that started on their own 16 after the defense took control of the ball on another turnover on downs with 44 seconds left on the clock. Taking a knee ended the first half in that situation and it was a first half that was dominated by the run with 27 carries compared to only two passes thrown by senior quarterback Jayden Thoreson and those two passes went the distance.

“Just score points,” Thoreson said when asked about the running attack versus an aerial display. “That was the whole game plan.”

In the end, Thoreson threw for only 55 yards on three completions with one of those completions hitting senior standout tight end Jimmy Leon from 12 yards out after a turnover on downs to put the Thunderbolts up 21-0 and another came to Leon less than a minute later after a fumble. That one came from 32 yards out to put the team in control 28-0 with 3:05 left in the first half.

Leon registered two huge sacks in the game and he pressured Casa Grande QB Luke Keeton on several occasions from his defensive end position to go along with his catches from his tight end spot on the field. Leon will be taking a visit to NAU on Saturday.

Even with the pressure, Keeton still ended the night with 132 yards passing and he was able to find Dedric Gulley for a score with 7:15 left in the game from 10 yards out to cut the lead down to 35-7 but by then the clock was in the running mode and Mica Mountain responded with Caleb Cherry driving the team down 68 yards for the final score of the night.

Cam Armstrong rushed for 58 yards to lead the Cougars, at a bit over seven yards a carry, but opportunities were limited and he was unable to put all of talents on display with Mica Mountain controlling the ball on defense and on the ground.

Josiah Thornwell rushed for 138 yards on 14 carries with two TDs and Jordan Perry added 104 yards rushing on 16 carries with another score. The running offense, combined with a running clock in the second half, meant the game was over in a little over two hours.

“Our defense been great all year, we had three shutouts and we always hoped for that, but this was an explosive Casa Grande team,” Mica Mountain head coach Pat Nugent said. “They’ve been putting 40 to 50 points up the game. We just hoped that we could contain them.”

Coming in, the Cougars under head coach Mark Luna was averaging 48 points a night. Even with seven points on Friday, the team is scoring 40 points a pop. It’s a high-powered offense that will need to be hitting again with Buena (4-1) coming in next Friday in the first 5A Southern game for both teams.

“Our defense takes pride being on the field, and they want to shutout every week,” Nugent added. “We saw some things and we thought we could run the ball, when you have a quarterback like Jayden Thoreson and the receivers that we have, but we wanted to win this game. This was an important game.”

Mica Mountain (5-0) will enter a bye week and will host Pueblo on Oct. 11, three days after the initial set of AIA rankings for 4A, 5A, 6A and the Open Division are released.

Like defending 4A state champ Canyon del Oro last year, the Thunderbolts are expected to be one of the 4A teams in the mix for an Open Division spot but do they want it?

A tempered 4A Kino Region schedule might decide a title run in the 4A conference or a difficult first-round match against a 6A power in the Open Division.

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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