Sahuarita won its sixth straight game, beating Douglas 42-21 on Friday to claim the 4A Gila region title in the final game of the regular season.
It’s Sahuarita’s first region title since 2013, marking an incredible turnaround for the program which went 3-26 under former head coach Jake Price in three years at Sahuarita, including a 2-8 season last year, before Jake Allen was hired as head coach in January by the Sahuarita School District.
“I’m a little overwhelmed, to be honest,” Allen said. “It’s my first region title as a head coach, and I feel blessed that the universe put me in the right place at the right time. Sometimes it’s just luck to be at the right place at the right time. So, I’m feeling really grateful and glad that I ended up in this spot right now at Sahuarita.”
For the seniors, it was most likely their last game wearing the Sahuarita uniform. Allen said it was “huge” to see them going out with a win and a region title in front of their friends, families and fans on senior night at Burton Tingle Field in Sahuarita.
“They went through a lot,” he said. “A lot of guys quit last year or the year before that who were part of the senior group, and they were the crew that stuck around. They believed in themselves, they had pride in being a Sahuarita Mustang, and they played for each other and for this school… I owe them a lot of gratitude, and I won’t forget them, ever.”
Senior wide receiver and safety Wyatt Butler is one of the seniors who stuck around to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
“I’m glad I stuck with the program,” he said. “Football wasn’t really in the cards for me when I was like a freshman. I really wasn’t going to do it, and I was struggling last year with deciding to do it. So, winning the region and being able to stick with my friends, and my brothers really means a lot to me. Through all of this, I wouldn’t trade it for the world. This is the best feeling I’ve ever had in a long time, and I woudn’t trade anything for it.”
Butler says the attitudes on the team changed heading into and throughout the season under Allen and the coaching staff.
“We really came around. We trusted the coaching staff, we trusted ourselves, and I think that confidence over time really built up,” he said.
Both Sahuarita and Douglas entered the game Friday riding five-game winning streaks, tied for first in 4A Gila and undefeated in region play.
Sahuarita (7-3, 6-0) held a 20-7 lead at halftime, but an interception by Justin Hurtado early in the third quarter turned things around for Douglas (5-5, 5-1). On the following drive, a tipped pass from Ivan Higuera resulted in a 71-yard touchdown reception for Kenny Nelson that trimmed Sahuarita’s lead to 20-14.
Things got scary for Sahuarita when Douglas forced the Mustangs to punt near their 20-yard line. Christian Lomeli blocked the punt and Mikey Pearson recovered it and ran it in for a touchdown to give Douglas its first and only lead of the game at 21-20.
Two touchdown passes from Rasheed Martin to Jhaden Williams — from 36 and 19 yards — a 2-point conversion in the third quarter and a 7-yard touchdown run from Trent Hubble midway through the fourth quarter all went unanswered by Douglas and put the game away for Sahuarita.
Rasheed Martin connects with Jhaden Williams for the 36-yard TD. Austin Salcedo punched it in for the 2 point conversion. Sahuarita regains lead. 28-21 6:03 3Q. @AllSportsTucson @SHSMUSTANGSAD pic.twitter.com/Ew4Dbil4jI
— Kevin Murphy (@KevinMurfee) November 9, 2024
Rasheed Martin finds Jhaden Williams for their second touchdown tonight, this one for 19 yards. The drive started on the Douglas 39-yard line, set up by an INT by Sergio Burgos Jr. Sahuarita up 35-21 with 3:08 to go in 3Q. @AllSportsTucson @SHSMUSTANGSAD pic.twitter.com/b4DqeEZGmT
— Kevin Murphy (@KevinMurfee) November 9, 2024
Williams, a senior, said it was the best game of his high school career.
“For it to be on senior night, it’s an amazing feeling,” Williams said.
Senior WR/CB Jhaden Williams had touchdown receptions of 19 and 36 yards in the second half in a 42-21 win over Douglas that earned the Mustangs a 4A Gila region title. @AllSportsTucson @SHSMUSTANGSAD pic.twitter.com/VnMPpRini4
— Kevin Murphy (@KevinMurfee) November 9, 2024
When Allen took the job at Sahuarita, he brought eight coaches from his Pueblo staff who helped him lead the Warriors to a 6-4 record in 2022 in the highly competitive 4A Kino region. He also retained five coaches from the previous Sahuarita coaching staff and immediately began instilling a mentality based on grit when the offseason weightlifting program began in January.
The new coaching staff wore T-shirts that read “Sahuarita Grit” during training camp. The word “football” was omitted on purpose. “GRIT” is also printed above the numbers on the backs of Sahuarita’s jerseys.
Allen thinks that mentality helped the Mustangs roll with the punches, and regain and extend the lead in the second half.
“Our big-time players that have been there all year stepped up like they always do,” he said. “They just responded, and we got that momentum back, and that was the grit that we’ve built in a culmination that we have been searching for about nine months now. It was just a cherry on top tonight to see us get some adversity, respond and then finish in the way we did.”
Senior wide receiver and cornerback Raul Velez said it “took heart” to regain the lead in the third quarter and pull away for the win.
“All these kids. We showed out tonight. We wouldn’t let anything stop us. Nothing stops this team. This team’s amazing. This team’s something special, man,” he said.
It was a one-possession game for the majority of the first half.
After Martin scored a touchdown on a 2-yard scramble on Sahuarita’s first possession, Douglas answered with a 51-yard run by Higuera that set up a 1-yard touchdown run by Jason Hurtado to tie the game at 7-7.
A 4-yard touchdown run by Carlos Martinez late in the first quarter and a 20-yard touchdown pass from Martin to Velez in the second quarter extended Sahuarita’s lead to 20-7 at the half.
Allen and the coaching staff sold the “grit” mantra all season long, and the players bought in. At the end of the day, Allen said it was the players believing in themselves — especially the 16 seniors on the roster who experienced the worst of times — that earned Sahuarita its first region title in over a decade.
“They went through a lot of adversity those three years and that already helped them to build their grit, and they just rallied around it and they believed in each other,” he said. “We had a lot of moments this year when I wasn’t involved. They just played for each other. I think they felt like the team of destiny the last six weeks, and the momentum is just what led us to this moment right now.”
Sahuarita just won the 4A Gila title. @AllSportsTucson @SHSMUSTANGSAD pic.twitter.com/ofuhaM6Wi5
— Kevin Murphy (@KevinMurfee) November 9, 2024
FOLLOW @KEVINMURFEE ON TWITTER!
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.
