YUMA — Pat Nugent turned his body in circles to see who he could hug next and congratulate in the middle of a wild throng of players and coaches near midfield following No. 4 Mica Mountain’s 24-14 win over No. 1 Yuma Catholic on Friday night.
He had the look of a kid returning to his favorite amusement park.
He has experienced this type of thrill — coaching a team to a championship game — only once before when many of Mica Mountain’s players were about to be born or were infants.
The year was 2007 and Nugent was the head coach at Canyon del Oro, leading that program to its first state championship appearance in 30 years.
Nugent is now coaching Mica Mountain (13-0) to its first state championship game in the school’s third full season at the varsity level.
Legendary @MicaMountainFB coach Pat Nugent is returning to the state championship game, his second appearance and first since 2007 when he was coaching CDO. He discusses that experience (close loss to Scottsdale Saguaro) and what he can take from that into next Friday’s 4A… pic.twitter.com/5fmWnSAf5p
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) November 30, 2024
“It’s a lot of work,” Nugent said of getting back to the championship game. “You’ve got a lot of coaches, a lot of players who’ve gone through it. It’s not easy — 2007 was a long time ago.
“You think you’re going to get back when you’re there and you never do — it’s a hard thing to do. We’re proud of it. Our staff has worked tremendously hard to get where it’s at right now. To see Mica Mountain play for a state football title after three years, you can’t even say what it means.”
Visions of the Dorados’ game against Scottsdale Saguaro in 2007 have played in his mind since that night at Phoenix Stadium in Glendale when a field goal with 2 seconds left was the difference in Saguaro’s 23-21 victory.
Ka’Deem Carey, a freshman that season, returned a kickoff 91 yards for a touchdown and Josh Robbins, son of Arizona great Randy Robbins, caught a touchdown pass as part of a two-touchdown rally in the fourth quarter that gave CDO a 21-20 lead before Saguaro prevailed with the game-winning field goal.
A teary-eyed Josh Robbins told reporters: “It hurts right now, but we’ll back.”
The Dorados returned to the state playoffs the following season and lost to Scottsdale Chaparral 13-7 in the quarterfinals in what became Nugent’s last game with the Dorados.
He left to coach Pima Community College’s program with the hope of becoming a successful college coach like his mentor Dick Tomey, whom he served at Arizona as a student manager.
Nugent went 13-40 in his five seasons at Pima before resigning and returning to coaching at the high school level at Cienega in 2015. He is suited for high school athletes because of his teaching skills and ability to relate to younger players in their formative years.
He left Pima noting that he was “way too nice,” trying to appease players overlooked by four-year programs.
He was a spectator when CDO went unbeaten under Dustin Peace for the state title in 2009.
.@MicaMountainFB safety Riley Carson achieved his sixth interception this season with his 37-yard Pick-6 that gave the Thunderbolts a 14-7 lead over Yuma Catholic with 5:52 left in the second quarter. That play seemed to turn the tide completely to Mica Mountain. pic.twitter.com/i1EOWGbhbg
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) November 30, 2024
Earning a state championship for Nugent “means everything to us, man,” Mica Mountain junior safety/punter Riley Carson said.
“We do this all for our coaches,” Carson said. “They spend hours making game plans for us. The game plans work. We keeping winning. We’re 13-0.”
Nugent is now 33-9 in his four years at Mica Mountain and 171-66 in his 22nd season at the high school level. Factoring in his time at Pima he is 184-106 as a head coach in 27 years.
The Thunderbolts advance to next Friday’s championship game at 4 p.m. against No. 2 Arizona College Prep (12-1) at Arizona State.
Arizona College Prep defeated visiting No. 3 Snowflake 59-21 on Friday night.
“Playing last year in the state semifinals helped us tonight (against Yuma Catholic),” Nugent said, noting Mica Mountain’s loss at eventual state champion CDO last season in the same round. “There was no fear in our kids. There were no letdowns. We have a goal to win a state title.
“Right now, we’re in a good position. We know ACP is a loaded football team. It’s going to be a battle. Not a lot of people have that opportunity to have one more week. We’ve got that. We’re looking forward to a great week this week.”
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There was no fear in our kids.
Nugent’s statement was proven by how Mica Mountain has responded to adversity the last two weeks — in the 38-14 quarterfinal win at home against Phoenix Thunderbird and the victory Friday night at Yuma Catholic (which lost in last year’s state championship game against CDO).
Thunderbird scored on the first possession of last week’s game — taking almost nine minutes off the clock — forcing Mica Mountain to trail in a game for the first time this season.
Yuma Catholic struck first again Friday night, taking advantage of a fumble return of 30 yards by Luis Galvez to the Mica Mountain 23.
Nash Ott connected with Sir Stokes on a touchdown pass on the very next play with 8:26 left in the first quarter. Fireworks popped. Yuma Catholic’s packed side of the stadium became deafening loud.
.@MicaMountainFB QB Jayden Thoreson and the Thunderbolts persevered through fumble issues to pull away from No. 1 Yuma Catholic in a 24-14 win. Thoreson completed two TD passes to Jimmy Leon in the victory. pic.twitter.com/MsOxWTbg0p
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) November 30, 2024
“They were the No. 1 seed; they had a great year, but we knew this four-hour trip was not going to stop us from winning,” Thoreson said of overcoming that early adversity. “It’s been a goal (to get to the state championship game). We’ve accomplished them and we’ve got one more game.”
Thoreson was impeccable in throwing the ball, completing 17 of 24 pass attempts for 197 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions.
After a three-and-out by Mica Mountain following Yuma Catholic’s touchdown, the tone of the game changed because of the duress Leon put on Ott during Yuma Catholic’s ensuing possession.
He sacked Ott, batted down his second pass, and chased Ott out of the pocket resulting in a punt.
The Shamrocks (11-2) failed to take advantage of another fumble entering the second quarter and were forced to make another punt.
Mica Mountain’s offense finally started to move the ball behind the explosive running of Jordan Perry, whose 26-yard run set up Thoreson’s 3-yard touchdown pass to Leon with 7:30 left in the second quarter that tied the game at 7.
“The best athletes will win, and that’s what we did,” Leon said. “We dominated.”
.@MicaMountainFB TE Jimmy Leon overcame a heel injury that cut into his practice time this week and produced in the 24-14 win at No. 1 Yuma Catholic. Two TD catches as TE and two sacks, numerous QB hurries and a couple of passes batted down as a DE in this one for him. pic.twitter.com/2nACbNfpNc
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) November 30, 2024
The momentum swung completely to Mica Mountain on Yuma Catholic’s ensuing possession, when Carson intercepted a pass and returned it 37 yards for a touchdown with 5:52 left in the first half.
“I lost my breath on that one; it’s a surreal moment to do that in such an important game,” Carson said. “The moment I caught the ball, everyone on our defense turned around and that helped me return it.”
Yuma Catholic was forced to punt after a three-and-out on the next possession, which included an unfortunate serious leg injury suffered by Ott. The junior quarterback was tended to on the sidelines into halftime and was ultimately taken by a stretcher to an ambulance for a trip to the hospital.
Behind a 20-yard run by Perry and 13-yard completion from Thoreson to Domonik Leon, Mica Mountain got in position for an 18-yard field goal made by Landon Hubbard as time expired in the first half.
Perry finished with a season-high-tying 105 yards on 14 carries. He also had 105 yards rushing in a win at Casa Grande.
Mica Mountain had a 17-7 lead and the ball to open the second half, but another fumble stopped a drive at the Yuma Catholic 26.
The Thunderbolts’ defense responded with another three-and-out.
After forcing another punt by Yuma Catholic on the next possession, Mica Mountain took control of the game when Thoreson’s 9-yard touchdown pass to Jimmy Leon with 9:40 left put the Thunderbolts ahead 24-7.
Josiah Thornwell, atoning for two fumbles earlier in the game, had runs of 15 and 12 yards in the game-clinching possession. Cameron Groves, who later had an interception as a safety, also had a run of 12 yards in the drive.
Yuma Catholic scored a touchdown on its final drive with 8 seconds remaining. At that point, the Mica Mountain fans who packed their side were louder than the Yuma Catholic faithful.
They were already celebrating a spot in the state championship game for most of the fourth quarter.
Falling behind early and the three fumbles did not matter to Mica Mountain.
This was the Thunderbolts’ night.
“Seniors … when you have 31 seniors, seniors that have been there, three-year veteran seniors, it’s really what it’s all about,” Nugent said. “There’s no letdown. They work their tails off.
“We practice that all the time — you’ve got to handle adversity. They work hard in the weight room. They work hard on the field. To their credit, they play hard on Friday nights.”
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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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