2024 High School Football

NOTES: Former Arizona receiver Lovett ends stretch of coaching sons in three state title games

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Lamar Lovett hugs defensive coordinator Jeff Drescher after Pusch Ridge’s win in the 3A state championship game Saturday (Javier Morales/AllSportsTucson.com)

GLENDALE — Lamar Lovett has served as an assistant coach at Pusch Ridge since the 2000 season, before his two youngest sons, Evan and Elliot, were born. His oldest son, Edwin, was a toddler at the time.

Almost a quarter-century later, the elder Lovett — a wide receiver for Dick Tomey’s Arizona teams in the early 1990s — has experienced coaching each son in a 3A state championship game.

“It’s just so sweet; we’re very thankful,” Lamar said. “It’s not cliché to us. The Lord blessed us. We’ve worked hard, but He blessed us to work harder.”

Edwin was part of Pusch Ridge’s first state championship team in 2015. Evan was a freshman when the Lions played for the 2017 title. Elliot capped his senior season with a 3A state title Saturday night with a 26-7 win over previously unbeaten ALA-West Foothills at Mountain Ridge High School at Glendale.

Elliot was instrumental in the victory.

His acrobatic 32-yard catch in which he snagged the ball while falling to the ground put the ball at the ALA-West Foothills 5. One play later, quarterback Jacob Newborn scored on a 4-yard run to tie the game at 7 with 10:43 left in the second quarter.

Elliot’s fifth interception of the season set up a 25-yard field goal by Tyler Nolan that put the Lions up for good, 10-7, with 3:31 left in the first half.

“This is the sweetest, I’m going to have to tell you,” Lamar said of Saturday’s title. “It’s awesome. Some people never get to the game. We’re very thankful.

“This one’s so sweet just because how it happened.”

No. 4 Pusch Ridge defeated No. 1 Queen Creek Franklin last week in the semifinal round, avenging a 31-7 road loss to the Chargers in the second game of the season. The Lions (13-1) ended the season winning 12 straight games after that loss.

The Lions then handed ALA-West Foothills (13-1) its only loss of the season Saturday.

“We keep on knocking off the higher seeds; it’s just a blessing,” Lamar said.

Lamar has long held the tradition after a win of performing a break dance with Pusch Ridge’s players making noise and celebrating around him. The dance was sweeter on Saturday night following a championship.

When asked what the late Tomey would tell him about winning the championship, Lamar mentioned Tomey’s common statement: “The team, the team, the team.”

“That’s why we won it — because we play as a team,” Lamar said. “Our motto is ‘One heartbeat,’ and they really live by that. I think you saw it. No matter what we had to overcome, they stayed together and believed.”

Lamar’s brother Lamont, a running back when he played with his brother at Arizona, is the radio analyst for Wildcat football games.

Lamar mentioned he plans to continue coaching despite all of his sons moving on.

Edwin played at the Colorado School of Mines and Evan is a redshirt junior at Minot (N.D.) State. Elliot will likely play college football based on his exploits with the Lions this year (31 catches for 573 yards to go with his five picks).

MIDDLETON CREDITS ENTIRE STAFF

Lamar Lovett, who coaches the receivers and defensive backs, and other assistants to head coach Kent Middleton were cited by Middleton as essential for the state championship.

Jeff Drescher is the defensive coordinator, Brent Bartz the offensive coordinator and Calvin Knox the special teams coordinator.

Two assistants completed their first season at Pusch Ridge who were previously with Salpointe — offensive and defensive line coach Gary Weiss and quarterbacks/offensive assistant Scott Mohr.

“All of our coaches and all of our coordinators have done a great job,” Middleton said. “Drescher is our D coordinator and he does an outstanding job, he really does. He’s done an outstanding job in the four years he’s been with us.

“(Bartz) is meticulous, sticks with it … very, very organized. Calvin Knox, our special teams coordinator — you can see the special teams, we were lights out in special teams.”

Tyler Nolan made field goals of 25 and 33 yards and always belted the kickoffs into the end zone, preventing a long kickoff return. He also averages more than 40 yards on his punts.

Lovett, Bartz and Knox have coached with Middleton since Middleton became the Lions’ head coach in 2020. Middleton coached for two seasons at Pusch Ridge under Jerry Harris before he was elevated to head coach by former athletic director Lonnie Tvrdy (who was invited by Middleton to be on the sidelines Saturday night).

Middleton, who did not play football in high school or college, built a wealth of knowledge about the game because of his association with legendary Mountain View coach Wayne Jones and longtime defensive coordinator Paul Schmidt.

A former baseball player at CDO under coach Roger Werbylo, Middleton received his football coaching break when he was coaching a baseball team. He coached a Dorados’ 14U baseball team in a tournament at Mountain View in 1989 when he came upon Jones.

“I went up to Wayne and asked him if there is any way I can become a coach with him,” Middleton said. “He welcomed me and that was an important development because I learned a ton about football coaching with him and Paul Schmidt.”

At that point, Middleton had just completed his accomplished hockey career with the Arizona Icecats. He gained popularity in Tucson with the Arizona Icecats as a wing under coach Leo Golembieski. He often shared front-page space in the sports section with Sean Elliott in the mid-1980s.

LIONS A TESTAMENT TO OVERCOMING ADVERSITY

Early in the season in September, the news broke that Pusch Ridge Class of 2023 standout running back Brysen Barrios, an Ed Doherty Award nominee in 2022, passed away.

The seniors on this year’s team were sophomores when Barrios rushed for more than 900 yards when the Lions reached the 3A semifinals in 2022.

One of the seniors is quarterback Jacob Newborn, who became emotional when celebrating the championship with teammates.

“We’ve gone through a lot of adversity; we’ve lost loved ones,” he said. “It’s been hard through that, but we’ve come together. We could have easily gone off on our own ways but we’ve come together.

“That was a lot of what was going through my head. The adversity, not just this year, but the year prior, the year prior, knocking on the door, knocking on the door … Finally being able to be here, do what we came to do and win it is amazing.”

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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