ALLSPORTSTUCSON.COM CONTINUES ITS 50 POSTS FOR THE 50-DAY COUNTDOWN TO THE 2025 SEASON THAT STARTS AUG. 22 FOR SOME SOUTHERN ARIZONA SCHOOLS WITH A LOOK AT THE TOP 4A GILA GAMES TO WATCH THIS SEASON FOR EACH PROGRAM. CATCH UP WITH ALL THE POSTS BY CLICKING HERE.
RELATED: 4A GILA SCHEDULES AND RETURNING 4A ALL-CONFERENCE AND ALL-REGION SELECTIONS.
4A GILA
CHOLLA
- Sept. 26, at Amphi. Cholla’s first-year coach Roland Youngling is a Class of 2011 Amphi alum who played under the legendary Vern Friedli. After playing at Pima College under Pat Nugent, Youngling returned to his alma mater and became a defensive and offensive line coach under Jorge Mendivil. After Mendivil retired following last season, Amphi hired Stanley Richardson from Denver and Youngling applied for the opening at Cholla. Youngling brought some of Mendivil’s former staff members with him to Cholla, including former Arizona offensive lineman David Watson Sr. and defensive coordinator Moe Espinoza.
EMPIRE
- Oct. 17, Sahuarita at home. Because of the realignment of programs in the spring, causing shifts in the scheduling, the Ravens will host the Mustangs for the second consecutive year. Sahuarita persevered last season with a 20-12 win. The Ravens will look to avenge that loss. A victory in Empire’s last home game of the season could help send the Ravens toward a region title and a potential spot in the playoffs with road games against Rincon/University and Pueblo to close the regular season.
PUEBLO
- Sept. 5, at Sunnyside. The Southside rivals will meet for the first time since 2019. The last time Pueblo played the Blue Devils (who are a 5A school) was when Brandon Sanders was the Warriors’ head coach. Sanders made a point to tell his players after the win at Sunnyside, the Warriors were the kings of the Southside because they were 4-0 at the time, with wins also against Cholla and Tucson High.
RINCON/UNIVERSITY
- Sept. 19, at Somerton. The Rangers play their first three games at home against Cibola (2-8 last year), Combs (6-4) and Palo Verde (4-6) before taking their first road trip to the new program at Somerton, which is located south of Yuma near the U.S.-Mexico border. If Rincon/University can start 2-1 or 3-0, a long road trip like that can bond the Rangers even closer together. They follow that trip a week later with a game at Douglas, at the far southeastern corner of the state. A lot of bonding time on the road in those two weeks.
RIO RICO
- Sept. 5, Nogales at home. The Hawks have turned the tables in the I-19 Rivalry matchup. After Nogales started 13-0 against Rio Rico, the Hawks have won three straight against the Apaches, including 21-7 last season at home. Rio Rico gets to host their rival again this season because of the shift in scheduling due to realignment. Two coaches in their first year at the respective schools will be introduced to the rivalry — Rio Rico’s Dominik Bonilla (formerly at Tombstone) and Nogales’ Warren Smith (background of coaching in Florida).
SAHUARITA
- Aug. 28, at Walden Grove. The rivals based in Sahuarita have met only four times, with Sahuarita holding a 3-1 advantage. The Mustangs won big against Walden Grove in the first three matchups from 2013-15. The rivalry was put on hold afterward because of excessive fan incidents between the schools in the stands. When the rivalry resumed in 2022, the Red Wolves won in a 56-7 blowout, resulting in another hiatus of the game until this season. Sahuarita, coming off a 7-3 season in Jake Allen’s first year at the school, has more confidence heading into this matchup against perennial power Walden Grove under Corey Noble (a Sahuarita alum).
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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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