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 5A SONORAN GAMES TO WATCH THIS SEASON FOR EACH PROGRAM. CATCH UP WITH ALL THE POSTS BY CLICKING HERE.
RELATED: 5A SONORAN SCHEDULES AND RETURNING 5A ALL-CONFERENCE AND ALL-REGION SELECTIONS
5A SONORAN
BUENA
- Oct. 3, Mesa Mountain View at home. The Colts, playing arguably the toughest schedule in the history of the program, have many games to circle on the calendar, but the game against the Toros is extra special. The 6A power, coached by former Marana coach Andy Litten, was 12-2 last season with a loss in the 6A state championship to Peoria Centennial. The game is in the midst of a murderer’s row of games for the Colts — hosting ALA-Gilbert North on Sept. 12 and Tucson on Sept. 19, at Marana on Sept. 26, and then the game against Mountain View.
CANYON DEL ORO
- Sept. 5, Mica Mountain at home. These programs were developing one of the most competitive rivalries at the 4A level in the state before CDO left the 4A Kino for the 5A Sonoran during last spring’s realignment of programs. The two games they played in the 2023 season were epic when the Dorados went unbeaten en route to a state title. The Dorados prevailed 17-15 in the regular season and then 23-7 in the 4A state semifinals. Mica Mountain avenged those losses with a 50-6 triumph last season on its way to a 14-0 championship season. Great to see the coaches and administrators continue to schedule a non-region game between the two schools.
CASA GRANDE
- Oct. 10, at Marana. This game will feature two of the top quarterbacks in the state — Marana’s Colten Meyer and Casa Grande’s Luke Keeton. It will be toward the end of the regular season, so the stakes will likely be high. Casa Grande, which won the 4A state title only four years ago, is trying to get back into being an upper-echelon program after going 17-15 the last three seasons. Playing well and upsetting Marana can go a long way toward that. Casa Grande lost 45-0 at Marana last season.
IRONWOOD RIDGE
- Oct. 3, Marana at home. The Nighthawks and Tigers are not too far from each other on the northwest side, which adds to a potential rivalry with both now in the 5A Sonoran. Ironwood Ridge leads the series 10-2 but the programs have not played each other since 2021. Ironwood Ridge also has a returning talented quarterback — Jaiden Martinez — who will duel against Meyer of Marana.
MARANA
- Aug. 29, at Salpointe. In the season opener, the Tigers have the opportunity to become the first Southern Arizona team since Cienega in 2016 and 2017 to win consecutive games against Salpointe. The Tigers made a dramatic comeback in the fourth quarter last season to upset the Lancers 27-24 at home. The victory snapped Salpointe’s 27-game winning streak against Southern Arizona schools. When Cienega beat Salpointe in 2016 and 2017 it was coached by Pat Nugent with Jamarye Joiner at quarterback.
TUCSON
- Sept. 5, Salpointe at home. Because of the high enrollment and tradition of Tucson High and the winning background of Salpointe, these schools should be marquee programs in Southern Arizona from year to year. They will meet for the first time since 2019, when Bijan Robinson and Lathan Ransom led a 62-0 rout of the Badgers. Tucson High coach Zach Neveleff is a Salpointe graduate who was a valuable running backs coach there under Dennis Bene, coaching the likes of Robinson, Mario Padilla, David Cordero, Anthony Wilhite, Elias Bettis Roberts and Dailan Goodman.
VISTA GRANDE
- Oct. 24, at Casa Grande. The Casa Grande schools will meet as regional opponents for the first time after Vista Grande was elevated to 5A during the realignment. It is also the first meeting of the schools since the COVID-19-affected season of 2020. Vista Grande’s last win in the series was in the 2015 season opener. This year’s game falls in the second-to-last game of the regular season, which adds to the importance of the game as a playoff push for each program.
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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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