The previous game in which Jay Campos was a head coach was in 2016, when Sabino lost to ALA-Queen Creek in the 3A state championship game at Scottsdale Chaparral High School.
Arizona-bound Drew Dixon was his senior quarterback.
The Sabercats came up short for the fourth time in a state title game under Campos, who established himself as one of the top coaches in the state over his 14-year run at Sabino.
His record with the Sabercats was a phenomenal 133-35.
Nine years later, the victory total is now 134.
He is 134-35 (79.4 winning percentage) following Mica Mountain’s convincing 41-8 victory Thursday night over visiting San Tan Valley Poston Butte in his return to the sideline.
“It’s kind of liking riding a bike, I guess,” he said. “Once you get back on, your muscle memory kicks in.”
Got windy with the rain about to fall. Not even that could damper Jay Campos’ night. The 41-8 win by @MicaMountainFB over Poston Butte was his first game as a head coach since 2016 at Sabino. pic.twitter.com/NIESjiOa3M
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) August 29, 2025
Campos resigned as head coach at Sabino in 2016 to concentrate on administrative duties at the school. When Mica Mountain was set to open in 2020, Campos moved there in an administrative role, overseeing interscholastic operations.
He coached the likes of Brooks Reed, Lucas Reed, Keanu Nelson, Matt Bushman, Andrew Mike, Dallas Brown, Marcus Edwards, Jeremy Timpf and Dixon while at Sabino.
He has inherited some talent at Mica Mountain, which was coached by legendary Pat Nugent to a 14-0 record and a 4A state championship last year, despite it being only the fourth full varsity season.
“Change is hard, but Campos is a great coach; he’s a winning coach,” said senior Riley Carson, who excels at punting, place-kicking, receiving and playing safety. “He knows how to win, so he came in and put us in a position to win the football game tonight.”
.@Riley_no13 caught four passes for 51 yards, including two for touchdowns, and also handled the punting and kicking duties in the Thunderbolts’ 41-8 over Poston Butte. All but one of his kickoffs went in to the end zone and beyond pic.twitter.com/voUeOjFE7D
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) August 29, 2025
As is customary for him, Campos praised others.
“We did a really good job tonight,” he said. “I am proud of the kids, proud of the coaches, proud of the community for helping us out. We’ve got more work to do.”
With the way Mica Mountain dominated Poston Butte, those words — “we’ve got work to do” — raise the eyebrows.
If the Thunderbolts improve by leaps and bounds from what they showed Thursday night, their current 15-game winning streak could extend by a few more well into the season.
The quarterback position has not skipped a beat, going from captain Jayden Thoreson to senior Jaidyn Crist, who has stepped into a leadership role with immediate results.
“I felt amazing; I can’t thank Coach Campos enough for giving me this opportunity,” said Crist, who completed 10 of 19 passes for 189 yards.
From Jayden Thoreson to Jaidyn Crist, it seemed like @MicaMountainFB did not skip a beat at quarterback in the 41-8 win over Poston Butte tonight. Crist, a senior, completed 10 of 19 pass attempts for 189 yards and four touchdowns in the first start of his high school career. pic.twitter.com/XvocXJraBk
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) August 29, 2025
Crist first showed signs of leadership in last year’s state title game, in which he purposely slid short of the goal line although he did not have a tackler in front of him to allow injured senior captain Conner Hangartner the opportunity to take the last knee out of the victory formation.
“I definitely have some big shoes to fill, coming in for Jayden Thoreson,” Crist said. “He was amazing. I can’t thank him enough for everything he’s done for me.
“The transition has been really easy, From Day One, he’s helped me.”
Crist did not throw an interception and completed four touchdown passes — two to Carson and the other two to Evan Wheeler, who played in his first organized football game. Wheeler is more of a pitching prospect in baseball who decided to give football a try this year.
Mica Mountain’s defense looked just as stout as last year under defensive coordinator Brett Darling.
Poston Butte mustered only 64 yards of total offense in the first half, when Mica Mountain mounted a 20-2 lead. The Broncos had only three first downs in the first half, two by penalty.
Mica Mountain, anchored by linebacker Broden Schmidt and defensive end Sergio Raygada, limited the Broncos to 156 yards in total offense in the game.
“Man, the defense is amazing,” Campos said. “They did a great job. I’ve been seeing it all off-season. It’s hard for us to even run a play against that defense. It gets us to play better on offense.”
Much like Nugent, Campos mixes a no-nonsense demeanor with a genuine approachable characteristic. He will chew out a player for not wearing his knee pads over his knees, and in the next minute, pat a player on the helmet and offer an encouraging word.
He is already a proven coach. His challenge now is building on what Nugent started at Mica Mountain.
His competitive nature will make that possible.
“To be honest with you, I’m pretty miserable an hour before the game,” Campos said. “I’m a little nervous, but once the game gets going, it’s a lot of fun. I look around and I do get nervous because I see all the great kids that we have on the team and the great coaches I get to coach with.
“Those nerves go away.”
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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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