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5A
TUCSON BADGERS
2021 RECORD: 1-9
- Tucson coach Richard Sanchez is coming off a 1-9 season while trying to impliment his system in his first year as the Badgers’ coach. Tucson is going to 5A from the 6A level this season. That means playing a region filled with Tucson opponents in the 5A Southern rather than competing against Phoenix teams.
- Sanchez has stated he does not mind traveling to Phoenix, however, and the Badgers will do that in their second game of the season Sept. 9 against former 6A East Valley foe Mesa Skyline. The Coyotes finished 1-9 last season with their lone win at Tucson midway through the season.
- Tucson opens the season Sept. 2 hosting Mesa Dobson, another 6A East Valley opponent last year that finished 4-5. Dobson defeated Tucson at Mesa last season.
- After a bye week, Tucson will host Phoenix South Mountain on Sept. 23. The Jaguars, coached by former Arizona great Byron Evans, visited Tucson last year as well and beat the Badgers 26-20.
- The last two non-region games are at Catalina Foothills (Sept. 30) and Sunnyside (Oct. 7). The game against the Blue Devils will be a special one because Sanchez coached that program to state titles in 2001 and 2003. He will return to Sunnyside for the first time as an opposing coach.
- The Badgers play three region games at home — Mountain View, Buena and Ironwood Ridge — and travel to Desert View and Cienega. The game against the Bobcats to end the regular season on Nov. 11 is against former Tucson High coach Justin Argraves, who left to Cienega last season after 10 years as the Badgers’ head coach.
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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 five years ago and is presently a special education teacher at Gallego Fine Arts Intermediate in the Sunnyside Unified School District.
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