ALLSPORTSTUCSON.COM CONTINUES ITS 50 POSTS FOR THE 50-DAY COUNTDOWN TO THE 2025 SEASON THAT STARTS AUG. 22 FOR SOME SCHOOLS WITH A LOOK AT SALPOINTE’S SCHEDULE WITHIN THE 6A SOUTHERN. CATCH UP WITH ALL THE POSTS BY CLICKING HERE.
The realignment of football programs going into this school year includes Salpointe shifting from the 6A Central to the 6A Southern.
The Lancers’ region foes in the previous two seasons included Phoenix Desert Vista, Tempe Corona del Sol, Phoenix Mountain Pointe and Phoenix Brophy Prep.
Their new 6A Southern opponents are Mesa, Chandler Basha, Mesa Westwood and Gilbert Perry.
SALPOINTE/6A SOUTHERN SCHEDULING NOTES:
— Unlike 4A and 5A teams, Salpointe will have a bye week in its schedule. The Lancers will have a break between their Oct. 3 (Mesa at home) and Oct. 17 (at Basha) games.
— Pat Ryden, a longtime assistant who coached under the likes of John Kashner, Pat Nugent and Jim Monaco, will enter his second season at Salpointe coaching in an entirely different region than a year ago.
— Salpointe opens at home against Marana in a revenge game after the Tigers snapped the Lancers’ 27-game winning streak against teams from Southern Arizona in last year’s opener at Marana. They next host Tucson High in a rekindling of that longtime matchup that has not occurred since 2019, after the programs played 65 games beginning in the 1956 season. Salpointe leads the series 40-24-1. The schools played 61 straight seasons from 1959 to 2019. The Lancers were 25-1 in the last 26 matchups. Salpointe’s former running backs coach in the latter part of Dennis Bene’s time there — Zach Neveleff — is in his third season as Tucson High’s head coach.
— Salpointe’s four other non-region games are against Phoenix-area schools Scottsdale Saguaro (1-9 last season), Mesa Red Mountain (7-4), ALA-Queen Creek (10-2) and Phoenix Pinnacle (8-4).
— The new region opponents, Mesa (4-6), Chandler Basha (11-2), Mesa Westwood (5-5), and Gilbert Perry (6-6), went a combined 26-19 last season.
— A game of note will be at Basha on Oct. 17. The Bears include former Salpointe coach Eric Rogers on their staff as the recruiting coordinator. His son Jake Rogers, who was with the Lancers as a freshman in 2023, is a burgeoning Class of 2027 prospect at quarterback at 6-foot-2 and 185 pounds.
— Salpointe will continue its rivalry with Saguaro, scheduling a non-region game with Darius Kelly’s Sabercats. Kelly is a former Buena and Pima College standout who has also coached at Catalina Foothills. Salpointe and Saguaro have played each other seven times in the last nine years, including last year’s 28-16 victory for the Lancers at Ed Doherty Field. Salpointe is 3-5 against Sahuaro, including 1-4 in the postseason, with the lone win by forfeit in the 2020 playoffs because of COVID-19 protocol. Former Arizona quarterback BJ Denker is still listed as Saguaro’s offensive coordinator, and former Wildcat wide receiver Terrence Miller as the running backs coach.
SALPOINTE’S SCHEDULE
SALPOINTE (7-5)
Head coach: Pat Ryden (15-8, second year at Salpointe; 21-22, fourth year overall)Lancers compete in the 6A Southern. *Region game. +Playoff game.
| Date | Opponent | W/L | Sal | Opp |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8/29 | Marana | W | 20 | 18 |
| 9/5 | at Tucson | W | 30 | 17 |
| 9/12 | Saguaro | W | 34 | 31 |
| 9/19 | at Red Mountain | L | 0 | 36 |
| 9/26 | at ALA-Queen Creek | W | 21 | 17 |
| 10/3 | Mesa* | L | 14 | 23 |
| 10/17 | at Basha* | L | 7 | 58 |
| 10/24 | Westwood* | W | 34 | 30 |
| 10/31 | Perry* | L | 7 | 21 |
| 11/7 | at Pinnacle | L | 21 | 28 |
| 11/14 | at Queen Creek+ | W | 23 | 8 |
| 11/21 | at Pinnacle+ | W | 10 | 7 |
| 11/28 | at Casteel+ |
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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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