2025 High School Football

Bernal Fitness & Performance Pigskin Portfolio: Catalina’s Henderson wins first game coaching alma mater

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Virgil Henderson is Catalina’s new coach, the Trojans’ third in as many seasons, but he is well-versed in what it is like to be a Trojan.

Henderson is one of the best players Catalina has produced as a star running back/defensive back, who was an all-city selection as a senior playing for Bob Reynolds as part of the Class of 1987.

“I’m humbled; times have changed since 1987,” Henderson said after Catalina’s 36-6 season-opening win at Santa Rita on Friday night. “Coming back now, over 30 some years, the halls are a little bit different, the kids are a little bit different, but I’m still passionate about trying to change the culture, trying to make these young men to become better citizens.”

The win was Catalina’s second in its last 18 games, with both wins against Santa Rita.

The Trojans suited up 18 players, with 17 eligible, after Henderson learned that one player was academically ineligible on the way to the game. He also mentioned “eight or nine” of his starters are ineligible.

“I’m dealing with first-time kids right now, first time playing, never played,” Henderson said. “We’re just trying to weather the storm and get our kids. From there, we can get more experience for these kids (who are playing), so we can finish strong.

“That’s the game plan.”

Henderson is stressing to his players their priority of “taking care of your schoolwork.”

“Schooling is first,” he said. “What you’re doing now, you’re hurting your teammates. Right now, we’re dealing with what we have to deal with and just weather the storm.”

HENDERSON IS ACCUSTOMED TO CHALLENGES

Henderson is embarking on his eighth season as a head coach following stints and Rincon/University and Cholla (Stephanie Van Latem/AllSportsTucson.com)

Henderson also tried to take on very difficult challenges at Rincon/University and Cholla. Catalina’s job is perhaps the toughest.

The Trojans have not experienced a winning season since 2004. They are 10-51 over the last seven seasons. Henderson is 18-44 overall in his eighth years as a head coach.

His background in coaching includes being on a staff with Dennis Bene at Salpointe, Matt Johnson at Ironwood Ridge and Mountain View, Gary Minor at Ironwood Ridge and Richard Sanchez at Sunnyside.

Henderson arguably is the most-liked coach among his peers because of his effervescent personality.

Henderson took the time to offer Santa Rita second-year coach Douglas Smith some encouraging words after both teams went through the handshake line. The Eagles are 0-11 in the last two seasons, and they are on a 15-game losing streak dating to 2021 (they played only two games because of a lack of players in 2022 and competed in only a junior varsity schedule in 2023).

CDO coach Scott McKee text-messaged me Friday night during the game to ask how Catalina was faring.

“Pulling for Henderson,” he mentioned.

LEVI SAMUELS SHINES

Catalina senior running back Levi Samuels opened the scoring with a 10-yard run with 5:42 left in the first quarter. That followed a 20-yard burst.

He later had a 46-yard run and a 16-yard scamper that set up Aryan Holmes’ 10-yard touchdown run with 3:30 left in the first half that gave the Trojans a 14-0 lead (after Holmes’ successful 2-point conversion run).

Holmes opened the second half with a 79-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and again was successful on the 2-point conversion run to increase the lead to 22-0 with 11:43 left in the third quarter.

Samuels capped Catalina’s next possession with a 13-yard touchdown run to increase the lead to 28-0 with 5:27 remaining in the third quarter.

Samuels finished with 116 yards on seven carries with two touchdowns.

“He’s one of those kids who has so much potential,” Henderson said. “We’ve just got to get him in shape like a lot of our kids. I’ve got a lot of kids who have worked with me all summer, working hard, and I’m so proud of them.

“Now, it’s about teaching them the football game and working — practice. … They’re used to walking on the field, taking their sweet time. That’s the thing we’re changing over there. We’ve got to practice how we play. They’re learning. It will take some time.”

Samuels is coming off a junior season in which he rushed for 957 yards on 113 carries with six touchdowns.

“I’m very happy for my team,” Samuels said after Friday night’s performance. “It’s not all about me. It’s about the linemen. We came into this game without three of our starting linemen.

“I’m just very proud of our linemen. Without them, without God, I wouldn’t be here. I’m very proud of them.”

Catalina’s last touchdown and 2-point conversion was achieved by Zyaire Nash, who scored the touchdown on a 19-yard run with 1:53 left in the third quarter. The Trojans led 36-0 at that point.

With a running clock started, Santa Rita had just enough time to score with 55 seconds left on 4-yard touchdown pass from Jayce Osborn to Omar Wright.

CATALINA’S SHIELDS DETERMINED TO SUCCEED AS FEMALE PLAYING TACKLE FOOTBALL

Catalina sophomore Jamiya Shields, playing tackle football for the first time, has the right personality and work ethic to handle the challenge of a female trying to defend her male counterparts as a cornerback.

Shields is lauded by Henderson and his coaching staff for how she has stuck with her goal of playing tackle football from the first day she reported to fall practice. She has not missed a practice yet.

“Just to have fun, have a team and feel love for everybody,” Shields said about being on the football team. “As a people, I feel genuine love. I really did it for the fun.”

Shields admitted she was nervous and had butterflies when she first stepped on the field at Santa Rita.

“You fight through it,” Shields said of those butterflies. “It’s going to be hard. You don’t know what you’re going to do. Look at the coach; he’s got you for everything.

“You’ve got to believe in yourself and have faith in yourself, have faith in God, have faith in others and your team, and you’ll win.”

Catalina does not play next week. The Trojans, a 2A Independent this season, will resume their schedule at home Sept. 5 against Phoenix NFL Yet Academy.

Santa Rita, which was led against Catalina by Omar Wright’s 70 yards on seven carries, will play at Miami on Friday.

TANQUE VERDE “GOING TO GET BETTER”

After Tanque Verde’s 47-7 loss at home against Phoenix Christian in the season opener, third-year Hawks coach Jeffrey Bollnow told our Andy Morales, ““We are going to get better. It was a collection of mistakes that put us in a hole and they are a good playoff team. Everything that could have gone wrong did and we have work to do.”

Bollnow had immediate success when he took over the program in 2023 going 9-3 with a playoff win. Tanque Verde finished 6-4 and out of the playoffs last year.

It’s a long season, and the 2A state playoffs have been expanded to 24 teams. Bollnow has a list of what his team needs to do the rest of the way, beginning with, “Everything.”

BENSON ENDS LOSING STREAK TO BISBEE IN A BIG WAY

The Benson Bobcats ended a three-game losing streak to the rival Bisbee Pumas with a 34-0 win Friday night at Warren Ballpark at Bisbee.

Bisbee played without versatile quarterback and defensive back Sebastian Lopez for the first time since the 2020 season. The four-year starter is now at Arizona Christian University. His former football and baseball teammate Bryceton Meyer, a prolific runner and tackler as a linebacker, now plays baseball for Pima College.

Benson was led by senior quarterback Dawson Judd, who threw for more than 1,200 yards with 17 touchdowns and only five interceptions last season.

“We have notes on things we really want to work on — pass sets, run blocking, and techniques to put us in better positions defensively,” Benson second-year coach Chris Rasmussen told Herald/Review Media. “As we go through this schedule and face some talented teams, it’ll come down to how well we execute the fundamentals.”

FOLLOW @JAVIERJMORALES ON TWITTER!

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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