2025 High School Football

Bernal Fitness & Performance Pigskin Portfolio: Salpointe 2-0 but has work to do

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Like any football coach worth his ilk, Salpointe’s Pat Ryden is never satisfied or content following a victory.

Despite a 2-0 start against quality Southern Arizona teams — Marana and Tucson — Ryden’s overriding message to his team following Friday’s 30-17 win over the Badgers at Gridley Stadium was to clean up their glaring mistakes.

The game was marred by penalties by both teams.

Salpointe was flagged 12 times for 135 yards, including four pass interference infractions. Tucson had 10 penalties for 75 yards.

Ryden was not in agreement with some of the calls but realizes, ‘We’ve got to focus better and not commit so many stupid penalties,” he said.

“I was a little disappointed with a few of those penalties tonight,” he added. “I don’t know of any other way to coach it.

“I’ll take some of those. Our kids are doing a great job. For whatever reason, they’re (the refs) throwing flags. … We’re back to the drawing board tomorrow. We’ve got to get better.”

Chris Chaney, a junior running back wearing No. 5, which the legendary Bijan Robinson wore for the Lancers, was a bright spot with 231 yards on 18 carries with a touchdown and Alon Deon finished with 40 yards on eight carries with two touchdowns.

Chaney gained huge chunks of yards with runs of 58, 43, 34 and 42 yards, but Salpointe also had runs of three yards or less 14 times out of their 28 carries.

“We have a lot of things we have to work on,” Ryden said. “We need to run the ball with more consistency. … They brought a lot of pressure putting a lot of guys in the box right there, but still, we’ve got to get on bodies and run the ball just more consistently.”

Salpointe’s two-quarterback system of junior Matthew Avelar and senior Rayce Alvarez has boiled down to Avelar taking practically all of the snaps against Marana and Tucson. Alvarez entered against Marana after Avelar had to get his helmet back on, and Alvarez attempted one pass against Tucson when Avelar went to the sideline to gather himself after a sack.

Avelar completed 10 of 19 passes for 126 yards with a touchdown. Seven of the connections were with junior RJ Gory, who finished with 73 receiving yards and a 24-yard catch-and-run touchdown. Gory (5-foot-8 and 165 pounds) is an Arizona recruiting target.

“We have to be able to throw the ball more consistently,” Ryden said. “We’ve got some weapons who didn’t touch the football for us tonight. We’ve got a lot to work on, a lot to fix, but it’s early in the season and we’re back to the drawing board tomorrow morning.”

Salpointe plays the rest of its slate against Phoenix-area teams, including Friday’s game at home against Scottsdale Saguaro.

CHANEY WEARING THAT BIJAN ROBINSON NUMBER WITH PRIDE

Chaney is still developing at 5-foot-11 and 212 pounds. Given this season and next to work under trainer extraordinaire Carla Garrett, big things are in store for the young running back.

Wearing the same number as Robinson with the Lancers takes on some pressure, but Chaney is ready to carry the load, literally and figuratively.

“It means a lot,” Chaney said about wearing No. 5. “I’ve got big shoes to fill. I’m just trying to succeed and make them proud (he looked toward his teammates and coaches and supporters).

When asked if Robinson knows he is wearing his old jersey number with the Lancers, Chaney said, “Maybe. Possibly. He’ll find out soon.”

TUCSON’S DEREK MESA PASSES FOR MORE THAN 300 YARDS

For most of the night, Tucson senior quarterback Derek Mesa gave Salpointe’s defensive secondary all it could handle.

Mesa attempted 42 passes and completed 25 of them for 314 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.

All four of his primary targets had at least 50 yards receiving — Malaki Cunningham (six receptions for 97 yards and two touchdowns), Noah Chanez (six for 78 yards), Ezra Spivey (five for 65 yards) and Makoa Pena (seven for 51 yards).

When Salpointe had to pressure Mesa the most at the end, with Tucson only a touchdown down in the fourth quarter, the Lancers held the Badgers to 1 of 6 in the passing game with two interceptions.

“We knew he was a good quarterback, but our whole D-line knew we had to get to the quarterback,” said tackle Noah Bahnie, who had a sack and assisted on another. “That’s what we did. We got in his face and pressured him a lot.

“He still made a lot of good throws, but other than that, we did our thing.”

GOOD STORYLINES WITH SOUTHERN ARIZONA’S UNBEATENS TO THIS POINT

Sunnyside junior QB Raymond Duarte has led his team to a 2-0 start (Gilbert Alcaraz/AllSportsTucson.com)

Southern Arizona has 12 unbeaten teams after Week 3, with 11 of them at 2-0.

Many of the 2-0 teams are programs that have struggled in recent years but are experiencing early success this season.

The 2-0 teams:

Nogales … 0-20 previous two years (playing for new coach Warren Smith)
Catalina … Outscored Santa Rita and NFL Yet 60-6 playing for alum Virgil Henderson
Catalina Foothills … First time 2-0 since 2014 (in Daniel Sainz’s return as head coach)
Cholla … Under first-year coach Roland Youngling, a Vern Friedli disciple, the Chargers are making a charge toward respectability
Mountain View … First time 2-0 in the Matt Johnson era (seventh year)
Sunnyside … Thomas Romack’s team 2-0 first time since 2013
Mica Mountain … Jay Campos’ team is on a 16-game winning streak extending to last year
Desert View … Third time 2-0 in the last five years under Robert Bonillas
Buena … Joe Thomas is 49-50 in his 11th season at Buena, 49-29 since starting 0-21
Salpointe … Lancers building promise in Ryden’s second year
Flowing Wells … Brian Hook is off to his best start in his fourth season as head coach, as the Caballeros are 2-0 for the first time since 2018.

Pusch Ridge is 3-0 under Kent Middleton, who achieved his 50th victory at the school Friday night in only his sixth season as head coach.

SAINZ’S CATALINA FOOTHILLS TEAM WINS ON EMOTIONAL NIGHT

Catalina Foothills, which beat Phoenix North Canyon 45-6 on Friday night, will play at Pusch Ridge on Thursday at 6 p.m. in a battle of unbeatens.

Daniel Sainz, returning to Catalina Foothills this season after a year away as Cienega’s offensive coordinator, will have plenty on his mind other than preparing for the defending 3A state champion Lions.

Sainz’s father-in-law Oscar Romero, a legendary Tucson High and American Legion Post 7 coach, passed away Friday from cancer.

Andy Morales of AllSportsTucson.com reported that word came that “Romero passed away sometime after all the equipment was collected, all the pompons were gathered, and all the fans were safely home” after Friday’s game.

Romero was diagnosed with non-alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver and liver cancer in March 2023, almost five years to the day when Romero retired from the Badger dugout with 488 wins to help coach his son Orlando at Adams State.

A former standout as a player, Romero was the head coach of the Badgers from 1990 to 2018. He still holds almost one-third of the program’s victories dating back to the dawn of the 20th century.

Sainz married Romero’s daughter Cassandra in 2021 and they gave Romero and his wife Jo Ann a granddaughter, Orelia Cianna. Sainz thanked those who sent prayers and warm wishes to the family this past week when the reality of life started to set with Romero placed in hospice care.

Morales reported: “We use athletics to draw our attention away from the realities of life, if only for a moment, if only for four quarters, and in that world, Sainz has the Falcons clicking with a 2-0 record for the first time in over a decade. A difficult opponent in 3A power Pusch Ridge will be waiting for the program Thursday night but that will be for another night.”

The Pick trophy is back in Douglas

Douglas’ players hoist The Pick trophy, emblematic of the mining industry in Cochise County, after beating Bisbee on Friday night (Herald-Review Media photo)

After Douglas’ three-year run as the winner in the storied Cochise County rivalry with Bisbee came to an end last season at old Warren Ballpark, The Pick trophy is back in Douglas’ hands.

Douglas beat Bisbee Pumas 25-0 in the 155th meeting between the schools Friday night in Douglas.

All of the Bulldogs’ scoring came in the first half Friday.

Douglas senior quarterback Ivan Higuera ran for two touchdowns and threw another to junior Matt Hudson. Bisbee’s defense recorded two first-half safeties.

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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