Sahuaro High School alum Jay Dobyns proudly wore a Cougar cap on the sideline in what was a festive Homecoming with a large crowd that was entertained with the 44-6 victory over Eastside rival Sabino on Friday night.
Cam Denson, one of the top athletes to ever compete in Southern Arizona while at Salpointe, approached Dobyns on the sideline for a hug before kickoff. Denson coaches wide receivers and defensive backs under Al Alexander, who coached with Dobyns on Dennis Bene’s staff when the Lancers and Denson won a state title in 2013 and advanced to two other state title games.
Dobyns, legendary for his football career at Sahuaro and Arizona, and for his work as a federal agent, mentioned he was particularly hard on Denson as his wide receivers position coach.
“Some think I was too hard on him, but I saw in him how great he could be,” Dobyns said.
Denson is now in Dobyns’ shoes as a Sahuaro assistant and trying to impose his knowledge and beliefs on the Cougars based on diligence.
Things are looking up at Sahuaro. https://t.co/ZewrmF8fn2 pic.twitter.com/ZA4JhR43Gy
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) September 27, 2025
If Friday’s performance is any indication, Alexander and his staff are reaping the benefits of their hard work and relentless attention to detail by making the Sahuaro program relevant again at 4-1 overall (matching last season’s win total already, at the midway point of the season).
“It’s my guys now; they believe. They’ve been with me since they were freshmen,” said Alexander, in his fourth season as head coach. “The culture is built and they’re the ones who started it.
“It’s all about belief and these kids work their butt off. It was awesome … it was awesome.”
After a stretch of losing five straight games late last season, Sahuaro routed Pueblo in the final game, which means the Cougars have won five of their last six games dating to last season after starting 11-18 under Alexander. He is now 16-19 in his first experience as a head coach.
Sahuaro coach Al Alexander, a longtime assistant under Dennis Bene at Salpointe, has coached the Cougars to a 4-1 start after tonight’s 44-6 win over Sabino. The four wins match what Sahuaro won all of last season when it finished 4-6. pic.twitter.com/z4IMWLCYPB
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) September 27, 2025
Beyond the wins and losses, is Sahuaro’s improvement all areas, including in the classroom.
“You can’t bypass the process,” Alexander said. “We had talent when I got here but it was broken. By not bypassing (the process), we don’t have grade problems. Our kids work their butt off.
“We don’t have all the new shiny stuff. We just believe in what we have here. That’s the awesome part of it — they believe. You saw that tonight. They strapped it up and hit people in the mouth tonight.”
Sahuaro is a program within TUSD that is managing its operations to the best of its abilities from its resources. A good bit of news is that the Cougars will have a turf field installed next summer ahead of the 2026 season, similar to what Sabino is experiencing this season. Cholla will also have a turf field for next season.
Also, with increased attendance and enhanced fundraising possibilities, the Sahuaro program will be on the rise in the years to come under Alexander.
SAHUARO EFFECTIVE IN ALL THREE PHASES
Sahuaro was efficient against a good Sabino team with its passing and running attacks, defensive pressure and coverage and with its special teams.
The Cougars rushed for 204 yards on 30 carries behind three running backs who tallied at least 40 yards — freshman Leki Sika (six rushes for 82 yards and a touchdown), senior Anakin Alexander (nine carries for 49 yards and two touchdowns) and senior Julian Perez (11 rushes for 43 yards and two touchdowns).
Alexander utilized at different times the strong and athletic Alexander (5-foot-10 and 220 pounds), Perez (5-10 and 215 pounds), and Sika (5-10 and 160, although he appears to be at least 180 pounds).
Al Alexander said Sahuaro has “nine fullbacks” who “put their head in the dirt.”
“We all know what we’ve got to do,” Anakin Alexander (no relation to the head coach) said. “We’ve got to hit them. We’ve got to make them tired. When we get our little guys in there, they can run over them, too.
“It’s just back-to-back-to-back, we all know what we’ve got to do. We’ve got a real great trio … quadruple.”
Anakin Alexander (no relation to Sahuaro coach Al Alexander) was part of a potent running game that tallied 204 yards in the 44-6 win over rival Sabino. He rushed nine times for 49 yards with a couple of TDs and also was part of a defense as linebacker that limited Sabino to 92… pic.twitter.com/VP8EddvrZ0
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) September 27, 2025
Senior Isaac Lugo (5-7 and 175) is another quality running back in that stable.
The two-quarterback system of senior Mariano Blackwell playing in the first half and senior Trevor Eagerton behind center in the second half was also efficient.
Blackwell completed all four of his pass attempts for 58 yards, including a 17-yard touchdown to senior Elisha Rodgers.
Eagerton completed two of his three attempts for 6 yards (he did not have to pass as much with Sahuaro taking a 28-6 lead two minutes into the second half after 2-yard score by Anakin Alexander. The 6-foot, 210-pound Eagerton also had a 21-yard rush.
“We did it the last two weeks,” Alexander said about playing Blackwell and Eagerton. “I think it worked out tonight. Both of them are seniors, so you try to get them on the field.”
Mariano Blackwell with the 17-yard TD pass to Elisha Rodgers with 8:25 left 2Q. Sahuaro now leads 14-6. https://t.co/hvksbEOelN pic.twitter.com/kj72ueH5Bv
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) September 27, 2025
Many of the offensive players, including Anakin Alexander, play on defense. Anakin Alexander is a linebacker of the group that limited Sabino to 199 yards of total offense while intercepting three passes, and causing a fumble and recovering it.
“Every week, our coaching staff sets us up amazingly,” Anakin Alexander said. “Our defense, we’ve all been together, we all know what to do. We come hard, we come fast, we get them out, and we get our offense out there to score some points.”
Three of the turnovers resulted in 17 points for the Cougars.
A 26-yard field goal by senior Jeremiah Bonds with 4:56 left in the third quarter put Sahuaro ahead 31-6.
Bonds also routinely kicked the ball into the end zone, preventing Sabino from a return.
Perez showed his versatility by kicking extra points.
“Every phase of the game, I thought we played very well,” Al Alexander said. “You always see some stuff you can fix, but we’ve got big boys. We can grind it out a little bit. That’s what we showed today up front. We beat them up front.”
FIRST POSSESSION SIGN OF THINGS TO COME
Sabino (3-3) was unsuccessful on an opening onside-kick attempt, and Sahuaro proceeded to go 46 yards, running the ball seven straight times until reaching the end zone. Perez rushed four times for 39 yards, including a 10-yard touchdown run. Lugo rushed three times for nine yards.
Sabino responded with a 14-play, 80-yard drive that took 6:26 off the clock.
Sophomore quarterback Bodhi Sanford culminated the possession with a 5-yard touchdown pass to senior Zachari Haley, who rushed 10 times for 30 yards in the drive.
Sahuaro’s defense tightened from there and kept Sabino scoreless. The Sabercats did not get into the red zone the rest of the way, with two of their possessions ending at the Sahuaro 31 because of interceptions.
SAHUARO TURNS TIDE IN RIVALRY WITH SABINO
Sabino leads the overall series against Sahuaro 33-19 but the Cougars have won the last two meetings after losing four consecutive years to the Sabercats.
The series was tied at 13 wins apiece from 1974-99. The Cougars have struggled this century against the Sabercats with a 6-20 record.
Sahuaro has won consecutive games in the series for the first time since 2018 and 2019. The previous time that happened was way back in 1988 and 1991.
FLOWING WELLS, DESERT VIEW AND ST. DAVID REMAIN UNBEATEN
Flowing Wells beat Carl Hayden 63-0 at home and Desert View overpowered visiting Maricopa 37-0, enabling both 5A Southern teams to start 5-0. St. David is 6-0 after beating visiting Superior 46-6.
Pusch Ridge (5-1) had its school-record 17-game winning streak snapped with a 28-14 loss at Thatcher. The Lions go on the road again Friday with a game against rival Sabino.
From AllSportsTucson.com’s Andy Morales:
Flowing Wells beat a depleted Carl Hayden 63-0 at home Friday night to improve to 5-0. The victory was impressive but questions still remain on how good the Caballeros are midway through the season with 5A Southern Region play starting next week.
The Caballeros are 5-0 for the first time in a decade and the 63-0 victory margin is the fourth largest in program history with a 70-0 win over Douglas in 1994 and a 70-0 win over Nogales last year being the greatest. Incidentally, the Caballeros will visit Nogales (2-2) next week for a shot at a 6-0 record.
Hayden (1-3) came in missing a bit over a dozen players from a reported altercation from last week, and the Flowing Wells defense was relentless, giving up only 45 yards of offense on 46 plays. By contrast, Caballero senior running back Jayden Simmons ended the night with 103 yards rushing on five carries and four touchdowns and fellow senior Quinn Van had 50 yards rushing on three carries and a score.
The Caballeros had 21 points in the first seven minutes of the game and 28 a few seconds into the second quarter. It’s understandable that human nature takes over at that point and technique starts to slip but Flowing Wells head coach Brian Hook sees the need for improvement for next week.
“We need to block better, tackle better,” Hook explained. “That’s always a common theme. That’s usually the equation.”
Flowing Wells went 5-5 last year with the team beating Nogales 70-0 and Maricopa 44-20 to end the season. That streak has carried over to this year and Hook had a feeling this season was going to be special.
“I felt pretty good about the ending to the season last year,” Hook added. “We have a good group of kids, our senior group, they were my first group of freshmen. They bought into the program all along. Great program guys. Is the first time I’ve had a group of guys really displaying leadership, take ownership. They hold other kids accountable and it’s a really fun group.”
CHOLLA FORFEITS GAME AT AMPHI AFTER BRAWL
According to various reports, Cholla was forced to forfeit its game at Amphi after bench players were ejected during a brawl on the field, leaving the Chargers without enough players to complete the game. Cholla led 14-6 with about 6 minutes remaining in the first half when the incident occurred.
Cholla is coached by Amphi graduate Roland Youngling, who was an assistant under Jorge Mendivil over the last decade at the school. He applied at Cholla after Mendivil’s retirement following last season.
Both teams are now 2-3.
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.
Recommended for you
