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Top Southern Arizona sports stories of 2025: August

By Javier Morales

Posted on December 30, 2025

Top Southern Arizona sports stories of 2025:

Brent Brennan celebrates on the sideline during the win over Baylor

Arizona Athletics

Arizona Football Opens With a Win: The Wildcats got off on a positive start in the second year of the Brent Brennan Era with a 40-6 win over Hawaii in the season opener Aug. 30 at Arizona Stadium. Noah Fifita threw a touchdown pass and ran for another and the defense forced five turnovers.

High School Sports

Salpointe Coach Kelly Pierce Passes Away at 44: The sad news of Pierce’s passing due to health reasons on Aug. 1 engulfed Southern Arizona because of her popularity and personality. The former FC Tucson Women’s player and head coach was a Class of 1999 graduate of Salpointe who won two state titles as a player and coached the Lancers to six championships, including in March.

As much as I already miss Kelly, I know there are others much closer to her that will be reminded daily, if not hourly, of the pain of her loss. The weakness of our humanity makes it impossible for me to relieve that pain. The strength of our humanity gives me the ability to try.… https://t.co/rBScmt44lj pic.twitter.com/br3n1HVNcY

— Andy Morales (@AndyMorales8) August 2, 2025

Salpointe and Southern Arizona Mourn Loss of Salpointe Coach Jim Flannery: Longtime boys basketball coach and golf coach at Salpointe, Jim Flannery, passed away at 76 years old on Aug. 31. He won two state golf titles and three region titles in basketball. He was also a fixture at the school, attending all sporting events up until a few days before his death after fighting an illness.
Jay Campos Wins First Game in Return to Head Coaching: The previous game in which Campos was a head coach was in 2016, when Sabino lost to ALA-Queen Creek in the 3A state championship game at Scottsdale Chaparral High School. Arizona-bound Drew Dixon was his senior quarterback. The Sabercats came up short for the fourth time in a state title game under Campos, who established himself as one of the top coaches in the state over his 14-year run at Sabino. His record with the Sabercats was a phenomenal 133-35. Nine years later, the victory total became 134 following Mica Mountain’s convincing 41-8 victory over visiting San Tan Valley Poston Butte on Aug. 28 in his return to the sideline. “It’s kind of liking riding a bike, I guess,” he said. “Once you get back on, your muscle memory kicks in.” Campos took over for legendary Pat Nugent, who resigned after leading the Thunderbolts to a 14-0 record and 2024 state title in the program’s fourth full varsity season.
Legendary wrestling and football coach Tom Pierson Passes Away: Pierson, who was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2017, and is also in the Sahuaro High School Hall of Fame and Pima County Sports Hall of Fame, passed away because of health reasons at the age of 77. Pierson also became an avid bicyclist and loved riding in the Tucson area.

Other Developments

IFL National Championship Comes to Tucson: Tucson hosted the Indoor Football League (IFL) National Championship game for the first time on Aug. 23, bringing the league’s top two teams to the city for the title match. The Vegas Knight Hawks topped the Green Bay Blizzard in a 64-61 thriller in front of 3,251 fans at the Tucson Convention Center. Former Arizona quarterback Jayden de Laura earned game MVP honors after leading the Knight Hawks to victory.
The Tucson Saquaros Win Another Championship: The Saguaros won their third Pecos League title since 2022 with an 11-7 win over the San Rafael (Calif.) Pacifics 11-7 the final game of the best-of-three championship series in front of nearly 1,000 boisterous and rowdy fans at Kino Stadium on Aug. 11. Tucson manager Sean McNeill led his team to those three titles and a 200-76 record since 2020. Tucson won 20 of its last 21 games this season to finish 49-10.
Three Tucson High Grads Earn Nike RBI World Series Senior Championship: The D-backs Nike RBI Senior Baseball (18U) team — behind the pitching and hitting of Tucson High Class of 2025 standout Juan Hernandez — earned the Nike RBI World Series seniors championship with a 5-4 walk-off win in the bottom of the seventh over Indy Nike RBI on Aug. 8 at Vero Beach, Fla. The D-backs are the first team to go unbeaten (10-0) in the regional competition and World Series. Hernandez, who is headed to Pima College, was selected the MVP of the event.