A few days before the final home football game in Pima College history, Brandon Maddox walked into coach Jim Monaco’s office. The sophomore defensive end had scheduled surgery for a meniscus tear and was worried about missing the remainder of the season.
Monaco suggested Maddox go through with the surgery as planned. That way, the coach reasoned, he’d recover in time to transfer to a four-year school in January.
Few thought Maddox would ever play for Pima again.
Saturday, he’ll do just that.
He and the 20th-ranked Aztecs will take on No. 4 Kilgore College at the C.H.A.M.P.S. Heart of Texas Bowl in Waco, Texas. The bowl game is the second one in Pima Community College history and the final game before the program is shuttered for good. The Pima board decided in June to cut the football program, a decision that stemmed from budget cuts and the Maricopa County Community College District’s plan to do the same.
“At the end of the (regular) season, I was kind of bummed because I thought that was the end,” Maddox said.
“Just to have another opportunity to come out and show myself, as well as the team and other college coaches, that I’ve still got it. … Nothing’s really changed. I’ve gotten better throughout the season. So I’m real excited for the bowl game.”
Maddox holds scholarship offers from Indiana, Toledo and Western Kentucky. He said Vanderbilt, Boise State, UNLV and Arizona have also shown interest.
The chance to get offers of that caliber was exactly why Maddox, and his family, came to Pima in the first place.
The Maddox family has ties to Tucson that go back decades. Maddox’s father, Richard, was a captain on the UA’s 1992 “Desert Swarm” team.
Defensive lineman Brandon Maddox has offers from Indiana, Toledo and Western Kentucky. Arizona also is interested.
Maddox first came to Pima from South Carolina with his older brother, Aaron, who transferred to Colorado last December to play for the Buffaloes. Brandon’s younger brother, Christian, is a Pima cornerback.
“For (Aaron) to go to Colorado was huge,” Maddox said. “Me and Christian are on the same path, going to Power 5 (conference), Division I schools.”
Being able to play with two brothers has been special, Brandon said. He and Christian live together.
“It just made this journey so much better,” he said.
That the journey is stretching into December is somewhat of a surprise. The Aztecs lost their final two regular-season games to Snow College and Arizona Western. They haven’t played since Nov. 10.
The time off has provided much-needed time to recover for more than just Maddox. The Aztecs got banged up in their 64-17 loss at Snow in the second-to-last week of the year.
Most of the previously injured players, like Maddox, plan to play.
“We got some people healthy, some people rested,” Monaco said.
“We’re never going to be more healthy than we are right this minute. Hopefully, we can stay that way through the whole game, but right now we should be in pretty good shape.”
The Aztecs flew into Dallas and then drove two-plus hours to Temple, south of Waco, where their hotel is. Pima practiced at Baylor University on Friday in anticipation of its final game.
Sophomore wide receiver Jon Cole grew up in Dallas, so Saturday’s bowl game is somewhat of a homecoming. At least 30 of Cole’s friends and family will watch him play his final game.
Cole is expecting a hard-fought battle.
“It’s going to be a lot different atmosphere because a Texas team and an Arizona team — the two top conferences — it’s just going to be a head clash and it’s going to be a high atmosphere,” Cole said.
“That’s just what makes football great.”
In Pima’s only other bowl appearance, 2004, the Aztecs played Kilgore — and won, 10-7.
“It’s going to be a real chore, but we’re going to go out anwd give it our best shot,” Monaco said.
“We’re thrilled that they gave us the opportunity and it’s kind of neat to have it be this way, but we know they’re going to be out there looking to tear us apart.”
Regardless of what happens Saturday, the Aztecs’ final season has been an impressive one.
Pima lost its season opener, then won six consecutive games. The back-to-back losses to end the regular season cast some doubt as to whether Pima would receive a bowl bid.
An invitation from the C.H.A.M.P.S. bowl extended Pima’s season a few more weeks and is allowing the Aztecs to go out on their own terms.
“It’s just a crazy experience and a good, humble experience to know that a group of young men, to do what we did against all odds, have just have one more fighting chance in a bowl game to just make another statement and support the community and school as one,” Cole said.
