Although recruiting is frowned upon at the high school level, Andrada Polytechnic tapped into a local resource to launch its boy basketball program.
They recruited the boys playing on the school’s outdoor basketball courts.
“Basically we just took those boys that play outside in the outdoor courts and were like, ‘Hey, you can play, you wanna join?’ and that’s basically how we started our program,” said Andrada Poly head basketball coach Omar Gomez.
After a couple years of playing JV, Andrada Poly made its basketball debut at the varsity level this season.
“It’s just really cool to see it, just the progress of trying to build something from the start,” said Andrada Poly senior guard Gavin Staugler. “So, it’s interesting to see how our program works and adjusts along the way.”
Andrada Poly, located in the Vail School District, is different from Cienega or Mica Mountain. Andrada Poly offers college credit and students learn things like drawing blood, building robots and mixing music with its Career and Technical Education program.
Andrada Polytechnic’s head coach Omar Gomez gathers the Mavericks before they get into their warm-ups for a game against Pusch Ridge Christian Academy on Jan. 29, 2025. The Maverick program is in its first year of competition.
Andrada Poly opened in 2012 without athletic programs, unlike fellow Vail school Mica Mountain, which opened in 2020 with a strong athletic program.
“Compared to the district, we’re not really considered an athletic school,” Gomez said. “We’re more of a CTE school, so that’s a pathway school, so every kid that goes to our school gets a certification of some kind in some trade, so being (automotive), that being MA, which is a medical assistant and so on.
“That’s their main focus, just to get kids that wanna play is a big thing for our school, spirit is a little different.”
Instead of traditional school spirit, Andrada Poly has Pathway Olympics where each CTE program competes against each other in events that Gomez, a Spanish teacher, likened to “Monsters University” or “Revenge of the Nerds.”
But in the 2020s Andrada Poly added varsity sports, first soccer and cross country, then volleyball and basketball.
“So, we’re not a sports school in any way and now we’re starting to become this, so we’re trying to grow,” Gomez said. “Everybody can choose where they go since we have four high schools, we’re the last choice when it comes to athletics, so just to get them to show up and play is a big moment and it’s pretty amazing.”
Andrada Polytechnic’s Chasen Lewellyn (23) gets off a short range jumper in the fourth quarter against Pusch Ridge on Jan. 29, 2025.
Since they don’t have a gym, the Mavericks practice and play their home games at Corona Foothills Middle School, which is about five miles south of Andrada Poly along Houghton Road. To get a gym they would need money from a bonds election which isn’t happening anytime soon.
“We’re very, very grateful to have this middle school, Corona Foothills, open up their doors to us and letting us play here and we’re super, super lucky to have that,” Gomez said.
On Jan. 14 Andrada Poly hosted Patagonia Union in their first home game senior night. Since Corona Foothills doesn’t have a shot clock the Mavericks have to play almost exclusively road games, but in the case of Patagonia Union an exception could be made since 1A schools like Patagonia don’t necessarily require a shot clock.
“It’s a relief, we’ve been traveling two hours almost every other game, it’s insane,” Staugler said.
Sophomore guard Jonathan Angal led the way with 10 points and junior center/power forward Chasen Lewellyn had 8 points and Staugler 7 points against Patagonia. Andrada lost 65-40 but the Mavericks were excited to play in front of home fans.
“It felt great,” said Andrada Poly senior forward/center Hugh Sikubwabo. “We’ve been waiting three years for this, for the seniors, it was just great to have a home crowd, you know, we’re usually playing away, hours away, so it was a great feeling.”
Gomez, who said they never thought they would get a home game, thanked Patagonia for coming.
“This is the first time we’ve had a crowd that cheers for us,” Gomez said, laughing. “Usually we get the hecklers.”
Andrada Poly debuted in the 3A South, currently holding a 1-18 record. Its first win came against San Simon, 55-39, at the Small School Boyd Baker Tip-Off in November.
“They play hard, they wanna compete, like anytime we lose, we’ve lost quite a bit, I tell them ‘Keep your head high’ and it’s like, ‘It hurts, it hurts coach,’” Gomez said. “It’s like, ‘I know it hurts, it’s like it’s a growing thing,’ we’re gonna go through our growing pains, but we are getting better, so the main thing is that they see the growth, too, and they do and they tell me like ‘Check it out, here’s our stats, we’re doing a lot better on this, we’re doing a lot better on that,’ but we’re still gonna work on that.”
Pusch Ridge’s Ben Lambe (30) puts a stop to Andrada Polytechnic’s Jonathan Angal’s (4) running jumper in the second quarter of their game at PRCA Jan. 29, 2025.
The school wanted to launch a girls team, too, but four players quit right before the season started.
Previously, Andrada Poly, enrollment of 729, sent its students interested in playing sports to compete for Empire, 895 enrollment, but the AIA’s policies changed.
In TUSD, Rincon and University share a campus and compete together, but AIA changed its policy to count Andrada Poly and Empire to be like Rincon/University.
“The AIA started combining both populations, so when they combine it, we actually have a bigger population than Empire so when that happens, it would be a 5A school,” Gomez said. “So Empire said ‘No, we’re not gonna be able to compete at the 5A level, you guys gotta do your own thing,’ so that’s one of the other reasons we actually didn’t have sports for a couple of years and then we just decided that to go ahead and start it.”
The Mavericks close out the season with games at Sabino on Tuesday and Palo Verde on Thursday.
