Marana reached the state football playoffs four years in succession from 1982-85, under Paul Schmidt and Mike Hayhurst and then it mostly went dark.
The Tigers haven’t won a state playoff game since 1983, but you could almost see this year’s 7-2 record, with a smashing 54-12 victory over Desert View on Friday, coming.
The school has a $1 million artificial turf. It has a new community entrance to the football facility. Support outside the school has grown, especially after the Tigers met Sabino for the region title a year ago. Moreover, fifth-year coach Andy Litten assembled one of the top coaching staffs in the state.
Litten’s staff includes offensive line coach Brent Bartz, a civil engineer who was on hand when Gary Minor built Ironwood Ridge’s football program from scratch. It includes Kevin Corner, one of the top players in Mountain View High history, who is now Dr. Kevin Corner, the head of the MHS college and career readiness program. It includes former UA and NFL receiver Syndric Steptoe and former Catalina Foothills head coach Scott Cortese. The MHS staff includes Jake Price, Kelly Cutright and Toby Bourguet, and they are pushing the right buttons.
“The kids and I are very lucky to have all of them around,” Litten said Saturday. “We have seen progress here for years, but it hasn’t always been with wins and losses. We just stayed on course, even through some very hard times, with nights like the game at Desert View in our minds. It’s really cool to see something you care about so much come to fruition.”
Now it gets even more difficult. The Tigers are in the 5A state playoff classification with undefeated powers Cienega and Desert Edge. Hang tight, it should be fun.
