Gridiron Guide: Coach hopes to pack Catalina's stadium
The grandstands at Catalina High School, 3645 E Pima Street in Tucson, AZ. Photo taken Tuesday, August 4, 2015. Photo by Ron Medvescek / Arizona Daily Star.
School: Catalina
Name: Nicholson Stadium
Address: 3645 E. Pima St.
Opened: 1955
The lowdown: The venue is a hidden gem, the way first-year coach Zach Davila looks at it. Everything the team needs — from locker rooms to coaches’ offices — is within the cement stadium, just a few steps from the natural grass field. The interior has been upgraded with new paint and motivational signs since Davila took over last spring.
“This place has great bones,” Davila said. “We’ve been doing some touch-ups here and there, but we want to keep it as it’s been.”
Don’t miss: The sheer size of the stadium. Davila, a 25-year old Cienega product, is eager to create a student section and hopefully create a home-field advantage. Catalina has never hosted a postseason game, though the spacious stadium has been used as a neutral-site field multiple times.
Biggest game: The Trojans secured their first winning season in almost three decades with a 55-0 victory against Desert View on senior night in 2002. “We finally have got the monkey off out back,” coach Shawn Wasson said after the game. “They can’t call us losers any more.” Phillip Pickett rushed for 201 yards and three scores on 15 carries, and fellow senior Chuck Cole scored four touchdowns. Catalina won again the following week at Pueblo to finish the season 7-4 but did not qualify for the postseason.
Performance for the ages: Ray Morales rushed for a whopping 308 yards and four touchdowns in a 63-15 win against Rio Rico in 2009, the one and only time Catalina has reached the state playoffs. Morales had just 12 carries and scored on runs of 59, 24, 52 and 21 yards as the Trojans snapped a three-game losing streak and improved to 3-3. Catalina finished 5-5 and, thanks to some outside help, earned the No. 16 seed in the 4A-II state playoffs.
Quotable: “When I set foot in it, it opened my eyes. We could have this place rocking; it can hold a lot of people, and I think it made me want to work harder to fill these stands.” – Davila
Daniel Gaona
