Michael Lev: Sabino HS football has title hopes, but Sabercats’ current focus is going 1-0

Head coach Ryan McBrayer gathered his team on the east end of the Sabino High School football field after a recent scrimmage. But his address would have to wait.

One of the Sabercats, junior Isaiah Robertson, got banged up during the scrimmage against Surprise Paradise Honors. McBrayer wouldn’t begin his speech until Robertson, who was on crutches, hobbled over.

He wasn’t the only player missing from the huddle. Two of Robertson’s teammates waited with him until he was ready to move. They then walked alongside him, like bodyguards.

“Our goal is to never leave a man behind,” senior two-way lineman Sayid Talbert said. “If one falls, we pick him up. If another falls, we pick him up. Because I know that if I was to fall, they'll pick me up. So it's like, ‘We got your back, you got my back.’”

Both Talbert and senior quarterback Cameron Hackworth described the team’s bond as a “brotherhood.” Sabino’s camaraderie, forged through countless hours together on and off the field, is one of many reasons McBrayer and his players are brimming with optimism about the 2023 season, which kicks off at 7 p.m. Friday at Coolidge.

They aren’t the only ones.

The Arizona Republic ranked Sabino No. 1 in its preseason top 10 in the 3A division. The Republic’s longtime preps reporter, Richard Obert, went so far as to say: “This has championship season written all over it for the Sabercats.”

What’s surprising, at least to me, is that they don’t refrain from talking about it. Some coaches forbid their players from making any such bold proclamations. McBrayer isn’t one of them.

“There are expectations,” said McBrayer, who’s entering his seventh season as Sabino’s head coach. “There are expectations of them, and they hear those expectations at practice. They hear the expectations in the classroom. They hear the expectations in the weight room.

“It's not just, ‘Let's roll the ball out and hope for the best.’ We expect them to show up, we expect them to put in work, we expect them to make plays. They’ve earned that right, to make those plays, because of the work that they put in.

“So the expectations are great of our young men.”

Sabino posted an 8-4 record last season, going 7-3 during the regular season and splitting a pair of playoff games. Talbert said he tries not to think about Sabino’s 42-28 season-ending loss to Mesa Eastmark. But he also knows this: “I don’t want to feel that again.”

“We know what we need to do next time we're in that situation,” Talbert said. “We're gonna conquer it and go right through it.”

Sabino brings back a ton of quality experience. It starts with Hackworth, the diminutive but prolific quarterback who has passed for 4,894 yards and 57 touchdowns over the past two seasons — while also rushing for 1,335 yards and 17 scores.

It includes brothers Savaughn and Shamar Berryhill, who each totaled over 900 receiving yards and double-digit touchdowns last season. They are the younger siblings of former Arizona standout Stanley Berryhill III. Their younger brother, Romeo, is likely to start at cornerback as a true freshman.

It also includes Mason Cade, Sabino’s leading rusher a year ago (774 yards); and Jack Skaggs, its leading tackler (73 stops).

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Those six and many others helped Sabino dominate the scrimmage against Paradise Honors. No official score was kept, but Hackworth estimated the Sabercats had nine touchdowns while the Panthers had three. I caught the entire second half, during which Savaughn and Shamar Berryhill each had multiple scores.

Paradise Honors is no slouch, by the way; the Panthers went 9-2 last season and return quarterback Gage Baker, who threw for 3,837 yards and 54 touchdowns as a junior. They’re ranked No. 2 in the Republic’s Top 10.

“Tonight was an example of one of those steppingstones to get to the point where we want to go,” Hackworth said. “They’re a good team, playoff contenders. They're talking about a state championship too. We came out here, and I feel like we dominated.”

McBrayer was proud of his team afterward but far from satisfied. I was standing close enough to the huddle to hear his entire speech. I won’t reveal what was said; that’s between the coach and his players. But I can tell you one of the prevalent themes: Going 1-0.

That’s what’s fascinating about this particular Sabino team. The Sabercats know they have a real shot at winning a state title, which would be their first since 1998; they were runners-up in 1999, 2005, ’06, ’09 and ’16.

But they also understand that they have to take it step by step, practice by practice, day by day, minute by minute. To drive that point home, the Sabino High weight room features a digital clock counting down the seconds to the opening kickoff. It’s also displayed on the Sabino High School Football website.

“I feel like we have a great chance of winning (the state title),” Talbert said. “But we gotta get through the first game. It starts with that.”

“All we can control is that 1-0 and keeping our guys focused,” McBrayer added. “We've got Coolidge on the clock.”

McBrayer is a Sabercat through and through. He played at Sabino under predecessor and mentor Jay Campos. McBrayer sold insurance before being talked into returning to his alma mater. He was the defensive coordinator before succeeding Campos in February 2017.

McBrayer knows how much it would mean to the Sabino community to capture the school’s first football crown in 25 years. But he sees that possibility, which is still off in the distance, as something even bigger.

“There’s a lot of history at this school,” McBrayer said. “There’s state championships. There’s NFL players. There are guys that hold state records. There’s a lot of people with a lot of pride in the purple and gold.

“But it’s been a while since we held up a gold ball. That’d be very exciting, not only for us and our community but the entire city of Tucson, Arizona.

“Southern Arizona is tired of playing the little brother. We’d love to represent the city, our community, our admin, our fans, our parents and all the past great players.

“We have high hopes. We have high expectations. And we’re hoping we can accomplish a lot of great things this season.”

Tucson hasn’t won a football state championship since Pusch Ridge in 2015.

Asking the ’23 Sabino Sabercats to end that skid might seem unfair.

They don’t mind carrying that weight.