Marana High put out a call to the community to help save its home football season. That community answered — and it included a potentially surprising group of teenagers.
The monsoon storm on Aug. 17 wreaked havoc on the MHS campus. It stranded kids at school, knocked over trees, cacti and fences — and flooded the football stadium.
Installation of new artificial turf was nearly finished. But the weather event left the field in shambles. Marana officials put out a call to help clean up the field on the afternoon of Aug. 18, and hundreds showed up to help.
A storm on Aug. 17 proved especially damaging to the Marana High School campus. Damage was extensive; a new turf is on order, and Marana’s first four games are now on the road.
“It meant a lot,” Marana senior quarterback Jason Wood said. “Without them, I feel like I wouldn’t have a home game my senior year.
“Everyone would be sad if we didn’t,” he added, “so I’m thankful for everyone coming out.”
Part of that everyone included players from Salpointe Catholic — the same team Marana would end up playing just days later in both teams’ season opener at SC — driving over to help work on Marana’s field.
Marana football coach Phillip Steward and his staff coach up their team during a game last October against Phoenix Sunnyslope. After the Tigers' 2023 season opener had to be moved from Marana to Salpointe after a weather event damaged MHS' new turf, Steward was impressed by the turnout of Tiger fans to the now-road game. “Family, family, family. One big thing; one big family."
The host Lancers ended up winning Friday’s matchup, 35-14. But it was the Tigers’ supporters who filled out not only the visitor stands, but also lined the fence around that side of the field on Salpointe’s campus.
“I think it was great, man. The one thing I do preach is here is ‘family,’” Marana head coach Phillip Steward said. “Family, family, family. One big thing; one big family. And if we want to go win a state championship, it’s gonna take all of us.
“As you see (Friday) night we had a good crowd that traveled because they wanna see us do good and that’s the one thing that I love, it brings tears to my eyes, seeing everybody come together for the greater good.”
Salpointe coach Eric Rogers said helping Marana was “a little bigger than football right now,” even with that first game against each other imminent.
“They couldn’t undo the piles with tractors, they needed bodies,” said Salpointe head coach Eric Rogers. “I had just heard about it on that Friday, I talked to our administration: ‘Is it OK if we skip practice tonight and go help them out?”
Salpointe Catholic Head Coach Eric Rogers reacts to a Lancer touchdown during a game last October.
Rogers’ wife, Brandy, saw the Facebook post asking for help. She follows them because their niece, Margarita Westerman, is a junior on their dance team.
Marana athletic director Rob Villanueva said the padding under the turf had been laid out, and the field was almost ready to go when the storm hit.
“It just threw everything everywhere,” Villanueva said. “A lot of padding was out into the desert, into our baseball field. The storm was pretty bad. It knocked down fences to our baseball field. Our softball dugout was torn out as well, one of our JV softball fields — basically gone, blown away. It hit the entire school. It’s like it just concentrated on the school.”
In 2017, Tucson High had to play its home games at Kino Sports Complex or Rincon after the Badgers’ field was flooded. Last season, Sunnyside played its home games at Kino, Tucson High or Desert View; Flowing Wells and Desert View have also missed home games recently due to field installation delays.
After the assessment at Marana, the turf was not salvageable. Villanueva said new turf has been ordered and will take a couple more weeks to produce, then three to five days to transport to Marana. It is covered by insurance.
Marana’s Dezmen Roebuck (1) (pictured evading Phoenix Sunnyslope defenders during a matchup last October) and his Tiger teammates will be road warriors for much of the 2023 season. Weather damage to MHS’ new turf has Marana without a home field for at least the first four weeks of 2023, and six of the first seven. Roebuck caught 11 passes for 145 yards in Marana’s 35-14 loss to Salpointe last week.
MHS is hoping to have it in and ready for the Tigers’ Sept. 22 game against Canyon del Oro.
That means Marana’s game this Friday against Tucson High at 7 p.m. is now a road game. The Tigers’ Sept. 15 game against Mountain View will also be on the road, Villanueva said.
Marana’s first-ever girls varsity flag football game, scheduled for Tuesday of this week, has also been moved to Casa Grande as a result.
Steward did note the school has enough fields to use for practice, even with the new flag football team.
As it stands, Marana’s boys football team will open the season with four straight road games, and away from home for six of its first seven.
Although the Friday community work was initially to try and save the turf, Villanueva said it was worth it because they had to unroll it and untangle it, saving the crew 7-10 days.
“In the bigger picture, it brought the community together,” Villanueva said. “It showed what a strong heart the Marana community has for the school. We were super touched by that. The Salpointe kids came out as well. Sometimes it’s about life, it’s not only about football.”
— Star reporter Michael Lev contributed to this report
VIDEO: Marana's special teams unit teams up to block a Salpointe field goal try, but the Tigers still fell to the Lancers 35-14 on Friday, Aug. 25, 2023. Video by James Kelley/Special to the Arizona Daily Star
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