High school sports year in review: Tucson athletes, coaches had plenty to celebrate during trying year

More than a year ago, the COVID-19 pandemic changed day-to-day life for high schoolers throughout the country.

In Arizona, seasons were postponed, delayed, and then canceled. Roars from the crowd were replaced by memos from the health department.

The school year that felt like a decade is officially in the past. And while that alone is reason to celebrate, the athletic achievement of Southern Arizona coaches and athletes deserves praise. During the final month of the 2020-21 academic year alone, local teams hoisted state championship trophies in baseball, softball, beach volleyball and tennis and individual titles in tennis and track and field.

Here’s how one of the amost memorable years in the Southern Arizona sports scene unfolded during a once-in-a-century pandemic, stretching from August 2020 through May 2021:

August

Aug. 6: The Arizona Interscholastic Association announces plan to push the high school football season and other fall sports to begin in early October, after initially slating season openers for Sept. 7. Cross country and swim teams can begin practicing on Aug. 24, while golfers can return to practice on Aug. 17. Team football practices are scheduled to begin on Sept. 7.

Aug. 8: AIA announces new policies for fall sports season. Handshakes, hugs and high-fives are forbidden. Coaches, trainers and other personnel are required to wear masks at all times during competition.

Aug. 12: Salpointe Catholic quarterback Treyson Bourguet verbally commits to the Arizona Wildcats.

Aug. 14: Sahuaro offensive lineman and four-star recruit Jonah Miller opts out of his senior season to prepare for spring ball at the University of Oregon.

Aug. 21: Sahuaro girls basketball star and 2020 Gatorade Player of the Year Alyssa Brown commits to UNLV.

September

Sept. 1: Desert View quarterbacks coach Richard Cunes, 44, collapses on the field during practice and is rushed to Banner-University Medical Center South, where he is put into a medically induced coma. Cunes’ family members and doctors are unsure what caused Cunes to collapse. A GoFundMe page raises more than $11,000 to help offset Cunes’ medical expenses and recovery.

Sept. 2: Salpointe junior Logan Cole pledges to the UA’s 2022 softball recruiting class.

Sept. 2: After two hours of deliberation, the AIA Executive Board — in coordination with the Sports Medicine Advisory Committee — votes to move forward with the fall sports season.

Sept. 8: Football coaches from throughout Southern Arizona express frustration that there is not yet a schedule. “I want to compete on Oct. 3, but that may or may not happen. I guess I’ll just sit around and wait to see who we’re playing,” says Marana head coach Louie Ramirez. Southern Arizona’s two private, football-playing schools — Salpointe and Pusch Ridge Christian — begin practicing.

October

Oct. 2: Salpointe, Pusch Ridge and Sierra Vista Buena open their football seasons. Behind David Cordero’s 115 rushing yards and one touchdown, Salpointe holds off Casa Grande 29-21 to give coach Eric Rogers his first victory. Pusch Ridge running back Evan Lovett shines in the Lions’ 41-6 win over Mesa Eastmark, while Buena escapes San Tan Valley Combs with a 33-20 win.

Oct. 5: Salpointe’s football program enters a two-week quarantine after a player tests positive for the coronavirus.

Oct. 16: Cienega cancels football team meetings and practices following the Pima County Health Department’s recommendation that schools postpone all football-related activities until the county reaches 10 or fewer COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents. The county’s recommendations does not affect Salpointe and Pusch Ridge.

Oct. 17: Cienega reverses course. Principal Kim Middleton announces a “plan for continuing to move forward with our 2020-21 Cienega football season” in an email sent to families of players.

November

Nov. 3: Ironwood Ridge wins the Division II girls golf state championship at Omni Tucson National. The Nighthawks were led by Zoe Newell, Hannah Ports, Raina Ports and Celia Schrecker, all who placed in the top 12.

Nov. 5: Tucson Unified School District says football games hosted at TUSD schools will be held without any spectators in attendance, including family. The mandate affects Tucson High, Rincon/University, Santa Rita, Sabino, Sahuaro, Pueblo, Palo Verde, Cholla and Catalina.

Nov. 5: Three Tucsonans place in the top 10 of the Division II boys golf state championships at Omni Tucson National: Salpointe’s Carlos Astiazaran (third), Walden Grove’s Gabriel Escalera (eighth) and Canyon del Oro’s Beckett Carlson (ninth).

Nov. 6: Tanque Verde wins its first football game in 778 days, marking the first victory for new coach Jay Dobyns.

Nov. 12: Salpointe wins both the boys and girls Division III cross country state championships. Salpointe sophomore Kylie Wild (18:37.3) wins the girls title dramatic fashion, outlasting Queen Creek American Leadership Academy’s Evelynne Carr (18:37.5). Rio Rico’s Roshon Tinoco-Miranda places first (15:32.4) among boys.

Nov. 13: CDO defeats Ironwood Ridge in football for the first time since 2010. Dorados quarterback Montana Neustadter scores five touchdowns in the 35-6 win.

Nov. 21: Second-seeded Salpointe defeats No. 1 Scottsdale Notre Dame Prep 3-2 (25-22, 15-25, 24-26, 25-21, 15-11) to win the Class 4A girls volleyball state championship. The state title is Salpointe’s third in five years.

Nov. 25: TUSD superintendent Gabriel Trujillo pulls the plug on the districts football seasons “out of an abundance of caution and at the recommendation of the Pima County Administrator’s Office and public-health recommendations issued by the Pima County Health Department,” and other public school districts follow suit. Salpointe and Pusch Ridge continue with their seasons.

Nov. 26: Scottsdale Saguaro reports a positive coronavirus test days before its first-round Open Division playoff matchup against Salpointe, and the Lancers advance to the semifinals.

Nov. 27: Pusch Ridge dominates Wickenburg 35-6 in the 3A state football playoffs.

December

Dec. 5: Salpointe loses 58-14 to Chandler Hamilton in the Open Division semifinals. Pusch Ridge falls short at Yuma Catholic 36-20.

Dec. 14: Bourguet decommits from the UA following the firing of football coach Kevin Sumlin.

Dec. 16: Sahuaro’s Miller inks his national letter-of-intent to play for Pac-12 football power Oregon. CDO’s Stevie Rocker becomes the latest Dorados running back to sign with the UA, joining former college rushing champ Ka’Deem Carey.

Dec. 18: AIA moves start of the winter season to Jan. 18, with spring sports beginning competition on March 15.

January

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Jan. 6: Cienega’s Pat Nugent is named head coach of the new Mica Mountain football program.

Jan. 7: AIA officially adds FIFA and Madden as esports, and announces plans for students to compete against each other in the video games during the spring.

Jan. 8: The AIA Executive Board votes 5-4 to cancel the winter sports season in response to rising coronavirus cases in Pima County. Four days later, the board reverses course and rules that the season can continue.

Jan. 19: Catalina Foothills confirms center Will Menaugh will join the Arizona Wildcats as a preferred walk-on for the 2021-22 season. The 6-foot-10-inch Menaugh will attend the UA on an academic scholarship.

February

Feb. 5: Cienega hires Tucson High’s Justin Argraves as its next football coach, replacing Nugent.

Feb. 9: Tucson High’s boys soccer team remembers former coach Ismael Arce with a moment of silence before their home opener. Arce died Jan. 28 of COVID-19.

Feb. 10: Sunnyside freshman Audrey Jimenez wins her first high school wrestling match, beating her Mesa Red Mountain opponent 21-6. Jimenez, 15, is one of a handful of Tucson girls competing in a mostly male sport.

Feb. 24: Organizers announce the formation of the Southern Arizona All-Star Football Showcase, a game scheduled for the summer.

March

March 6: After a delayed and shortened winter sports season, playoff brackets are released for basketball and soccer in Southern Arizona.

March 6: Jimenez wins a state tile in the 113-pound weight class, becoming the first female wrestler from Sunnyside to claim a state crown.

March 20: Freshman Adrian Franks’ hat trick propels Salpointe to a perfect season and the 4A state title in boys soccer. The Lancers end their season with a 14-0-1 record and give coach Wolfgang Weber his eighth state title.

March 20: Catalina Foothills takes home its first-ever boys state basketball championship with 59-45 win over Peoria Centennial in 5A. Trace Comeau scores a team-high 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting. Dylan Hadley adds 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting, and Carson Peabody chips in nine points and nine rebounds.

March 20: Flowing Wells’ quest to win its first girls basketball state championship in 13 years ends in a 62-39 loss to Goodyear Millennium.

March 20: Jaya Nelson scores 23 points and Kylee Callahan adds 14, but Salpointe falls 72-60 to top-seeded Chandler Seton Catholic in the 4A girls state title game. Caballeros senior Milinda Arugellez finishes with 13 points.

March 20: Salpointe’s Trinity Morales and Anjeli DesRosier score as Lancers win 4A girls soccer title game. The Lancers defeat Prescott 2-0 to cap off a perfect 12-0-1 season.

Late-March: Local coaching legend Richard Sanchez talks with Tucson High officials about replacing Argraves as football coach. Sanchez, a state champion coach in both football and wrestling while at Sunnyside, has been running Santa Rita’s football program.

April

April 1: Salpointe names Eric Castillo its next boys basketball coach. Castillo replaces Jim Reynolds, who retired at the end of the 2021 season.

Late-April: Sanchez is announced as Tucson High’s new football coach.

April 31: Sunnyside wrestler Sebastian Robles signs with Iowa Hawkeyes. Robles won two state titles in his high school career and posted a 12-0 record his senior year.

May

May 3: Catalina Foothills’ Jared Perry defeats Phoenix Greenway’s Matthew Johanson 6-2, 6-7, 7-5 to win the Division II boys singles tennis title, and Emily Flowers blanks Scottsdale Notre Dame Prep’s Brooke Belitz 6-3, 6-0 to win the Division II girls tennis title.

May 9: Foothills’ boys and girls tennis teams win state championships. Foothills’ boys wins the Division II state title as a No. 7 seed, beating fifth-seeded Paradise Valley 5-0. The third-seeded Falcons girls top ninth-seeded Waddell Canyon View 5-0.

May 14: Salpointe’s beach volleyball team finishes caps an undefeated season with its first-ever state title. The Lancers take down Valley Christian 4-1 to win the 4A championship; Emma Hugeback and Rylen Bourguet secure the title by posting 21-13 and 21-16 wins.

May 14: Riley Nielson drives home Izzy Armijo from second base in the 15th inning, and top-seeded Sabino outlasts fourth-seeded Empire 1-0 in 15 innings. The Sabercats advance to the 3A state championship game.

May 14: Cienega falls to top-seeded Queen Creek Casteel in the 6A boys volleyball state championship match. The No. 2-seeded Bobcats entered the finals with a 20-0 record.

May 15: Sabino track and field star Eva Bruce places first in Division III in the 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash, 300-meter hurdles and long jump. Tucson-area girls sweep the top three spots in the Division III long jump, with fellow Sabercat Azariah Foster and Salpointe’s Paris Mikinski coming in second and third behind Bruce. Bruce’s performance highlights a busy week for Tucson track and field stars. Palo Verde’s Abraham Valenzuela defends his title in the 3,200 meters, setting a new personal record with his time of 9:15.09. In Division II, Catalina Foothills High’s Taylor McCue takes home first in the 1,600 and 3,200 meter events and CDO’s Ethan Seppala wins the 300-meter hurdles. In Division III, Salpointe’s Kylie Wild wins the 1,600- and 3,200-meter events.

May 17: Sabino outfielder Yesenia Romero drives in three runs as the Sabercats capture the 3A state softball title with a 4-1 win over Payson. Nielson strikes out 10 batters and throws a complete game.

May 17: Salpointe survives a late rally from Vista Grande to win 5-4, clinching the 4A state softball championship. Alyssa Aguilar belts a home run and earns the win in the circle for the Lancers, who finish the season with a perfect 24-0 record.

May 17: Salpointe’s baseball team strands 15 runners on base in a 2-1 loss to Gilbert Mesquite in the 4A state title game.

May 17: Sabino wins its second straight 3A state baseball title with 12-8 victory over Buckeye Odyssey Institute. Nathan Ortiz reaches base in all four of his plate appearances, and pitcher Tyler Welsh faces the minimum 12 batters through four innings.

May 20: Salpointe’s Brandy Kishbaugh and Andrea Owens beats CDO’s Katie Call and Morgan Harris in the Division II beach volleyball pairs semifinals, but falls to a pair from Phoenix Northwest Christian in the final.

May 24: Competing at the Arizona State Multis Meet, Bruce wins the heptathlon with a score of 4,559.

May 28: The Southern Arizona All-Star Football Showcase announces it will honor two former Tucson High standouts who recently passed away. The MVP award is named after Armando Rios, a former Badgers running back who passed away at age 51 in December. The Julian Barcelo Best Teammate Award will be given to two players and one spirit squad member. The Southern Arizona All-Star Football Showcase, a game featuring local football players as well as coaching legends Dennis Bene and Nemer Hassey, is scheduled for June 4 at 7 p.m.