Head coach Jay Campos is a lucky man.
Not only does he have a chance to ride off into the sunset on Saturday night as he embarks on life after football, he has a special envoy to lead him there.
And who else would lead the way but the offensive line?
Asked to single out one aspect of the team’s success this season as the Sabino High football team prepares to take on American Leadership Academy in the Class 3A state championship game at Scottsdale Chaparral High, Campos credited the not-so-big-boys up front and their coach, Will Kreamer.
Of all the coaching flourishes it took to get the Sabercats to where they are, perhaps none meant more than the hiring two years ago of Kreamer, already a member of the Pima County Hall of Fame. But forget Kreamer’s already lengthy résumé — what he’s done with this patchwork of undersized athletes is impressive enough.
The Sabercats are down to their fourth starting center of the season, yet the unit is holding strong, going on five weeks now as a single entity. Joey McManus, torn ACL, out. Quinn Detwiler, elbow fracture, adios. Paul Brown, torn ACL, sayonara. Now the position belongs to Daniel Miranda, the team’s former left tackle, with Francisco Oviedo sliding into the spot.
And somehow, despite that, Sabino has barely skipped a step.
“We’ve really started to mesh really well, but we’re lucky,” Kreamer said. “Most programs, you say you’re on your fourth center, you’re in a bad way.”
Campos credits Kreamer with keeping the unit afloat as the Sabercats have established enough depth to weather the storm. Some coaches put so much time, energy and effort into the starting five that by the beginning of October, it’s almost like a caste system has set in. There is the bourgeoisie first unit and then the peasant backups, only lucky enough to see the field at the tail end of a 62-point blowout.
Sabino, though, worked throughout the offseason, primarily in the weight room, to go 10-deep, Kreamer said. That the group is now about six-deep says a thing or two about attrition in the trenches.
As a unit, this iteration, with Miranda in the middle calling the shots, has been at it for a little over a month now, and has molded into a unit that at least doesn’t keep Campos up at night. In addition to Miranda and Oviedo, Sabino starts Nathan Cosmas at left guard, Francisco Gutierrez at right guard and Hayden Sauceda at right tackle.
“We’ve had the same line last five weeks that we’ve been able to solidify,” Campos said. “They’re in sync. We’re not enormous up front, but we’re quick and tenacious.”
That might be the understatement of the year in Arizona high school football.
It’s not that Sabino is small … well, no, it is.
Left to right, by weight, the Sabercats go roughly 195-235-210-215-225, a total mass of just under 1,100 pounds, or what you might see on about one half of a college offensive line. Between right tackle Sauceda — whose father, Tony, played for Kreamer at Sahuaro in the early-’90s, a testament to Kreamer’s longevity — and left tackle Oviedo, the Sabercats may have the slightest bookends left in the Arizona playoffs.
“Other teams underestimate us in a big way,” Miranda said. “I think we’re a lot quicker than most offensive lines, and the scheme really helps us. It shapes mostly around us. We cherish Coach Kreamer on the O-line. He’s one of the smartest guys you’ll ever meet, the way he schemes and calls blocks.”
Added Kreamer: “We’ve been probably the smallest line that we’ve played seen, with maybe the exception of Tanque Verde. Everyone is going to be bigger. But I’ll tell you, I’ve been coaching the offensive line for 40 years, and this is the most athletic group I’ve had. We are really blessed with that.”
He puts it bluntly: “We’re scrappers, not maulers,” and he means it.
“We take our most cerebral guys and put them on the offensive line,” Kreamer said.
Sounds pretty smart.
