Buena head coach Joe Thomas mulls over his options on the sideline during his team’s 35-20, come-from-behind win at Ironwood Ridge last Friday night.

 Kelly Presnell, Arizona Daily Star

Led by a native son, Buena High School’s football team is off to its best full-season start in years.

After a 35-20 come-from-behind victory Friday at Ironwood Ridge, head coach Joe Thomas’ Colts are 2-0. Other than the COVID-truncated 2020 season, it’s Buena’s first 2-0 start since 2003, according to azfootballarchives.com.

Now the Colts have their sights set on a return to the state tournament after a three-year absence. Last year they missed it despite going 7-3.

β€œIt was terrible, but as a head coach I know that our schedule wasn’t very strong,” Thomas said. β€œWe don’t make the schedule, (but) how do you tell your guys, β€˜Hey you won seven games but you can’t make the playoffs’?”

β€œBut that’s how it works. There were games that we lost that we shouldn’t have lost, We shouldn’t have lost the Desert View game. We needed to beat either Cienega or Marana, and we didn’t do that. So to be 2-0 now is good, and we just keep moving forward. We just gotta keep winning and the chips fall where they may, right?”

Buena's Simon-Peter Johnson (3) jumps on teammate Aliaz Dyson (5) after his catch put the Colts up 34-20 in the last minutes of the fourth quarter of their game at Ironwood Ridge last Friday.

In 2020 Buena went 2-2 playing only road games. The Colts’ last region title was 2012.

β€œ(This year), honestly, I think we can make the playoffs if we play our jobs right, all 11 on offense, all 11 on defense we could make the playoffs,” said sophomore running back and linebacker Michael Lujan, who ran the ball 12 times for 150 yards and two touchdowns in Buena’s 35-20 win at Ironwood Ridge last week.

Thomas was born in Sierra Vista and grew up in Huachuca City in a military family that had 10 kids. He played three sports at Tombstone before participating in football and track and field at Pima College; he’d go on to compete in track and field at NAU.

He said it’s great coaching at Buena, where he is also dean of students.

β€œIt’s right there in the backyard. A lot of my buddies went to Buena, and so being in Sierra Vista is like a hometown kid there,” said Thomas, whose team hosts Catalina Foothills on Friday. β€œSo it’s fun. The community’s good. We’re tight. The community’s a nice community. We know everybody there. It’s fun; it’s exciting.”

He said he and his staff work hard to compete and keep kids out of trouble.

Buena’s Charlie Price (6) makes a one-handed grab after shrugging off Ironwood Ridge’s Oluwanifemi Femi-Adeleye (1) in the back of the end zone in the second quarter of the Colts’ game at Ironwood Ridge last Friday. The Colts came out on top of a rain-soaked, back-and-forth affair, 35-20, to remain undefeated.

β€œWe don’t always have the best athletes over there,” Thomas said. β€œWe don’t have DI athletes. We have some guys that are looking pretty good, but we don’t have DI athletes so we gotta work, we gotta hit the weight room, we gotta have offseason, we gotta have stuff going on, we gotta talk to them, we gotta keep them accountable, committed, teamwork β€”we gotta stay on them.

β€œSierra Vista, if you’re not doing sports it’s boring, there’s nothing to do for these young guys, so we gotta keep stuff going year round to keep them active, keep them out of trouble, stuff like that. But I like it. I love it.”

Buena stuck with Thomas after the Colts went 0-10 in 2015 and 2016. In 2017 they went 6-4, and then in 2019 they made the playoffs for the first time since 2013.

β€œHe builds a great environment,” said junior quarterback and free safety Nash Moore, who was 8 for 15 for 198 yards at Ironwood Ridge. β€œI think our kids and our program really trust him.

β€œHe’s around the school. He just took a new job as the dean. He’s involved with everybody and it’s, β€˜You play β€” you put up or shut up,’ basically.”

Thomas said his numerous Cochise County connections β€” he coached at Tombstone before returning to Sierra Vista β€” help him as a coach, but it’s not something he brings up with the players.

β€œI know the town, I know the kids, I understand the military kids and their families when they come in,” Thomas said. β€œThey move in with the military, you want to make them feel right at home. It’s that small town but big school, right? We’re a 5A school in a small town.”

Moore, who is a β€œmilitary brat,” said Thomas’ experience also helps with the Arizona natives.

β€œI think it helps a lot with the local kids,” Moore said. β€œHe pulls them in and it’s a family.”

A family that’s two steps closer to a state tournament return.

It looked like Ironwood Ridge would take the lead, but Buena forced a fumble at the goal line in a big momentum shift during the Colts eventual 35-20 win over the Nighthawks Sept. 1, 2023. Video by James Kelley/Special to the Arizona Daily Star

On a fourth down play, Buena's Aliaz Dyson scores on a 40-yard touchdown reception during the Colts eventual 35-20 win over the Nighthawks Sept. 1, 2023. Video by James Kelley/Special to the Arizona Daily Star

Buena's Michael Lujan scores on a 14-yard touchdown run during the Colts eventual 35-20 win over the Nighthawks Sept. 1, 2023. Video by James Kelley/Special to the Arizona Daily Star

Buena's Simon-Peter Johnson scores on a 6-yard touchdown reception during the Colts eventual 35-20 win over the Nighthawks Sept. 1, 2023. Video by James Kelley/Special to the Arizona Daily Star

Buena's Charlie Price hauls in a 15-yard touchdown during the Colts' Sept. 1, 2023 matchup with Ironwood Ridge. Video by James Kelley/Special to the Arizona Daily Star

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