After starting the season 0-3, Pueblo High School football returned to the friendly confines of its upgraded home field, and the season turned around.
On Friday, Pueblo outdueled Catalina Foothills 34-28 at home to improve to 2-3. The week before, on Sept. 19, the Warriors christened their new artificial turf field with a 40-0 win over Glendale Copper Canyon.
Pueblo’s Alejandro Jimenez (33) gets his leg loosened up on the brand new turf before the game against Catalina Foothills at Pueblo High School, Sept. 26, 2025, in Tucson.
The wins came after Pueblo limped to an 0-3 start with three away games while its field was being finished.
“One thing about it is these kids are resilient,” said head coach Sly Lewis. “They come back to work every single day and finally catching some breaks and this new field, it’s a beautiful thing. Coach (Saturnino “Curly”) Santa Cruz built this thing up, and we just want to continue to build and put things together. The future’s bright.
“I love these guys, they work extremely hard and I can’t be more proud of these guys, I’m so happy for them.”
After serving as an assistant at Sabino for 20 years, Lewis returned to Pueblo last season to take over the program. He graduated from Pueblo in 1992 and played for Santa Cruz.
Pueblo’s stadium got a new field, new scoreboard and new lights, which came via the TUSD 2023 Bond — $480 million in bonds that the voters approved.
During the first football game on the new turf, Pueblo boys soccer players held up signs of thanks for the new pitch.
“It’s amazing,” said Pueblo senior Jeremiah Sandoval. “I like grass, but being on the turf is nice.”
Catalina Foothills’ Damon Brown (41), left, and Catalina Ronan Ranellone-Mims (5) can’t stop Pueblo’s Jeremiah Sandoval (10) from getting to the end zone during the first quarter at Pueblo High School, Sept. 26, 2025, in Tucson.
Pueblo has also gotten other upgrades, like Chromebooks for students, thanks to the bond.
Other TUSD high schools are also getting or have already gotten sports facility improvements.
Sabino also got a new field, along with new lights and a new scoreboard.
“It’s about time everybody in the city is going to have them, I think it’s an awesome thing,” Lewis said.
MMTH Turf installed the new field, along with Sabino’s. The company is also doing the University of Kansas’.
“I was told this is the hardest field that company that finished it has ever done,” Lewis said about their old field. “So it’s just a bunch of dirt, some grass and not very safe. Now these guys, they’re faster.
“We have some speed training this year, they’re looking to part on the field, and it’s just all coming together and we want to keep it rolling.”
In recent years, Desert View, Sunnyside and Marana had to move home games due to delays in artificial turf installations. This season, Sabino had to move its first home game to Santa Rita, but Pueblo’s finished just in time.
“You never know what construction, what’s going to happen,” Lewis said. “So we were just waiting to see, and once they got confirmed, they were saying that it was going to be done on the Friday morning. It was done like at 10 a.m. and we had a walkthrough about 11:30 a.m., so after that, it was like, ‘man, these guys are just loving it.’
Pueblo’s head coach Sly Lewis hands out low fives after the Warriors scored during the second quarter against Catalina Foothills at Pueblo High School, Sept. 26, 2025.
“We were able to practice on an elite field and they’re just reaping the benefits right now, just playing together and having fun.”
The field features Pueblo’s primary logo from the 18-yard lines north/south and from where the yard line numbers are written at the 50-yard line. In the end zone it says “WARRIORS” and in the players’ sideline area, it says Pueblo’s battle cry, “WARRIOR BLOCK.”
“Oh, it’s beautiful, I like the big P and the big old logo, it’s nice,” Sandoval said. “A few guys from Sunnyside, my friends over there say that it’s nice.”
The bold field design is already popular. After the win over Foothills, the Warriors posed for a photo on the P behind the end zone.
“Everybody, even alumni coming back, they’re just loving it,” Lewis said, “and I can’t wait to have our tailgate alumni night, so everybody can get on this field and take pictures. It’s going to be a special moment.”
