AIA denies conference appeal from Flowing Wells football | Greg Hansen

In a sports transaction you probably didn’t see last week, Flowing Wells High School’s appeal to move its football team from Class 5A to 4A was denied by the Arizona Interscholastic Association.

Flowing Wells has gone 17-34 the last five football seasons. It plays in the 5A Sonoran against what Caballeros athletic director Mark Brunenkant refers to as “destination schools” — Mountain View, Ironwood Ridge and Tucson High.

“I did significant research of the last 15 years and it’s clear we should play in 4A,” said Brunenkant. “The AIA committee has many smart people on it, but I just can’t get them to understand what confronts us. I fear that we could someday be like Santa Rita, Palo Verde and Catalina, schools whose football programs have greatly diminished.”

Flowing Wells has gone 0-6 against Ironwood Ridge, Mountain View and Tucson the last two years by a cumulative score of 228-93.

“Amphitheater is our rival school, and we are 2-3 against them the last five years, and Amphi is 4A,” said Brunenkant. “We get 35 kids out for varsity and 30 for our combined freshman/sophomore team. We go up against teams with 60 or 70 players on the sideline. That means we have eight or nine kids that play both ways, offense and defense. We are playing ‘ironman’ football.

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“Our kids break down physically by Game 6 or Game 7, dealing with injuries and concussions. Our coaching staff has done a great job, but I want to give them more of a chance.”

Flowing Wells, founded in 1954, has a proud sports history, but most of that success occurred in the school’s first 50 years, before open enrollment and transfers became prevalent in high school sports.

The Cabs won 14 state championships in baseball, football, softball, girls volleyball, girls basketball and wrestling. But they haven’t won a state championship since coach Michael Perkins‘ 2008 girls basketball team.

“We’re a neighborhood school. We don’t benefit from open enrollment like so many of the suburban schools we play,” said Brunenkant.

“I get the sinking feeling when we go to the AIA with an appeal that they’ve already made their mind up.”