Uh-oh.
Someone forgot to grab the ball bag after Flowing Wells’ 63-0 victory over Phoenix Carl Hayden last Friday night. There will be consequences. Likely up-downs.
Michael Lev is a senior writer/columnist for the Arizona Daily Star, Tucson.com and The Wildcaster.
The Caballeros are off to a 5-0 start this season, largely because fourth-year head coach Brian Hook has created a culture of discipline and accountability — and he’s gotten enough players to buy in.
Earlier in the night, the Cabs provided a shining example.
Flowing Wells played almost exclusively backups in the fourth quarter — almost because, well, the program doesn’t have enough experienced players to go all twos on both sides of the ball. Despite the game being out of hand against a Carl Hayden squad missing multiple key players because of suspensions, the starters standing on the Flowing Wells sideline were fully engaged and cheering on their younger teammates.
“They were being good about it,” Hook said afterward. “I could hear a group of our seniors chanting, ‘Let’s go defense!’ They were chanting for those younger guys, and that was really cool. I really appreciated that.”
Caballeros head coach Brian Hook calls the play for the scout team while working out the offensive unit during a practice at Flowing Wells High School, Sept. 30, 2025.
The seniors have been with Hook from the beginning. He became Flowing Wells’ coach in 2022, returning to the school where he worked as an assistant for much of the 2010s. The freshmen who joined the team then are seniors now.
The original class consisted of 19 student-athletes. Fourteen have stuck it out. That’s not bad.
They’ve experienced a wide range of outcomes. Hook’s first team finished 3-7, including three losses by 37 or more points. The Cabs went 3-7 the next year, too. But a late-season defeat, of all things, signaled a turnaround.
Flowing Wells was 1-6 when it faced Tucson High on Oct. 20, 2023. The Cabs had lost three games in a row. None was particularly close.
“It wasn’t going well for us. We kept plugging away,” Hook said. “Most teams that are 1-6, they go south. But those guys kept battling, they kept learning, they kept practicing hard.”
Caballeros quarterback Benicio Ruiz (in red) rides the block of his center, Sebastian Hernandez, during a practice at Flowing Wells High School, Sept. 30, 2025.
Flowing Wells took Tucson down to the wire. The final score was 35-28.
“To me,” said Mark Brunenkant, Flowing Wells’ athletic director, “that was the beginning of what you’re seeing now.”
The Cabs won their final two games, defeating Nogales and Maricopa. They went 5-5 last year, the program’s first season with a .500-or-better finish since 2018, which was Brunenkant’s last season as head coach.
Flowing Wells already has matched that total this year, taking an unblemished record into Friday night’s game at Nogales.
If the Cabs can get to eight wins, Hook believes they’ll make the state playoffs for the first time since ‘18.
Senior quarterback Benicio Ruiz likes the sound of that.
“That would be amazing,” he said. “We would make history here.”
Lifting up the program
After spending a year on predecessor Scott Cortese’s staff and another as a teacher at Catalina Foothills, Hook returned to Flowing Wells intent on resurrecting the football program and being a positive influence on young men.
Linebacker Marcus Devoy, right, works on his technique with the Caballeros during a tackling drill at Flowing Wells High School, Sept. 30, 2025.
He arrived with a five-year plan and a six-page outline of expectations.
“I have expectations of kids. I have expectations of coaches, parents, everyone that’s involved,” Hook said. “We all meet about it. It’s very clear.”
Hook describes discipline as “the foundation” of his program. Players are expected to be on time. They’re expected to show up for offseason training. They’re expected to participate in “zero hour” weightlifting, which Hook implemented this year to start the school day.
“It’s not popular,” Hook said of his philosophy. “A lot of kids left. They didn’t like it. They transferred.
“Then we got that incoming group of freshmen, and it’s been discipline from Day One.”
The morning lift is one of several ways the Cabs are cultivating a winning culture. Athletes — including some from other sports — arrive for breakfast at 7 a.m. They lift from 7:40-8:35. They start class at 8:45.
Hook said attendance has been robust. Tardiness has been rare. He tries to create competitions and provide incentives.
Caballeros running back Jayden Simmons, left, runs in the wake of lineman Juan “JJ” Norzagaray during a practice at Flowing Wells High School, Sept. 30, 2025.
“You’d be amazed what kids do for T-shirts,” Hook said.
No teenager wants to be up that early in the morning, Ruiz conceded. “But if we’re all there and we’re all putting the work in,” he said, “it really helps us.”
“It’s definitely just that extra push that we need as a team,” said senior running back Jayden Simmons, who ranks seventh in 5A with 585 rushing yards. “It’s that extra effort that’s really pushing us to be able to be what we want to be.
“It’s not like we can just go out here and practice when everybody else practices. We have to put in that little extra bit of work.”
In-season and offseason weight training has paid dividends. Hook said only one Flowing Wells player could power-clean 200-plus pounds when he first became head coach. Now 18 can.
Memories, mentors
The weight room is a place for players to get stronger and build bonds. Hook knew it would be a critical piece — but that it also wouldn’t be enough.
He reinstituted “California Camp” during the summer, a weeklong getaway at Vanguard University in Costa Mesa.
“It’s a lot of work for me,” Hook said, “But it’s worth it.”
The trip requires considerable fundraising; it’s about $500 per student-athlete. But you can’t put a price on team chemistry.
“A lot of it is work,” Simmons said.
“But it’s also that bonding with the team, that relaxation time, getting to know (your teammates) on a deeper level, building those true connections that’ll probably end up lasting a lifetime. It’s all of that. It’s just building that foundation ... to be able to trust each other when you’re on the field.”
California Camp isn’t just a bonding experience; it’s an enduring memory. One of the reasons Hook wanted to bring it back was a memory he had: Departing seniors who cited it as their favorite football moment during Brunenkant’s tenure as head coach.
It now has a rival.
Defensive coordinator Ian Mattis works with defensive back Marquise Busch for a few minutes after practice shut down at Flowing Wells High School, Sept. 30, 2025.
Hook started a mentoring program with a nearby Tucson Police Department substation. Twenty-three officers volunteered. Each was assigned to a player at an NFL Draft-like event in the school cafeteria.
When Flowing Wells played at Amphitheater High on Sept. 5, the police provided an escort for the team bus down Prince Road.
“They stopped traffic,” Hook said. “They took us all the way to Amphi, lights and sirens the whole time.”
The mentoring program has been dubbed “Cab Amigos.” The officers check in with their players during the week, usually over text. Hook saw it as a way to “give the kids more support and have positive adults in their life.”
“Just in case no one else is saying it,” Simmons said, “they’ll be there for you.”
‘They won’t quit’
Hook grew up in Hemet, California, which is about an hour east of Palm Springs. He described his hometown as “kind of a little valley by itself.”
Flowing Wells could be viewed the same way. The Flowing Wells Unified School District is surrounded by the much larger Tucson, Amphitheater and Marana school districts. Flowing Wells doesn’t have as big a population pool to pull from for players.
“We’ve always been that school,” Brunenkant said. “We’re as well-coached as anybody. But we’re not as participation-lucky as everybody.
“That’s always been ... the tough thing about here. And that’s the state of high school football.”
Flowing Wells has 35 players on its varsity roster and about 65 total in the program. Brunenkant joked that “we recruit our butts off ... in our classrooms.”
Hook considers the 18 who can power-clean 200-plus pounds to have “varsity-ready bodies.” About a half-dozen players go both ways.
To compensate for disadvantages in numbers and size, Hook installed an option offense that incorporates elements of the wing-T and veer. He attended clinics at Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas, and Springfield College in Massachusetts to bone up on the flexbone offense and similar schemes.
Running back Marty Hudecek chases down a long throw while running drills at practice at Flowing Wells High School, Sept. 30, 2025.
Ruiz attempted only one pass against Carl Hayden. He went 6 for 7 the previous week against Maricopa, a game in which the Cabs ran the ball 49 times for 270 yards and won in thrilling fashion.
Sophomore Marty Hudecek and his teammates stuffed the Rams’ tying 2-point conversion attempt in overtime, securing a 29-27 victory and setting off a raucous celebration.
“I felt like dancing,” the normally stoic Hook said. “I was doing spins. I jumped into my assistant coach’s arms. I’ve never been swung around like a rag doll, and I’m not a small guy.
“It was really exciting. It was a really good program win for us.”
Because of their relatively low numbers, the Cabs sometimes wear down in the second halves of games. That’s why lifting and conditioning — and the discipline it takes to do it — are so important.
This year’s senior-led team, Simmons said, possesses “a drive” and “a want” to do whatever it takes — and alter the perceptions about Flowing Wells football.
“I feel like this group of kids ... this family really just wants to change that, wants to make a difference, wants to take a stand,” Simmons said.
Hook is realistic about how far the Cabs can go. Just making the postseason, he said, would be like going to the Super Bowl.
“I know my kids — they won’t quit,” Hook said. “It doesn’t matter if we’re up by 40 or if we’re down by 40. That’s just the character of these kids. They’re gonna fight. We’ll try to find a way to make it work.”
