Catalina High School’s varsity football team has dropped its last two games, and how its next five turn out is anybody’s guess, Yet even still, the Trojans’ initial turnaround this season was so great, that it’s already the program’s best season in years.
In the 2023 season opener, Catalina (3-2) won 36-26 at Phoenix NFL YET to pick up the Trojans’ first regular win since 2019. In both 2021 and 2022, Catalina went 1-9; but each season’s victory was by way of forfeit wins.
“That felt really good,” Catalina head coach Greg McKinstry II said of the fast start. “We had a couple forfeit wins, but we really don’t count those — so from not winning any games the last two years to having three wins right away felt really good.
“I was just happy for the kids so they could experience that.”
The Trojans obviously weren’t done after just one victory. they beat Winterhaven (Calif.) San Pasqual Valley 52-0 in their second game and then knocked off Florence ALA Anthem South 30-20 in their third outing.
“We got off to a really good start. Everyone was focused,” Catalina senior running back/middle linebacker Sage Antone said. “We didn’t want to be the same Catalina as usual so we all got locked in and, you know, started to step up.”
Coach Greg McKinstry watches his Trojans workout prior to Tuesday’s football practice on the Catalina High School campus.
Antone ran for 251 yards on 18 carries to lead Catalina to the win over ALA Anthem South in a game that was called early due to injuries the Titans suffered. In helping Catalina get off to their fifth 3-0 start in program history, Antone won Player of the Week honors from AllSportsTucson.com.
“Mentally it can really demoralize you and it’s hard to kinda recover from that if that’s all you know,” McKinstry said of going so long without a true win, on the field, until this year.
The last time Catalina won more than one game in a season was 2018 when the Trojans went 3-7; but even that included a forfeit win over Douglas. The last time the Trojans won more than two games on the field was 2017, when they went 5-5.
“The last couple years — pretty crappy, couldn’t really do anything,” Antone said. “Everyone was not listening, no one was practicing.
“Getting a first win was pretty good. It felt amazing, felt like we could do this.”
The Trojans play at Surprise Highland Prep (1-4) on Friday.
Catalina’s hot start came with an inexperienced roster; McKinstry laughed when asked if the Trojans were young for a 2A team.
In addition to a sophomore quarterback, Catalina has just two seniors on its roster.
“We have a handful of juniors but a lot of our kids are freshmen and sophomores,” McKinstry said.
Catalina opened in 1957 with 2,000 students, even though it was designed for 1,500 and critics at the time called it “Disneyland” because it was so lavish.
The AIA’s most recent enrollment numbers positioned Catalina at 584 students.
When McKinstry started at Catalina in 2021, the only assistant coach he had was Trojan athletic director Tim Bridges; barely any students participated in summer workouts that year.
It was a big change for McKinstry, who played at Ohio and Northern Iowa. He also coached at Northern Iowa and coached high school in Iowa and Wisconsin.
“We had about 22 kids consistently in the weight room and workouts four days a week this summer,” McKinstry said. “The first summer when I moved here, I had five kids out here doing workouts.
“I attribute that to our success on the field.”
Catalina is one of three Tucson Unified School District campuses that compete in AIA-sanctioned football that have seen decreased enrollment in recent years and ended up in 2A for football. Palo Verde is 1-4 and Santa Rita is playing at the junior varsity level this year, instead of varsity.
In 1993 TUSD tried to close Catalina before a U.S. District judge struck it down. In 2017, the district considered moving Catalina’s students to Rincon High School, while moving University High (which shares a campus with Rincon) to Catalina’s campus; public outcry led the plan to be scrapped.
McKinstry said the Trojans have 28 players right now, and enrollment is about 600. They only have one academically ineligible player after having a “bunch” last year.
“Which is really good. I see the progression in numbers since I first started,” McKinstry said. “Our first year, I want to say we were like at 22, 21; and then last year we were probably around 24, give or take.”
The NFL’s Arizona Cardinals also helped, donating sweatshirts, shoes and weight room equipment after the Trojans volunteered at their fan fest, a relationship Bridges helped cultivate.
“That was really, really cool,” McKinstry said. “That’s one of the things we struggle with, is not all of our kids have the proper footwear and stuff like that.”
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Rincon/University High School coach Khyree Copeland talks about discipline, belief and the state of his program (video by Michael Lev / Arizona Daily Star)
