Hansen's Top Teams, No. 17: Salpointe Catholic's '20-year journey' ended with 2013 state title

Rather than type a couple of paragraphs explaining the excellence of the 2013 Salpointe Catholic High School football team, the following 10 regular-season scores are more descriptive:

Salpointe 48, Peoria Liberty 7.

Salpointe 49, Sabino 7.

Salpointe 47, Encino Crespi 7.

Salpointe 46, Sunnyside 0.

Salpointe 40, Tempe Marcos de Niza 7.

Salpointe 56, Mountain View 9.

Salpointe 63, Rincon/University 0.

Salpointe 51, Casa Grande Vista Grande 0.

Salpointe 48, Ironwood Ridge 9.

Salpointe 49, Tucson High 7.

After beating the Badgers, going 10-0 and outscoring its opponents 497-53, Tucson High coach Justin Argraves put the Lancers’ success in perspective.

“They are, quite frankly, the best team in the state of Arizona right now,” he said.

Argraves said what many were thinking. For the first time since Vern Friedli’s 1979 Amphitheater Panthers went undefeated to win the big-school’s state championship — 34 years earlier — a Tucson team appeared to be as good as any of the Phoenix mega-powers, maybe better.

Coach Dennis Bene’s Lancers added an exclamation point to Argraves’ statement in the playoffs. Salpointe crushed Yuma Cibola 54-7, Peoria Liberty 45-14 and Glendale Deer Valley 55-7.

It set the stage for an anticipated state championship showdown against Scottsdale Chaparral, which had won the Division II state titles in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

Salpointe rolled, 46-20, before a crowd of about 20,000 at Arizona Stadium.

“For some people, this was a 20-year journey,” said Salpointe assistant coach Rocco Bene, Dennis’ brother. “We just wouldn’t let up.”

Maxpreps.com ranked Salpointe No. 30 of all prep football teams nationally, and No. 2 in Arizona behind 14-0 Division I champion Phoenix Mountain Pointe.

It’s unfortunate the Arizona Interscholastic Committee couldn’t arrange a Salpointe-Mountain Pointe game to determine the state’s true football champion of 2013.

“It has been historical in a sense that this (championship) has meaning to anyone who has ever coached or played at Salpointe,” said Dennis Bene. “Now we can all call ourselves champions.”

081922-tuc-spt-hansenproject-p3 — Salpointe Catholic coach Dennis Bene pumps his fists in the air in front of the Lancers’ fans as the final seconds tick down during the Division II state championship game.
Mike Christy, Arizona Daily Star 2013

Salpointe began playing high school football in 1952. It reached the state finals (but lost) in 1981 and 1991, but it had never deployed a team like the 2013 Lancers, which outscored its opponents 697-101.

Bene paid his dues. Starting in 2009, the Lancers had gone, in order, 9-1, 10-2, 9-2 and 12-2 before winning the big one. It wasn’t a surprise.

Salpointe might’ve had the state’s most valuable player and certainly the most productive, senior Cameron Denson. He caught 19 touchdown passes for 1,453 yards, rushed for 394 yards — including two games as an emergency starting QB — and returned four interceptions for touchdowns.

Salpointe High School football, 2013 — Salpointe quarterback Andrew Cota, right, cuts back in front of Peoria Liberty's AC Galicia during the first quarter of their Nov. 15, 2013 game.
Mike Christy, Arizona Daily Star 2013

Denson was surrounded by seven first team all-city players: quarterback Andrew Cota, receiver Kaelin Deboskie, offensive linemen Austin Weaver and Breeon Auzenne, defensive lineman Brandt Davidson and linebackers Taylor Powell and Jake Casteel.

Casteel made a state-leading 167 tackles and Powell made 161, forming one of the most imposing linebacking crews in state history. The second team all-city club featured offensive lineman Gabe Sandoval, defensive lineman Justin Holt, linebacker Kevin Hamlett and defensive back Santiago Nieto.

“The most amazing thing about Cam is that everybody we played knew he was going to get the ball and they still couldn’t stop him,” Bene said. “In my opinion, he’s the best player in the state.”

081922-tuc-spt-hansenproject-p5 — Salpointe Catholic's Dominic Pedrotty, left, and Trent Daigle keep Mountain View's Garrett Darmer from hauling in a Hail Mary throw late in the fourth quarter of the Lancers' 56-9 win on Oct. 4, 2013.
Kelly Presnell, Arizona Daily Star 2013

Bene was an all-city quarterback for Salpointe in the early 1980s before entering veterinary school in Missouri and moving to Nevada to work as a veterinarian. But he soon left that profession to move back to Tucson, work in the family paving/asphalt business and become an assistant coach at his alma mater.

Bene was named head coach in 2001, and soon turned the Lancers into Tucson’s leading high school football program. Salpointe went 184-43 over 19 seasons, which included state runner-up finishes in 2017 and 2018.

“I’ve accomplished about all I can,” Bene said when he announced his retirement in 2019. “I have memories that will last a lifetime.”