Tucson had three must-see high school football rivalries in the early 1990s:
Amphi vs. Sabino.
Sahuaro vs. Sabino.
Mountain View vs. Sabino.
Notice the common denominator?
It was Sabino coach Jeff Scurran, who had coached the Sabercats to a 14-0 state championship in 1990. Scurran’s confident persona stirred strong emotions from Amphi coach Vern Friedli, Sahuaro’s Howard Breinig and Mountain View’s Wayne Jones, all of whom would win state championships themselves.
When Sahuaro and Sabino kicked off the ‘92 season with their heated neighborhood rivalry, Scurran didn’t play the poor-me card. “I think we have the ingredients to win a state championship.” he told the Star.
Sabino won 10-6, after which Breinig, a never-give-an-inch competitor, said “You don’t get any free lunch when you play Sabino. They’re well-coached and disciplined. They’re not going to beat themselves.”
No one was able to beat Scurran’s Sabercats in 1992.
They not only flew to Honolulu to beat Waianae High School 31-12 in the annual Akina Classic, they went 8-0 in Southern Arizona, winning by a cumulative score of 238-37.
Then, as if scripted, the 9-0 Sabercats played 9-0 Mountain View in the final regular-season game. The Sabercats won 14-10, after which Scurran said “there isn’t a weak link in our defense.”
The state tournament was more of the same. Sabino overpowered Phoenix Sunnyslope 31-10, shut out Phoenix Mountain Pointe 36-0 and then rose to the occasion to beat defending state champion Avondale Agua Fria 35-25 in the semifinals.
In the state title game, played at Arizona Stadium, Sabino toyed with Phoenix Washington High School, 28-3, a game in which Scurran chose to play a between-the-tackles game, rushing for 350 yards to out-muscle his Phoenix opponent.
“We don’t have a bad defense,” said Washington coach Steve Chisman, “but we couldn’t bring them down. We took our shots, but we just weren’t good enough. They put a whipping on us.”
Scurran, who is entering his first season as Rio Rico High School’s football coach, led Sabino, Santa Rita, Canyon del Oro and Catalina Foothills to 251 victories and eight state championship games in his Tucson career. He became known as an offensive guru, but in ‘92 he served as both Sabino’s offensive and defensive coordinator.
His ‘92 Sabercats won with defense.
Defensive linemen Jeff Saffer and Travis Miller, linebackers Jason Montano, Chad Brewer, cornerback Corey Hill and defensive back Justus Miller were all-city selections. No wonder Sabino limited its opponents to just 6.1 points per game.
The offense was keyed by quarterback Ben Thrush, who threw just one interception all season, as well as dominant offensive linemen James Johnson and Ian Woodford.
Sabino split its running back duties between Hill, Chase Newell and Brendan Bolton as the Sabercats generated momentum for what might’ve been the most successful decade by one Tucson prep football team ever.
In the ‘90s, Scurran’s Sabercats won 118 games. It’s difficult to determine which Sabino team of the ‘90s was the best. Scurran’s undefeated state champs of 1990 and 1992 are strongly challenged by his 12-1-1 state title team of 1998, and also by his 13-1 team of 1999 in which it stepped up in class, from 4A to 5A, losing only to mega-power Mesa Mountain View in a tense 21-14 state championship game.
After leaving Sabino in 2000, Scurran became the first-ever head coach of Pima College’s football program, opening the school’s brief football era with a stunning upset victory over defending NCJAA champion Scottsdale Community College.
He later coached football-poor Santa Rita to back-to-back state championship games in 2008 and 2009 before taking over an 0-10 Catalina Foothills program and leading the Falcons to the 2016 state finals.
Now, at 74, Scurran has taken command of a Rio Rico team that was 0-8 last season and hasn’t had a winning season since 2013.
It has been 30 years since Scurran’s 1992 Sabino team went undefeated, but he doesn’t seem deterred.
“The game hasn’t changed much,” he said. “If you put in the time and effort — and we will — you”ll win.”
No free lunch, right?
