Mica Mountain head coach Pat Nugent relays his plans to quarterback Jayden Thoreson (2) in the third quarter of their 35-0 shutout win at Sabino Friday night.
No longer the newest team in Southern Arizona, Mica Mountain has grown up.
Now the Thunderbolts sights are set on winning their first state championship.
Mica Mountain opened in 2020; this season, Desert Christian launched its football program, making MM the second youngest high school football program in Southern Arizona.
After making its first playoff run last year, Mica Mountain has the goal to win it all in 2024.
βWe were a young team last year, starting a bunch of juniors, so the seniors on the team are ready to lead the way,β MM senior quarterback Jayden Thoreson said. βState championshipβs the goal. We want to hang a banner at Mica Mountain and thatβs what weβre gonna do.β
The Thunderbolts first started playing varsity games in 2021, going 3-3 that year.
Then, in 2022, MM went 6-4 in the programβs first full varsity season β the Thunderbolts winning their final five games and claimingthe 4A Kino Region championship. Mica Mountain went 5-0 in the region and capped the season with a 26-7 over eventual state semifinalist Canyon del Oro.
Last season, Mica Mountain went 11-2 while reaching the state semifinals, only losing to eventual state champion CDO.
βLosing the state semifinal puts hunger in these kidsβ mouth a little bit, so they know what the goal is for this group,β MM head coach Pat Nugent said. βThey want to make to make it to the state final and win a state championship, which is hard to do, but weβre gonna continue to fight.β
Although MM lost some talent to graduation, the Thunderbolts return nine All-Region selections, like senior tight end/defensive end Jimmy Leon.
βWeβre still young, weβre still learning, but weβre gonna get there,β said Leon, who added that he received a scholarship offer on Sunday from NAU. βWeβre a great team, great offense, great quarterback, great wide receivers, great line β weβre great all around and weβre gonna be good.β
Leon was first team All-4A as a defensive lineman last year while 2024 is Thoresonβs fourth year on varsity.
βWe had a great senior class coming back. Because our program is so new, they played as sophomores; theyβre two, three year players, so theyβre used to playing the game,β Nugent said. βJayden Thoreson has been on the field for three, four years basically, so Jimmyβs a great player.
βWeβve got great players that have great experience,β he added. βSo when youβve got 13 starters back on our football team that went to the state semifinals weβre in pretty good shape.β
The Bolts did, however, lose senior running back/safety Conner Hangartner for the rest of the year after an injury in the season opener. Hangartner scored 11 touchdowns while rushing for 779 yards last year.
βThatβs a tough loss for us,β Nugent said, βbut weβre gonna keep pounding away.β
Other than those two losses to CDO last season, Mica Mountain (3-0) has won 19 straight other games, dating back to 2022. Thoreson and Leon, however, said theyβre not thinking about that sort of streak.
βWe have short memories as a team,β Leon said. βWe just think about the next game β the next week β and forget about the past.
βThe past is in the pastm but what we can do is focus on the future and we determine our fate.β
MM opened the season with a 17-8 win over San Tan Valley Poston Butte, 42-0 triumph over Gilbert Mesquite and by beat defending 3A state champion Sabino 35-0.
Nugent said the Thunderbolts try to be perfect.
βWe have a lot of expectations with our program right now. We get angry when weβre not winning big and not doing the things we expect to do offensively and defensively,β Nugent said.
In 2020 Brett Darling started the MM program and then became an assistant after Nugent came over from Cienega. Nugent has also led Flowing Wells, Canyon del Oro and Pima College.
Nugent led Cienega to back-to-back 5A state semifinal appearances. When he was head coach at CDO, he had the Dorados climbing toward an eventual state championship; CDO did win one not long after he left the school to coach at Pima.
Leon said they want to win the title for Nugent and their other coaches.
βIt would be great for him. Heβs put everything he has into this brand new program,β Leon said. βHe took a risk on us, we took a risk on him so I think our winning the state championship would be great for him and other coaching staff as well.β
Photos: Mica Mountain remains undefeated in a 35-0 win at Sabino, high school football