In its third full season of varsity football, and fourth year overall, Mica Mountain won the state 4A football championship Friday in Tempe. That is ridiculously fast.
You might guess that good coaching is a huge part of developing a championship team in such little time; Mica Mountain’s Pat Nugent, a head coach in Tucson since 1997, is that man.
Mica Mountain players celebrate their victory in the 4A football state championship on Dec. 6, 2024, in Tempe.
Only one team in Tucson prep sports history won a state championship in less time: iconic coach Dick McConnell’s 1969-70 Sahuaro High boys basketball team won the state title in its second year of existence.
Rincon High’s baseball team, with former Tucson High all-stater Lee Carey as its coach, won the 1962 state baseball title in the school’s fourth year. Coach Hal Eustice directed Sahuaro to the state baseball championship in 1973, Sahuaro’s fifth year as a school.
Until Nugent and his associates Nemer Hassey and Jay Campos moved to Mica Mountain, I didn’t think it possible to build a state championship football team any more quickly than Mountain View’s Wayne Jones did. In 1993, Jones expertly coached the Mountain Lions to a memorable 14-0 record and the state championship in the school’s sixth year of varsity football.
Mica Mountain breezed through a decidedly down year of competition in Tucson’s 4A bracket, but once the fourth-seeded Thunderbolts reached the playoffs, they hit the accelerator, outscoring four opponents 149-51, which makes me think that Mica Mountain could’ve won the state 5A championship, as well.
