What a season it turned out to be for Southern Arizona high school tackle football.
The Tucson region ended up with two state champions — ending an eight-year title drought — two more state semifinalists and tons of feel good stories including smashed individual records, Tanque Verde’s first playoff win and turnarounds at Ironwood Ridge, Buena, Catalina and elsewhere.
We thought we’d compile some of the season’s highlights.
Sabino High School football coach Ryan McBrayer holds up the Class 3A state championship trophy for his Sabercats after they defeated Surprise Paradise Honors 68-46, earning the first football title by a Southern Arizona school since 2015.
Southern Arizona football camaraderie
Before the season Sabino, football had T-shirts made up that simply read “2015” — a notation to the last time a Tucson area school (Pusch Ridge Christian Academy) won a state championship at any level. The season goal was, of course, to end that drought.
Notice it wasn’t “1998” (the last time Sabino won a state championship) but the last time the whole community won. During the season, a coach from a different conference shared complaints about how some of Southern Arizona’s 4A schools were missing the playoffs with records like 7-3 for Amphitheater or 8-2 Walden Grove last year. Before he won state this year, Canyon del Oro head coach Dustin Peace was excited about Sabino’s success too, while also sad when he heard Salpointe Catholic had lost their semifinal game on the same night CDO earned its title trip.
Canyon del Oro's players celebrate with the fans after defeating Yuma Catholic in the 4A State Football Championship game, Tempe, Ariz., December 1, 2023.
Top school district
Amphitheater Public Schools featured three high schools with successful teams. Canyon del Oro won the Class 4A state championship, Amphitheater won the 4A Gila Region title and Ironwood Ridge’s massive turnaround led it back to the 5A state tournament.
Pusch Ridge's Bubba Mustain (2) runs behind the block of Tyler Drescher (1) on Blue Ridge's David Simmons (1) in their State 3A playoff game at Pusch Ridge Christian Academy, Tucson, Ariz., November 3, 2023.
Biggest regional football hotbeds
With two playoff teams in Sabino and Tanque Verde, the northeast portion of Tucson was strong; but, alas, it has just two teams. The northwest, on the other hand, featured a state champion as well in CDO (14-0), plus three other playoff teams in Pusch Ridge (7-4), Ironwood Ridge (8-3) and Marana (5-6). The other NW team, Mountain View, went a respectable 4-6 despite a slew of injuries.
Mica Mountain’s Kason Colbert (44) intercepts a pass from Canyon del Oro’s Tristen Mcclelland (17) during CDO's 23-7 win over Mica Mountain on Friday, Nov. 24, 2023, in a Class 4A state semifinal high school football matchup in Oro Valley.
Toughest conference
In the 4A state tournament, the top four seeds all reached the semifinals; they combined for only one loss between them at through the second round of playoff action — that being the point they started to face each other.
That one regular season loss was impossible to avoid as No. 2 CDO and No. 3 Mica Mountain played each other earlier in the season.
Even the bottom of the conference was a test, as Amphitheater, which went 7-3, didn’t come close to making the playoffs. Glendale Independence (8-2) missed the tournament while the 6A state tournament had eight teams that finished the regular season 5-5 or worse, including a pair of 3-8 teams. Including the Open bracket, there were 23 6A teams in the postseason out of 31 total, while the 4A, with 54 teams, only got 16 into the postseason.
Canyon del Oro’s Kayden Luke (30) high steps through the Yuma Catholic defense on his way to scoring in the second quarter of the Dorados’ Class 4A state championship win on Dec. 1 in Tempe.
Stat stuffer
CDO senior Kayden Luke ran for 2,307 yards, the most in the state of any conference. As an example, UA commit Adam Mohammed of Glendale Apollo was third with 2,145. Of course Luke has the advantage of playing 14 games but they got to play four extra games because he gained so many yards. Plus he didn’t play 14 full games because of blowouts, like running it 8 times for 83 yards against Amphi or 5 for 40 against Pueblo. He ran for 164.8 yards per game this year.
Sabino's Cameron Hackworth (1) scoots up the middle past against Round Valley's Connor Lueker (11) on his way to pay dirt in the third quarter of their second round state 3A playoff game at Sabino High School, Tucson, Ariz., November 9, 2023.
Stat stuffer II
The passing stat stuffer was Sabino senior Cameron Hackworth, who passed for 3,871 yards, good enough for third in all conferences. Hackworth finished with 8,797 yards in his career and 97 passing yards in his career, both Southern Arizona records.
Walden Grove’s Gabriel Smith drops a pass over the head of Cienega’s Ledainean Moore during the Red Wolves’ early-season win back in September.
Most underrated
Lost amongst all the hype about the other 4A powers and the records of Hackworth was Walden Grove and WG senior Gabriel Smith. After narrowly missing the playoffs last year, they made it with a No. 11 ranking despite finishing the regular season with three straight road games, indulging two against No. 3 Mica Mountain and No. 2 CDO. Smith passed for 5,607 yards in his career, to finish 12th in Southern Arizona history according to AllSportsTucson.com.
Ironwood Ridge High School’s student section sports its luau motif just before the Nighthawks’ game against Buena gets started on Sept. 1.
Best turnaround
Ironwood Ridge went 1-9 last season. But, under second-year head coach Dale Stott, was 8-3 in 2023 and reached the Class 5A state tournament. Just as much, the Nighthawks did it in style with senior quarterback Dominic Norris passing for a Southern Arizona record 502 yards in IR’s 37-22 in over Tucson High.
Sabino head coach Ryan McBrayer tries to get Zachary Binford-Wiggins (46) to cool down after a series of penalties in the Sabercats’ high-scoring win over Surprise Paradise Honors in the Class 3A state title game on Nov. 25 at Mountain Pointe High School in Phoenix.
Coach of the year
It’s a tough call with so many good choices like Peace, Stott, Mica Mountain’s Pat Nugent or Salpointe’s Eric Rogers but Sabino’s Ryan McBrayer is just as easy to justify. Not only did the Sabercats win a state championship, McBrayer had to guts to do so by pivoting from the style of play that got his team to the title round. Hackworth, Sabino’s record-breaking quarterback, only threw 7 passes while the Sabercats relied on the run to defeat Surprise Paradise Honors in that 68-46 shootout for the Class 3A title. CDO went 14-0 and Mica Mountain routed Sabino but the Sabercats’ resolve was impressive. They rebounded from losses — including a 49-7 defeat at Class 4A Mica Mountain — and defeated No. 1 Bullhead City Mohave twice in the span of four weeks. They also dealt with the pressure of being a preseason state championship favorite.
Best uniforms
Tucson High’s uniforms mix in some retro coolness with a modern look and the colors work well together. The jersey features the names and numbers with a ‘90s looking 3D shadow font. Plus the logo with a “T” on the badger is pretty much perfect. The Badgers also looked good on the field late in the season, winning four straight to finish 5-5 in head coach Zach Neveleff’s first season.
VIDEO: Canyon del Oro High School football players and fans sing the school fight song in celebration of their 35-27 victory over Yuma Catholic in the Arizona Class 4A high school state championship game on Dec. 1, 2023 in Tempe. (James Kelley/Special to the Arizona Daily Star)
VIDEO: The Sabino High School football team receives the Arizona Class 3A State Championship trophy before posing for a postgame team photo after the Sabercats’ 68-46 win over Surprise Paradise Honors to secure the Arizona Class 3A state championship in Phoenix on Nov. 25, 2023. (Brett Fera/Arizona Daily Star)
