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It seems like the more written about Scottsdale Saguaro, its 23 Division I football recruits, the state championships the Sabercats have been stacking going on six years, the more vitriol gets generated on social media.
Saguaro has become the football dynasty people love to hate.
But look a little closer, beyond the trophy case, and you’ll find a deeply rooted family filled with love and pride and trust.
Last week, during a week off to get ready for the 4A state championship game this Friday against Tucson Salpointe Catholic, Saguaro had its traditional bowling night and traditional Thanksgiving morning practice where alumni were invited and given bagels and coffee.
A first-year assistant, who came over from Gilbert Higley, turned to coach Jason Mohns with his observations from a former outsider looking in.
“He said, ‘You know, everybody views you guys as the evil empire, but I didn’t realize this whole thing is built on love and relationships,’ ” Mohns said. “They care. You find out the evil empire isn’t so evil.”
But it is devastating. Saguaro has won 45 consecutive games against in-state opponents.
It hasn’t lost to an in-state school since Sept. 4, 2015, a 20-12 loss to Phoenix Pinnacle, during that one-and-done season when the Arizona Interscholastic Association put football teams in conferences based more on success than enrollment numbers.
Saguaro moved up to the second-highest conference that year, and ended up winning that title, crushing Glendale Apollo (37-17), Queen Creek (54-0), Avondale Westview (55-14), and Tempe Marcos de Niza (38-20) in the playoffs.
The AIA ditched that model the next season, basing school placements for all sports based on enrollment figures. Saguaro was back to rolling up titles in 4A, the state’s third-largest conference. That sticks in the craw of outsiders who feel Saguaro should be competing against 6A Chandler or 5A Centennial for state titles.
Saguaro hopes to deliver one blow in 4A in Tucson on Friday night, when the Sabercats (12-1) travel to Arizona Stadium to take on Salpointe Catholic for the second year in a row.
The Sabercats are seeking a 6-peat, or as the coaches and players call it, “Zone Six,” which would also be the school’s 12th state football championship.
Building blocks
It started in 1995 with the school’s first crown under coach Tim Beck, who is now the offensive coordinator at Texas.
The next title didn’t come until 11 years later, under Mike Reardon, who then handed the program off to his defensive coordinator, John Sanders, who ran with it.
Saguaro went 28-0 in Sanders’ first two years as head coach, back then battling it out with Oro Valley Canyon del Oro and its running back sensation Ka’Deem Carey before pummeling rival Chaparral 38-0 for the 2008 title.
After Sanders had a down year (not winning state), he had Saguaro back with two more gold balls in 2010 and ’11, before his offensive coordinator, Mohns, was given the job.
Mohns didn’t have the immediate splash. His first team went 8-4, losing to Paradise Valley and Chaparral and falling in the second round of the playoffs. That team didn’t have a single senior with a Division I offer.
But he had a young Christian Kirk and a young Luke Rubenzer.
The more Kirk rose as a national recruit, the more attractive Saguaro’s program became, the more incoming high school studs and first- and second-year high school players and their parents across the Valley paid attention, and wanted to be part of it.
Now it has a roster the likes of which maybe nobody has ever seen in Arizona.
Even in the greatest era of Chandler Hamilton, even when Tempe McClintock stood above everybody under Karl Kiefer in the 1980s, even with Chandler and Peoria Centennial rolling these days, nobody has seen a team with 23 players who have Division I offers.
“Honestly, you want kids who want to play in high school for the love of the game,” Mohns said. “Our kids love the game of football. But they also have aspirations and goals to play football beyond high school. They’ve spent a lot of time, getting with trainers and clubs and the best you have.
“You’d have to be blind if you don’t look at the fact that you’re looking at more than who you are as a person and how much the program wins, what we do to help a kid get to the next level.
“We’ve taken a lot of pride in that. There are benefits from that model. You work hard and you buy into being a team player. I’m going to do everything I can do to help them get to the next level.”
The defense hasn’t skipped a beat since Kelee Ringo, one of the nation’s top-rated cornerbacks for the 2020 class, became ineligible late in the season for violating a Scottsdale district code of conduct policy.
Saguaro has won its last six games by an average score of 57-3, shutting out three straight opponents from Oct. 19 to Nov. 2, and not allowing more than seven points in any game.
“We decided we didn’t think we were playing as well as we could have,” said senior linebacker Connor Soelle, who has committed to Arizona State. “When you have all of those Division I guys, it’s easy to get selfish, things like that. I don’t think that was something that really affected the way we were playing. I think we just weren’t preparing very well.
“We got to the point in the season when we were just tired of having teams score on us and having close games. We took it to heart and took it a lot more seriously. And it has shown the second half of the season.”
This is one of Mohns’ more experienced teams, led by Soelle and senior linebacker Clay Randall.
But next year might be Mohns’ most talented team. The backfield features a couple of current juniors, quarterback Tyler Beverett and tailback Israel Benjamin. And those are two of the least recruited juniors. Mohns’ junior class might end up being his best as far as sending players to Power 5 schools.
That is something 4A opponents have to look forward to.
Right now, it’s all about Salpointe, and the 6-peat.
“We all have a sense of ownership to each other,” Soelle said. “We don’t want to let each other down. We trust each other a lot. We don’t try to make somebody else’s play. We trust the other guy will make the play.
“We’re playing as a family and it’s showing.”
To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert at [email protected] or 602-316-8827. Follow him at twitter.com/azc_obert.
4A championship
Friday, 7 p.m. at Arizona Stadium, Tucson
No. 1 Tucson Salpointe Catholic (13-0) vs. No. 2 Scottsdale Saguaro (12-1)
5A, 6A championships
6A – Saturday, 4:30 p.m. at Sun Devil Stadium, Tempe
No. 1 Chandler (12-1) vs. No. 6 Gilbert Perry (11-2)
5A – Saturday, 12:30 p.m. at Sun Devil Stadium, Tempe
No. 1 Peoria Centennial (13-0) vs. No. 3 Scottsdale Notre Dame Prep (13-0)
MORE HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS
- 4A championship preview: Salpointe RB Robinson has NFL dreams
- Northwest Christian wins the 3A crown over Yuma Catholic in a OT thriller
- Thatcher routs Round Valley to claim 2A state championship
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