History in the Making

Prior to Sabino’s 2024 season opener, there has been a recent history brewing between Coolidge and Sabino over the last couple of years. Starting in the year 2022, Sabino
had a change in regularly scheduled teams following a COVID-19 year (consisting of just a 2-game schedule). Sabino would begin to adapt Coolidge High School into
the first matchup of every season on, beginning with a home-opener win against the Coolidge Bears, defeating them by 22 points with a 42-20 win. As this game was not
too impactful of a win, considering Coolidge proceeded to have a 3-7 record season, Sabino used this win as part of their journey throughout the rest of their deep-playoff run,
ending with a 42-28 point loss to the Eastmark Firebirds. Kicking the season off in 2023, the Sabino Sabercats, led by the state-champion quarterback, Cameron Hackworth,
traveled to Coolidge High School, located in the small town of Coolidge, Arizona. Amped from intense weather conditions, the Sabino Sabercats proceeded to win putting up 55
points over Coolidge (who put up only 28 points). I was fortunate enough to attend that 2023 game and can confidently say, Sabino had a talent-heavy roster that helped the
team reach multiple records and a 3A state championship. The Coolidge Bears entered the 2024 season with confidence in hopes to break a 2-year-long streak over the Sabino Sabercats,
which have revamped more than half of their entire roster of seniors from last year’s 2023 season.

Game Recap

The final score coming from the game was a 40-0 victory for Sabino, although the 2024 matchup of the Coolidge Bears and Sabino Sabercats did not disappoint. As early as warmups, chatter coming all around the field from both teams was present and alive. Sabino’s new roster consists of a new quarterback, running back, and defensive playmakers. Starting at quarterback for Sabino as a freshman, Bodhi Sanford threw for 96 passing yards and threw for 2 passing touchdowns. Starting at running back as a junior, Zachari Haley returns to Sabino for what I consider an MVP performance for the Sabercats. Haley rushed for 109 yards off of 15 carries in the game. Haley’s physicality and understanding of the game was observable in the way he made plays on the field. Besides a dominant offense, Sabino’s defensive standout Paul Ortiz managed to return 2 Coolidge fumbles and converted them into 2 touchdowns.

The Coolidge Bears showed out in a near identical fashion in comparison to what I observed last year. Coolidge performed well in the 1st quarter, holding the previous state-champs
to 13 points, as well as 7 points in the 3rd, and 0 points in the 4th. A standout player that I noticed made a huge impact on the pros of Coolidge’s performance was #26 (No name listed on roster). Number 26 on Coolidge was forcing multiple scrambles and made multiple tackles for loss, resulting in a steady defensive performance throughout the game.

Overall, the Sabino Sabercats have a great chance in making a deep playoff run as they did the last 2 years, despite not having the same starters as the last couple years. This team
has proven to have both the smarts and talent when it comes to the game itself. I can see a bright future for the rising star players on offense and defense as most of them all have another 1-2 years of development before entering their senior years. As for Coolidge, I can expect some victories throughout the season, but they have a schedule consisting of tougher opponents that prove to be a challenge to those who play them (PRCA, San Tan Foothills, etc…). Coolidge has potential to have a positive record by the end of the season, I believe it is just a matter of winning the easier games on their schedule and preserving the healthy starters, considering Coolidge has a smaller roster size.

Story: Weston Inners