2015-16-aia-sollenbergers-az-prep-report-2015-football-lowres

By Andy Morales, azpreps365.comNo. 1. Saguaro: Are the Sabercats a bigschool or a small school? Does it really matter?MaxPreps' preseason computer rankingshave Saguaro ranked No. 6 nationally formedium schools and for good reason. Nowback in D-II, the Sabercats will be instant favoriteswith at least 10 players earning collegiateinterest. Eight state championships.Three of them in the upper divisions. A 27-game win streak. Winners of two consecutivestate championships. Enough said.No. 2. Skyline: Angelo Paffumi revived theSkyline program to a point where the Coyotesturned in an 10-game winning season in D-Ilast year and lost a close 21-14 playoff gameto super power Hamilton. Now in D-II, Paffumiwill have plenty of offense in running backAmarii Keyes and defense with Nik Carbo returning.Skyline will travel to Tucson in lateSeptember to face Salpointe Catholic.Division II Preseason RankingsNo. 3. Williams Field: The Black Hawks made it to the 4A-IIstate championship game in 2010 and have since dominatedin D-III, where they have reeled off 43 wins in four years, includinga 12-2 mark last year when Williams Field took secondplace to Saguaro. Steve Campbell will lead his team on atrip to Tucson to play Sunnyside on Sept. 25 for a game thatcould set the tone for both programs.No. 4. Westview: The Knights have had a nine winning seasonsin a row and are looking to continue that trend with ashift from D-I to D-II. Joe Parker is in his second year at Westview,and he will return quality play from the quarterback andrunning back positions. Like all teams moving down to D-II,could prove a blessing but the Knights open up with Skyline,Sunnyside and Deer Valley.No. 5. Salpointe: The loss of all-purpose standout JamaryeJoiner and the transfer of safety Teauntae Nash to Chandlerbumped the Lancers down to No. 5 but the play of Universityof Arizona recruit Justin Holt should help coach Dennis Benecontinue his incredible 70-4 sectional record. A match at IronwoodRidge on Sept. 11 could decide Southern Arizona supremacy.No. 6. Mountain View Marana: Clarence "Bam" McRae isstarting his fourth year at Mountain View. Multi-sport athleteJustice Summerset returns for his senior year at the quarterbackposition. After a year of controversy, look for MountainView to respond with a playoff appearance, but the MountainLions have to get past Sunnyside, Canyon del Oro, IronwoodRidge, Cienega and Queen Creek.The Saguaro Sabercats celebrate their 2014 Div. III State Championship(photo by Jim Willittes of maxpreps.com).page 15No. 7. Desert Mountain: Mike Morrissey will be in his firstyear with the Wolves after coaching in Iowa and Illinois andformer NFL quarterback Kurt Warner will lead the offense.The future looks bright with quarterback Austin Nuessle returningalong with receiver Kade Warner and defensive backKeaton Licon.No. 8. Ironwood Ridge: Matt Johnson took the Nighthawksto a state championship in 2012 and the program has stayedon the scene since. The Nighthawks posted a 9-2 season lastyear and they will be tested again. Johnson has changed hisoffensive scheme almost yearly, making this another excitingyear.No. 9. Canyon del Oro: Under Dustin Peace, the Doradoshave competed in three divisions (including a 4A-I championshipin 2009). The Dorados are now back in D-II after acouple of years in D-III. Look for Noah Soto to lead the teamfrom the quarterback position. We will know pretty early if themagic is back with Tucson High looking to make a statementin week two.No. 10. Westwood: Spencer Stowers took the Warriors fromone win in 2012 to a 9-2 record last year but Stowers hasmoved over to the newly built Queen Creek Casteel High.Former Chandler coach Jim Ewan has taken over and he willinherit running back Ethan Johnson and linebacker MitchellClark. Johnson is one of the top returning running backs inArizona. Westwood will be chased by Deer Valley, Sahuaro,Sunnyside, Tucson High, Queen Creek and Cienega to namea few. The top 10 could, and will, be completely different byweek three.