High School Football: At 4-1, Tucson High Badgers again playing like a contender

After the Badgers’ 56-38 win at Catalina Foothills, THS (4-1) has won eight of its last nine games, dating back to last season.

“We’re starting fast. That’s really what I wanted to do and that’s really what I envisioned me coming here to do,” second-year Tucson High head coach Zach Neveleff said. “I thought we would be able to do that last year; it wasn’t in the cards.

“But this year, that’s what is expected of our team: we have to start fast and we got to play physical football and that’s our brand of football.”

Long Southern Arizona’s flagship program, Tucson High has won 13 state championships. Four of those titles have come in the AIA era (since 1959) with the most recent in 1971.

Last season, Canyon del Oro and Sabino moved into a tie with Tucson High for most state titles in the AIA era.

But this year, the Badgers are off to their best start since 2018.

“That’s just what we expect. We put in the work all offseason, starting from December, all the way until now,” said Tucson High senior Kevin Bruns, a receiver, safety and kicker for the Badgers. “We’re disciplined (and) the effort and everything coming together.

“We just play as a team.”

Tucson High’s one loss came to Marana at home by the score of 56-7. The Badgers’ one score came when freshman safety Ezra Spivey stripped Marana senior receiver and Washington commit Dezmen Roebuck of the ball and returned it 77 yards.

Marana is widely projected to be in the Arizona Interscholastic Association’s “Open” bracket, a tournament for the top 6A-4A teams in the state.

“They’re a great team, and they deserve to go to the Open. They really do,” Neveleff said. “They have the playmakers, and I think they could make a deep run in the Open. They’re coached very, very well.

“But you battle adversity when you play teams like that and last year I think we got punched in the mouth by them and we weren’t ready to respond. This year, that Saturday, everyone was at practice, everyone was at film, and everyone was ready to get better so we could make a run at playoffs.

“We’re on a path to do that right now,” he added.

Since the Marana loss, Tucson High beat Cienega, Sierra Vista Buena and Catalina Foothills. The win over Buena was 42-29, and the Colts who are also 4-1, were 3-0 at the time.

“We knew it was gonna be a tough game, unfortunately, it didn’t go the way he wanted to but you know, we bounced back, kept our head high,” Bruns said about the Marana loss.

“We had to work, come back from that and just keep going with the with the next games, you just gotta move on, play our game.”

Last year, the Badgers won their last four to finish 5-5 after they limped out to a 1-5 start. Tucson High went 3-7 in 2022 and 1-9 in 2021.

The program’s last winning record (6-4) was in 2018, and last playoff appearance was in 2016 when THS went 6-5, losing 47-30 to state power Chandler Hamilton in the first round.

In their games, besides the loss to Marana, Tucson has outscored opponents 161-95.

One reason for the success: Neveleff said the Badgers are healthier this season. Last year, for example, THS lost its top two quarterbacks to injury.

“The biggest thing is our health,” Neveleff said. “We stayed healthy this year, and that really goes back to us working out in the weight room.

“We knew we had to get stronger. We knew we had to eat better in order for us to make those type of runs. So since we were able to do that, that’s really what’s attributed to our success after the bounce back.”

Bruns said bringing back Tucson High’s success is on the Badgers’ minds.

“Oh so much, you know. That’s the goal, go 9-1,” Bruns said. “That’s the goal..That’s been the goal: state.

“So we’re just on track. You’ve got to keep there, keep working, and keep our heads hard.”