It is August, it is 104 degrees at 7 a.m., and on the new turf at Sahuarita High — which the booster club will tell you about whether or not you ask — the Mustangs are running two-a-days and saying the things teams say in August. The difference this year is that some of it might be true.
Fourteen starters return from a team that reached the state semifinal and then, in the fourth quarter, stopped reaching. Head coach Denny Villalobos has not watched the film of that quarter, he says, “recently,” a word he deployed after a pause that told its own story.
“We're taking it one day at a time,” Villalobos said, which means the schedule is hard. “Everybody's got a clean slate,” which means there is a quarterback battle. “Competition makes everybody better,” which means the quarterback battle is between junior Mateo Reyes, who started nine games last year, and sophomore Cash Dunlap, who threw for 300 yards in the spring game and has an arm the assistant coaches discuss in lowered voices.
The hydration protocol, new this year, involves scales, charts, and a walk-in cooler of electrolyte options that one lineman described as “the nicest thing that has ever happened to us.” Practice moves indoors when the heat index crosses a threshold the athletic trainer enforces, per multiple players, “like a bouncer.”
The season opens August 28 at home. The turf will be ready. The boosters will mention it.
Rich Palladino covers Valley sports and will be at every home game, near the good bleacher shade, which he found first.