VAL CAÑEZ/Tucson Citizen

Cienega quarterback Jimmy Monaco (right) gets taken down by Sunnyside's Zack Samorano (34) late in the second quarter during first round playoff action.

History of excellence fuels 4 finalists

Richard Obert and David Vest
The Arizona Republic
Dec. 5, 2003 12:00 AM

Every year at this time, it seems, Mesa Mountain View is preparing to win what every other school dreams about: a football championship.

The Toros have won four of the past seven Class 5A titles and eight since the school opened in the mid-1970s. They enter Saturday's championship game against Chandler Hamilton with a 27-game winning streak.

"We have a tradition of playing hard and being tough and giving our all," senior quarterback Max Hall said. "Because of that, we win state championships."

It could be considered a departure from tradition if the Toros don't end up hoisting the gold ball inside Sun Devil Stadium on Saturday.

Hamilton would rather call it the start of one.

The Huskies have won 57 of 64 Class 5A games in their brief existence but have never captured the championship trophy. They played in the 2001 title game but lost to Mesa Red Mountain 13-10.

"We're in the championship game again, but none of us feel like we've accomplished anything," Hamilton senior safety Brandon Robertson said. "We're just another good team that hasn't gotten over that hump yet."

Tucson Sunnyside, which plays Glendale Cactus in the 4A final on Saturday, took that step two years ago when the Blue Devils added a football crown at a school known primarily as a wrestling powerhouse (21 state titles since 1979).

Sunnyside has been in the title game three of the past four years under coach Richard Sanchez, who was part of the Sunnyside wrestling staff for 15 years, five as head coach.

"The attitude of the kids has changed," Sanchez said. "One of my coaches talked about the mentality you had in the wrestling room. Now it's in the football program."

When Sunnyside knocked off previously unbeaten and unchallenged Scottsdale Chaparral 16-7 in perhaps the most stunning playoff upset since Glendale Apollo beat Tempe McClintock in the 1985 semifinals, it was a victory for the little guy.

Sunnyside had lost to Chaparral 41-14 in the second week of the season, but Sanchez got the Blue Devils to believe they could compete with the Firebirds and they delivered, shutting down an offense that averaged 55 points a game.

"I admire the people at Sunnyside," said Gilbert coach Jesse Parker, who started the Mountain View tradition. "They had no business beating Chaparral. . . . It's the poor little kids beating the rich kids. There's something American about that."

No matter where a school is located, every good program has work ethic as its foundation.

St. Mary's had it from the 1960s through most of the '90s, with sons, brothers, nephews and cousins carrying on the tradition.

"We used the phrase: 'Carry on the tradition. Don't let it carry you,' " said former St. Mary's coach Pat Farrell, now retired, who played on two state championship teams at St. Mary's and coached the Knights to four titles.

Sanchez said: "We're teaching and developing character. A lot of parents want their kids in the program for that reason also. You know what winning does. We have little kids, Pop Warner kids, saying, 'I want to go to Sunnyside. I want to win a state championship.' The little kids are coming in with that attitude."

Cactus coach Larry Fetkenhier, a Michigan transplant in his 20th season at the northwest Valley school, likes to say the ghosts of past players help keep Cactus' tradition going. The Cobras have had only one losing season and have failed to reach the playoffs only three times in Fetkenhier's tenure. But after reaching the title game twice in his first four years, it has taken Fetkenhier 16 years to get back.

"I never won (a championship), but I like to think there is more to it than that trophy," he said. "That trophy lasts in the spirit of the moment. But you try to instill values and hope, and they last a lifetime."