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4A Conference Football Preseason Rankings
Mesquite will start this season where it left off last year - as the No. 1 team in 4A. (Stephen Davis photo/MaxPreps)
By Andy Morales azpreps365.com
1. MESQUITE: Scott Hare took over the head coaching posi-
tion at Mesquite last year and brought along his brother Cory and father Steve. The Hares and the Wildcats then went on to appear in the first state title game in program history and wound up winning 28-23 over Desert Edge. If the Wildcats finish near the top of the 4A rankings this year, however, a date in the Open Division might await. Hare says his program is capable of anoth- er state championship despite playing in “the toughest region in 4A.” Along with Mesquite, the Desert Sky Region is comprised
of 3A state champion ALA-Queen Creek, 3A runner-up Benja- min Franklin, 4A state playoff team Marcos de Niza and Seton Catholic. The Wildcats return leaders Sr. QB Ty Thompson 6-4, 210 (4,074, 45 TDs; 562 yards rushing, 6 TDs), Sr. OT Judson Cole 6-3, 230, Sr. OG Nathan Hargis 6-1 225, Jr. ATH Andrew Morris 6-2, 205 (759 yards receiving, 5 TDs) and what Hare considers
a “deep LB corps with smart coachable players with speed in
the secondary.” Mesquite does have to replace 3,000 yards of receiving with the graduations of Jacob Walker, Jordan Wollangk, Michael Sterling and Chris Hintze.
2. CANYON DEL ORO: Led by head coach Dustin Peace, the Dorados earned a No. 3 seed despite going most of the season without a dominating passing game and the loss of standout running back Stevie Rocker for half the season. Gavin Davis turned a lot of heads when he stepped in to fill the gap left by Rocker and games were won on the defensive side with only
a handful of touchdowns given up to teams that didn’t have a
guy named Bijan Robinson on their roster. Rocker committed
to play for the University of Arizona. With Scottsdale Saguaro, Salpointe Catholic and Desert Edge moving up to the 5A Confer- ence this fall, the Dorados have enough experience and return- ing firepower to make a deep run. Like Mesquite, however, an above average run in the regular season could see the Dorados competing in the Open Division, which is a completely different dynamic. Sr. QB Montana Neustadter (508 yards passing, 5 TDs, 637 yards rushing, 6 TDs) returns along with Sr. RB Rocker (6-0, 185) and Sr. TE Dustin Sheeley 6-0, 190. On defense, Sr. 6-2, 160 Ethan Seppala (41 tackles, 5 INTS) returns along with 6-0, 185 Sr. MLB Mike Williams (37 tackles).
3. SAHUARO: The Cougars took over the top seed in the 4A Conference after Scottsdale Saguaro and Salpointe Catholic qualified for the Open Division. With 11 years of coaching at Sahuaro, Scott McKee is one of 4A’s veterans. Plus his experience as a player at Sabino and the University of Arizona helped guide the Cougars to an incredible run last year that came up short
in the quarterfinal round. The Cougars will once again be in the unique position of taking over one of the top spots in the 4A playoffs if other teams are bumped up to the Open Division. A favorable seeding in the state playoffs is sometimes all a team needs to succeed in the postseason. McKee returns Sr. QB Devyn Roberts (613 yards passing, 8 TDs), Sr. ATH Jamir Gasaway (942 yards rushing, 11 TDs) and Sr. RB Trevion Watkins (743 yards rushing, 11 TDs) on offense and Sr. LB Miguel Yslas (32 tackles), Sr. LB Trevion Watkins (31 tackles) and Sr. DL Anthony Hogan (3.5 sacks) on defense.