Our swim team competed hard against Sahuarita and Cholla on Thursday, October 1, and even though the boys’ and girls’ teams came in second individually, as a team, we came in first place!
We have almost 30 kids swimming 1000’s of yards every day, and their hard work has started to pay off. Our Water Warriors are dropping huge times and swimming with confidence.
Come out and see them for Senior Night on October 22 at 4:00 p.m.
Congratulations to these swimmers who earned first place finishes at the meet versus Sahuarita & Cholla:
Kassandra Amaya: 200 Yard Freestyle
Damaris Ponce: 200 Yard IM
Sal Varela: 50 Yard Freestyle
Damaris Ponce, Julia Sullivan, Bernadette Romero and Kassandra Amaya: 400 Yard Freestyle Relay
For the past two years, Class of 2016 Senior Brianna Bertsch has been a committed varsity football player, the only female on the field this year.
When Bertsch toured the Pueblo campus as an eighth grader, she recalls seeing the mural in the cafeteria, and one of the images was a dignified native holding a football, and this image inspired her to want to be dignified as well.
“I suffered from low-esteem because of a poor family life,” Bertsch said. “So, I knew that I had to get myself out of the gutter—and I found that sense of belonging on the football team.”
In the past four years, Bertsch has been awarded many accolades for her commitment to the football team, including the Superintendent’s Cup Scholarship as well as numerous pins and patches.
“I learned early on that I was a big girl,” Bertsch said. “I was teased a lot in elementary and middle school, but once I entered high school and tried out for football, all of the teasing ended and I started to have friends.”
She paused and said, “Being on the football team literally saved my life. I stopped a lot of bad habits in my life, and I found direction.”
Bertsch said that when she became the only girl on the boys’ football team, as a freshman, some of the players ignored her and didn’t take her seriously. “I was like a ghost to some of these players,” she said. “It wasn’t until I started breaking records in the weight room when I started to get the respect that I always thought that I deserved.”
Following high school graduation next spring, Bertsch plans to attend Pima and become a member of the AZ Prep Team, which is an organization that caters to players who may not be prepared to be on the regular college football team.
Eventually, Bertsch wants to pursue a career to be a paramedic.
“I’ve always wanted to save people—always,” she said.
Pueblo High School’s football team hosted its fifth annual White-Out game on Sept. 4 against the Marana Tigers. The Warriors were victorious over the Division III Tigers; the final score was a nail-biting 28-27.
Coach Brandon Sanders said, “I wanted to start them [Pueblo] with a tough schedule right off the bat to see what we were made of, and while it wasn’t pretty, I’m proud of the total team effort we gave Friday night.”
Senior Justin Pledger said, “The win over Marana was not an individual victory; it was a team victory, and we would not have won without everyone doing their parts.”
Former Coach Adrian Koch began the tradition of the first game having the theme of White Out in 2011. Many Pueblo faculty, staff, and students participated in the tradition by wearing white to school and the football game in support of the varsity football team.
“I have gone to the White-Out game every year since I was a freshman,” said senior Cristian Coronado.“This year was by the far the most spirited student section. We participated in chants, painted our faces and bodies, and we even threw baby powder up in the air when our team scored their first touchdown.”
Up next for the Warriors are the Flowing Wells’ Caballeros on September 11.
Pledger said, “This is a big game for the team. If we get this win, other teams have to watch out because Flowing Wells is predicted to take State in our division.”
Pueblo High School’s football team will open the 2015-16 season at Catalina Foothills this evening, August 28. The Warriors are set to kick off against the Catalina Foothills Falcons at 7 p.m.
Football Coach Brandon Sanders
Pueblo’s Head Coach and the school’s Athletic Director Brandon Sanders constructed the schedule to have Catalina Foothills be their first challenge. The Falcons are a Division 3 school, and Pueblo is in Division 4. Sanders was the Falcons’ assistant coach two years ago where he learned how to build a program from coach Jeff Scurran.
“We’re trying hard to work to be that kind of program [like Catalina Foothills],” Sanders said. “Mr. Scurran built multiple programs, built them up to state champs. All you can do is learn from a guy like that.”
Junior and lineman Michael Beltran said, “I feel it’s going to be a great fight [tonight], but in the end, we are going to be the team that wants it more.”
The Warriors believe that last season’s record has set a precedence for the future. The team plans to make it to playoffs this year.
“The best view comes from the hardest climb,” said senior Gustavo Zubiri. “Pueblo has not been to playoffs since 1990, but we are working hard to change that this season.”
“Our pride for our team and our school has grown so much in the past few years,” said senior Frankie Gomez. He added, “We are a family, and we want our students and our staff here at Pueblo to share that pride with us.”
This past weekend we took the 3 state qualifiers to the Division III State Wrestling Championships. They were Christian Felix at 128 lbs, Billy Bertsch at 154 lbs. and Will Smith at 285 lbs.
With these three wrestlers we managed to finish 24th out of 48 teams.
5th Place for Christian Felix at 128lbs.
Christian Felix won his final match of the season to finish in 5th place.
6th Place for Will Smith at 285lbs.
Will Smith finished in 6th place!
Christian has been knocking on the door the last two years, falling short of placing by one match. He finally broke in. This was Will’s first year wrestling and to finish in 6th place at the State Tournament is quite an accomplishment!
Please congratulate these young men for a job well done & a great season!
This past weekend, the Warrior Wrestling team participated in the TUSD William Bell Wrestling Tournament.
As a team, Pueblo ended up with a 5 win, 3 loss tournament record, which was not bad considering we fielded only 10 out of 14 possible wrestling weight classes. Pueblo ended up in 7th place out of 15 teams and qualified 6 wrestlers for the individual mini- tournament. In this part of the tournament, we finished in 4th place with those 6 wrestlers.
Anthony Montiel takes down opponent at William Bell Tournament 2014
We are very proud of the performance these young men gave and are anticipating an excellent season, especially when we get back some key wrestlers in January. Sadly, Anthony Montiel dislocated his shoulder and will not be able to continue. He was undefeated in his 4th match when it happened and ended up with a 3-1 record.
Congratulations to following wrestlers:
Champions
132- Christian Felix (Jr)160- Samuel Sierra (Fr)
Runner-up Champion
220- George Majuta (Jr)
3rd Place
195- Miguel Moreno (Jr)
285- Ares Benitez (Jr)
4th Place
113- Nick Gallegos (So)
The other young men who also wrestled and did well are;
126- Matt Luna (Jr)
145- Lazaro Tovar-Fimbres (Jr)
152- Billy Bertsch (So)
170- Anthony Montiel (Sr)
