Category: Athletics

Pueblo Surging, But ‘Major Mountain’ Awaits Tonight

Pueblo vs. Nogales is also KOLD 13 Game of the Week:

Pueblo will look to stretch their winning streak to four straight games Friday night when the Warriors host Nogales in a Week 5 high school football matchup.

Pueblo (3-1) opened the season with a late one-point loss at Amphi but has rolled off victories over Santa Rita, Rio Rico and Rincon.

The Warriors are led by 1st-year head coach Brandon Sanders, a former Arizona Wildcats defensive star who made it to the NFL with the New York Giants.

The Apaches enter at 2-2 having won two straight over Douglas and Cholla.

Nogales at Pueblo is our Overtime Game of the Week. David Kelly will be lives from the south side with a report in during the KOLD News 13 at 6 and you can see the game highlights Friday night on Overtime which kickoffs on KOLD News 13 at 10:20 p.m.

Jorge Romero (Class of 2016)

Pueblo’s Memo Berube and Jorge Romero both had doubts about their football team coming into this season. In fact, Berube, a senior, was toying with the idea of hanging up his cleats for good.
He’s glad he didn’t.

In just four games, Pueblo (3-1) has already matched its win total from each of the last three seasons. Furthermore, a win tonight would mark just the second time in the last 10 years the Warriors have registered four victories in a season.

“I’ve never felt this great during football,” said Berube, who missed most of last season with a left knee injury. “I wasn’t expecting as good of a season so far and came into the spring with some doubts.”

First-year coach Brandon Sanders and the Warriors host Nogales tonight at 7 with a chance to win their fourth straight game — a rarity in itself for Pueblo recently.

To make sure his players aren’t coming into the game overconfident, Sanders has reminded them that they haven’t been within 49 points of the Apaches in the last two years.

Nogales (2-2) has won seven straight meetings between the schools, most recently with a 56-0 win 2013, and holds a 14-6 advantage in the series. The last time Pueblo topped the Apaches was in 2000.

Coach Brandon Sanders

“That’s a major mountain for these kids,” said Sanders, a member of the UA’s “Desert Swarm” defense in the mid-1990s and a former NFL player. “We don’t shy away from anything; we recognize it, we own up to it and we step up to take on the challenge.

“That’s what I want to see: Can we step up to the challenge to play?”

The Warriors have already conquered one challenge this season, scoring two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to rally against Santa Rita in Week 2. Since then, Pueblo has outscored opponents 81-12 in two games.

“It transitioned from the field to the locker room,” said Romero, a junior who leads the team with 581 yards rushing and six touchdowns. “You should have seen the lock room; there was so much adrenaline, you could see that we wanted to play.”

Since taking over last spring, Sanders has reconnected with Pueblo’s storied past. Former coach Curly Santa Cruz is among those who Sanders has brought in to speak with the team. After all, Santa Cruz spent 15 years with the program and was the last one to lead the Warriors to the state playoffs, in 1990. The way Romero sees it, however, that’s about to change.

“A lot of people have high expectations for us but there’s also still a lot of low,” Romero said. “We had doubts from a lot of people coming into the season but we’re ready to prove them wrong.”

Courtesy of Tucson.com (Daniel Gaona)

Warriors Lose First Game, Prepare For Santa Rita On Friday

By Isaac Montiel

For their first home scrimmage, our Warriors dominated the Titans of Palo Verde, playing what we call “Warrior Football”.

It seemed that this victorious spirit would continue last Friday night when our Warriors traveled to Amphi High School for Pueblo’s first game of the season. The Warriors had a great start at 13-0—touchdowns by junior George Romero (aka “Drake”)—until the fourth quarter when the Amphi Panthers leaped into winning territory, and being victorious in the last five minutes with a two-point conversion.

Senior Jorge Lopez said, “This game was a wake-up call. We got cocky and didn’t play up to our potential.”

Another senior, Jesus Gutierrez, said, “It’s not too late for us to change. We will keep working hard and not let one defeat drag us down.”

Coach Brandon Sanders said, “We are working on our discipline and making sure that all of the little things are done right for the game on Friday.”

This Friday’s game is a “white-out” game in which fans are encouraged to wear white in support of the Warriors, in an effort to “psych-out” the opponents.

This school year, Pueblo Magnet High School’s varsity football team has had a tough start. Coming from a 3-7 losing season last year, they will recover quite well.

This year with the hope of the new coach, our Warriors will have one of the best seasons they’ve seen in a long time, according to many of this year’s players. Every athlete on the team has worked hard all summer and has surpassed all expectations in “passing league” as well as other tournaments they have participated in.

Former U of A Coach Dick Tomey Visits Pueblo

Coach Dick Tomey Speaking To Warrior Football Players

Courtesy of The Arizona Daily Star

On Saturday, before Dick Tomey spoke to about 300 high school football players and coaches at the Coaches for Charity Kickoff Classic Luncheon, before he spoke with about 400 coaches of all manner at Pima College, he visited Pueblo High School, which hasn’t had a winning season in more than 10 years.

Tomey wanted to see how Pueblo’s new head coach, Brandon Sanders, is doing in his first year as a prep head coach. From 1992-95, Sanders was one of the best safeties in college football, an absolute anchor of the “Desert Swarm” years.

Few coaches in Tucson have a more difficult assignment than Sanders does at Pueblo. Tomey met with the Pueblo coaches and the team. His message was simple: You’ll learn more from your struggles than anything else. Don’t get discouraged.

That’s Dick Tomey. Forget his career victory total (183), he was always about people first, football later.

One of those who attended Saturday’s luncheon at the Double Tree hotel was Tim Davis, who has coached at Alabama, Florida, USC, Wisconsin and for the Miami Dolphins. It was Tomey who gave Davis a career-changing opportunity in 1987, Tomey’s first Arizona season.

“I had been hauling meat in Wisconsin,” Davis said. “Dick called and gave me an opportunity to be a graduate assistant coach. It changed my life. It all goes back to him.”

Tomey, who has been out of coaching for three years, is retired and lives in Honolulu. He is 76, looks 56, and has become an in-demand public speaker.

“I always look forward to coming back to Tucson,” Tomey said. “I could talk about the fond memories of the people I met here forever.”

Warrior Volleyball Visits U of A Practice

Warrior Volleyball watching U of A Practice

On Tuesday, October 1st, our Pueblo Girls Volleyball program had an opportunity to visit the University of Arizona Women’s Volleyball Team during their practice at Mckale Center.  It was great exposure for our students.  They learned about college academics and the student/athlete lifestyle at the collegiate level. For some of the students it was their first time visiting the U of A and a first for many to be inside Mckale Center.

U of A Coach Rubio during Q & A Session

After practice our students were invited to have a Q & A session, received posters and took pictures with the team.

Warrior & U of A Volleyball Teams

Sometimes it’s not just about the wins and loses. It’s about the EXPERIENCE!

2013-2014 Warrior Girls Volleyball Program
Coach Mario Matanza

Pueblo Wrestling Defeats Nogales

November 21, 2012

Pueblo Wrestling traveled to Nogales for a wrestling match. Last year it came to the final match where our heavyweight had to pin his opponent in order for us to win by 1 point, which he did. Two weeks later Nogales returned the favor by beating us soundly at the William Bell Tournament.

We have a young but very promising team this year, so we were confident, but still untested. We also didn’t have our 106 and 113 pounders, who won’t be able to wrestle until this Friday.

Pueblo Warriors Wrestling Team 2012-2013

Right away, the score was 12 to 0 because of the 2 forfeits.  The next match at 120lbs, was Christian Felix, who pinned his opponent in :52 and gave us 6pts. Michael Laborin won his next match by forfeit, tying the team score at 12 to 12. Team Captain Mark Martinez made it 18 to 12-Pueblo, with pin in 1:23. Freshman, Anthony Rivera showed promise, but suffered his 1st defeat, and the score was now tied again at 18 to 18. Seasoned wrestler Ruben Rendon was awarded a forfeit at 145lbs, making the score 24 -18 Pueblo. Senior, Jonathan Valencia then made it 30 to 18 by pinning his opponent with 3 seconds left in the match at the 152lb weight class. Christopher Tequida, who is a first year wrestler and has a lot of potential, faced a state placer and lost in the 2nd period to experience. The score at this point is Pueblo 30, Nogales 24.

With 5 matches remaining and 30 points available for the taking, the outcome was still in doubt. Sophomore Anthony Montiel and 2nd year wrestler, pinned his man in 4:21 seconds to increase Pueblo’s lead to 36 -24. At 182lbs, First year wrestler David Henriquez wrestled to a 10-10 tie, but lost in the overtime period by two points making the score Pueblo 36, Nogales 27.

With 3 matches remaining and two of our wrestlers being first timers there was still a little doubt as to the outcome, but Lawrence Michael pinned his opponent in 3:06! Pueblo 42, Nogales 27. At this point, there was no possible way Nogales could catch us. Sean Berube won at 220lbs by forfeit and Senior Nick Rojas, pinned his man in the 2nd period to arrive at our final score of 54 to 27!

White Out Party 2012

The 2012-2013 season of Warrior Football is about to begin.  To kick-off the season with a bang, we want to invite all Pueblo fans, students and alumni to our White Out Party vs. Tucson High on August 24th. (7:00 p.m.) 

We are asking all Pueblo fans to wear white.  You can purchase official t-shirts from any member of the football team or at New Stitch, two blocks north of Pueblo for $5.00.  Let’s jam the stands and support our Warriors!

Pueblo Warriors White Out Party 2012 Tshirt - $5

Donald Escalante, a proud alumni of the class of 1995, is donating all proceeds to the football team. New Stitch is a proud sponsor of Warrior Athletics and wants Pueblo to return to dominance.