New Faces Shine in Hamilton Season Opener

There would be plenty of new faces taking the field for the Hamilton Huskies in 2020.

Last year’s seniors featured three Pac-12 signees (Brenden Rice, Jeremiah Trojan, Dylan Mayginnes) as well as multi-year quarterback Nick Arvay. Key players were moving on, but head coach Mike Zdebski had depth in place and some new additions to the roster to help moving forward.

In the offseason, the Huskies saw an influx of transfers come in from Colorado. Some players, like 4-star quarterback Nicco Marchiol and Colorado State commit Jack Howell, transferred in before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Others, including offensive linemen Grayson Stovall & Alexander Bruns and running back Noah Schmidt, decided to come to Arizona after uncertainty arose around Colorado’s prep football season. Those players, along with some familiar faces within the program, shined in Hamilton’s dominant 42-0 win over Centennial.

Marchiol was efficient as could be, throwing for a touchdown and rushing for another. Schmidt had two runs over 50 yards and two scores. The offensive line, which featured Stovall and Bruns, set up a strong ground attack that found the end zone five times on Friday. 

Howell helped the Husky defense dominate, along with a stout front seven and Cole Martin and Brady Shough, two key returners in the secondary. 

The 2020 Husky football team had a heck of an introduction in 2020. They’ll look to continue that trend next Friday against Perry.