Gridiron Arizona on Which Arizona Prep Football Records Might Fall in 2024

You might know him as Gridiron Arizona, but the people that have been lucky enough to get to know one of the most enthusiastic and plugged in minds covering Arizona High School football, you might just know him as Chris Eaton.

If there’s anyone that’s always up for a conversation about Arizona High School football, it’s Chris, and so I asked him about the Arizona prep football records he thinks could be most at-risk to fall this season, and who might take them down.

Career Receptions

“I want to give a shout out first to Jose Garcia over there at the AIA with AZPreps365 for not only maintaining the record book each year, but making them available so that the public can look at them.

I’m gonna start with career receptions for Arizona. The record is Brandon Phelps with 282 for ALA Gilbert North, and it was just set last season. The record was previously set by Kade Warner from Desert Mountain back in 2016, so it did hold up for eight years before that. This one’s gonna hold up for a lot less because Dezmen Roebuck for Marana currently sits at 257, with an entire senior year still to play.

pic.twitter.com/XPPIUpCq0W

— Dezmen Roebuck (@DezmenRoebuck) September 3, 2023

Roebuck averages about eight receptions a game for his career, and last year I think it was closer to 10- so it’s possible in one of Marana’s week three or week four home game this year, he could break that record.

Roebuck had a state record 121 receptions last year for the Tigers, so he could be making the record books once again.”

Head Coaching Wins

“The next one I’ll look at is the coaching victories. The AIA recognizes Centennial’s Richard Taylor on there with his 335 career wins, and the current record is held by Mike Morgan with 349. Morgan led St. John’s from 1989 to 2021, and surpassed Blue Ridge legend Paul Moro in 2020.

“𝕎𝕙𝕖𝕟 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕔𝕒𝕟 𝕥𝕒𝕜𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕓𝕒𝕝𝕝, 𝕘𝕖𝕥 𝟛, 𝟜, 𝟝 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥’𝕤 𝕨𝕙𝕖𝕟 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕥𝕒𝕜𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕚𝕣 𝕙𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕥. 𝕋𝕙𝕖𝕪’𝕣𝕖 𝕕𝕠𝕟𝕖. 𝕋𝕙𝕒𝕥’𝕤 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕗𝕠𝕠𝕥𝕓𝕒𝕝𝕝 𝕀 𝕝𝕚𝕜𝕖.”

Times change, @CoachTaylorCeHS doesn’t.#ZoneRead: https://t.co/VQWv6D8nAu pic.twitter.com/7sjKqkMPoS

— Eric Sorenson (@EricSports360AZ) August 2, 2024

Richard Taylor’s 335 wins put him just 14 behind Morgan, however there is a little bit of an asterisk with this, because the first 49 wins came in Ohio. The AIA does recognize those wins, and of course, Taylor has been the only coach in Centennial’s history, starting with the program back in 1992.”

6A Total Career Points

“My next one might not happen this year, but it’s still one to watch- the 6A record for points in a career, which is currently held by TJ Green from Chandler with 342.

Green had 57 touchdowns total in 2015 and 2016, equaling out to 342 total points- and the interesting one with this record is that in the lower levels, Apollo’s Adam Mohammed (5A) and Glendale’s Kevin Daniels (4A) basically have double that, because so many schools at that level start sophomores or even freshmen, so it’s possible if you were to get get a three-year starter in 6A at running back that would be 19 touchdowns a year, which seems feasible.”

(Editor’s note: 2026 Queen Creek QB and Clemson dual-sport commit Tait Reynolds has 19 rushing TDs in his career so far, and four sophomore RBs scored at least 8 varsity TDs last season- Brophy’s Harrison Chambers, Casteel’s Mason Lewis, Saguaro’s Jacob Brown, and Boulder Creek’s Duke Milacek)

The Unbreakable Records

“Three records appear to be unbreakable right now. Let’s start with rushing yards in a season.

The record is held by Marcus Thomas for Tolleson, who had 3,573 yards back in 2002. He did that for a Wolverine team that went 12-2, and made the state semifinals. Usually only a few guys get over the 2,000 yard mark, and the closest anyone has come in the last nine years to this record was Christopher Weaver of Odyssey Institute, who had 2,680 in 2019… which still leaves him 900 yards shy.

Next, we’re gonna look touchdown passes in a season. Gage Baker of Paradise Honors smashed this record last season with 91! Baker had seven or more touchdown passes a ridiculous eight times. The previous record for this one was held by Richard Stallworth of Yuma Catholic who did it in 2021- and Baker passed that during Paradise Honors’ first playoff game last year, and ended up setting the national record during that playoff run as well. I just don’t think that’s anything you’re gonna see broken anytime soon. Gage Baker will probably be talking to his grandkids one day about his place atop the AIA record books.

Finally, lets look at defense with Brandon Tomerlin‘s 32 interceptions in a career during his 1995-1998 run at Superior High School. Tomlin was the two-way player of the year, and in addition to defnesive back, he played quaterback adn returned kicks! He had 17 interceptions as a sophomore, and seven as a junior. Teams finally started throwing away from him, so he had to move to safety his senior year, where he had five interceptions in his last four games.

The best defensive pass stealer I’ve seen in 15 years of covering high school sports in Arizona would be current Las Vegas Raiders safety Isaiah Pola-Moa, who had 21 in his career at Mountain Pointe, which is still a whopping 11 behind Tomerlin.”