Chris Eaton
One of the first of what has become 60 Arizona high school football coaching changes during this offseason took place last November when Maricopa head coach Tevin Rutherford stepped down and was later named the new athletic director at Westwood. Rutherford’s spot was filled just a month later when Kacy Day Jr. was elevated to the head coach spot from his role as wide receivers coach for the Rams.
Day takes over a Maricopa team that is heading in the right direction. The Rams put together a four-game October winning streak to finish 6-4 and make the newly-expanded 24-team playoff field in the 5A Conference. That ended a six-year postseason drought for MHS.
Maricopa will get to enjoy continuity with a returning staff member in Day along with a full off-season for its new leader. Day has been around sports the majority of his life and been a head coach in other sports, but this is his first appointment as a head football coach.
“I’m very excited and humbled for the opportunity to lead the Rams moving forward,” Day said in an email interview. “I can definitely say that this all worked out due to timing, the passion I have as a teacher and coach, and the support/backing of my family. I’m enjoying it and taking everything day by day.”
This year’s mission is getting the players adjusted to hearing a new voice along with the continuation of buying into the system and what it means to be a Ram.
“I believe that the players are doing a great job adapting to the change of me being the coach and understanding the work, effort, and character that is a part of being a Ram,” Day said.
Last year, the Rams finished 3-3 in the 5A Southern Region (6-4 overall), which put them in fourth place, but that was good enough to warrant a spot in the playoffs. Five of the seven teams in the region qualified for the postseason.
In the playoffs, as the #21 seed, Maricopa fell 49-20 to Notre Dame.
The Rams lose several key contributors who graduate this week, including dual-threat Jose Cardona Jr., who was a Second Team All-Region selection as the Offensive Utility/Flex Player. Cardona passed for 1,400 yards and rushed for seven touchdowns.
Day is pointing to a couple players who are vying to be Cardona’s replacement this fall.
“When identifying the next quarterback in line, it’s seeing who is the best fit we can reload with to lead us for the 2026 season,” Day said. “Right now, our primary QB position battle is between Jordan Munoz and Dathen Ruiz. They’ve been working hard so far, but we’ll see what happens as we get closer to the regular season. The kind of offense we want to have is an explosive one, making sure that we are putting our playmakers in mismatched situations to be successful, having control of the run game, and establishing dominance at the line of scrimmage.”
Munoz was a junior at Mountain Pointe last season and has transferred to MHS. He led the Pride in passing with 805 yards in six games while sharing snaps with two other quarterbacks. Ruiz played on the Rams’ JV team during his sophomore year in 2025 and has been preparing during the offseason to be ready for this opportunity.
Whichever QB emerges will get to benefit from the return of Maricopa’s top two receivers. Fabian Marrufo scored six touchdowns last season while Matt Barnett led the Rams in yardage with 306. Both will be seniors.
“Fabian is one of the playmakers that is a key part of what we do offensively,” Day said. “He is a hybrid player, which could make it difficult for opposing defenses to plan for since he can be moved interchangeably in the offense, and that he works well in space and can stretch the field.”
The Rams were firing on all cylinders tonight! 34-20 final vs the Casa Grande Cougars. Way to go Rams!#MHSRams #MaricopaFootball pic.twitter.com/rEr0lv7cHZ
— Maricopa High Football (@MaricopaHigh_FB) September 12, 2025
On the defensive side, the Rams will be younger. They lose their top four tacklers from last season. The leading returner is safety Alexander Nelson. As a junior, he had 44 tackles along with a sack and a fumble recovery. A versatile player at 5-9 and 145 pounds, Nelson can also catch some passes and return kicks.
“Alex is an athlete for sure,” Day said. “He does whatever he can, on either side of the ball and special teams, for us to have a chance at being successful. It’s like the old saying, ‘It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog’, which perfectly describes the caliber of a player that Alex is.”
It’s on this side of the ball that the biggest impact might be made from a group of sophomores that went 6-0-1 on the Freshman team in 2025.
“Some of the returners that we are looking to see make an impact on defense are Fabian Marrufo (who also plays safety), (linebacker) Brennan Pearson, and (linebacker) Travis Leftwich,” Day said. “I also must say that we will be a sophomore-laden team for this season, so I’m interested to see who from that class will work themselves into the rotation.”
The Rams will compete in passing tournaments and Big Man competitions at Arizona Christian (June 2) and Arizona State (June 9). As for an internal camp, Maricopa is going a little old school and will be hosting a team camp from June 15-18.
The roster numbers were strong for ‘Copa last season with 82 on the varsity roster. Day believes he’ll have around that number for this fall. About 30-35 players showed up daily for Spring Ball with some players taking part in spring sports or other obligations that plan on playing football in the fall. The large upcoming sophomore class will make up the bulk of the team. It bodes well for the future, because they could end up with some three-year starters come 2028.
MHS is in the 5A Southern Region as the northern-most team. The Rams will once again play region games against Flowing Wells, Desert View, Marana Mountain View, Sunnyside, Nogales, and Cienega. Three of those schools are in Tucson and two more are even further south.
Things are looking up for Maricopa, which went through a six-year string from 2019-24 with a 15-43 record, Day is happy with his new staff and the community has been supporting the oldest high school in the city. Desert Sunrise opened in 2022 as just the second high school in the city of 76,000 people. Maricopa is located about 25 miles south of Chandler and about 20 miles northwest of Casa Grande.
“There has been a lot of work going into the shift for the upcoming season,” Day said. “The players have been showing up and the progress has been noticeable. The coaching staff I have is a good collective and they are doing plenty on a daily basis to make sure we can put the best product on the field for the upcoming season. There has been a positive buzz in the community and we’re looking to reload and continue building onto the success of last season that was led by Coach Rutherford.”
Reach Chris Eaton at gridironarizona@yahoo.com or DM at @gridironarizona with story ideas.
