Sometimes change can be a good thing.
Last winter it was certainly needed at Mountain View High School. The tradition-rich Toro football program with their eight-straight titles was struggling coming off a three-win season.
The school looked outside of the box hiring Mike Fell who uprooted his family and spread offense from Ohio. Fell is no stranger to winning games at this level and he seems to be picking up right where he left off in the midwest.
The Toros already eclipsed last year’s win total taking out then 4-2 rival Red Mountain in a wild 42-35 shootout which saw Mountain View (4-3) blow a 35-7 halftime lead before scoring the go-ahead score late in the fourth quarter. It also served as another brick of stability and growth and Fell whose team raced to a 3-0 start, then lost three straight.
“We played three football teams (Mountain Pointe, Brophy, Westview) that were 19-1, it was brutal,” Fells told Sports360AZ.com of the skid. “I know we are a better offensive team than we showed the last three weeks.”
Friday night at Red Mountain proved that as veteran quarterback Wheeler Harris and skilled receivers Curtis Hodges and Jacobby Dinwiddie torched the Lions secondary. Scary to think the Toros dropped 42 playing most of the night without leading rusher Orion Baker who was slowed with an ankle injury.
“His plays are easy to learn, he’s got a great system,” Wheeler said to Sports360AZ.com with a wide smile after the win. “It’s [already] been an outstanding year.”
Fell said coaching in the Valley holds a couple big advantages over Ohio, most notably our mild temperatures and skill athletes littered around not just Phoenix, but the entire state.
“The fact that we run the spread, the weather is conducive out here to everybody running the spread,” he said. “It makes it tough.”
I’m quite certain opposing coaches are saying the same thing about the Toros.
They may not be all the way back, but they’re definitely on the right track at Mountain View.
