Jordan HammVideo by Eliav Gabay
There was a new face leading the Saguaro program this year, but it was also a familiar result to end the season with a state title in hand.
The Sabercats took home the 6A title on Saturday afternoon, beating Red Mountain 40-20 as the No. 3 seed in the year’s bracket.
Saguaro was perfectly balanced on offense, throwing for 210 yards and rushing for 210 yards.
Jacob Brown led the Sabercats in rushing with 116 rushing yards, capped off by a 55-yard score to close the door on the Mountain Lions. Senior Jaedon Matthews accounted for 65 rushing yards and a touchdown and 38 receiving yards.
“Coach Hill did everything in his power to get us in the end zone,” Matthews said. “That’s exactly what he did.”
Through the passing game, Mason Bray threw for 210 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. Jaci Dickerson was his favorite target, catching all nine passes that were thrown his way for 133 yards and one touchdown.
Trey Morrison led the way on defense with 11 tackles, a tackle for loss and half-sack.
The Sabercats went 9-5 in the regular season in Hill’s first season. The Sabercats faced a gauntlet of a regular season, and those challenges helped them in the postseaosn.
“At the end of the day, none of this is going to be perfect,” Hill said. “That’s life. We used it as motivation. We get up the next day and go back to work. We try to stay to stay to our core values and have that next play mentality and get to the next one.”
Hill now has won two state titles on Frank Kush Field, where he was offensive coordinator for the 2020 & 2021 season before resigning.
Last year, he was an assistant head coach with ALA Gilbert North, who won the 4A state title. This year, he won state in his first year as Saguaro’s head coach.
“You put in a lot of work through the season going back into the summer and spring ball and all that stuff,” Hall said. “You think about those moments and capitalize it at Sun Devil Stadium and holding the trophy up at the end of the year, it’s special.”
Not only was this another win for Hill, but redemption for the Saguaro returners from last season. The Sabercats made it to the Open Division title game in Mohns’ final year as head coach, only to come up short against Basha on the same field they won on this afternoon.
“We knew today was our last opportunity and we didn’t want to go home crying,” Matthews said. “I don’t cry, so we just got our ring. We got the 6A trophy.”
