Sedona Red Rock High School head football coach John Bradshaw has modest expectations heading into the Friday,
Aug. 26, home opener with St. Johns High School at 7 p.m.
“I’d like to get the win at home, of course, but I’d be happy just to see our units function,” he said. “If we do that, we should be in good shape.”
With 11 players less than in his first season, Bradshaw’s second group of Scorpions will follow up a 6-4 rookie season, cut short by one disputed state playoff seed, against St. Johns, the first of three opponents ranked in the 2A Conference preseason top 10 by the Arizona Republic.
“It’s going to come down to defense, really,” he said. “We definitely have a tougher schedule than last year.”
So Bradshaw hopes that a SRRHS defensive line, led by 6-foot, 260-pound end Jake Christensen, is up to the task.
“It’s going to come down to if we can tackle or not,” Bradshaw said. “We have six or seven really good tacklers on the field right now.”
Two other seniors, Justin Aleman and Danny Avelar, anchor the middle at a combined 570 pounds.
“I might even give Justin a little bit on both sides [of the ball],” Bradshaw said. “I don’t know if we’ll have him a lot, but that’s the plan.”
Consistent play from junior tackles Wyatt Dutton and Edgar Villalpando and linebacker Michael Ryan would help support Chas Rescigno, who leads Bradshaw’s three- and four-linebacker sets.
Up until this week, senior signal-callers Dawson Barber — who threw for 15 touchdowns and over 1,000 yards last fall — and Rescigno gave the Scorpions the edge over the Redskins at that position.
“But Dawson wasn’t going to be happy with anything other than starting,” Bradshaw said. “So he quit.”
Further increasing the difficulty of Bradshaw’s task is the head coach he will be facing: Mike Morgan, who came out of a season’s retirement for a 34th year as one of just seven Arizona high school football coaches to win 300 or more games.
“He’s a good old boy,” Bradshaw said. “They’re going to be tough.”
For the full Sedona Red Rock High School football schedule, please see the Friday, Aug. 26, issue of the Sedona Red Rock News.
