Sports

Chandler falls short to Saguaro in Open championship

BY ZACH ALVIRA

Sports Editor

It’s the first time since 2015 Chandler’s football program tasted defeat in the postseason.

On Saturday, Dec. 11 at Sun Devil Stadium in the Open Division state championship game, a late touchdown and interception by Saguaro allowed the Sabercats to dethrone the Wolves as the kings of Arizona high school football.

Chandler coach Rick Garretson was blunt with his team’s 20-15 loss in the title game, crediting Saguaro coach Jason Mohns for his team’s performance.

“They were better than us tonight,” Garretson said. “We just couldn’t finish it off. Jason (Mohns) did. That’s the end of it.”

Chandler set the tone with its first drive of the game that shaved more than 7 minutes off the clock. The Wolves took the ball down the field with ease, using a balanced attack behind the arm of Blaine Hipa and legs of Anyale Velazquez. Jeremiah Moore, another running back for the Wolves, capped off the drive with a 4-yard touchdown run to take an early lead.

Saguaro responded, however, with a long drive itself. Javen Jacobs, who plays the role of a swiss army knife for the Sabercats, dove for the pylon on a jet sweep to put Saguaro on the board.

Much like it did initially, Chandler again came right down the field. A big throw from Hipa and impressive catch by senior wideout Kyion Grayes put the Wolves in position to re-take the lead. Senior quarterback Kenneth Cooper, who has been used by the Wolves in short-yardage goal line situations, punched it in.

With every blow that Chandler dealt, Saguaro responded. Despite an interception thrown by Sabercats’ quarterback Devon Dampier on their next drive, the defense forced a turnover on downs. That led to Dampier connecting with Jacobs on a 24-yard touchdown pass before the end of the first half.

“I knew we had it,” Dampier said. “I knew we would win after that, we just had to trust our defense.”

Saguaro didn’t allow Chandler to do much in the second half. The Wolves were held to just 110 yards of offense. After Chandler’s go-ahead field goal in the third quarter, Saguaro again regained the lead as Dampier found sophomore Jaedon Matthews wide open in the middle of the field.

Hipa was picked off with two minutes remaining. Saguaro began to celebrate.

“I told our guys that they’ve won five in a row, and we weren’t supposed to be here,” Mohns said. “All the pressure was on them. I told them if we just keep hanging around, they were going to make a mistake. We make a play, pressure is on them and finally we pull one out.”

Hipa finished 12 of 23 for 166 yards and two interceptions. Velazquez led the way for the Wolves on the ground with 152 yards on 21 carries.

The loss for Chandler is unfamiliar territory. The last team to beat Chandler in the postseason was Desert Ridge in 2015. Before this season, Chandler’s last loss to an in-state team was in 2017.

The Wolves’ 2022 class was one littered with talent and has three championships under their belts, including Grayes — an Ohio State commit — and Iowa State commit Quaron Adams.

“This was a special class,” Garretson said. “This is the first playoff game we’ve lost in a long time. It’s all good. Congratulations to Jason. They deserve it.”

Saguaro’s quest to the Open Division state championship began two seasons ago when the Sabercats fell in the inaugural title game to Chandler. Last year, Saguaro was forced to forfeit its Open Division quarterfinal matchup due to a COVID-19 outbreak among the team.

The Sabercats were written off this season on several occasions. Many believed Sierra Canyon, a perennial contender in California would knock them off in Scottsdale earlier this season. Saguaro won.

Some believed the Sabercats would fall to 4A Cactus in the Open Division quarterfinals this season. They won that, too. And behind the legs of Dampier, Saguaro stunned No. 11 nationally ranked Hamilton in the semifinals. Dampier’s legs once again kept many Saguaro drives alive against Chandler on Saturday, rushing for 129 yards on 22 carries.

But his two touchdowns both came through the air as he finished 12-of-17 for 156 yards, including the most important one to Matthews at the end of the game.

“I knew that play was coming,” Matthews said with a smile. “We worked on it all week. Me and Devon had a connection. Looking back on it, I knew we had won.”

The Open Division was arguably created to pin Saguaro, a consistent champion at the 4A level, against teams of Chandler’s caliber.

Now two years later, the Sabercats proved they can hang, and beat, the top teams in the state. And they had to go through Hamilton and Chandler to do it. The last team that faced and beat both blueblood programs in back-toback weeks was Mountain Pointe in 2013. Just like the Sabercats this year, the Pride won a title.

“We figured if we were going to win this game it wouldn’t be pretty,” Mohns said. “It feels surreal. I asked if this really happened. We beat Chandler and Hamilton back-to-back. We took down the blue bloods of Arizona in back-toback weeks. I’m pretty damn proud.”

Saguaro senior safety Thomas Dechesaro (32) and junior linebacker John Butler (23) hold on trying to bring down Chandler senior running back Anyale Velazquez (20), in the AIA Open Class Football State Championship game, Saturday, December 11, 2021, at Sun Devil

Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. (David Minton/Staff Photographer)

Ability 360 helping former, current para-athletes thrive

BY EMERIL GORDON

Contributor

Feeling fulfilled in her Paralympic career, four-time Paralympian Kaitlyn Verfuerth continues to give back to the adaptive athletics community through her roles as program specialist and wheelchair tennis coach at Ability 360’s Sports and Fitness Center.

While Verfuerth’s accomplishments speak for themselves, it is the journey she took to get there and the things she’s learned along the way that keeps her involved and wanting to give back to the adaptive sports community.

At 7 years old, Verfuerth was involved in a bad car accident. She was in the middle seat only wearing a seatbelt across her lap and due to impact, she was ejected from her seat and sustained severe damage to her spinal cord. She was paralyzed from the waist down as a result.

“When I woke up (from being knocked unconscious) in the car my mom was covered in blood and my brother was unconscious. I knew I was close to God,” she said.

Soon after getting into rehabilitation from her injury, one of Verfuerth’s therapists told her about the nearby University of Wisconsin Whitewater’s wheelchair basketball program. It is one of the top programs in the country. She attended a camp hosted by the university where she was able to try multiple adaptive sports.

While she loved wheelchair basketball, she wanted to play a sport where she didn’t need a whole group of disabled people to play, so she turned to tennis.

She rose to the top of the wheelchair tennis world rather quickly. From the age of 17 on, for about 10 years, she was the top female wheelchair tennis player in the U.S. and top 8 in the world. In 2004, she made her first Paralympic appearance in Athens, finishing fourth in doubles and making it to the round of 16 in singles. She made two more Paralympic appearances in tennis in 2008 and 2016 with her best finish being fourth place in 2008 in the double’s competition. After 2016, Verfuerth and her husband moved from Flagstaff to the Phoenix metro area where she continued to pursue becoming a recreational therapist. She started working at Ability 360 while training for the Tokyo Games in paracanoe.

Verfuerth and others in the disability community are the type of people that Ability 360 strives to create an environment and opportunity to lead an active and meaningful lifestyle.

Nickolas Pryor, Ability 360’s athletics program manager and athlete on the amputee basketball team, is at the helm of making that environment and opportunity possible.

Pryor lost his leg in an accident when

Desert Vista alum Joe Underwood, “right,” alongside athletes he coaches at Ability 360, has taken it upon himself to help empower para-athletes and show them they are capable of competing in their respective sport at a high level. (Courtesy Joe Underwood)

he was younger and joined Arizona State’s wheelchair basketball team when he moved to the state for school. He landed an internship at Ability 360

See ABILITY on page 41

Heroic effort

Photo 1: Chandler fans in the stands against Saguaro, in the AIA Open Class Football State Championship game, Saturday, December 11, 2021, at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona.

Photo 2: Chandler senior quarterback Blaine Hipa (13) hands off to senior wide receiver Quaron Adams (3) against Saguaro, in the AIA Open Class Football State Championship game, Saturday, December 11, 2021, at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona.

Photo 3: Chandler senior quarterback Kenneth Cooper Jr. (11) celebrates after a touchdown against Saguaro, in the AIA Open Class Football State Championship game, Saturday, December 11, 2021, at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona.

Photo 4: The Chandler Wolves take the field against Saguaro, in the AIA Open Class Football State Championship game, Saturday, December 11, 2021, at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona.

Photo 5: Chandler senior running back Anyale Velazquez (20) finds a gap in the Saguaro defense, in the AIA Open Class Football State Championship game, Saturday, December 11, 2021, at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona.

Photo 6: Chandler senior tight end Nason Coleman (5) drives past a tackle attempt by Saguaro senior linebacker Jeremy Campbell (22), in the AIA Open Class Football State Championship game, Saturday, December 11, 2021, at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona.

David Minton/Staff Photographer

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ABILITY from page 39

and has remained ever since. He hopes to use his role at Ability 360 to reinstate ASU’s wheelchair basketball team

“I am in the process of making an agreement between ASU and Ability 360,” he said. “There is no reason why students (especially those with disabilities) should go their entire college career not knowing about us. It’s unacceptable.’’

The agreement that he is trying to make with ASU would be one in which the students who already pay ASU’s fi tness and wellness fee would be able to use Ability 360’s facility at no extra cost.

In addition to working on this partnership with ASU, Pryor also helped to launch a wheelchair football team in partnership with the Arizona Cardinals. The Cardinals, Phoenix Suns and Arizona Diamondbacks’ willingness to sponsor the facility is what helps keep membership costs low.

“We need to get children (with disabilities) into adaptive sports much earlier than we do,” he said. “Research shows that the earlier they get involved they have a better quality of life. There should really be a pipeline between hospitals and rehabilitation centers to adaptive sports.”

Joe Underwood, Ability 360’s youth swim coach and athlete on the adult wheelchair basketball team, knows well the opportunities that early exposure to adaptive sports can bring.

The Phoenix native was born with Spina Bifi da and began swimming in third grade and shortly after playing wheelchair basketball with the Phoenix Wheelchair Suns. He went on to swim for Desert Vista High School and the U.S. Paralympic National Team at a world championship in the summer of 2014. He stopped swimming shortly after to take a scholarship to play wheelchair basketball collegiately at the University of Missouri. In 2018, after graduating, he moved back to the Phoenix area and began coaching the youth swim team and playing basketball at Ability 360.

One of his motivators for returning was simply to give back. He knows that he was fortunate enough to be introduced to adaptive sports early in life and wants to continue to be a part of the growth of adaptive sports and the Paralympic movement. He hopes to see the day here in the U.S. where para-athletes are paid to play their sport just like the other pros are. This is something that countries like Germany have already begun doing.

“It’s going to take taking a chance,” Underwood said of the future of para-athletes receiving sponsorship money and other pay.

He noted that he doesn’t believe the notion that para-athletes aren’t marketable, and Toyota’s recent sponsorship campaign of Paralympians has shown that it is not true. He thinks there is even a possibility that para-athletes could be more marketable but admitted a huge perspective shift would need to happen here in the U.S.

While most people struggle with fi nding their identity at some point in their life, having a disability can make the struggle weigh heavier on a person. Robert Reed, coach of Ability360s youth wheelchair basketball team and player on the adult team, remembers his struggle with Muscular Dystrophy during his preteen and early teen years that caused him not to be in a great mental space dealing with a lot of depression and feeling alone in his situation.

When he got involved with adaptive sports his mental state improved as he saw he was not the only one dealing with a disability and saw people with disabilities driving, working, and getting married. Those are all things he thought he couldn’t do before.

His own experience made him realize kids are capable of much more than their parents believe.

“I know that I can’t tell the parents how to parent their children,” Reed said. “But I do what I can to drop the hints that will hopefully lead them to believing their child can do things.”

Ability 360 is changing the lives of para-athletes, empowering them to achieve more than they or their family members would have ever thought to be possible.

Verfuerth hopes she can help carrying out Ability 360’s mission.

“This is all I have ever dreamed of doing. I love waking up knowing I am touching the lives of many every day,” Verfuerth said. “There’s no better place to work than here (Ability 360).”

Four-time Paralympian Kaitlyn Verfuerth joined the Ability360 team while preparing to compete in the Tokyo Paralympics. She said she is exactly where she wants to be helping fellow para-athletes train. (Courtesy Kaitlyn Verfuerth)

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