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Fifty Years Ago: Tucson Wins
Physical Title Tilt in Final Game for Coaches
By Barry Sollenberger
It was the “old guard” against the “new kid on the block.” Tucson
High vs. Mesa Westwood. Played before an estimated
12,000 fans at Sun Devil Stadium in 1966, Tucson’s Badgers
scored with 41 seconds left to win the school’s 11th state football
crown since statehood.
Quarterback Art Monje hit a diving Keith Ritchie in the end
zone with a 34 yard scoring strike to give the defending state
champs a 14-7 win.
It was a thrilling climax to a brutal defensive game, one of the
most physical in playoff history. Penalties wrecked Edgar “Mutt”
Ford’s Westwood team. An omen of things to come happened in
the second period when Bill Hipps returned at Tucson punt 39
yards to the Badger 8-yard line. But it was called back on a clipping
infraction.
Moments later the Badgers' Rene Madrid broke a 61-yard run
to the Warrior 23-yard line to set up the game’s first score. Then
Monje, faking beautifully (a Badger trademark for half-a-century),
tossed a 19 yard scoring pass to Ernie Fimbres on fourth down.
Fimbres then booted the extra point. Lineman Tim Boubelik recovered
a Tucson fumble on the Badgers’ nine-yard line to open
the third period, but a great goal line stand, led by all-state tackle
Bill Dawson, stopped Westwood cold.
However, Warrior quarterback Jay Ray Rokey (later a starting
catcher at the University of Arizona) tossed a 32-yard pass to
Roger Schmuck (later an All-American baseball player at ASU) at
the Tucson nine.
Three plays later tailback Bob Soza, the state’s leading scorer,
dived over from the one. Bob Blake booted the PAT and the
game was tied. From that point on, Westwood couldn’t move
against the Badger line, led by Dawson, a 220-pound All-American
(who later started at Michigan State), and 225-pound guard
Leon Bryant.
Ironically, it was to be the last high school game coached by
both team’s coaches, Tucson John Mallamo and Westwood’s
Ford.
“The difference was simply the penalties,” Ford told Phoenix
Gazette writer Steve Weston after the game. “We got them and
they didn’t. I am not crying, though. Tucson has a real good ball
club and coach John Mallamo deserves a lot of credit. Tucson
fought for it. They wanted it as badly as we did.”
The Warriors were slapped with nine penalties for 72 yards,
Tucson four for 37. The Badgers rolled up 213 yards rushing to
111 for Westwood, while Tucson had 274 yards total offense to
the Mesa school’s 197. Madrid led all ball carriers with 112 yards
on 14 carries. The Badgers’ Greg Leavitt, later a University of
Pennsylvania halfback who tragically died in an automobile
wreck, had 75 yards on 17 totes. Westwood’s Soza, limited in the
second half by a leg injury, got just 49 yards on 17 carries.
But it was Dawson who was tremendous. Westwood ball carriers
bounced off him on contact. Toward the end of the game he
threw reserve Warrior quarterback Dempsey Ford for a 17 yard
loss.
Tucson’s lone loss came in the second week of the season, a
19-13 setback at Phoenix Union. During the 49-13 win over Tucson
Salpointe, Leavitt averaged 33.1 yards per carry on seven
carries. Following a 48-20 win over Tucson Sunnyside, the losers
head coach, Elwood Turner, said, “This is the best Tucson High
team that has played against me.”
Both state finalists took opposite routs to the finals. Westwood
earned a berth in the championship game by defeating Phoenix
Maryvale in an electrifying playoff game. The regulation game
ended 14-14 between the Warriors and Panthers and a “Colorado
Playoff” was required to decide a winner.
In Tucson, the Badgers’ fleet stable of backs and quick-charging
line trounced Phoenix St. Mary’s 34-0 in the other semifinal
match, played before 13,500 fans at University of Arizona. The
difference was Tucson’s bruising line play, headed by Dawson.
“I’ve had some long nights in this stadium,” said St. Mary’s
head coach Ed Doherty, a former University of Arizona mentor.
“This was one of them.
“Tucson High is by far the best football team we’ve played.
They’re incomparable. They’re just great.”
(This story was originally published in Barry Sollenberger’s
1996 Tucson Football report. The Arizona Interscholastic
Association is planning to reunite members of the 1966
Tucson High state football championship team during halftime
of the Class 6A state championship game at University
of Phoenix Stadium in December.)
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