Football program gears up for its sophomore year

Although Sedona Red Rock Football does not kick off until the Friday, Aug. 21, 7 p.m. home game against the Cicero Preparatory Academy Centurions, the Scorpions have been spending the summer hitting the weight room.

It also recently held a coaches clinic bringing in girls soccer head coach Galen Bessette as the team’s strength and conditioning coach.

“We have a talented group of players,” football Head Coach Tony Hauserman said. “Our offensive line looks like it could be fantastic, we have really good running backs and receivers and our quarterback position is still up for grabs,” but Keldon Cain has been selected as one of the team captains.

Hauserman cited roster size as his major concern heading into the fall along with some inconsistency with summer practice attendance by players.

“These practices are not mandatory, but our competition all go to summer weightlifting practices, and that allows them to not only get strong and fit, but also be able to become proficient at their offensive fundamentals, like route running and handoffs and pitches,” Hauserman said. “Which means we’ll have to spend a lot of time when the regular season starts doing basic fundamentals, and that is going to restrict the amount of offensive complexity we can have.”

Injuries throughout last season hampered the Scorpion’s first football season back since being on hiatus since 2019, that he hopes will be reduced with a more experienced team and Bessette working on the team’s conditioning.

“Last season on paper, the most we ever had was 19 players, but in reality, the most we ever had was about 10, maybe 11,” Hauserman said. “This year, we’ve had 17 different kids show up at some point over the summer, so it is still early to tell, but if that turns into 17 actual players, that would be an improvement. Plus, last year, of the players we had, several were freshmen who really shouldn’t have been playing varsity because they were too small. [But] this year, a much greater percentage of our players are upperclassmen.”

“I’m doing what I can to help out the rest of the team with their thing about maybe actually putting me at quarterback,” Cain said. “But wherever I’m needed on the field I’ll play. But I’m excited to see what this team can do when it’s time to play.”

Cain said he’s aiming to pass all of his AP Exams: AP Language, AP Biology, AP Precalculus and AP Research. On the track and field team, his goals are to run the 100 meter in 11.24 seconds or better and the 200 meter in the high 22-second range, and that he is excited to be able to play football with his younger incoming freshman brother, Kody.

Another new face is senior Bruno Garcia, joining the team for the first time as a center and lineman.

“I’ve done karate and I’ve had my sparring matches, and I’ve always felt nervous,” said Garcia, a black belt who has done martial arts for the last 13 years, about facing off against other players on the line of scrimmage in football. “What I tell myself is, you’re in a contact sport, you’re a big tough guy, you can do it.”

Returning for his second season is junior Paxton Corney, who played receiver, quarterback and cornerback last year and also competes for the Scorpions’ basketball team.

“Year two, I’m hoping to help build a more successful program,” Paxton said. “Let’s win some more games and be a competitive team, and really show our skill that we didn’t get to fully show last year because of injuries.”

Among the most consistent players was offensive lineman Ruben Cruz, Hauserman said. “He’s a brilliant young man that we actually lean on as coaches to help us when he sees something that’s not right,” Hauserman said. “Coaches listen because Ruben is usually correct.”

Cruz said last year’s squad struggled some as a first-year program but showed steady growth.

“It was not that good because it was our first year and we were still developing and finding out how the game is played,” he said, “but overall, I think we did good for our first year.”

Visit scorpionboosterclub.com for more information about Scorpion Football.