Scorpion football fans will have to wait until tentatively Friday, Sept. 19 at 7 p.m. to see the team return as eight-man football in the 1A division, after Sedona Red Rock High School announced after the News’ deadline it was canceling the original home opener against the Bagdad Sultans and making some minor schedule changes.

“We just felt it was the best deci­sion for this time at this moment,” Superintendent Tom Swaninger, Ph.D., said. “But it is not an indi­cation that there is any long term concern. Quite the contrary, as a matter of fact, I believe that we’ve got kids that are really committed to and excited about this. I think that as we field a football team and as these kids are able to participate in the sport, some of our younger students will see that, and some of our younger students who before had no interest in football, all of a sudden it piques their interest.”

However, the first home game may have to take place on Thursday, Sept. 18 because of a shortage of officials in Arizona, according to Swaninger.

Swaninger cited Bagdad’s 8-1 record in 2024 and how the Sultans came in second place in 1A last season making it to the champi­onship game against the Hayden Lobos.

“The coaching staff has recom­mended we delay playing a game for one more week,” SRRHS Heather Isom wrote in the Aug. 25 cancel­lation announcement. “Given the level of experience Baghdad [sic] brings, and the fact that tackle foot­ball is so new to all of our athletes, we feel it’s in the best interest of our team’s development to have additional time for preparation before facing an opponent of their caliber.”

“Out of an abundance of caution, we felt it best for the long term health of the program to just pause it another week, and we have several players that are still onboarding, or players that are just this week finishing their first 10 practices in pads,” Swaninger said. “Under the advisement of the coaching staff as well. … We thought that overall, the best thing to do is to make sure that we’re fully healthy, at least as fully healthy as possible, and these players get more practices under their belt, hitting with pads, so they’re in a better situation to be more successful … to can you continue to be excited about being a part of the program.”

The roster size was 18 players on Friday, Aug. 22 with another four to five in the process of onboarding. Swaninger said he thinks the odds are “pretty high” the Scorpions will see their season through to completion.

“I also understand that at 1A a it’s not all that uncommon for cancel­lations to happen,” Swaninger said. “I feel bad for Baghdad, but last week, the team that they were playing canceled as well. So it’s not unique to Sedona especially when you’re starting from scratch.”

The reborn Scorpions lost their first game 0-36, on the road against Cicero Preparatory Academy Centurions in Phoenix. The Scorpions also lost by forfeit that game.

“We need more experience, at contact since it’s the first year for any of them to play tackle football, what you would expect is some a little hesitation about making contact and I think we’re seeing that,” Head Coach Tony Hauserman said. “I think they’ll grow through that and power through that, because the kids are really brave and tough and it’s just a matter of getting used to it.”

It’s been a rough start for the Scorpions who sustained three injuries during the season opener. One injury was heat related, soph­omore Koen Bailor had a concus­sion and sophomore Vaycion Lily had an arm injury

“I didn’t hear the final analysis and whether it was broken or not,” Hauserman said on Sunday, Aug. 23. Additionally sophomore Miguel Villelagas who plays center was injured with a knee hyper­extension during the pre-season scrimmage on Friday, Aug. 15.

“I thought they did a really good job of getting into the positions, you know that are part of our offensive and defensive schemes, like they knew where to go,” Hauserman said. “They got to where they were supposed to be. … Building up our aggressiveness, I think, is the most important thing that we can do.”

Tickets are $3 for students, $5 for general admission or a $20 gameday T-shirt available for purchase at the SRRHS front office doubles for season admission for all sports.

“It’s exciting to have [SRRHS] back in football again, and it’s going to be a great experience to come out and enjoy with the kids and with the faculty and the rest of the students,” Hauserman said. “I’m really hoping that we’ll get a lot of community participation