After 50 straight losses, Cortez High's football team creates a winning buzz in Phoenix
They come to school on Friday wearing ties, proud to stand out as football players. No more going through high school life in obscurity. Phoenix Cortez High School is finally winning.
And not just once. The Colts, a program of 38 players from freshmen to seniors, many of whom come from broken homes, have pulled together for five wins on the field (seven total if you count the two forfeits they were given due to Tucson schools Catalina and Santa Rita unable to play them with a lack of players).
They came into this season having lost 50 games in a row, a streak that hit a low point in the COVID 2020 season — coach Daniel Hopper's first year — when they were playing mostly freshmen against the likes of Yuma Catholic in 3A and not scoring a single point, while giving up 238 points, including 84 to Yuma Catholic, which is now among the top 10 teams in 4A.
Last year, they were 0-9 but at least didn't go scoreless. They had a total of 34 points, and gave up 425 points, even playing a lighter 3A schedule. That demoted them to the lowest level of 11-man football by the Arizona Interscholastic Association, which realigns schools each year for football based on wins and losses.
In the last two weeks, playing its first season in 2A, Cortez, located near 35th and Dunlap avenues in Phoenix, beat North Pointe Prep (which has yet to score this season) 77-0 and Phoenix NFL YET 72-38. They finish the season Friday at home against 8-1 Camp Verde. They know the playoffs are likely beyond reach. But from where they've been, they feel like champions.
"The tough thing about trying to build a program is getting the kids to believe in themselves and believe in what we're doing on the field," Hopper said. "That's what this group of young men have really done. They've bought in. They've toed the line the best they can and get better every day."
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It was a hard sale for Hopper not just to get students on campus interested in playing a game in which they've seen their friends get knocked around week after week with few people in attendance watching. It also was hard to get coaches to help Hopper, who had come from Glendale High, a more successful program where he was an offensive line coach. There are only two assistants on campus, and one is an attendance clerk who can't break away from the office until after 4 p.m. each day.
"It's hard to hire for a program that's been 0-50," Hopper said. "Everybody wants to coach at Hamilton and Saguaro and Chandler. There, it's all about the Xs and Os in football.
"Here, we spend so much time off the field, talking character and how to just survive life. We've got all kinds of guys. Everybody's got something different going on. Managing that and still finding a way to be here is amazing. And it's why we've been able to continue to build."
Without a booster club, the program got lift from Tony Simeonov, who runs Adrenaline Fundraising. He helped the Colts raise about $7,300 in a spring online raffle.
Simeonov has worked with more than 100 schools in the state.
"This team in particular really needs help," he said. "Just not good home situations. Just a lot more hurdles and obstacles for the kids. We want to maximize as much money as possible.
"It just goes so much further for these guys. They're not buying $80 hoodies. They need equipment. They need things that protect them on the field. My heart goes out to coaches who take these kinds of jobs. It's an uphill battle and they know it's an uphill battle. They know the circumstances they're dealing with not a lot of other teams are."
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Cortez Athletic Director Brian Galbreath, who was 9-12 as the school's head football coach in 2004 and '05, said players take pride on game day when they dress up and are excited to play.
On homecoming, there were fireworks and an artist painted a canvas for the schools. Chrispy Cutters Barbershop has given the players free haircuts.
Galbreath calls this outreach from the community "wonderful."
" It’s great that the students and staff have been very supportive by attending the games and cheering them on," Galbreath said. "It has built overall excitement and pride throughout the whole school and helps improve school culture.
"Our alumni located inside and outside of Arizona have reached out to celebrate our victories has been uplifting."
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For junior safety Cesar Haro and junior defensive tackle Andres Varela, this season has been almost surreal.
"We worked a lot just to get to the point where we could win a game," Varela said. "Just to see it pay off, we all liked it.
"I knew with the guys we had and the dedication, we could do it."
Haro said players just got rid of all the bad taste of being steamrolled every week the last two seasons and get to work this year.
"Just winning and not feeling losing, it just felt great," Haro said. "We had the people. We just didn't have the dedication. It's not all about the biggest and strongest. It's about all mental."
This is all about making history.
"We just want to make that history even better," Haro said.
To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert at richard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-316-8827. Follow him on Twitter @azc_obert.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 0-50 to 5-3: How Cortez High School football created a winning buzz
