High School Football in Tempe
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Tempe High School
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The Buffaloes
Soon after Tempe High School was formed in 1908, its athletic program included baseball,
basketball, and other sports. But the students' unofficial football team was not recognized or
supported by the school board. At the time, there were only a few schools in Arizona that
could field teams, so Tempe High played a short schedule each fall with games against
Phoenix Indian School, Tempe Normal School, the University of Arizona, and Phoenix Union
High School. In 1924 the district finally approved football as an authorized school sport, and
the first regular varsity team was formed. That year the Buffaloes had a 3-4 season under
coach Lewis S. Neeb.
Tempe High had no field of its own. The team played its home games at Arizona State
College's stadium. Even after a new Tempe High School campus was built at Mill and
Broadway in 1953, the Buffaloes continued to play at ASU's Goodwin Stadium. Home
games were not actually played at the high school until 1969, when lights were added to the
field.
The Buffaloes have won two state championship titles since Tempe varsity football began in 1924. The first came in 1956, when Tempe High went undefeated with a 10-0 record under coach John Zucco. Although there was no playoff system then, the team was declared the
state champion in Class B by Phoenix sportswriters. Between 1954 and 1957, Coach Zucco
led the Buffaloes to a 32-6-1 record that included an 18-game winning streak. The Buffaloes'
second championship came in 1989, when they shared the 4A title with Agua Fria. In the
final playoff game in Sun Devil Stadium, which was attended by more than 11,000 fans, the
Buffaloes and the Owls fought to a 10-10 draw. The tie game capped a 13-1-1 season under
second-year coach Jim Murphy.
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McClintock High School
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The Chargers
McClintock High School opened its doors in early 1965 and began playing varsity football
that fall. They fielded a winning team in their first season. Their 7-2 record that year earned
them an "independent" state championship title, since the school had not yet been assigned to
a state division. McClintock also did not have its own stadium at first. Like Tempe High,
the team played its home games at Goodwin Stadium until its own lighted stadium was
completed.
Coach Karl Kiefer guided the Chargers from their first year in 1965 through the 1989 season.
Under his leadership, McClintock became known as a football powerhouse. Year after year,
the Chargers proved to be one of the best high school teams in Arizona, with only one losing
season and three state championships. For the students and fans, the most important game
was always the annual match between McClintock and Tempe High. Later, the Chargers'
main rivals became Mountain View and Westwood high schools in Mesa.
The Chargers' first state title came in 1977, when the team went undefeated and captured
the championship with a 14-9 playoff victory over Phoenix's Washington High. Three years
later, the Chargers posted a 12-2 record and won their second title by defeating Phoenix's
Trevor Browne High School in the 1980 championship game. Their third state title in 1989
capped a 13-2 season that ended with a 42-14 playoff victory over Mesa's Westwood High.
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Marcos de Niza High School
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The Padres
Tempe's third high school, Marcos de Niza, opened in the fall of 1971 and began playing
varsity football in 1972. The Padres played their home games on the Tempe and McClintock
fields until their own stadium was finished in the middle of the 1973 season. In just their
second year, coach Ron Cosner led the Padres to the Skyline Division championship and a
second-place rating in the Arizona Republic's end-of-season poll. The Padres' only loss that
year was when they were defeated by Camelback in the state playoff semifinals.
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Corona del Sol High School
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The Aztecs
Corona del Sol High School opened in 1977, and played its first varsity season in the fall of
1978. In 1980, under coach Larry Hughes, the Aztecs compiled a 12-1 record and won the
AA state championship. Since then, the Aztecs have reached the state semifinals twice - in
1989 and 1991 - under coach Gary Venturo.
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Mountain Pointe High School
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The Pride
In 1992, Mountain Pointe High School opened and began playing varsity football. Coach Karl Kiefer left
McClintock, where he had an established athletic program with a history of winning teams, to be the first coach at the new school. After just a few seasons, the Mountain Pointe Pride has already proven to be one of the strongest teams in the state.
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Desert Vista High School
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The Thunder
The sixth high school in the district, Desert Vista, opened in the fall of 1996. For the first year, only freshman and sophomores
were enrolled. The school's first varsity football team
formed in 1997, and for the first year was made up of juniors and sophomores.
Desert Vista was the Class 5A state championship the very next year under Coach
Jim Rattay.
Tempe School Rivalries
Until 1965, there was only one high school in Tempe. Up to that time, the Buffaloes had the
undivided loyalty of the town's residents. Tempe High's games were big social events for the
whole community. This changed when McClintock began playing varsity football. The two
schools became bitter rivals as each tried to prove that they had the best team in Tempe.
In their first contest, in 1966, the Chargers defeated the Buffaloes by a score of 3-2. From
that point on, McClintock held the upper hand, winning 21 of the 28 games they played
through 1993. These games were often played in ASU's Sun Devil Stadium, and drew huge
crowds. In 1971, 15,000 fans saw the Buffaloes defeat the Chargers 19-14. In 1972, more
than 10,000 people saw Tempe win a 21-3 victory. The 1989 game, which Tempe narrowly
won, 25-24, is considered by some local sportswriters to have been the best high school game
of the 1980s. That year the two teams went on to win the 4A and 5A state titles. The two teams
no longer play each other, since they now play in different
divisions.
Mayor Dale Shumway wanted to recognize the winner of the annual Tempe-McClintock game
as the city "champion." The City Trophy was first awarded in 1971. In 1974, the
championship became a three-way contest between Tempe, McClintock, and Marcos de Niza.
The opening of the new Corona del Sol High School added yet another team to the
competition. It was no longer a simple match between two schools. The teams played in
different divisions against different schools. It soon became more difficult to pick a city-wide
winner, so 1983 was the last year that the trophy was awarded.
During the years that the trophy was awarded, Tempe won it once, Marcos de Niza won it
twice, and McClintock won it ten times. The trophy used to travel to the winning school
each year. Now it is displayed at McClintock High School.
As more people have moved to Tempe and surrounding communities, the Tempe Union High
School District has continued to open new schools. And the presence of more local teams in
the city has diluted the rivalries that once characterized Tempe football.
The Changing World of High School Football
For many years, the Tempe Buffaloes' Friday night games were big events for everybody in
Tempe. Today, with five high schools in the district, a team's fans are more likely to be
parents, friends, alumni, and people who live in the neighborhood of the school. But football
continues to be an important part of student life, as it always has been.
There have been some important changes in high school athletics in recent years. Now many
of the best athletes tend to specialize in one sport rather than playing a different sport for
every season. Football training is now more of a year-round activity, with weight training,
summer camps, clinics, and off-season tournaments. Also, coaching at the high school level
has become more professionalized, and players receive much better training advice and care.
With professional trainers on staff and state-of-the-art facilities, the field of sports medicine
has improved the treatment of athletic injuries. The result: high school athletes, especially
football players, are now bigger, stronger, and faster than they once were.
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