If the Mingus Union High School football team [0-3] is to enjoy any success prior to Division III, Section IV play, it must be Friday, Sept. 19, against one of the giants in Arizona high school football coaching.
Coming up from Phoenix to play at Bright Field at 7 p.m. is North High School [0-3], led by three-time state champion head coach Bernie Busken, seeking its own slice of success prior to beginning sectional play next week.
“They’re struggling, but they’ve got a new coach,” Marauders head coach Bob Young said. “He’s a legendary coach. It’s going to take him a little bit of time, but you can tell on film he’s done a good job implementing discipline.”
Busken, who won 40 games in a row and lost just nine at Mesa Mountain View High School as well as serving as head coach at Western New Mexico University, comes in looking to restore confidence in a Mustang varsity that has been outscored more than the Marauders have so far this fall, losing their first three games by a combined score of 149-24 to two Division I powerhouses in Mountain Pointe and Desert Vista high schools.
“They don’t have a lot of guys, but they play hard,” Young said. “They’re going to feel we’re one of the teams they have a good chance of beating, and if we don’t start blocking and tackling, it may happen.”
MUHS, which has only scored 27 total points so far this fall, was just “overmatched” in a 56-7 loss Friday, Sept. 12, at Paradise Valley High School, Young said.
For the full story, please see the Wednesday, Sept. 17, issue of the Cottonwood Journal Extra.
