TUCSON, Arizona — With Bijan Robinson playing at Texas, Lathan Ransom at Ohio State, and former coach Dennis Bene having stepped down, this could have been a rebuilding year for a Salpointe team led by first year coach Eric Rogers.
"They wanted to show everyone that they could play, and they’ve been doing that," said Rogers of this year's team.
Led by quarterback Treyson Bourguet, who's committed to the University of Arizona, the Lancers won all six of their regular season games. As a private school, Salpointe was able to start earlier than most schools, and their season wasn't stopped when the students at public schools had to turn in their playbooks due to the spike COVID-19 positive cases.
"We don’t take it for granted at all," said Rogers. "We’ve been extremely blessed and fortunate."
The Lancers did have one positive COVID-19 case, but it was early in the season. And, when they got to the open state quarterfinals, a higher seeded Scottsdale Saguaro team was infected with COVID-19 at the wrong time, and Saguaro was forced to forfeit.
"Honestly, it was a little bittersweet," said Rogers. "No one wants to move on and advance that way."
Next up, Saturday’s semifinal at a Hamilton team ranked second in the state, and 28th in country according to MaxPreps.
"We really don't have anything to lose," said Rogers. "Just let it fly. We'll see what happens at the end of the day when the time on the scoreboard reads zero."
