Lobos Football Season Set for 2023
Second Year in 4A with Several New Opponents
The Snowflake Lobos football schedule was released today. This will mark the 2nd year that the team will play in the 4A conference. The Lobos play in the East Sky region. Their region includes Apache Junction, Eastmark, Marcos de Niza, and Poston Butte. The region has a little different look with Benjamin Franklin and American Leadership Academy Gilbert moving conferences but gaining Marcos de Niza and Eastmark.
The region and ultimately the conference was won by American Leadership Academy Gilbert last year. The Arizona Interscholastic Association subsequently moved ALA up to 5A for football this season. The region doesn’t get any easier, however. Eastmark was moved up to 4A to the East Sky region after winning the 3A championship last year and Marcos de Niza slid over from the Desert Sky 4A region. Marco de Niza won their region last year.
In addition to their regional games, the Lobos have games against Bradshaw Mountain, Cactus, Gilbert, Seton Catholic, Show Low and Sierra Linda.
1. The Lobos will start the season at Bradshaw Mountain on August 25. This will be two years in a row that Snowflake plays at Bradshaw Mountain. The Lobos won last year’s meeting 19-3. Bradshaw Mountain serves 1,700 students and is located in Prescott Valley and is part of the 4A Grand Canyon region. The Lobos overall record is 3-1 against Bradshaw Mountain. The Bears won their region and made it to the quarterfinals before losing to ALA last year. Established in 1976, Bradshaw Mountain has never won a football championship
2. The Lobos will travel to Glendale on September 1 to meet Cactus High School in a rematch of last year’s game won by the Cobras in Snowflake 7-0. This will be the second meeting between the two programs. Cactus has a strong football program. They are a 5A school and were runners up in the 5A tournament last year. Cactus has 2 championships in 2005 and 2009. They have been runners up 7 times and made the open championship tournament in 2021.
3. An old 3A east rivalry will be renewed as Show Low will visit the Lobos on September 8. Snowflake won last year’s contest in Show Low. That game had all the markings of a rivalry with a lot of turnovers. That game was also memorable due to it being temporarily postponed and partially played with a portion of the stadium lights going out which led to some crazy sequences. The all-time record between Snowflake and Show Low favors Snowflake 32-20. The rivalry started in 1974 after Show Low High School was opened. Prior to then, Show Low students attended Snowflake High School.
4. The Lobos will have a bye week and then travel to Gilbert to play Gilbert High School on September 22. The Tigers will be the second 5A school on the Lobos schedule this year and the first ever meeting between the two programs. Opened in 1918, Gilbert has a student enrollment of nearly 1,800 students. Gilbert has state titles in 1973, 1975, 1978 and 1985.
5. The Lobos will host Seton Catholic on September 29. The Lobos hosted the Sentinels last year and won 35-6. The Lobos have an all-time record of 4-2 against the Sentinels. Seton Catholic has two championships occurring in 1997 and 2012.
6. Poston Butte High School will travel to Snowflake on October 6. The Broncos are located in San Tan Valley and are part of the Florence Unified School District. The high school has nearly 2,100 students and opened in 2009. Snowflake won last year’s contest, the first meeting between the two schools.
7. Marcos de Niza will travel to Snowflake on October 13. Marcos de Niza is part of the Tempe Union High School District. It opened in 1971 and has approximately 1,500 students enrolled. This will be the first meeting between the Padres and Lobos. The Padres have not won a championship but appeared twice in championship games in 2009 and 2015. Marcos entered last year’s tournament ranked number 3 but were upset by Thunderbird in the first round.
8. The Lobos will travel to Mesa and play Eastmark on October 20. Eastmark High School is only in its infancy opening in 2019. Located in southeast Mesa and part of the Queen Creek Unified School District, Eastmark won the 3A conference championship last year. After their championship season, they were elevated to the 4A conference. Eastmark has a student population of nearly 1,900 students. Eastmark will have a new coach entering this season. Their coach, Scooter Molander, accepted the head coaching job at Desert Vista High School in Phoenix.
9. Snowflake will play at Apache Junction on October 29. Apache Junction High School has approximately 1,000 students enrolled. Last year was the first ever meeting between the two programs. That contest was won by the Prospectors. Apache Junction has one football championship in 1975. The Prospectors are led by running back, Isaiah Savoie. Savoie rushed for 1,865 yards last season and he rushed for 136 yards in the game against the Lobos.
10. A new foe this year is Sierra Linda. Snowflake is set to host the Bulldogs for the regular season finale on November 3. Sierra Linda is part of the Tolleson Union School District. It opened up in 2008 and has more than 1,500 students.
This will be Coach Kay Solomon’s 9th season as the head coach. He surpassed Neil Westover (74 wins) to be the winningest coach in Lobo history last year with 80 total wins thus far.
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It’s nice to have info on teams I’m not familiar with now that we are in 4A