Scottsdale Saguaro first-year coach Butch Goncharoff insists the football season is not going to be canceled, but, for the second week in a row, the roster is so depleted with injuries that the Sabercats have canceled their upcoming game.
They were scheduled to play ALA Queen Creek on Sept. 10, but on the morning of Sept. 7, Saguaro notified Patriots head coach Rich Edwards that the Sabercats had to cancel the game.
Last week, Saguaro canceled its game against rival Scottsdale Chaparral due to a safety issue with too many players banged up from the season-opening 62-0 loss to Scottsdale Desert Mountain.
Chaparral, a 5A team, was able to replace Saguaro with 4A Tempe and beat the Buffaloes 57-0 as a running clock started late in the second quarter.
Tempe accepted the game after Phoenix Carl Hayden canceled its game with the Buffaloes.
"With the game being a short week, Thursday, it was still going to be hard to get enough players back," Goncharoff said in a text message. "But we are not canceling the season."
Saguaro is a 6A school with only about 25 players on the roster. It had to cancel its season for the freshman and junior varsity teams before it started because of low program numbers. There were seven freshmen who played in the season opener. About 35 players transferred out of Saguaro after last season, followed by a prolonged coaching search.
Goncharoff, who led Bellevue to 11 Washington state championships, said he had never played freshmen before.
The physicality of 6A ball, coupled with the youth of the Saguaro team and injuries, has put the once-dominant program in its current predicament.
Saguaro is scheduled to play 6A teams the rest of the season against Glendale Mountain Ridge (Sept. 18), Phoenix Pinnacle (Sept. 25), Gilbert Williams Field (Oct. 2), Tucson Salpointe Catholic (Oct. 16), Gilbert Higley (Oct. 23), Phoenix Brophy Prep (Oct. 30) and Surprise Shadow Ridge (Nov. 6).
The Sabercats had been a dominant 4A power and were gradually moved into the 6A conference because of that success.
Richard Obert has been covering high school sports since the 1980s for The Arizona Republic. Catch the best high school sports coverage in the state. Sign up for Azcentral Preps Now. And be sure to subscribe to our daily sports newsletters so you don't miss a thing. To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert at richard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-316-8827. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter:@azc_obert
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Saguaro football scraps another game. 'We are not canceling the season'
