Tag: hamilton football

Hamilton’s QB vomited during the final TD pass of the wild comeback over Bishop Gorman

You thought the Hamilton comeback over Bishop Gorman couldn’t get any crazier? On the final TD pass, the Huskies QB vomited on the ball while it was being snapped.

As if the Hamilton High School (Chandler, Ariz.) comeback victory over Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas) couldn’t get any crazier, Huskies quarterback Nicco Marchiol led the comeback while sick. Sick enough that he threw up during game play.

Sick enough that he vomited as the football was being snapped to him on the final touchdown throw of the night, the one that would end up putting the Huskies in position to complete a two-point conversion and complete the 25-24 comeback victory in which they scored 18 points in less than 70 seconds.

And of course they went for the two-point conversion. After all, with your quarterback sick and all the momentum after recovering two onside kicks and scoring two touchdowns, you’re not going to allow overtime to take place.

There’s even video of the incident.

Arizona Republic reporter Scott Obert wrote that Marchiol didn’t celebrate on the field with teammates but instead went directly to the locker room. He was “playing beat up” against a national powerhouse, sacked six times, and fully padded up in Chandler, Ariz., where the temperature remains over 90 degrees well after the sun sets at this time of year.

A postgame photo shows Marchiol laying on the ground, exhausted, with his dad kneeling over him.

A truly gutsy performance. A sick pass for the nasty comeback. All the other jokes you want to make.

No matter how upset his stomach felt, it was nothing like the upset of a 17-point comeback in the final minute of a game.

Michigan State football gains commitment from TE Michael Masunas

Michigan State has landed its eighth commitment of the 2022 recruiting class in the form of tight end Michael Masunas.

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Michigan State has landed the eighth commitment of its 2022 recruiting class in the form of tight end Michael Masunas. The Chandler, Arizona native will be the Spartans second commit from the Grand Canyon state.

Masunas is a 6-foot-5, 235-pound standout tight end at Arizona football powerhouse Hamilton High School. Masunas does not have a 247Sports composite ranking yet, but is rated as a 3-star by the Rivals and 247Sports networks independently.

Michigan State beat out the likes of Arizona, Maryland, Tennessee, and Utah for the commitment of Masunas.

Masunas brings a unique skill set to the Spartans, having experience as an inline blocker. Now, showing off his athletic ability as a pass-catcher on the camp scene, Masunas will bring a combination of blocking experience and athleticism to MSU’s TE room that will serve as a great foundation for the coaching staff to build off of.

Take a look at how MSU’s 2022 recruiting class is shaping up, here.

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Saguaro completes comeback over Hamilton in Open Division semifinal thriller

Saguaro completed a comeback against Hamilton High School with second half defense and timely offense.

The Saguaro hard-nosed defense and timely offensive plays in the second half beat Hamilton, 20-16, at the AIA Open Division semifinal round at Scottsdale Coronado on Saturday.

The seventh seed Hamilton (9-3) and third seed Saguaro (11-1) entered their matchup respectively averaging near 41 and 50 points per game this season.

Saguaro uncharacteristically didn’t score a single touchdown through the first half and posted two good field goals to enter halftime with a 16-6 score.

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The Huskies led Saguaro through the 2:08 minute mark of the third quarter.

Hamilton had the first touchdown of the contest when senior running back Gabriel Armenta caught a 54-yard TD pass from QB Nick Arvay at the 4:41 minute mark in the first quarter and missed the extra point to go up 6-0.

The second TD by Hamilton was scored on a 13-yd pass with 4:11 left in the second quarter.

The Sabercats had a slow start as well as their QB Tyler Beverett who went 6-of-13 on his completions in the first half.

Saguaro junior wide receiver Denzel Burke kept the Sabercats close by catching two long balls for 38 and 54 yards each to put them in field goal range.

They frequently handed the ball to its best player and leading rusher, senior running back/cornerback Kelee Ringo (11 carries, 98 yards, 3 tackles, fumble).

The dynamic Ringo was contained by the Hamilton defense in the first half, only averaging five yards per carry compared to his season average of 16.5 in that category.

Hamilton blocked Saguaro’s punt from its own 45-yard line and rolled to the Saguaro 19 with under a minute left in the first quarter.

When they couldn’t score in the red zone, Hamilton settled for a 28-yard field goal and went up 9-0 to close the first quarter.

Armenta continued being the biggest producer on the ground for Hamilton and its starting QB Nick Arvay went 10-of-17 on his passes for 143 yards before he broke his collarbone and was sidelined halfway through the third quarter.

Saguaro senior RB David Soboyejo and senior WR Brandt Goodwin helped the Sabercats field position going a combined 243 all-purpose yards through the second half.

Hamilton didn’t score for the entire second half, largely because of its top pass rushers Tristan Monday and Damian Sellers who had 8 sacks and 11 tackles total for 35 yards lost between them.

The first TD for Saguaro was made by junior backup ATH Xander Werner on a 35-yd catch at the 2:08 minute mark in the third quarter to decrease the lead to 16-13.

At the 7:34 minute mark, Saguaro senior tight end/linebacker Will Shaffer moved from the the defense to the offense and heroically rushed for a 41-yard TD and the Sabercats took the lead 20-16.

There were multiple defensive plays by which the game’s momentum shifted in both teams favor with just two minutes remaining.

Read the rest of the story at the Arizona Republic.

Settlement reached in Hamilton High (Arizona) football sexual assault civil lawsuit

A settlement has been reached in the Hamilton High School football hazing and sexual assault case stemming from incidents from 2015-17.

The Chandler Unified School District and Hamilton High School employees accused of allowing students to sexually, physically and emotionally abuse their football teammates have reached a settlement in the civil lawsuit, according to court records.

A lawsuit was filed on the behalf of five students in May 2018 claiming the students had been abused by members of the Hamilton football team and alleging that the school did not take the necessary actions to protect them.

A draft of the terms of the civil settlement was signed in federal district court on Monday. According to a minute entry, the settlement was not recorded and no document is available to the public at this time.

The exact details of the settlement are unknown, but it does not include other defendants in the case — including accused students.

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According to court records, once the paperwork is filed, the civil case will be dismissed against the school district, former Hamilton High School principal Ken James, former athletic director Shawn Rustad, former football coach Steve Belles and former coach Manuel Palomarez.

The students’ lawyer, Dan Raynak, told The Arizona Republic, he couldn’t provide a statement at this time.

The attorneys representing both the school district and former staff did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

What were the allegations?

The lawsuit alleged that upperclassmen on the football team attacked younger teammates multiple times from 2015-2017 on school grounds.

Players engaged in what they called “initiation” rituals aimed primarily at freshman players, according to police interviews with witnesses and the targeted students.

In most cases, a group of upperclassmen would hold a younger player and penetrate him with fingers or objects. Sometimes the incidents would be recorded and shared among friends, according to police documents.

School personnel, among other mandatory reporters, must notify law enforcement if they reasonably believe a child has been abused.

One of the students claimed Palomarez saw him being attacked in 2017 but the coach did not stop it. The lawsuit states the student reported the abuse to Rustad and nothing was done.

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According to the lawsuit, Palomarez admitted to law enforcement he knew the abuse was happening among the players since 2016. The lawsuit stated that parents and students reported abuse to staff but their claims were dismissed.

“In or about September 2016, Defendant S. Belles told his players not to ‘do sexual things to each other,'” the lawsuit stated.

According to the lawsuit, Rustad received an anonymous voicemail message about the abuse but he did not report the claim.

Palomarez still works at Hamilton as a teacher.

Belles, Rustad and James were reassigned to non-teaching duties in September 2017. Belles resigned in 2018.

Rustad is currently the school district’s director of secondary of education. James is the district’s executive director of education programs.

Criminal case

The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office chose to not pursue charges against school administrators even though police said there was evidence of them failing to report the abuse.

Chandler police recommended to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office that criminal charges be brought against James, Belles and Rustad.

Chandler police said many of the sexual assaults could have been prevented if school officials who knew about them had followed the law.

“Had these offenses been properly reported it is possible that many of the sexual assaults would not have occurred,” Amanda Janssen, the Chandler Police Department’s lead investigator on the case, wrote in a report.

Former County Attorney Bill Montgomery said during a news conference in 2018 that not enough victims came forward to make a strong case.

Three teenagers were charged in connection with the allegations. Two 16-years-old were prosecuted as minors.

One student, Nathaniel Thomas, who was 17 when he was arrested, was charged as an adult. Thomas was charged with sexual assault, kidnapping, aggravated assault and child molestation.

His trial is scheduled for January.

Stay up-to-date on the trial at The Arizona Republic.