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The 2015 Homecoming Royalty were crowned by the King and Queen of 2014.
James Carnes | Sun
Michael Salazar (3) stiff arms a Lobo defender during Friday’s Homecoming game.
James Carnes | Sun
Edgar Galindo (21) heads toward the goal in Friday night’s win over Hayden.
James Carnes | Sun
The Superior Cheerleaders are always a big part of Homecoming and the Homecoming parade. Mila Besich-Lira | Sun
Superior Sun
The No. 3-ranked Superior football team completed its regular season undefeated after a 53 – 0 Homecoming victory against Hayden last Friday on Senior Night.
The win secured a first-round playoff bye for the Panthers, who will start their quest for a State Championship on Saturday, Oct. 31 at home.
Junior quarterback Nicolaus Cruz threw touchdown passes to Edgar Galindo and Eli Olmos in addition to rushing for a 77-yard touchdown.
Galindo, a junior, rushed for 138 yards and two more touchdowns in the win. Michael Salazar and Steven Ybarra also rushed for two scores against the outmanned Lobos.
Cruz and backup quarterback Ybarra, a freshman, combined to go 9-of-11 passing for 131 yards while the Cruz and Galindo combined for 215 of the Panthers’ 289 rushing yards.
On defense, the Panthers were led by Galindo, who had a team-high 10 tackles, and Jalon Murray, who had two-and-half sacks in the game and now has 11.5 sacks for the season.
Oriel Garcia, Austin Navarrete, and Jared Moreno each recovered Hayden fumbles.
The Panthers, who scored no fewer than 53 points in any game this season and held six of eight opponents to eight points or less, will await the winner between No. 11 Ajo and No. 6 Gilbert Christian, which faceoff in the first-round of the playoffs this week at Gilbert Christian.
The winner of that first-round playoff game will travel to Superior for a second-round playoff game on Saturday, Oct. 31.
Kickoff for the playoff game is scheduled for 6 p.m.
Andrew Luberda began writing for Copper Area News Publishers (CANP) in February 2013 after working 15 years in Healthcare Financial Management. Andy covers sports for 11 high schools. His stories are published in Copper Basin News, San Manuel Miner and Superior Sun, in addition to the San Tan Valley Daily PRSS and CopperArea websites. Additionally, he has written human interest stories and business profiles. In May 2012, he earned an AAS in Sports Management at Central Arizona College before graduating with a BS in Communication from Arizona State University in 2014. He and his wife, Kelli, have three sons – AJ, Kyle, and Kade.
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