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After watching a number of teams open their season on Aug. 19, the Superior football team was scheduled to be in the remaining group of teams that opened on Aug. 26. Now the Panthers are most certainly one of, if not, the last Arizona high school team to start its season, the result of North Phoenix Preparatory Academy cancelling its football program and subsequently last week’s home opener.
“The news was very disappointing,” Panthers’ head coach Ryan Palmer wrote in an email to the Superior Sun. “We tried to move some other games around, but unfortunately it was too late of notice.”
The cancelled game will negatively affect the Panthers in more ways than one. First, they now have seven scheduled games, one less than most other teams, which will affect their power-points ranking.
“It will hurt us, and everyone in our region, because it was a region game,” Palmer explained. “Power points will be bad news for everyone in the region now, only having seven games and playing against teams with only seven games. This takes away a lot of points and will put the East at a huge disadvantage.”
Palmer said the end result could mean his team would be seeded fourth or fifth in the state playoffs – even if they go undefeated – instead of a likely first or second seed if they won all eight originally scheduled games.
Another consequence is the Panthers will only have three home games this season, the first on Sept. 9 versus St. David.
“Needless to say we are not happy about it, but it is out of our control,” Palmer said.
Superior will finally play their first game of the season this Friday at Valley Lutheran, where they figure to take the frustration of last week out on the Flames.
“The kids will look forward to hitting some opposite color jerseys this week,” Palmer wrote in the email.
No doubt.
Friday’s kickoff at Valley Lutheran is scheduled for 7 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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