Changing Culture at Copper Canyon

WEEKLY BLOG: 1/19/19

While Sean Freeman returns for his second year as head coach at Copper Canyon, there will be some different faces and looks in 2019.

New assistant coaches. A new offense. A new defense.

At the school in Glendale, it's also time to eliminate the mindset of accepting the way things have been.

Let's get the ugliness out of the way first and recap the first 12 years of Copper Canyon as an AIA member. The Aztecs have a record of 26-94 (.217) in that span with no playoff appearances. The lone winning season came in the independent year of 2006 (5-4). In 2018, CCHS was shutout four times, was outscored 334-105, and allowed 30 or more points six times. The roster, which had 56 players on it in 2017, had just 38 last season. A big hit was the loss of quarterback Chase Pope (transfer to Westview) who had thrown 22 TD passes in 2017.

It wasn't an ideal situation as Freeman was hired in late May and didn't have a full offseason to work with his players. Spring practices had ended and there wasn't much time before summer passing league tournaments.

"I'm looking forward to an actual offseason with a lifting regime and 7-on-7 work," Freeman said in an e-mail interview. "Just being able to develop a spring and summer schedule is going to play a huge difference this year for sure."

For a school without much of a history of winning, there are also challenges in getting traditions started. While winning certainly solves everything, there are steps that Freeman is planning to take as the Aztecs learn along the way.

The drumline will walk the team out onto the field each Friday night getting the adrenaline pumping among the student section, players, and fans. The local community will become more involved with the student body and be able to take part in school activities.

And then there's that championship belt.

"Coach Larry Thomas and I have had numerous meetings about the lack of tradition here at Copper," Freeman said. "I'm a tradition guy, so I'll be introducing the Aztec Warrior wrestling belt, which will go to the outstanding student-athlete of the week."

Prior to his arrival at Copper Canyon, Freeman coached in the Canyon Athletic Association at Imagine Prep Superstition, taking the Panthers to the Division III championship game in 2017. One of the things he did while there was take the team to Show Low for camp. He plans to return to the White Mountains with his Aztecs this summer from July 14-19.

"A lot of competition and bonding is built while at the Show Low camp," Freeman said. "We were not able to go last year due to some unforeseen circumstances that happened between the transition of my becoming the head coach."

Perhaps the biggest change that the players will see comes from the new staff of assistant coaches.

Verrado made a head coaching change following last season. Freeman was able to get a few members of that staff to join him at CCHS.

Ernest Urquieta, who was the defensive line coach at Verrado, will be the defensive coordinator for the Aztecs. The offensive coordinator will be Sean Moran, who held the same position with the Vipers. The new linebacker coach is Brett Spear, who also worked with that group at VHS.

In addition to Moran, there will be an assistant offensive coordinator. Sean Hinton, who guided Thatcher to back-to-back state championships as the head coach takes on that position as well as running backs coach. Hinton was an all-state RB at Thatcher from 2000-2002.

"I wanted to assemble a great group of men that understand that they will be more than coaches to this team," Freeman said. "They have to be mentors, motivators, big uncles, and men of character."

It's difficult to get a read on Copper Canyon's season from last year because the team didn't post any stats to MaxPreps (Freeman said either he or one of the other coaches will do the updates next season). There were some highlights for the Aztecs in 2018, though.

"Watching (senior) Josue Menjivar's speed and power running over linebackers and defensive backs," Freeman said. "(Senior) Isaiah Hereford laying the boom as a safety and corner this year was a highlight every Friday night. I'm super excited about this returning defense. Those boys were some 'Dogs' last season."

Copper Canyon started out in 2007 in the 4A-I Conference (later Division III). By 2013, enrollment had moved the school up to Division II, and when the realignment (and renaming) was conducted in 2016, CCHS was placed in 6A, the largest of the conferences. The enrollment for the current realignment had Copper Canyon at 2,484 students. Freeman said the caliber of players in 6A is far more talented and well coached than the ones he was familiar with seeing in the CAA.

"The CAA helped groom me as a coach," Freeman said. "But the level of talent and coaching here in the Southwest Region makes you step your game up every week."

Looking ahead, Freeman sees a more competitive and dynamic offense.

"The offense we had just didn't fit the team and we really couldn't find a rhythm at all," Freeman said. "Bringing in Coaches Moran and Hinton will allow us to be more versatile and become an offensive threat. It amazes me how these two men have clicked and we are assessing who we have coming back and where our strengths as an offense are going to be."

Some of the returners Freeman is looking forward to are Angel Sanchez (LB/TE), Troy Moreno (LB/RB), Derek Sailor (ATH), Eddie Escamilla (WR), Bryan Marquez (OL), Jonathan Tapia (OL/DL), Mitchell Brown (QB), Erik Guerrado (RB/LB), and Russell Gray (RB).