Brendan Mau
ASU Student Journalist

Senior Leadership Leads Ironwood High School Football to Hot Start

October 23, 2020 by Brendan Mau, Arizona State University


The Ironwood captains step on to the field before a game (Photo Via Ironwood High School)

Brendan Mau is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Ironwood High School for AZPreps365.com.

After losing in the first round of the state playoffs and finishing 6-5 last season, the Ironwood Eagles football team has bounced back in a big way this season, cruising to victories in its first three games behind a senior class that has instilled a culture of winning and accountability through its leadership. 

Coach Chris Rizzo has made it a point that this is the seniors’ team and he is letting them control their pace and hold each other accountable. 

“When coaches make it about themselves, then those aren’t usually very good teams, but whenever you tell the seniors and you empower [them] and let them know that ‘Hey, this is your team, we’re just here to coach and make you guys better,’ ... that really causes them to buckle down and focus in on what they want their team to look like,”  he said. 

“This year most of the seniors … from last year, they understood how last year, there wasn’t really any leadership, so us seniors right now we took that as a challenge and wanted the younger guys to step up and take bigger roles,” said senior quarterback William Haskell, who is committed to San Diego State.   

The Eagles have won their first three games by an average margin of victory of 38.33 points and averaged 43.67 points per game. They won their last game versus Independence 42-0. These three teams, however, have a combined record of 0-8.  Next, they face one of Arizona’s elite high school football teams, Desert Edge, a game Rizzo called “a very, very big test for us” and “the biggest challenge of the season,” but an exciting matchup for everyone. “We’re going to war … [but] win or lose it will be a big learning experience for everyone,” Haskell said. 

“To beat the bigger teams is more important … we just want to get to the big games and show that we really can compete in our 5A Division as a West Valley team and get up there with the other big teams as well,” senior Elijah Sanders said. 

The Eagles’ offense is led by Haskell, who has 729 passing yards and nine passing touchdowns to go along with 236 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns. He has a senior offensive line and all senior starting wide receivers, who ”have matured as players from their junior year to senior year,” according to Rizzo. The receiving core is highlighted by senior tight end Mekhi Mannino-Faisoni, who “has an uncanny way of getting open,” Rizzo said, while Sanders heads the running back position in the backfield. These players rotate in on the defensive side of the ball as well, along with some juniors and sophomores.

This role of being senior leaders is “new for us,” Sanders, who also plays defensive back, said. “We grew up with each other and we’re comfortable with each other, so it makes the job a little easier … We got that mindset to know where we’re at and we’re able to dominate together.”

“[As a senior leader], my motivation to the team is to let them know that every day is a new day and every week is a new week. [We have] just got [to] make sure everyone is hungry and anxious to play on Fridays and every time we hit the field at practice, we make it game time or game day scenarios,” Haskell said. 

The seniors have a group talk or discussion almost every day, and they feel motivated to put Ironwood on the map this season because they feel they have the assets to do so. Haskell calls the group a “family” and “special” and the bond “unbreakable.”

What is unique about this senior group is that it was on the team last year that went to the playoffs, which was the team’s first appearance in almost a decade. “Our senior class this year knows what it is like to win, they know what it’s like to break down the barrier and get to the playoffs and they know what the ultimate bigger goal is and they’re really focused on it,” Rizzo said. 

“Making the playoffs last year gives us that hope to where we know we can be a good team and go to a state championship and win it,” Sanders said. He added that they have this championship mentality “every day, every game, and every time we go to practice.”

Despite being a senior heavy team this season, Rizzo sees this culture that they have established continuing on for seasons to come and he challenges the seniors to lay this “groundwork for future Ironwood football  players.” He is “most proud” of how they have accepted this challenge and started implementing it, despite the high standards he holds them to. “We just like to push them (the non seniors) and make them work,”  Sanders said. “We know how it used to be, so we just help them and provide that support for them to keep on pushing day by day.”

No matter the matchup, Haskell wants to let his team know that it is bigger than the sport. 

“All the little things that go into just not winning a football game, but winning the day, winning the month, winning in the classroom and off the field” are important to Haskell and he wants everyone on the team to share these values, a testament to their leadership.