Northwest Christian football embraces underdog mentality
They fought the move in court. They lost. Now the Northwest Christian Crusaders are winning, adopting an underdog mentality that is working out fine in the 4A Conference.
They are 4-1, blowing out each of their first four opponents, scoring at least 50 points in each game.
And they’re coming off maybe their best game, a 20-19 loss to Glendale Cactus, a team expected to challenge for the 4A title this year.
“Every day we get to practice, it’s a good day,” Northwest Christian football coach and Athletic Director David Inness said.
Side-stepping COVID-19, especially now with another surge in the state, is the biggest challenge.
But this might be the biggest week of all since moving from the “small-school” ranks of 3A.
On Friday night, Northwest Christian plays host to defending 3A champion American Leadership Academy Queen Creek (5-1), which put up no fuss after the Arizona Interscholastic Association moved the Patriots up a level based on the success of their program the past three years.
It was ALA-QC that knocked Northwest Christian out of the 3A playoffs in the semifinals last season, 39-24.
Northwest Christian took the AIA to court last spring when it was placed up. It won the 3A title two years ago. But now, looking back, Inness has the mindset of “bring it on,” when taking on 4A opponents.
He was hoping to play Phoenix Greenway, which now becomes a natural rival with the schools not far apart. But that game was lost due to COVID-19.
This is a confident, senior-oriented bunch not intimidated by anybody on its schedule.
“They just play hard,” Inness sad. “Once we got used to the level of play, it was game on on Friday night.”
Northwest Christian lost to Cactus on a fourth-and-goal jump pass for a Cobras touchdown at the end of the game.
“That’s a good team and we showed that we belong last week,” Inness said.
After that game, Inness said Cactus defensive coordinator Brian Belles told him that his team reminded him of old
St. Mary’s teams.
St. Mary’s built a dynasty in the late 1960s under Ed Doherty with small, undersized teams that found ways to outwork and outhustle opponents. It was like that during the Pat Farrell era in the 1980s and ‘90s. And now, under alum Jose Lucero, the Knights are hoping to bring that back.
“If I’m mentioned in that, wow,” Inness said. “We got guys who buy into what we’re doing.”
Two of them are quarterback Blake Sparks and running back/safety Levi Huisman.
Huisman is averaging eight yards a carry in 62 carries, and Sparks, a junior, has a 129.3 passer rating.
“We just wanted to play football, that’s the main thing,” Sparks said about the move up in conferences amid the pandemic. “We want to play while we can.”
Sparks feels that the closeness with 26 seniors has been key.
“We don’t see them as big schools, because we’re all the same age,” Sparks said. “We just want to play them.”
Huisman liked the move up to 4A, then to come out strong offensively.