By the nature of a 10-game high school schedule, the first two games of the year carry extra weight for every team.
For the 2025 Sunrise Mountain Mustangs, those games are massively important. This new team with new coaches and schemes on both sides of the ball starts its year with two home games.
Both games are against teams equally determined to show they are ready to make the leap back into the 5A playoffs — Tucson Desert View and Ironwood. For first-year Mustangs coach Santiago Maldonado, its a clear chance to make Friday nights an event on the North Peoria campus again.
