Shane Stephenson arrived from Montana in 2020 to coach the Highland Prep football team and serve as the charter school’s assistant athletic director.
He quickly realized after settling in Surprise that he wanted to spend only one year as an eight-man football coach after a lifetime in the 11-man game.
To this end, all of the Honey Badgers’ teams would have to join football in a move from competition in the smaller Canyon Athletic Association into the Arizona Interscholastic Association. Highland Prep applied for membership beginning in the 2021-22 school year and the AIA board accepted this spring.
