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TOP NEWCOMER: Jack Chappelle, Jr., OL; Chris Stoica, Jr., OG.
2019 SCHEDULE
Home games in caps
Aug. 23 at Dobson
Aug. 30 BROPHY PREP
Sept. 6 at North
Sept. 13 WILLOW CANYON
Sept. 27 TOLLESON
Oct. 4 MARYVALE
Oct. 11 at Westview
Oct. 18 LA JOYA
Oct. 25 at Valley Vista
Nov. 1 at Copper Canyon
Jason Stone
West Valley Preps
Shadow Ridge’s football team hasn’t turned in a winning season since 2013. But instead of switching out the coaching staff or pinning hopes on a talented player moving into the school’s boundaries to get over the hump, the best thing to happen to the team in the offseason might have been in the weight room.
The Stallions hired David Ortiz as their new strength and conditioning coach, and apparently the results are already showing up in the first month of team practices.
“All throughout the winter and the summer he put us through this workout that was amazing,” said senior quarterback Kaiden Lansford. “Just in the bench, squat and power clean we probably had 20 guys go into the ‘700-pound club.’
“The coaches have done a spectacular job of making things different. Making everything feel new all the time.”
A bigger, stronger team is good news for a school that hasn’t seen much recent success.
A 4-2 start last year fizzled into a 4-6 finish, giving the school its fifth straight losing season. In fact, the team has won only 14 games in five years.
“This is a big year for us,” fourth-year coach Bob Chappelle said. “We’ve had a great winter and we had a great summer. The kids really bought in.”
Lansford, who is back as a second-year starter, is so confident about the team’s improvement since last year he thinks the Stallions could realistically win the 6A Southwest Region after going 0-5 in it a year ago.
“We have by far the absolute best team Shadow Ridge has ever seen,” said Lansford, who threw for a program record 1,400 yards last year before missing most of the final three games with a back injury. “We have so much speed. Our offensive line looks amazing.”
The new and improved offensive line — as well as the defensive front seven — is drawing rave reviews so far in fall practices.
“The offensive line is by far the biggest we’ve ever had,” said Chappelle, who has three starters on the line from last year’s undefeated JV team (8-0-1). “And they’re good. They can play.”
Leading the way on both lines is senior two-way lineman Isaiah Mercado, a 6-3, 300-pound, three-year starter, who is already drawing offers from three colleges.
Those are currently NCAA Division II and NAIA schools, but Chappelle thinks Mercado has the ability to develop into a player at the level of schools such as Northern Arizona.
On the defensive line, speedy senior defensive end Jayden Jackson is returning for his third year of organized football. The team’s leading sack artist a year ago (5.5), Jackson is a state-qualifying track sprinter.
Despite his 6-3, 200-pound frame, Jackson turned in a time of 11.1 seconds in 100 meters last year.
“He’s starting to get looks at schools now because he’s that fast,” Chappelle said.
The coach calls senior strong safety Josh Cano, who leads all returners with 71 tackles last year, the “best overall athlete on the team.”
The 6-2, 190-pounder also plays running back, wide receiver, kicker, punter and other odds and ends.
“He does it all,” Chappelle said. “He’s a heck of an athlete, man.”
Despite having those three talented seniors, Chappelle said he knows the season will ride on the arms, leg – and back – of his senior quarterback.
“When he got hurt (last year), it really hurt us because teams knew we were limited with throwing the football,” Chappelle said.
Lansford will try to avoid the big hit but will be dishing out some himself as the 6-3, 230-pounder will also be a starting outside linebacker.
“He’s going to be out there a lot,” Chappelle said.
Shadow Ridge will be looking to replace its top seven receivers in number of receptions from last year, including Darius Moore (43 catches, 963 yards, 10 touchdowns) and Nate Clement (34 catches, seven TDs).
“We need to continue to get better and jell with our skill guys,” Chappelle said. “We lost our top two receivers, but we’ve got some guys who have filled in and done a nice job for us. I think by Game 1, they’ll be in a good spot, and by the end of the season they’ll be pretty good players.”
Chappelle said depth is the biggest key to this year’s team as it has been in the past.
That’s part of the reason, he said, Shadow Ridge faded down the stretch last year after a promising start.
“If we can stay healthy, we’ll be fine,” Chappelle said. “If we have some injuries in some spots, it can have an effect on us for sure. As coaches we have to be smarter about practice — making sure we are getting our work done but also staying safe.
“We can’t lose bodies in practice.”
Chappelle said one particular problem the team has had the last few years is the ability to stay close with some tougher opponents — but not an entire game.
“This year, we expect to be able to stay in football games,” Chappelle said. “In the first half , it’d be a pretty football game, and then all of a sudden in the second half they’d wear us down.”
Chappelle said he is hoping the team’s overall size increase in the trenches will mitigate the size disparity it normally has.
He can pat himself on the back for some of it. Chappelle’s son, Jack, will start on the line and is 6-5, 285 pounds.
“When you don’t have a lot of depth to begin with you lose three of four guys it makes a major impact,” Chappelle said.
If depth is an issue, team chemistry does not seem to be one, several players aid.
“The senior class last year really brought our team down,” Lansford said. “We weren’t so much a team unit, and this year the morals and the purpose of our football team is to win games as a unit.”
Mercado said the culture change is dramatic.
“We’re more of a brotherhood, we actually trust one another, most importantly,” Mercado said.
Coaches are clamping down, too. Cano said some broken team rules would go unpunished last year.
“Coaches have cut down on us this year and been more strict on us and pushing us harder,” Cano said. “Last year they were more lenient with us. If somebody missed a practice, they would let it slide. This year if you miss practice, you’ll face consequences.”
The Shadow Ridge schedule features the same 10 opponents from last year, but four of the schools have new coaches, including Mesa Dobson, the first foe.
The Stallions scrimmaged Thursday against Buckeye Verrado, Buckeye and Laveen Fairfax. Chappelle said he was most focused on the fundamentals of blocking and tackling in that game.
“We’re further along than we were last year at this point, but still a long ways to go,” Chappelle said.
Jason Stone can be reached at 623-445-2805, on email at jstone@newszap.com or on Twitter at @thestonecave. Visit www.yourvalley.net.
Shadow Ridge junior tailback Michael Clark tries to break the tackle of a Mesa Dobson player during the Aug. 17, 2018 season opener at Shadow Ridge High School. Clark is the Stallions leading returning rusher.
Shadow Ridge junior tailback Michael Clark tries to break the tackle of a Mesa Dobson player during the Aug. 17, 2018 season opener at Shadow Ridge High School. Clark is the Stallions leading returning rusher. 
