Dalton Guerra
Affiliation: former Chandler High School wide receiver Dalton Guerra, class of 2013.
Interview date: May 4, 2016.
FA: I’m here with former Chandler High School reserve wide receiver Dalton Guerra, who will provide a look at playing for an up-and-coming program while your role may not be at that “Big Man On Campus” level.
I guess my first question is, what was your first impression on the rivalry and what stood out to you?
DG: I think my first memory of it was actually watching my sisters play basketball for Chandler High before I was even in high school. Both of my older sisters played basketball at Chandler High and graduated in ’06 and another graduated before that. I remember that I would always go to their games, and the ones against Hamilton were always the most intense, obviously.
FA: Growing up as part of the Chandler High fabric, how much was the football rivalry instilled into part of your childhood?
DG: That was definitely it. I would go to the games and I would see the players — even when I got to junior high, we’d start going to the Chandler games and it was crazy. I always knew that I was going to go to Chandler since I was a little kid because my sisters went there, and that’s all I heard. Hamilton this, Hamilton that, we’ve got Hamilton this week. Even in basketball it was a big deal, but football more so.
FA: How much more is that emphasized once you’re officially a part of the Chandler football program?
DG: Being on the football team is huge for [the pressure]. I have a perfect example. There’s always this conflict, for whatever reason, between the freshman and [junior varsity] football teams with hazing. But the day we were playing Hamilton, all the JV players lined up and came up to us and said, ‘Get it done, boys. Good luck. Take care of business.’ It was like the first time the JV had shown us somewhat of a level of respect and comradery towards us, because we were playing Hamilton. During Hamilton week, the whole school unifies, no matter any level of sport or any student.
FA: What is a game week like when you’re prepping for the Battle For Arizona Avenue?
DG: It’s way different, because all the coaches and players want to say it’s just another game, it’s just another week, let’s do the same thing we always do, but it’s impossible. It’s just so different. We try to keep the routine the same, we try to think the same, but your mind is just in a million places. I can remember the week of every game, and I could just picture our names in the newspaper, [saying], ‘The first team to beat Hamilton.’ It’s just hard to keep yourself focused on the football part of it, because there’s so much going on around you with parents and pep rallies and all the girls are making you cupcakes and putting your name on their shirts. It’s just a huge deal.
FA: What’s the feeling like of being involved in a game day, where you’re at the field. How unique of an experience is that?
DG: It is amazing. I remember the first time I played as a junior on varsity, first Hamilton-Chandler game on the big scale like that. I mean, you come out for warmups and it’s just already packed. Like the stands are full at least an hour before game time. The people are screaming and yelling, and you’re looking around and you can’t make any faces individually because there’s so many people. It’s a one of a kind experience. You can’t explain it. It’s just incredible.
FA: How hard is it to stay composed in a setting like that?
DG: It’s really hard. Before the game, that’s really hard to do, because before the game there’s all the hype going on. In some cases, there’s cameras for ESPN and stuff and there’s professional athletes in the stands. But once the game starts, that all goes away. You’re just focused on playing the game. A lot of athletes say that. Before the game, it’s crazy and hard to compose yourself, but once it starts and after that first play and first kickoff, all you’re thinking about is your job, and all you’re thinking about is just doing your job and focusing on the game. It becomes just like another game at that point. But everything leading up to that first play is completely different than any other week.
FA: Did you notice any differences with how the program, from top to bottom, was run by coach Aguano?
DG: Absolutely. I had the chance to play for Ewan in junior varsity baseball, but that’s besides the point, but I know how he coaches and I know how he is. What coach Aguano did was he completely changed the culture of the program. He came in, I remember in the first day in the weight room and just said, ‘Hey boys. I’m the new head coach. Things are going to be so different out here. We’re going to have fun, we’re not going to cuss, we’re not going to scream and yell at you guys. It’s going to be a different environment. We’re going to have fun at practice, and we’re just going to have a good time.’ He completely changed the culture, and I remember that he wouldn’t just yell at us as the players for cussing. He would yell at the coaches, too. He wouldn’t let the coaches get all hot and intense at us. He would tell them to calm down and relax. He really focused more on, if players make mistakes, he coached them and told them what they did wrong instead of blowing up and yelling at them. I think that was a big change in the culture. He did a lot of other stuff, but that was what was most prevalent to me.
FA: What do you think was the key to Chandler turning things around and finally breaking through?
DG: Honestly, I would say coach Aguano had a big part in it. That change of culture that he instilled in this program just did it, and I also think that it was just a matter of time. You don’t play more than 20 games and not beat an opponent once. Beyond that, just the environment and the confidence in the locker room and in the school just had to change. I remember when I was a student and having other students telling me about Hamilton week, and me saying I’m pretty excited and they’re like, ‘Well, you guys are probably going to lose anyways.’ Tudents would say stuff like that to me when I was going through high school. Now, I’d have to imagine it’s way different. Students are saying [about Hamilton week] that we’re probably going to win and wishing the boys good luck. I think the environment of the school, and having the whole school behind you and the community actually believing that they’re going to win is what changed it.
FA: Are there any games you played in from that rivalry that really stand out to you?
DG: My junior varsity year, so somewhere around 2010, I was on JV and we beat Hamilton. It was the first time I had ever beat Hamilton at any sport. Actually, to this day, it’s the only sport and game where I ever beat Hamilton between playing football, basketball and baseball. I just remember that it was the best feeling in the world beating them, even though it was just a JV game. No one else in the world cared, but for us, I mean my team and my class and my teammates and my coaches, we just felt like invincible after that game. After that, I have an example that was the complete opposite. It was my junior year, first year on varsity and coach Aguano’s first year. We had the lead going into the fourth quarter, and I remember after the third quarter coach Aguano had us huddle around and he said, ‘Here we are, boys. We’re this close. Look at this.’ We have a 14-point lead or whatever it was going into the fourth quarter, and we’re all just looking around at each other like, ‘This is happening. All we’ve got to do is finish this game and we’re going to be in the newspaper, we’re going to have a parade.’ We ended up losing that lead and losing that game — barely — and it still to this day, in college, bothers me. I still get together with my high school teammates and we just talk about that game and how close we were to being the first ones to do it.
FA: The schools have their reputations, they have stereotypes. How much of a role did that play in when it came to building up the rivalry?
DG: There was always [stereotypes]. Chandler is the ghetto school. Chandler is poor. Chandler is Mexican. All that stuff. Hamilton, of course, we all just said they’re all rich, white people who drive nice cars. Honestly, that was for the students. The athletes, we didn’t get into all that. For me, I knew a bunch of dudes who went to Hamilton because I went to Anderson Junior High, and they feed into Chandler but a lot of the kids there chose Hamilton. Someone like Cole Luke, I was best friends with in junior high but we ended up going to different high schools. We had a huge amount of respect for each other though. I would never bad mouth him. Obviously, we’re rivals for the football game, but I think that what you’re talking about with the stereotypes and that kind of stuff was for the students. Us athletes had too much respect for each other to badmouth each other like that. We tried not to get into that. We probably commented on it a couple times, but we wouldn’t go public with it. It was more for the student councils to go back and forth with on signs. They’d always have those signs on the sidelines that would badmouth the other schools, but that wasn’t something we did.
FA: Where do you think this rivalry is at, whether it’s statewide or nationally?
DG: I’ve always believed, even prior to our first victory against Hamilton, that it was one of the best rivalries in the state. Now that we’ve beat them a couple times, it’s getting even more national attention. I’ve had family members tell me it’s not a rivalry because you guys haven’t beat them yet, but I have to disagree with that. I don’t think that’s what makes a rivalry. A rivalry is not constituted by the record, it’s just by the culture around and the importance of it to each school. I’ve always debated with people that it’s bigger than the Mountain Pointe-Desert Vista rivalry or the Red Mountain-Mesa. Those games just don’t have the same intensity I feel like, and I’m not sure how to credit that. It’s just a huge deal. Chandler and Hamilton are a mile away, and I’ve always felt like people have talked more about Chandler and Hamilton. The Battle For Arizona Avenue [is] about the Tukee Bowl, or any other rivalry in the state.
FA: Thanks for taking the time to talk to me.
