The Next Chapter
Pundits try to project the future of the Chandler-Hamilton rivalry.
So what does this mean for the future of the Chandler-Hamilton rivalry? Some of those involved each had their takes.
Chandler head coach Shaun Aguano: “Now, they’re wondering how they can beat us, so that whole tide has changed. If you talk to any Chandler or Hamilton player, the roles have reversed a lot. Now, I think Hamilton is trying to figure out how to beat us the next couple times. Our expectations are high. Now, we’re at a different level where we’re the top dog and they’re the underdog. Hopefully our kids can rise up to that occasion.”
Hamilton head coach Steve Belles: “I think it’s rare. It’s kind of rare air, as it would be. I think you have two schools less than five miles apart that have been nationally ranked together at times, that don’t particularly like each other for that week. Coach [Shaun] Aguano and I are pretty good friends, but during that week we don’t really talk that much. We have some well wishes, but other than that it’s just about getting your team ready to play and coming out on top after 48 minutes.”
Chandler offensive coordinator Rick Garretson: “Any time two schools get together like that, and especially in football, it’s always going to be the thing of the week or the month or the year. If you meet in the semifinals or the state finals, those are always going to be big moments and big times that kids are going to remember and an exciting time in their lives. Can the rivalry get better? I think always it can get better. It’s very different in the sense that you’ve got kids that grow up together. You’ve got kids that go to school together… I can’t say it’s going to get better, because it’s really kind of at a peak where it’s at right now. I think it’ll just stay there because you have two programs that are just going to have success year in and year out.”
Former Hamilton quarterback Sam Sasso: “Although being a Hamilton alum and being on that first team to lose to Chandler, you don’t like it. But I do think [Chandler winning] kind of helped build rivalry up to where now it’s anyone’s game, any year.”
Former Hamilton running back Tyrell Smith: “As far as competitiveness, the way the games have been going I don’t think the rivalry is as big as it used to be now that Chandler has been winning a few. I feel like it was a lot bigger before, just because the games were closer and we had always beaten Chandler. Now that Chandler’s gotten a win, I feel like they’re just sitting on their high horse not really thinking about the rivalry as much. It’s still there, but just not as much as it used to be, for sure.”
Former Hamilton defensive back Cole Luke: “I mean it was bound to happen. You can’t win every game against them ever, it wouldn’t make sense. I think their coaching has definitely gotten a lot better. I think coach Aguano has done a great job over there, and I think they’re just picking up the right athletes. I mean, they’ve always had the right athletes, but now I feel like they’re utilizing them to the best of their potential.”
Former Hamilton linebacker Santana Sterling: “Times have definitely changed a little bit. Hamilton-Chandler is always going to be a big rivalry, but just with them getting that first win and then the seasons after we graduated some unfortunate circumstances happened for them too at Hamilton. I don’t know what the feeling is like in the community down there, but just from an outsider’s standpoint it’s just changed up a little bit. It’s still up there though with the top rivalries in the state, the battle for the Boulevards and the battle for the Avenues. It’s still going to be an all-timer, but it’s changed a bit since they got a few wins over us. It was just more intensified when every year people thought Chandler was going to end the streak.”
CTownRivals.com founder Ralph Amsden: “Success helps. You have the best team, and you have the team that they like to beat the most. Then again, you look at the NFL and the best rivalry for the longest time was about the best — Colts-Patriots. There’s also a theory that because Hamilton has put so many people in college and the NFL and because Chandler has done the same, that it just has to do with the best players being on the field. It really depends. Hamilton’s championships, and Chandler’s championship, have played a large role in making it that way but the truth is for such a long time that most other programs have their games against other people and they have their rivalries, but the Chandler one just got so heated so quickly that it didn’t matter if any of these kids ever went on the play in college. People were still wanting to beat the crap out of each other every time the game came around. I think that what it really comes down to is just being in the same city, having that shared history and now having the branding behind it and having the players that go on to play in college and the NFL. You have guys like Markus Wheaton on Monday Night Football saying Chandler High School. Stuff like that just increases the profile of both schools, which increases the profile of the rivalry.”
Chandler principal Larry Rother: “I think, if anything, it’s going to be a matter of how do we consistently stay on top and ensure that, year in and year out, we have a great program across the board. There is definitely a feeling that, and I noticed it in that last game we played against Hamilton that we played them here at home, it was a great, close game and I thought both teams were excellent and we beat them by seven points or even lower than that but while it was a great game, the energy level was definitely on the Chandler side. Maybe it was because the year before we went down to their place and we just, we killed them at home. Maybe it was because of that, but maybe it was the student body — Hamilton obviously wants to win, but that’s not a guarantee anymore. It was a guarantee five years ago, but it’s not a guarantee and maybe not possible. I think there’s a feeling that, ‘Hey, Chandler has a better team than ours. We’d like to win, but there’s a good chance we won’t.’ I think that for years that’s the way Chandler felt, but I think that there’s a real difference now that we’ve been so successful over the last three years.”
Arizona Republic high school sports columnist Scott Bordow: “In 5–10 years I still think that they’re going to be two of the most dominant programs in the state. If you look at high school football over the years, there’s been about 10 or 15 20-year periods where it’s been dominant in one area. In the 60s, it was Phoenix. In the 70s, it was Tempe. In the early 80s, it was still Tempe but as the population moved it was Mesa in the 1990s that was dominant. Now it’s moved south to Chandler, and that’s still where the population is growing because there’s still so much open area around the schools like Basha, Perry and even Chandler and Hamilton so I still see those schools growing. Those two programs are still going to be some of the most dominant programs in the next 10 or 15 years unless one of the coaches leaves and the next coach they hire doesn’t work out. As long as they keep established, successful, good head coaches I don’t see why they won’t be challenging for the title every year for at least the next five years.”
Arizona Republic high schools reporter Richard Obert: “It’s at its peak. It’s at its best. Hamilton, I think what you saw from them last year and bowing out as early as they did. They blew a big lead against Desert Ridge in the quarterfinals. A lot of people had Hamilton going all the way to the championship last year. That’s just going to be more motivation for them to get back. Chandler is still going to be Chandler. They’re not dropping off one bit, even though they have to go and find another quarterback. They’re still going to be that explosive, physical team and I think that right now it’s at an all-time high. It’s nothing like it was 10 years ago. This is as good as it’s ever getting between these two teams battling it out. Now Hamilton wants to prove it. They’ve got a lot of fight left in them, and they’re not going to back down on these guys.”
Former Hamilton linebacker Jimmy Rogers: “There past couple years, I don’t know if they’ve won state but they’ve stayed competitive still and there’s still a lot of tradition. I think a lot of people go there not just for the education and high school football, but to win state championships and then go to college.”
Former East Valley Tribune writer Kyle Odegard: “I think at this point it’ll go back-and-forth because I think they’re both so established. I think there’s not as much growth in Maricopa County in general so I think the premier schools kind of shifted before, like when Mountain View was really good and then they kind of fell off. A team like McClintock it’s kind of the same thing, but Hamilton and Chandler are kind of on the outskirts so they don’t have to worry about maybe becoming older because Chandler has kind of been around for a long time and now they’ve had that rebirth. I’d expect both of those programs, provided they have good coaches in place, to keep excelling. I think definitely for the next decade I wouldn’t expect any change.”
