Salpointe Catholic Upsets Saguaro on the Road, 21-14
Scottsdale, Arizona — October 27, 2023
Salpointe Catholic pulled off a notable road win on October 27, 2023, beating Saguaro 21-14 in a result that added to what was, at the time, a rocky regular season for the Sabercats. Saguaro would go on to finish the year with a 4-5 regular-season record before catching fire in the playoffs.
The seven-point margin was enough for Salpointe to hand Saguaro one of its five regular-season defeats during a stretch that also included losses to Basha, Sierra Canyon of California, and Centennial. For a Saguaro program that would ultimately win the 2023 6A state championship, the loss to Salpointe was part of a broader story of a team that struggled in the regular season before transforming into a completely different, more dangerous version of itself once the playoffs began.
For Salpointe, the win over Saguaro was a quality result in a season of its own, part of a Tucson-area football scene that has consistently produced some of the most competitive programs in the state outside the Phoenix metro area.
The result stands as a reminder that regular-season records don't always tell the full story in Arizona high school football — Saguaro's 4-5 start looked nothing like a championship résumé until the games started counting double in the postseason.