news

Ty Wisdom returns to Arizona to meet Basha as Millard South coach

Vaseline August 31, 2024

Ty Wisdom missed Arizona. Just not this time of year.

But despite the extreme heat in the Valley, he’s happy to bring his powerful Millard South football team from Omaha, Nebraska, to take on Basha on the Bears’ opening night in Chandler on Friday.

“I thought it would be cool to play an out-of-state game,” Wisdom said. “In Nebraska, you only have nine guaranteed games. I wanted to make sure we had some games that were really competitive.”

Wisdom returned to Nebraska three years ago after a season at Phoenix Desert Vista and a successful tenure leading the Scottsdale Horizon program.

Millard South and Basha have agreed to a home-and-away format, with Basha traveling to Nebraska next year to play Wisdom’s team.

“It just worked,” Wisdom said, noting how he’s connected with Basha coach Chris McDonald over the years during coaching clinics. “We’re excited about the matchup. It’s never happened before in the state of Nebraska that a high school football team gets on a plane and goes somewhere for a game.”

Under the lights: The Ultimate Guide to the 2024 Arizona High School Football Season

At the same time, another team from Nebraska, Creighton Prep, is traveling to St. Louis, Missouri for a game. That team is not getting on a plane, but is driving the 6½ hours to play their game out of state.

Wisdom realizes this is just the first game of the season, but playing against a team of Basha’s caliber will help build what could be a championship Nebraska team. Millard South had to raise more than $45,000 to make the trip.

Wisdom is in touch with many Arizona coaches. In just a few years, he has seen the quality of American football in Arizona improve, especially at Basha, which was the 2022 Open State Champion.

Wisdom’s 2019 Horizon team went 9-2, making it to the Open Division playoffs. It was the inaugural year of the Open, created by the Arizona Interscholastic Association to create a playoff bracket featuring the state’s top eight teams from the three major conferences — 6A, 5A and 4A.

Basha has a new quarterback in Brodie Vehrs to start the 2024 season, but the Bears are bolstered by big linemen on both sides of the ball that should help them get back to the Open finals. “They’re big and they’ve got good skill kids,” Wisdom said.

Millard South has 16 starters returning from last year’s team that went 10-2 and lost in the state semifinals. He started 16 sophomores on that team. Wisdom said he has seven players who could play Division I college football.

Of the talented players in the 2026 class, quarterback Jett Thomalla, wide receiver Amarion Jackson, tight end Isaac Jensen and center Carter Glab are all attracting attention from major universities.

Dedication of the Round Valley Dome

Next week, before the first home game, a dedication ceremony will be held at Eagar Round Valley. The dome will be named after the school’s most successful football coach, Tot Workman, who died in March 2023 at the age of 82.

It’s called the Tot Workman Dome. At the bottom of the big sign with the stadium’s name it says, “Elks #1 Second to none — Coach Workman.”

Workman led Round Valley to back-to-back small-school football state titles in 1979 and ’80. His 1985 team shared the state title with Snowflake.

Workman was inducted into the Arizona High School Athletic Coaches Hall of Fame in 1990. He was also inducted into the National High School Athletic Coaches Hall of Fame.

Shadow Ridge Ceremony

Surprise Shadow Ridge, which opens the season on Friday at Gilbert Highland, will play its first game on the new turf field on Sept. 6, with an opening ceremony at 6:40 p.m., 20 minutes before kickoff against Scottsdale Chaparral.

This will be the Stallions’ first game on their new field under new coach Mike Zdebski, who has led Chandler Hamilton to the past five Open State Playoffs.

Richard Obert has covered high school sports for The Arizona Republic since the 1980s. He also covers track and field at Grand Canyon University and the Arizona Rattlers. For suggestions for human-interest stories and other news, contact Obert at [email protected] or 602-316-8827. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter:@azc_obert