Photo: 44 Gabriel Ricketts is gone now after rushing for 3210 yards with 36 touchdowns in his career as a Bear
The Bradshaw Mountain Bears will have plenty of new starters heading into this upcoming season. The Bears lost a lot of key players to graduation, including record setting running back Gabriel Ricketts, both quarterbacks Bruce Normandin and Kaden Martinez, and two way starter James Giggey, who is playing football at Arizona State University, just to name a few. One returning player who saw a lot of action will be running back and strong safety Brayden Munday.
The Bears finished third in the Grand Canyon Region with a (3-2) mark and ended with a first round playoff loss at Thunderbird 17-16 to finish at (7-4). Bradshaw Mountain won the Region with a perfect (5-0) in 2022.
The first two games will be against two powerful programs in the Snowflake Lobos and Canyon Del Oro Dorados. The Bears travel to face the Lobos (7-4) on August 30, a team Bradshaw beat 24-14 last year. On September 6, a trip to Tucson to face the Dorados, a team who beat Bradshaw Mountain 42-7 a year ago. Canyon Del Oro ran the table last year to win the 4A championship with a perfect (14-0) record.
On September 13, the Bears play their home opener against Moon Valley. The Rockets were (5-5) last year with the Bears winning 38-6 in Phoenix. A week later, Bradshaw Mountain heads down to Phoenix to face St. Mary’s. A year ago the Bears won 41-20. The final non-region game is at home versus Apache Junction on September 27. Last season the Bears won 41-28.
Bradshaw Mountain gets a tough region opener as the Bears host the Coconino Panthers who dealt Bradshaw their worst loss of the season last year in Flagstaff, 41-7.
After a week off, the Bears travel to Cottonwood to tackle the Marauders, a team they beat a year ago 34-7. Two Thursday games in a row follow, with the rivalry match with Prescott at home on October 24. Last year the Bears won a close one, 21-13 in Prescott. A Halloween game at Flagstaff with the Eagles should not be too scary after beating Flagstaff 49-32 at home last year.
The final regular season game on November 8 could very well be a big one as last year’s Grand Canyon Region champ Lee Williams comes to town. The Bears would like nothing better than to return the favor of a 38-21 setback last season in Kingman.
