A new era of Marana football has begun with head coach Louie Ramirez and the class of 2019 driving the bus.
Ramirez said that this team belongs to the seniors and that it is ultimately up to that group to drive the Tigers in the right direction.
“We’re going to rely heavily on leadership from all of these (seniors) because like I said, it’s their team,” Ramirez said. “You talk about winning a state championships and being an elite team, it starts with the seniors. It starts with them setting the example every day.”
One player in particular that Ramirez will be relying heavily on to lead the Tigers is quarterback Trenton Bourguet. Bourguet had nearly 3,000 passing yards in his junior season and is poised for another great year.
“He’s a little quiet right now, but I’m trying to get him to be a little bit more vocal leader,” Ramirez said. “Servant leadership, words and actions, making sure that what he’s doing, he’s setting the example for everybody else.”
One of Bourguet’s big goals early this year as a leader of the Tigers is to make sure that every player feels equally a part of Marana football, he said.
“I’ve been on varsity since my freshman year and I just remember my freshman year that kids kind of looked down on me,” Bourguet said. “It made me make sure that when I get to that age, when I’m the senior, I’m going to make sure I help out the freshman.”
Good leadership tonight from our seniors! Day 1 in the books!
THE LITTLE THINGS MATTER! #TigerPride🐯
— Louie Ramirez (@CoachRamirez_) May 3, 2018
The past two seasons, under former head coach Andy Litten, Marana had two consecutive 9-3 records. Ramirez plans to prepare his guys to continue that success.
“You don’t average 50 points a game and go 9-3 in the past two years by accident,” Ramirez said. “I think there’s a lot of great leadership amongst our seniors and I wanted to rely on them to continue the tradition of Marana football and keep it going in the right direction.”
The focus for the Tigers this spring will be establishing the identity of this new era of Marana football. Ramirez said getting the defense to play fast and getting more depth in the backfield will also be areas of focus in getting the team ready for play.
“They’re a fun group to be around,” Ramirez said of his new squad. “My big thing is attention to detail, the little things matter. The little things accumulate to big things. At the end of the day, hopefully, hopefully, we’re going to bring a state championship here to Marana.”
