By Austin Burnett
Paul Moro, head football coach at Tempe Marcos de Niza, was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer after Marcos de Niza’s Week 1 victory over Prescott.
Moro is the all-time winningest coach in Arizona high school football history with 336 career wins since his coaching career began at Blue Ridge High School in 1984.
Moro was admitted into the hospital on Saturday, Aug. 26, and remained there the rest of the week and was forced to miss Marcos de Niza’s 13-6 loss to Glendale Cactus according to azcentral.com
After Marcos de Niza’s loss to Peoria, Moro said he went to the hospital two weeks prior because he was coughing a lot and thought it was a bad sinus infection. Moro also mentioned that his focus is on his players and not himself despite being sick.
“I was just hoping our players could play really well,” Moro said. “I’m always focused on my players, I’m not worried about me at all. I’m just trying to provide an opportunity for my players to excel and have a great experience playing football on Friday night. I love my players. When you can develop a team like a family where they love each other, good things happen. If they train really hard and they’re able to play to the level of their training, successes will follow them.”
The players on Marcos de Niza are inspired and motivated each time Coach Moro shows up to practices and games.
“He’s been fighting for us,” sophomore center Zach Famoso said. “So we try harder every practice to fight for him and on the field we give it our all.”
Moro started chemotherapy two weeks ago and will continue to be at practices and games so he can fight for his players and his kind-hearted spirit continues to motivate his players as they fight for him.
