Coach Mike Santiago
Chapter I - Humble Beginnings, Rewarded Endings
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Friday, November 26th, 2010
Desert Vista vs. Agua Fria
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"Third and sixteen. Desert Vista is at their own 46-yard line with under a minute to go. Down by 7. Murray sets up from the gun.
And here's the snap and Agua Fria's coming with six. Murray's looking and rolls right to escape pressure. Bradberry's closing in and...
Oh, my! Levels Murray just as he gets the pass off and it's intercepted! It's Marquis Jackson, the freshman! He's got wheels and he's flying down the sideline! 20! 10! High stepping it in!
TOUCHDOWN! THAT'S IT! AGUA FRIA DOES IT AGAIN! Make that a three-peat for Coach Santiago and his Agua Fria Aces and they do it the way that Santiago only knows: defense! 16-3, Agua Fria! We're State Champions yet again!"
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Another year, another championship. That's my expectation that's placed on me and the expectation I place on my players. The only thing I pride myself on more is defense. After all, defense wins championships.
I was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia in a house of two hardworking parents. My father was a car mechanic and my mother was a police officer. Luckily for them, I was their only son, but they loved me.
They raised me tough and made me learn everything quick. When I was only three, my dad taught me how to swim. He picked me up and threw me in the pool. He sat right at the lip of the pool and told me to swim over with no help. I looked like a fish out of water and I was scared, but hey, I made it across and back to him. That's how it was in the household. I was taught to fight and earn what I wanted.
But, man, my dad loved football. He loved Virginia Tech and his Buffalo Bills. He was diehard. He had a huge collection of jerseys. O.J. Simpson, Bruce Smith, Jim Kelly, Andre Reed, Nate Odomes. Bruce Smith was my favorite player. Absolute monster. He was my hero growing up and watching him dominate made me love defense.
I played football at Hermitage High School and played defensive end. I got to play alongside Darren and Jamie Sharper and became close friends with them. I never really got to play until my junior year because I was a small guy. Back then, I was only 5'8" and about 195 pounds, but I had the motor. Once I finally had my growth spurt, I was unstoppable. In my senior year, I racked up 13 sacks. And every time I could make a hit on a guy, I would let out a blood-curdling howl. I wanted to let you know what happened to you. My parents were proud of me.
But they were more proud that I went off to college. I was the first in my family to go to college. They pretty much embarrassed me when they finally dropped me off. They couldn't say good bye to me.
I followed Darren to William & Mary and in our first year, we got to meet Mike Tomlin. Before he was the Steelers' head coach, he was guy kicking Darren's ass in practice. Darren couldn't stay with him. But watching those two go at it was amazing. Mike could have played in the NFL and left as one of the school's best receivers. And he made Darren the great safety that he is.
My college career wasn't as stellar. After high school, everyone's either your size or bigger. But, I fought for my spot. I never, ever lost my starting spot once I got it in my junior year. I was beloved at William & Mary and I would always go back after every game and look at the teams yards allowed and push us every game to give up less than what we had the last. Finished my career with 88 tackles and 15 sacks in my four years. My favorite moment was making the back up quarterback from Villanova scramble back about 15 yards to get away from me, sack him for a 20 yard loss, and make him fumble for the scoop and score.
But more importantly, I graduated with a degree in Education and I moved out west to Arizona where Arizona State offered me a full-ride for grad school. When I came home and told my parents the news, they were so proud of me. My mom almost cried. Almost. My dad was upset that I turned down V-Tech, but he was happy that I made my own decision to see more of the states.
I packed my stuff, drove for four days, and arrived in Arizona. I was happy to be at ASU, where they love football. I remember weekends where I could go to Sun Devil Stadium and see Pat Tillman crack a wide receiver on Saturday and see Jake Plummer sling the ball on Sundays for the Cards. I still loved the game and I wished I could have moved on.
But, while I couldn't play, I knew I couldn't get away from the field. After graduating from ASU, I received a job offer as an English teacher at Agua Fria. When I saw their football program, I jumped right on board. I became an assistant head coach for the defense. After two years, we had the best defense in the state. In 2002, we had three straight games in which we held our opponents to zero points.
In 2006, I finally became the head coach after Coach Jacobs resigned. I took over the program and brought pride into the locker room. I placed a uniform rule into effect. If you shutout an opponent, the next home game, we would wear our all black uniforms. If you held an opponent under 150 yards, we would wear our all red uniforms. And if we played our rivals, Desert Vista, the all red absolutely comes out.
My players responded, especially on defense. It fired up the offense to support the defense. The whole team bought into the philosophy that we win on defense. In 2008, it paid off. We won our first state championship in 25 years and we've never looked back since.
But, I've started looking forward.