Jesse Octavio-Callejo was honored at halftime of the RRHS Homecoming football game last October for his wrestling championship earlier in the spring. Last Saturday, he qualified for a return trip to the state meet.
The Nogales High School girls basketball team is set to host a first-round 5A Conference state tournament game on Wednesday, when they take on the Cactus Shadows Falcons of Scottsdale starting at 6 p.m.
(Note: Game time has been moved to 6 p.m. after initially being scheduled at 7 p.m.)
Nogales earned the No. 7 seed in the 5A tournament after finishing 15-3 in the regular season. Cactus Shadows, which finished 11-7, is seeded No. 10.
Both teams have already played a postseason game. Nogales qualified for the Open Division tournament featuring the top teams from the 4A, 5A and 6A conferences, but fell in the first round to 6A Pinnacle in Phoenix.
Cactus Shadows reached the 5A tournament by winning a play-in qualifier on Feb. 9, when they defeated Chaparral 54-35.
Nogales and Cactus Shadows did not play during the regular season, but they had one common opponent: the Cienega Bobcats of Vail.
Cactus Shadows beat Cienega 62-45 on Nov. 30 in Vail, while Nogales beat the Bobcats twice: 52-41 at home on Jan. 23 and 45-43 on Feb. 2 in Vail.
The winner of Wednesday’s game advances to the quarterfinal round on Feb. 21.
RRHS wrestler earns chance to defend state title
Jesse Octavio-Callejo was honored at halftime of the RRHS Homecoming football game last October for his wrestling championship earlier in the spring. Last Saturday, he qualified for a return trip to the state meet.
File photo
Defending state champion Jesse James Octavio-Callejo won his weight class at the Division III, Section IV wrestling meet last weekend in Sahuarita.
The win sends the Rio Rico High School senior back to the state championship meet in Phoenix, where he’ll try to defend his 285-pound D-III title starting Thursday, Feb. 16.
At the sectional meet last Saturday, Octavio-Callejo (39-5 this season) defeated William Urbina of Sabino (18-4) via fall at 1:31 to win the first-place 285-pound bout, according to results posted by AllSportTucson.com.
As a team, Rio Rico earned 49 points at the meet, sixth-best among the 11 participating Division III schools.
1-0 loss knocks Rio Rico boys soccer from postseason
The Rio Rico High School boys soccer team missed out on a chance to join the 4A Conference state tournament when they lost in the play-in round last week.
The RRHS Hawks fell 1-0 to the Mica Mountain Thunderbolts on Feb. 9 to end their 2022-2023 season. Rio Rico had previously beaten Mica Mountain 2-1 in a home game on Jan. 18.
The Hawks qualified for the play-in round by finishing the regular season with a 7-6 record.
