Despite reports that high school football participation is down across the nation because of CTE worries, the sport is alive and well—and growing—in Arizona.
That’s according to Sports Illustrated, whose MMQB is doing an eight-part series on the football’s growth potential in specific parts of the United States.
The fifth part of the series focuses on programs all around the state of Arizona, including ones in the tiny copper mining town of Bagdad, Arizona, where the Sultans high school football team have won two titles in the last four years; the Mesa Soldiers of Mesa, Arizona, a team consisting of 10 and 11 year olds that coach Anthony Cordova founded in 2003, after realizing an affinity for coaching in the Army; and even the Arizona State University Sun Devils, who play in Tempe, Arizona.
SI even includes the National Football League’s Arizona Cardinals, who has a rabid fanbase, despite a number of moves throughout its history, and has just upped its ante by recently trading for veteran running back Adrian Peterson.
For more on Arizona football, watch SI‘s video below.
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