Hamilton (Chandler, Ariz.) football coach Steve Belles knew that when the announcement of the annual Sollenberger Classic matchups were announced and the Huskies weren't a part of it, the perception was going to be that the Huskies were ducking Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas).

As competitive and protective of his program as Belles is, he nipped that in the bud on Wednesday by calling Gorman coach Tony Sanchez directly to see if they could play on Labor Day weekend. As it turns out, the Nevada power has a game lined up with Servite (Anaheim, Calif.) already.

 

 

"The reality is we tried," Belles said. "It just didn't work out."

Belles confirmed on Wednesday that the Huskies will not be part of the Sollenberger Classic because the team is already committed to two out-of-state games next fall.

They are playing at Liberty (Henderson, Nev.) on Sept. 20 and then playing in a Brothers in Arms event in the San Diego area over Labor Day weekend against an unknown opponent. Since that opponent hasn't been filled yet, Belles reached out to Sanchez.

"We are in the process of figuring that out," Belles said. "Now what might make us look bad is if we can't find a team and we have to play an Arizona team. We are working on that and I hope it works out because then we did lose our opportunity to play Gorman and then that would be our fault."

Belles said he is being told that Mountain Pointe (Phoenix) and Salpointe Catholic (Tucson, Ariz.) will be representing Arizona in the Sollenberger Classic. It is expected that the Pride will play Gorman on Friday while the Lancers will take on Liberty on Saturday of Week 0 in mid-August.

Hamilton had offered to move the Liberty game to the week of the Sollenberger, but was then told by the Arizona Interscholastic Association that it would look at other programs to participate.

Jason P. Skoda, a former Arizona Republic and current Ahwatukee Foothills News staff writer, is a 15-year sports writing veteran. Contact him at jskoda1024@aol.com or 480-272-2449.