That door Jace Hancock has knocked on continues to crack open, but Valley Union wouldn’t mind slamming it shut.

For the past five years, since Hancock took over as Pima’s High School football coach, Pima has reached the doorstep of the D-VI state football championship game but failed to either advance past the semifinals or win the big game. 

“I do ask myself if it is ever going to happen,” Hancock said. “We’ve come so close to taking it. We keep knocking and knocking.”

Pima is once again on the precipice of either heading home with the title or empty handed.

The only hurdle left for Pima to cross this season is its Saturday state championship opponent, Valley Union. The two will meet at Maricopa High at 6 p.m. in a duel in which fathers and sons figure to play prominent roles. 

Both teams prefer to play smash-mouth, run-first football, and the backs that will likely carry the state championship hopes the most for each team are the sons of the head coaches, Curtis Hancock and Valley Union’s Jaret Luzania, coach Tony Luzania’s son.

Valley Union and Tony are back in the final for the first time since 2007 with a 9-1 record. Pima’s big play ability helped hand Valley Union its only loss, 44-14 in Week 5, this season.  

For Curtis, 114 of his team-leading 976 rushing yards came in that game against Valley Union.

“It’s a memorable moment,” said Hancock about coaching in the championship game, the final game of his son’s high school career. “The whole year has been memorable.”

Tony feels just as proud about reaching the D-VI final along with his son, who is also a senior and Valley Union’s leading rusher.

“Jaret has done a great job of becoming a good leader for a somebody who is not very big (5-7, 175),” Tony said. “He has a big heart and is stout.”

The march for Valley Union to this year’s D-VI title tilt actually started last year after dropping its state semifinal game to Mogollon, 44-16. Valley Union was leading 16-14 at halftime.

“The kids were upset that they didn’t finish what they started in that game,” Tony said.

That loss fueled this season’s state run and run game. 

Valley Union’s MO is to control the clock with its offensive line cogs, Ryan Outland, Brandon Martinez and Nick Hahn, and its 3-4-yard bursts by Jaret, Sean Hahn or Karsen Estelle. That strategy can help keep Pima’s potent offense (38.1 points per game) on the sideline Saturday.

When Pima does have the ball, Hahn and Isaac Lopez, Valley Union’s defensive line bookends, will attempt to keep Pima’s backs from turning the corner. When Martinez plays nose guard, he will try to stuff Pima’s run game up the middle.

“From the start, nobody really gave us a shot to make it here,” Tony said. “We live in Elfrida, and if you blink while you’re driving by, you might miss it. But we have a great group of kids, and it’s worked out so far this year.”

Despite its annual semifinal appearances, Pima wasn't an early season favorite this season since it said goodbye to a lot of its skill players last year. But some of last year’s undersclassmen were “overlooked.”

The first-year starters who blossomed this year into leaders are quarterback Parker Blair, the 6-feet-4 Kartchner twins, receivers Jarrett and Justin, fullback Logan Sherwood and tight end/middle linebacker John Boren. Sherwood’s father, Matt, is a two-time rodeo world champion team roper.

Pima roped Hancock (Pima High class of 1984) to become its coach when the school finally settled on playing 8 instead of 11-man football. Hancock has been teaching at Pima for 23 years now, so there’s an extra incentive for him to deliver a football championship to his alma mater. 

Hancock’s brother in law, 8-man coaching giant John Bryant, is the last coach to bring Pima a championship (2005). Hancock gets ribbed during family reunions about when he’ll finally win that elusive title.  

“You don’t know how much it (championship) gets mentioned,” said Hancock laughing. “It’s like you have to finish. We’ve been there so many dang times. We’ve knocked on the door. Trust me. We have to get this one. The job has to be done. It has to happen. No ifs, ands, or buts.”