It didn't matter. Not one bit.

Turns out an offseason of wonder for the Thatcher football program was all for not as any thoughts of it possibly being a rebuilding year was alleviated quickly in Queen Creek on Thursday.

This edition of the Eagles remained very Thatcher-esque despite stepping on the field for the first time in 2026 with minimal experience on offense and a brand-new linebacker unit.

Most 3A programs losing that big of a graduating class would be searching for an identity and it’d probably take a few weeks to find something to build on going forward.

Only they do things different in Thatcher.

That was clear Thursday when the Eagles handled ALA-Ironwood 33-6 in a 3A non-region game to open the year and made it clear the program is going to be just fine.

If the score – which was 26-0 through three quarters – wasn’t enough of an indicator then hearing coach Daniel Jones bellowing, “Do what we do!” louder and louder in the second half did the trick.

“That’s Thatcher,” Jones said a bit out of breath after leaving the mosh pit of a celebration with the players. “You line up, you hit the guy across from you really hard and see what happens. That’s what we do.

“Most of these kids hadn’t had any varsity experience so this was our first attempt to see what they are made of and they did really well.”

The Eagles offense, which had a total of one touchdown last year by their returning players, scored four times in the first half by four different players.

It's what programs with 12 state title appearances and eight state titles tend to do: win regardless of experience, depth and opponent.

The expectations of the program, the way the players go about their daily representation of their school and town is ingrained at any early age. They’ve played together since pee wee and spent Friday nights in the stand dreaming of being an Eagle, pulling on the green and white jersey with THATCHER emblazoned on the chest.

“I’ve moved to Thatcher when I was 2, and I’ve been going to football camps since I was 6,” said defensive back Josh Jones, whose dad is the offensive coordinator and uncle is the head coach. “This has been my life. It’s phenomenal and I’ve been dreaming about this since I was a kid. It’s been a long, long time coming.”

It’s the same sentiment most of the Thatcher players have and feel about playing for the Eagles.

“Every game, every year it is the same thing: hit hard, play hard and we win,” running back Tufden Taylor said.

The first half scores all came on rushes by Ethan Hayes, Taylor, Jax Shupe and Kase Palmer.

“Thatcher means brotherhood,” Shupe said. “I used to watch all the guys come through the program and I looked up to them. I wanted to be tough like them and run hard.”

The defense did the rest behind Grady Lehman, Brig Romney, Vincent Benjarano, Hayes and Jones.

“Our D-line really held their own against a much bigger opponent,” coach Jones said. “We just shut them down. It’s a pretty potent offense over there. Put some respect on our boys.”

ALA-Ironwood, which didn’t have a scrimmage last week because of lightning, showed glimpses of growth in Myron Blueford's second season leading the program.

“We had three turnovers in the first half on defense and played really well in the second half,” Blueford said. “We have to find an identity on offense. We thought we had certain things we’d be able to do on offense but we need to find an identity there.”

Caiden “Pork Chop” Golden ran the ball hard, Bryce Villeroel was disruptive up front while Anthony Suarez returned a fumble and Rylon Bradford had an interception.

One coaching truism is the idea that a team usually make its biggest strides of the year between game one and game two.

The Warriors will do their best to make it happen between now and then as they prepare for a game at Pusch Ridge next week.

“We have to get tougher, but everything we did wrong is within our control so we have to get better in those areas,” Blueford said. “I told the boys all of our goals are still there. This is one game, we’ll learn from it and get better from there.”

As for Thatcher, who plays Apache Junction next week, all seems to be in place for another run toward the top of the 3A rankings.

“There was a lot of questions about this year, and there was talk about this being a rebuilding year,” Josh Jones said. “We don’t rebuild. We refresh and get back to rolling.”

Send comments and story ideas to jskoda@azpreps365.com. Follow Skoda on X and Instagram @AzPreps365Skoda for additional stories, insights, opinions, news and in-game updates.