Timothy Seale is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover ALA-Mesa North High School for AZPreps365.com

MESA — It’s football game day at ALA-Mesa North, and home-team parking signs lead the way as the Mavericks’ players start arriving. At the end of the night, the scoreboard will determine who wins the game against Heritage Academy Maricopa, but the people who fill the stands each week tell a different story. 

For a school founded in 2024, creating its traditions and culture have been a way the Mavericks hope to connect with the community that surrounds it. 

Head football coach and athletic director Joe Germaine said this new, exciting opportunity has not been met without challenges.

“These kids that come into these athletic programs here in general don’t have 10 years of history to kind of know how it’s done,” Germaine said. “We’re doing it for the first time.”

Germaine said he wants athletics to be a trendsetter in making students feel a sense of belonging, and that wins aren’t everything — it's who you are after the whistle is blown. 

“You're going to be around people that really care about you, that love you, that you're more than an athlete here,” Germaine said. “You’re a person first, and we want to develop that.” 

The belonging of it all starts with the small size of the school. Unlike Mountain View and Red Mountain, two other Mesa schools that house roughly 3,500 students, ALA-Mesa North uses its 700-student campus to its advantage within the community. 

Senior quarterback Crew Germaine, the coach’s son, said the atmosphere is already being felt in the stands on Friday nights. 

“Our fans, our culture at the school is just probably the best,” the quarterback said. “We rally around football.” 

While the camaraderie around football is drawing hundreds of fans each week, ALA-Mesa North volleyball is still trying to make a name for itself. 

Senior libero and captain Ava Kahlbaugh said one of her goals for the team is to build a competitive culture that supports one another.  

“We have a lot of freshmen on the team,” Kahlbaugh said. “So even though we’re all different ages, we work together really well and want to push each other.” 

ALA-Mesa North’s effort to build a culture around its athletics is something Show Low athletic director Scott Hoffmeyer knows about in rural Arizona.

Hoffmeyer leads one of the most established athletics programs in the 3A Conference. He said the community support is tighter at smaller schools like Show Low and ALA-Mesa North. 

“The 3A schools generally have a much better connection to their community than the big 6A schools,” Hoffmeyer said. 

Show Low sits just outside Pinetop in the White Mountains. The small community is home to only 12,600 people, so when a game is on the schedule, it's an event for the whole town.

“Community members help with game operations, including the chain crew, security, and ticketing,” Hoffmeyer said. “Local organizations and businesses also contribute.” 

Schools like ALA-Mesa North and Show Low are in different places in their journey. The Mavericks’ football coach said he hopes to learn a couple of things from the Cougars — to continue developing the culture and traditions at ALA-Mesa North so athletes feel honored to represent the school. 

“We want our athletes to take pride in being Mavericks and know they’re helping build something special here,” Germaine said. “Hopefully, the players who come after them can take what we’ve started and make it even better.”