PRESCOTT VALLEY — When Bradshaw Mountain coach Bob Young and Mingus coach Dave Moncibaez face each other on the sidelines each fall, the competitive atmosphere is raised to another level.

And not for the reasons one would think.

There is no bad blood, bad losses, someone running up a score on the other, or otherwise. The two schools aren’t even heated rivals. But, because Mingus and Bradshaw Mountain play in the same 4A Grand Canyon region together, it has become an event every fall.

Of course, the other commonality between the two schools is their coaching staffs, starting with Moncibaez, who played for Young in the 1990s at Mingus.

“Everyone on that coaching staff [for Mingus] played for me, and most of those kids dads or moms I had in class,” Young said with a big smile after Bradshaw Mountain beat Mingus 34-7 on Friday, Oct. 6.

Young added the relationship between himself and Moncibaez is always “cordial.”

“He knows we root for them every game accept when we play them. I would like to think they do the same thing,” Young said, once again with a big smile.

“They’ve been down, but they’ve been working hard to get it back. They had won four in a row and I’m proud of them for that. They must continue to work hard and get better, just like we do,” Young said.

The unique relationship began when Moncibaez, a 1997 graduate of Mingus Union High School, played football for Young, who was hired to take over the program in 1995.

Moncibaez became one of the many building blocks Young used to establish a winning tradition, something the Marauders program and a Cottonwood community yearned for.

Young gave them just that, leading Mingus to a state title in 1997 and two state-runner ups after that, not to mention numerous region championships during his tenure.

Young left Mingus in 2017 only to return to the sidelines in 2019 to coach Sedona. After one season, he resigned after the school district decided to shutter the program. He resurfaced in 2020 at Bradshaw Mountain to replace Chuck Moller, who passed away in May that same year.

The Bears have won two straight 4A Grand Canyon region titles, and this season, Young eclipsed the 200 career wins mark.

“Hats off to coach Young on his 201st win. We were happy that we weren’t his 200th, based off the history there,” Moncibaez said with a laugh. “So hats off to him, he had his guys prepared.”

Win No. 200 came against Apache Junction in a 41-28 victory Sept. 22 for the Bears, which have posted a 22-14 record since Young joined the staff.

Moncibaez, who was hired at Mingus after Doug Provenzano suddenly resigned just three weeks before the 2021 season was set to kick off, is re-building a Marauders program he once helped build as a player nearly 30 years ago.

Moncibaez is 11-16 since taking over the Mingus program, struggling in his first year by going 2-8 overall. But since then, the Marauders are 9-8, including a four-game winning streak that was just snapped by none other than Young and the Bears last week.

“We have a good relationship. He’ll do anything to help out his old players. At the very end of the game, he told me to let him know if we need anything. He holds that true to his heart, he would do anything to help us be successful with what we’re trying to do, and trying to establish,” said Moncibaez, who is 0-3 so far against his mentor.

“We’re trying to follow in his footsteps, doing the best we can with what we have and the numbers we have,” Moncibaez said, adding later, “He’s a respectful coach and it’s nice to coach against him now, not only playing for him, but coaching against him. It’s a lot of fun.”

Brian M. Bergner Jr. has covered professional, collegiate and high school sports for more than 20 years. Follow him on Twitter @AzPreps365Brian. Have a story idea? Email Brian at bbergner@azpreps365.com.