SCOTTSDALE -- For the Saguaro Sabercats, Monday practices are lax. Players are in shorts and shoulder pads, go through team and conditioning drills throughout their two-hour timeslot, all while listening to Michael Jackson through the loudspeakers.

This has been their regimen since Jason Mohns was hired as the head coach in 2012, and it has been successful over the last five years.

Don’t let the practice setting fool you, as fewer teams come more prepared and intense as the Sabercats do on Friday nights.

This Division IV team has three-peated twice from 2006-08, and again from 2013-2016, accumulating 10 total state titles.

Of their 10 rings, nine have come in the past 11 seasons.

Much of the coaching staff has been at Saguaro at least 10 seasons, and for a program that has seen hundreds of players come and go, the coaches stay for the long run.

“A big part of our success is the consistency in the coaching staff,” linebackers coach Frank Ruben said.

Ruben, in his 15th season at Saguaro, has been with the program longest out of any other coach.

When Ruben first arrived, the program was a shell of what it has become, earning only one state title in 1995.

“I was here when we had a transition,” Ruben said. “I was a part of that ground-floor start of a new staff with a team that hadn’t really bought into what we were doing.”

In 2003, the Sabercats underachieved in a season that Ruben thought they should have been contending for a title, and ended in missing the playoffs.

 “A team that should have gone 8-2 that year, that ended up going 4-6 because of the attitude,” Ruben said.

The Sabercats success started in the mid-2000s under then head coach John Sanders, who led them to five state titles from 2006-2011, a span which included future NFL running back D.J. Foster.

Sanders was fired following the 2011-12 championship season, and although the school never gave a reason, he received major criticism for sitting his starters in the season finale matchup against the crosstown rival Chaparral Firebirds.

In what was a highly anticipated game with two powerhouse teams, the game was televised regionally by Fox Sports and was considered to be the best matchup of the season in all of Arizona. With the playoffs coming the next week and the Firebirds in a different division, the game was meaningless to the Sabercats other than bragging rights in Scottsdale.

So, Sanders sat his stars.

The Sabercats would lose to the Firebirds 65-0, but would finish the season with their second straight state title, and eclipsing to six in their program’s history.

Following Sander’s dismissal, Jason Mohns was then hired as their new head coach, a young offensive coordinator who worked under Sanders during his final season.

“He was grooming me to be the next head coach, and I think it happened sooner than I think both of us imagined,” Mohns said, according to the East Valley Tribune.

Mohns has been a player favorite since he came to Saguaro, and the players at the time even signed a petition in favor of his hiring. The document was said to have 70 signatures, according to the East Valley Tribune.

During this time, while Mohns was progressing in his tenure at Saguaro, defensive coordinator Jim Camarillo was advancing in his coaching career for the Sabercats on the other side of the ball.

Camarillo has been at Saguaro for 13 seasons, and originally started on the offensive side, working for the wide receivers under then head coach Mike Reardon.

 “When Coach Sanders was the head coach he moved me to the defensive side of the ball, and I was a secondary coach,” Camarillo said. “When Sanders left, Coach Mohns became the head coach and I was named the defensive coordinator.”

Camarillo has worked with three head coaches throughout his time at Saguaro, but gave Mohns credit for his coaching style.

“Coach Mohns does a really good job of allowing his coaches to coach,” Camarillo said. “We have an open-door policy to say what we want.”

Football runs in the Mohns family. His late father, Greg Mohns, coached with football legends Frank Kush during his tenure at Arizona State and Bum Phillips during his career at Oklahoma State.

Contrary to his dad, Jason is a prime example of a new style coach who talks to his players with compassion, but knows when to fire them up and get in their ear.

Five seasons have passed since Mohns was hired, and even though his first season finished with an average 8-4 record, he has been able to capture four straight championship since.

 “Just talent alone is not going to get it done,” Mohns said. I think that combination of talent and a blue-collar work ethic and a tough mentality has been the key for our success.”

The Sabercats’ success has gathered the attention of the entire state, and even the Arizona Cardinals.

The Cardinals invited Mohns, Ruben, and eight Saguaro players to visit the facilities and gifted tickets to the Monday Night Football game between the Cardinals and the Dallas Cowboys.

“It was a cool deal,” Mohns said, “Our kids got to talk to a bunch of the players, and that was a really cool experience.”

Mohns has been involved with the Cardinals for many years, as he has worked for USA Football as a master trainer for a few of the Heads Up Football coaching clinics, which is hosted at the Cardinals’ facilities.

“I’ve built a good relationship,” Mohns said. “I think when they were looking for a team, we have a relationship, and they know I have a strong program. We were definitely honored with it.”

Looking to be the first Division IV team to win five straight championships in AIA history, it seems as if the coaches have developed a modern formula for success.