Celebrating the top performers and the most impactful athletes on and off the field from the Flagstaff-Coconino rivalry through the past decade, the 10th annual FlagCoco Awards were held at Coconino High School on May 19.
Originally organized by Russell Woods, creator of , at the conclusion of the 2015-16 academic year, the initial four awards joined Woods' New Cromer Awards, the John Ply Memorial Award and Bill Epperson Award, which were given out following the annual football rivalry game between the Coconino Panthers and Flagstaff Eagles. Last year, Woods added the FlagCoco Impact Award, which is given to athletes who made a defining impact on their team, school and community.
For the 2024-25 academic year, Coconino High School's Colton Buckingham and Wylan Smith were honored with the school's Spirit Awards, and Kaitlyn Tso was named as Coconino's Impact Award. Gavin Franklin and Teagan Martin were awarded Flagstaff High School's Spirit Awards, while Stephen Dick was named Flagstaff's Impact Award winner. The six joined Flagstaff's Jadon Wetzel, the John Ply Memorial Award winner, and Coconino's聽Fernando Ramirez, the Bill Epperson Award winner, as the honorees.
Coconino awardees
Buckingham, the Grand Canyon Region Offensive Player of the Year this past fall, finished his senior season with 1,842 passing yards and 18 touchdowns through the air while adding 310 yards and eight touchdowns on the ground. Also named as a 4A Conference honorable mention in the fall, Buckingham went on to place ninth in javelin the Division III track and field championships with a throw of 146 feet, 4 inches.
For the girls, Smith capped off her track and field career for the Panthers with a silver medal in the D-III 300-meter hurdles, running a 47.39, while also finishing seventh in the 100m hurdles with a 16.31. On the field, Smith finished seventh in the javelin with a throw of 108 feet, 10 inches.
Smith also placed 30th in the 2021 D-III cross country state meet as Coconino earned a team title, earned All-Grand Canyon Region First Team honors as a junior and senior, and helped Coconino reach the 4A Conference semifinals in its first year of flag football while earning Mountain Sky Region Player of the Year and 4A Conference Player of the Year honors.
Helping Coconino win the first softball championship in city history, as well as four Grand Canyon Region titles, Tso surpassed 1,000 career strikeouts in the circle for the Panthers. Tso won Grand Canyon Region Player of the Year three times, in addition to a Region Defensive Player of the Year award as a freshman, and three All-4A Conference recognitions through the first three years of her career while waiting for a fourth to be announced by the AIA.
During his senior season, Ramirez finished the year with 1,064 rushing yards during the regular season with 17 rushing touchdowns. He broke the 100-yard mark in five of his 10 regular-season games and rushed for 138 yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries against the Eagles.
Flagstaff awardees
Earning All-Grand Canyon Region Second Team honors for his work along the Eagles' defensive line during his senior year, Franklin was a force in wrestling during his junior and senior years. As a junior, Franklin finished sixth at the D-II state championships in the 285-pound weight class with three consecutive victories in the consolation bracket with two of his losses coming to the fourth-place finisher. As a senior, Franklin finished as the runner-up at the Section Two tournament and added a pair of victories at the state championship meet.
The only player in the city ever to win two basketball championships, Martin capped off her Eagles career with a 44-30 victory against Eastmark in the 4A Conference title game. Named All-Grand Canyon Region First Team and All-4A Conference Second Team as a senior in basketball, Martin earned recognition in all three of her sports this academic year. A Second Team All-4A Conference selection in addition to First Team All-Mountain Sky Region, Martin also medaled in high jump for the third consecutive season.
Diagnosed with a brain tumor ahead of his junior season, Dick utilized his nomination to Make-A-Wish Arizona in order to receive 55 new Riddell helmets for the Flagstaff football team. After missing his entire junior season due to the diagnoses, Dick appeared in his first games since 2022 this past fall and made a tackle while playing linebacker during Flagstaff's Homecoming game.
Rushing for 1,403 yards and 15 touchdowns as a senior, Wetzel earned himself All-4A Conference First Team honors. In this past fall's rivalry game against Coconino, Wetzel rushed for 102 yards and one touchdown while adding seven catches for 61 yards and another score.聽