The History of Mountain Range Football

By Eric D. and Austin R.

Mountain Range Football has created a historic past for themselves in its short time built as a school, with the help from Joe Bravo, the first head coach for the Mustangs and then passing the torch all the way to current head coach Todd Riccio,Mustang Football history have been filled with rough seasons with a mix of good seasons for them.

Mountain Range Football dates back to the 2006-2007 season when the school first opened and debuted the new Mountain Range Mustang football team,led by head coach Bravo. Bravo was the first football coach for Mountain Range Football for the school when it first opened. He was head coach for 3 years and then spent one year as a defensive coordinator to help the team transition to a new head coach. Coach Bravo still has been keeping up with the Mustangs in their recent years,even attending a practice early in the season

Bravo had faced much adversity in his time as head coach. One of them was the change in commitment to the team from the players through the years. He explains “ Beginning a new program, all the individuals involved were all in, totally committed. Over time, the commitment faded when individuals saw the amount of work and effort it would take to achieve the goals we had set out for ourselves.” 

 Riccio has been head coach for the Mustangs for 9 years and counting. Riccio speaks on his contribution and how the team has grown since he has taken over as head coach. “ It has gotten better and kids have come together more, with many kids wanting to be a part of it, whether they're really into football or just wanting to be a part of something they feel comfortable doing”.

Riccio explains the seniors and how they have really stepped up. “The senior class has been a pretty good senior class, good leaders, pushing kids to get better, and give everything they have, and kids have bought in more, especially with the offseason weights program they are seeing benefits of and that's where it all starts in high school sports”.

In Mountain Ranges time as a school they have had a tough timeline. According to the school record on Maxpreps, their best season came from the 2013-2014 Football Team. That year they finished the season with a 9-2 record(5-0 in league) and ended up losing in the second round of the 5A State Playoffs. From The historic 2013 Mustang Football team the team hasn't been able to achieve over a 500% win percentage. That has all changed now with the 2025-2026 team bringing the Mustangs their first winning season above a 500% win percentage in over a decade.  

Jon Marquez has been coaching and teaching at Mountain Range High School since the school opened in 2006. Marquez has seen many changes in the football program in his years coach at Mountain Range and one of the biggest changes that stood out to him was how the community had changed around the school after Covid ”Prior to Covid, it was a little big more of a community school. But i think covid changes the old schools."

The Mustangs this year have seemed to change the tide around for the future Riccio and Marquez believed. With Riccio explaining his hopes for the future even when he is done coaching at Mountain Range. “I want to keep creating the best young men and women that we can that come through the program and prepare them for those next phases and challenges in life”. Marquez believed in this year's team having more than one person that led by example. 

Many seniors of the 2026 class reflected on the time with their team and all of them agreed with the cultural change that happened within the 4 years. They all agreed on how the past 4 years there was a change in leadership, not to just one person but it became a spread out characteristic that multiple people on the team carry and pass on to the younger generations to play at Mountain Range. 

With the 2025-2026 Mustangs finishing their season with a 6-4 record,The Mustangs bring home their first winning season in over a decade.