Pinnacle High School has created a football dynasty that dates back to when the school opened in 2000. Head coach Dana Zupke implemented a successful program since 2003.

Pinnacle consistently has one of the toughest schedules in all of 6A. Every year, the Pioneers play against powerhouses Hamilton and Chandler, yet they dominate and stand out from all the other state contenders.

The Pioneers have made the playoffs every year since 2007 and expect nothing less than that.

"It's been amazing to see how far we have gotten and how we have been able to develop men of character," said Zupke.

The team has yet to win a state title but remains ranked in the nation. The team travels every year to different states in order to play the best competition.

The Pioneers traveled to Washington to play Eastside Catholic this season, the fourth-best team in the state of Washington. This season, the team finished as the second-best team in the 6A division and made it to the opening round of the playoffs.

The main reason that this team was put on the map is thanks to its rich history of quarterbacks. The Pioneers have been developing Division one-caliber quarterbacks year in and year out.

Notable alumni quarterbacks include Zach Lewerke, starting quarterback for Michigan State University, and JD Johnson, who was a four-star commit to the University of Michigan until a heart condition made him retire from the game this past season.

Another alumnus, Spencer Rattler, plays quarterback for the Oklahoma Sooners and was ranked as the best quarterback in the nation in 2016. His success on the field inspired a short-film series about the team on Netflix.

The series was part of a network show called "QB1: Beyond the Lights" that showcased his innate ability as the team was stacked with college football commits. The Netflix series contained 10 episodes that even covered the Pioneer's playoff game that year.

Rattler didn't play in every game in 2016. He missed time due to injury and ended the season ineligible for violating school policy. However, the entire team got coverage, which helped other players show off their talent under the spotlight.

Several players wound up getting recruited to college football programs because of the publicity that the program was getting. After the conclusion of the show, the team got two games televised on ESPN.

Rattler was a great role model for the rest of the players to look up to as the team captain always led by example and showed good sportsmanship, according to Johnson.

"What makes us unique is the community and the culture that we have built around this team to build better men for when they go out into the real world," said Zupke.

Zupke's coaching philosophy is centered around character-building and teaching life lessons to be a leader of society. The philosophy and talent have led to success in the 6A division winning their league every year since 2010.

Media coverage meant every Friday night football game became a holiday for the students and families in the North Scottsdale area.

The program has always been well-funded because the school is located in an affluent neighborhood of Scottsdale. The community and the parents donate a lot of money to the football program and school. Many parents can support the kids financially and are involved in the booster program.

The great publicity led to extra money in the program. Football players are starting to understand that playing for the Pioneers will help you make it to the next level because of their rich history and the coverage.

"The players learned how to get used to media relations and being under the spotlight," said Zupke.

Even now, every Friday night at Pinnacle, MaxPreps is there, as well as other news outlets either filming the game or having photographers on the sideline. Their name and brand are constantly in the public eye.

Players from all over the valley are flocking to Pinnacle, knowing they will get good coaching and opportunity for much growth.

Transfers coming in at a constant rate has led to more competition for starting positions.

The Pioneers have a big platform now and players are taking advantage of that. There have been negatives to the media coverage and publicity of the football program.

Some players were jealous of Rattler and tried to gain attention by taking the spotlight away from each other. This led to arguments and scuffles at practice between the players at times.

Players such as Johnson and Libman believe that these distractions were the reason that they came up just short in the state playoffs yet again in 2016. The stacked Pioneers squad lost in the opening round to Brophy Prep.

Some players couldn't handle the pressure of playing in front of such a big audience as they would try too hard to execute or blame one another after something went wrong, according to Zupke.

However, Zupke believes the team has better internal communication now than it did in 2016 because the players are getting comfortable with the media and are now trained on how to work with reporters.

The Pioneers coaching staff believes that this team has the potential to hang a banner in the rafters. That is the ultimate goal for the squad as they believe it is the final step to claim the first overall ranking in the state of Arizona.

Pinnacle is currently in the top five after the end of 2019-20 season and has shown success against the teams ahead of them, such as the Saguaro Sabercats. Zupke believes a state title would bring the Pioneers into the conversation as the best football program in Arizona.