This year’s Super Bowl does not have a whole lot of Arizona angles to it.
The Eagles quarterback – Nick Foles – played at Arizona, but isn’t from here. The Eagles special teams coordinator Dave Fipp was a walk-on for the Wildcats.
New England defensive tackle Allan Branch started his career with the Cardinals, and still has a home in Gilbert while linebacker Marquis Flowers played his high school career at Millennium before playing at UofA.
And of course Pats’ tight end Rob Gronkowski played for the Wildcats as well.
The closest Mesa has to a connection to the Super Bowl comes via marriage as Dobson graduate and U.S. Women’s Soccer player Julie Johnston-Ertz is the wife of Eagles tight end Zach Ertz.
The USWNT had a game in San Diego at the same time the Eagles were playing and didn’t find out the Eagles were headed to Minnesota for Super Bowl LII until her game was over.
As soon as the whistle blew here in San Diego, we had some good news for @julieertz…??@ZERTZ_86 & the @Eagles are heading to the @SuperBowl! pic.twitter.com/dI5MvG53VR
— U.S. Soccer WNT (@ussoccer_wnt) January 22, 2018
– Jason P. Skoda is a senior writer for MyNewsMesa.com. Send Mesa-based story ideas to jskoda@mynewsmesa.com.
