By admin 
SCOTTSDALE, AZ (AZFamily) — A big rivalry game in the East Valley won’t be played this year.
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The Scottsdale Unified School District sent a letter to families saying the upcoming varsity football game between Chaparral High School and Saguaro High School is canceled. Chaparral was set to host Saguaro this Friday.
District officials said Saguaro has too many injured football players to compete and that it wouldn’t be safe for the team to play.
“The health and safety of our student athletes must remain our highest priority. Football is a physically demanding sport, and asking students to compete when roster numbers and position availability are significantly limited could place those student athletes at an increased risk of injury. After reviewing the circumstances, we determined that moving forward with the game would not be in the best interest of our students,” the letter said.
Earlier this month, Saguaro said it could not field a freshman or junior varsity team this year because it only had 35 players total. The varsity team lost to Desert Mountain 62-0 last week.
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The district is reportedly looking for a new opponent for Chaparral, which beat West Point 61-0 in Week 1.
“The Battle for Scottsdale” has been one of the best Arizona high school football rivalries since the 1970s. Both schools regularly competed for state championships in the 2000s.
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