Archive for November, 2009

    By the time the high school football season in Arizona gets down to Week 11, much has been decided... but there are always a few question marks about who makes the playoffs, how they are seeded, and a few final games that will decide region champions.
    Perhaps the most anticipated is the match-up that puts hi-octane Mountain Pointe HS, ranked third in 5A-I, against explosive Marcos de Niza HS, No. 2 in 5A-II.  There should be lots of scoring; both teams didn't go undefeated this year without putting points on the board.  This will be the final game of the season for both members of the East Valley Region.
    Mountain Pointe, which went 2-8 last season, brings an offense to the party this year that is averaging over 300 yards per game, powered by a pair of senior running backs that have each eclipsed 1,000 yards this season.  Davon Jones, who has 25 TDs to his credit, rushed for four last week against Perry HS and had another receiving; he finished with 123 yards on eight carries.  De'Andre Currie, who has racked up 1,301 yards this season, had 102 yards against Perry and scored a touchdown.
    The Padres will try to contain Jones and Currie with a defense that has been very stingy this year, giving up just over 100 yards a game.  They shut out their last two region opponents, beating Perry HS, 42-0, and Skyline HS, 35-0. On offense, they count on the strong arm of QB Zach Schira, who has thrown for 18 TDs.  Schira will be throwing to his 6'3" senior wide receiver Justin Rodriquez, who has been the target of 35 successful passes, and wideout Tevin Newell, who pulled in two Schira passes for scores last week.
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    It was business as usual for Sunnyslope HS and Xavier Prep, as both teams claimed team titles in the 5A and 4A state badminton finals.
    Xavier Prep, the No. 1 ranked team in 5A going into the tournament, defeated Millenium HS in the semis and then went on to win the state championship by beating Mountain Pointe HS.  Sunnyslope, which hadn't lost a match all season in 4A, suffered its first loss in the semis to Apollo HS when it's top player, Jasmine Fuller was beaten by Lisa Stackus, No. 1 on the Apollo squad.  The Vikings went on to win, 5-1, and then claimed the championship by defeating Greeway HS for only the second state title in the program's history; the last was in1993.  
    Greenway HS, the No. 2 seed, had to beat No. 3 seed Independence HS to get to the finals.  They clinced the spot in the finals when Aiessa Allard and Ursula Gomez defeated Janea Chavez and Tina Tellez in the final doubles match, 15-10, 15-6.  Allard and teammate Courtney Heeley also won in the finals, but Sunnyslope wrapped up the win when the Vikings' top doubles team of Jasmine Fuller and Renata Arronte took just two games to win their match.
    In the 5A division, it was a doubles win by Courtney Dupuis and Kendra Hopkins over Steph Vermillion and Alex Jenssen that was the pivotal win for Xavier in the semis.  In the finals, it was Julia Friedman and Weslie Norris who teamed up for Xavier in a doubles match against Mountain Pointe's Danielle Steward and Nadya Zolotova that sealed the win wtih a 15-3, 15-6 victory.   
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    As the high school football season begins winding down toward the playoffs, it's usually the time when teams that struggled early, or stubbed their toe along the way, are able to finally say 'We believed - even when others didn't'.  Here are some good examples from Week 9 of Arizona high school competition:
    Fountain Hills HS (8-2) wins over undefeated (9-0) Empire HS(Tucson) 24-23.  Fountain Hills lost its first two games of the season and since then has had to prove it belonged with the better teams in 3A.  The win over Empire earned the Falcons the South Region championship and guaranteed a No. 1 seed in the playoffs, and the overtime victory against a legitimate, ranked opponent added an exclamation mark!
   Mito Mendivil's 32-yard field goal for Empire sent the game into overtime, but Fountain Hills came right back on the first series in overtime to score on Jacob Gouge's 10-yard scamper and a point-after kick by Jeremy Wakefield.  But the Ravens answered with their own touchdown by Cody Woody; a two-point conversion for the win failed. Fountain Hills QB Conner Brinton had 165 total yards and gave his team the lead just before half time with a 5-yard run.  Woody rushed 20 times for 74 total yards that included an 80-yard kickoff return.
    Liberty HS upsets No. 5 Buckeye HS, 24-14.  By beating Buckeye (7-2) and remaining undefeated, Liberty (9-0) put aside for good the naysayers who have questioned whether the school, in just its second year of varsity and first in region play, is actually that good. Its next game, against Desert Edge HS, will give it a chance to cap it all off with a region crown.
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    There wasn't much drama at this year's 4A swimming and diving championships, as Catalina Foothills HS (Tucson) put quite a bit of distance between them and others in the 4A-I competition, and Arcadia HS did likewise in 4A-II.  But there was some great swimming throughout, as numerous records were broken.
    The Catalina Foothills boys team did what was expected by winning its 10th consecutive championship, sweeping up gold medals in every swimming event except the 50 freestyle, which was won by Ryan Gray from Sabino HS in 21.21 seconds.  Barrett Meisfeld from Catalina Foothills set a 4A meet record in the butterfly with 48.80 and Sabino's girls 200 medley relay team posted a 4A-I record time of 1:46.56 (Sarah Denninghoff, LeighAnne Oliver, Caitlin Wright and Courtney Dangremond).
    Catalina's T.J. Lundstrom came close to a meet record, winning the boys 100 breaststroke in 57.73; the record is 57.26. 
    Catalina's girls won their 9th championship in the last 10 years (Chaparral HS won last year), scoring 450 points to outdistance Canyon del Oro HS, which finished in second with 284 points.  The boys tallied 485 points, well ahead of second-place Sunnyslope with 243.
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