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Arizona Sports (AZCentral)
Archive for December, 2009
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Thunder rolls… and wins Nike Tournament bracket
Arizona high schools got off to a slow start but did well on the final day of the Nike Tournament of Champions, held again this year in Chandler. But it was Desert Vista HS that wrapped up the only championship as the four-day showcase of girls basketball wrapped up yesterday.
The Thunder (team photo) won its bracket of the prestigious tourney with a 65-55 victory over Campolindo HS of California, capping an undefeated run through the event, which came to the Valley in 2001. The event draws many of the top teams from all over the country and has showcased 10 of the past 12 USA Today national champions.
Austen Harris, a senior guard for Desert Vista, had a game-high 27 points in the championship game and was also named Most Valuable Player in the Blue Bracket.
There were four games that matched up Valley teams on the final day of the tournament. Seton Catholic HS deafeated McClintock HS, 61-30; Gilbert HS downed Pinnacle HS, 65-61; Red Mountain HS won over Basha HS, 39-36; and it was Williams Field HS over Horizon HS, 57-52.
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One final look at the 2009 football season… the ‘Big 25′
After the various first-team and second-team football selections have been made, it's time for the Arizona Football Coaches Association to select its "Big 25" team. And this year, a couple of schools picked up the lion's share of selections. -
Horizon basketball tourney turns into high-scoring thriller
Hayden Johnson averaged 21 points for Scottsdale Christian Academy during the Horizon Invitational Basketball Tournament, which earned him the Most Valuable Player award for the tourney. But it was SCA’s Park Thomas who got center stage in the tournament’s finale. Johnson scored 25 and pulled down 13 rebounds in the championship game against Boulder Creek HS, [...] -
Prestigious Nike tourney includes local HS teams
It's a rocky road again this year for Arizona high school girls basketball teams competing in the huge Nike Tournament of Champions, which began
last Friday and runs through Wednesday at various Chandler-area gyms. The tournament is one of the more prestigious national events, having showcased 10 of the past 12 USA Today national champions; St. Mary's of Stockton, Calif., is currently ranked No. 1 and is entered in the TOC.
This year, 16 Arizona squads are competing in a field of 84 teams that include four of USA Today's top five nationally-ranked teams. Just four survived dropping into the losers' bracket after the first round Friday.
Shadow Mountain HS defeated St. Anthony of California, 55-49; Horizon HS beat St. Monica of California by 10, 42-32; and Chandler HS squeeked by Lynwood HS of California, 74-73. Mountain View HS enjoyed the largest margin of victory with a 68-51 win over Mercer Island of Washington.
All four teams lost in the second round on Saturday. But it was a better day for some of those suffering first-round losses, as Gilbert HS, Basha HS, Pinnacle HS, Boulder Creek HS, Red Moutain HS, and Hamilton HS enjoyed wins.
Sunday is a day off, with play resuming Monday morning. For the first time, there will be a couple of match-ups of local teams as Shadow Mountain HS and Mountain View HS square off in a 12:30 game at Basha HS, followed later in the day by a game between Boulder Creek HS and Red Mountain HS at Willis Junior High in Chandler, with tip-off at 3:30.
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Exciting finish marks first Larry Faust Wrestling Invite
Although it was the final match of the day that decided the team winner at the Larry Faust Wrestling Invitational, it was the match preceding the finale that was perhaps the best of the tournament.
Jake Smith from Basha HS held on for a double-overtime victory over Kalu Ukaku in the 215 lb. event to set the stage for the final match between William Poehle of Chandler HS and Gahrrett Kidd of Red Mountain HS. Since Chandler was just a slim point-and-a-half ahead of Red Moutain as the 285 lb. competition began, that match would decide the tournament champion.
Poehle won 13-9 and Chandler claimed the victory, a particularly sweet win since they came close last year, when the tournament was called the McClintock Invitational, but finished in third place. The tournament was renamed in honor of the long-time wrestling coach at McClintock who passed away earlier this year.
Chandler won with 195 points, followed by Red Mountain (188.5), Sandra Day O'Connor HS (179), Basha HS (162.5), and Mountain Pointe HS (143).
Other individual winners: Vidal Max Mejia, Chandler HS (112 lb.); Hector Calderon, Maryvale HS (125); Shane McGough, Desert Mountain HS (130); and Reyes Cortez, Maryvale HS (140). McGough was named the meet's Outstanding Wrestler in the 103-140 lb. division and Heath Boers of Williams Field HS, wrestling in the 160 lb. weight class, was Outstanding Wrestler in for 145-and-heavier.
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Arizona losing some great runners to out-state colleges
Jessica Tonn, the Arizona Republic selection as Girls Runner of the
Year, finished out an outstanding high school career in which she ran undefeated her final two years, finishing in 13th place at the prestigious Foot Locker Cross Country Championships in San Diego, CA.
The Xavier Prep phenom (photo right), a Wendy's High School Heisman national finalist, placed fifth in the regionals with a personal-best time of 18:07 - and then lowered that mark even further with a 17:57 in the championships.
On the boys side, Brian Shrader from Sinagua HS in Flagstaff, The Republic' Boys Runner of the Year, logged a fifth place finish in a field of 40 runners, improving over his 11th place finish last year. And Steve Magnuson from Ironwood Ridge in Tucson was not far behind, finishing in 12th place.
Shrader finished in 15:31 and Magnuson in 15:38; both were part of the West Team that won the team title, defeating teams from the Southern, Midwestern, and Northeastern regions.
Shrader is also ranked No. 5 in the Milesplit national Top 25, one of two local runners so honored. Sherod Hardt from Queen Creek HS is ranked No. 9.
Tonn will be running for Stanford University next year, while Shrader heads for University of Oregon and Magnuson will compete for North Carolina.
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Local players reap PAC-10 football honors at ASU
Kyle Williams, a senior on the Arizona State football team and
graduate of Chaparral High School, is among a handful of Sun Devils selected for All Pac-10 season-end honors.
Williams (photo right), a 5'10" wide receiver, was named First Team All-Pac-10. An explosive receiver and special teams return threat, Williams had a huge year in 2009; his reception and receiving yards this year were more than what he gained in his first three years combined! He made a career-high 57 receptions for 815 yards and eight touchdowns, and had four games with over l00 yards receiving.
At Chaparral HS, he was the Arizona Player of the Year, selected by the Arizona Republic. He racked up 2,294 all-purpose yards as a running back in his senior year in 2005 and was ranked nationally by various rating services.
Chris McGaha, a senior wide receiver from Moon Valley HS, and Mike Nixon, a senior linebacker who played at Sunnyslope HS, were named to the Second Team. Senior defensive end Dexter Davis from Thunderbird HS was named to the Third Team, as was Williams' teammate at Chaparral HS, junior punter Trevor Hankins.
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Tough opponent? Don't get beat before you begin play
Many players sometimes get anxious when they play against a tough opponent. They get nervous over who they are playing and they get so worked up that they lose focus on their game. In the end, they make mistakes and end up beating themselves up if they do not win. Here is a list of techniques that an athlete [...] -
No surprise – Hamilton is 5A-I state champion
It's an old axiom that "offense fills the seats, but defense wins championships." The Hamilton High School Huskies managed to take care of both ends of the equation in winning the 5A-I Arizona football championship. -
Earlier loss to Hamilton may be key to Mesa upset
Hamilton High School is heavily favored to win tonight's 5A-I championship football game, by as many as three touchdowns according to some, and one of the obvious reasons has to do with the fact that the Huskies have already beaten Mesa HS, 43-22, in early November.
However, that may actually be one of the reasons the Jackrabbits have a shot at upsetting Hamilton's plans for a second consecutive state title.
Mesa was beaten earlier in the season by region powerhouse, Brophy Prep - and then came back to turn the tables on the Broncos in the state quarterfinals, holding the Broncos to just 3 points. The question is, can the Jackrabbits build a game plan, based on what they learned in the first loss, to contain Hamilton's two 1,000-yard running backs, Zach Bauman and Michael Allen?
But Hamilton will make its own adjustments, something the Huskies have had to do already this season. They beat Chandler HS earlier in the season, 24-20, and then came back in the semi-finals to make it 2-for-2 with a 49-21 win over the Wolves, to earn the title shot again.
Tonight's game will be like a chess match, as each team tries to make the right moves. Hamilton brings in the offensive firepower that has piled up 615 points this season, while Mesa tries to counter with a stiff defense that has held opponents to a touchdown or less in seven games.
Hamilton will likely get to check mate first, but Mesa is a team playing against the odds, with nothing to lose and everything to gain. And those are always the most dangerous kinds of opponents.
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