I’ve covered the Mesa schools since 1992 and this may be the most balanced the district’s schools have been in all that time. If not for Desert Vista’s remarkable, 22-point fourth-quarter rally (where have you been Thunder) Friday, Mesa’s six schools would be a combined 15-0. But 14-1 still screams.Mountain View and Red Mountain have been the dependables of the district in recent years, with Westwood and Mesa fielding some good teams. Dobson? The Mustangs have continually confounded prep observers with their high enrollment and low achievement. Not any more. In case you missed it: Dobson 39, No. 2 Chandler 0. The Mustangs and their potent running game are for real. Meanwhile, down in 5A-II, Skyline (2-0) is making some noise after finally escaping the purgatory of the East Valley Region where the Coyotes were repeatedly battered by their larger sister schools.Hamilton is still the team to beat in 5A-I - and Dobson gets the next crack Sept. 14 - but there is no question after Friday that the East Valley Region is 5A-I’s best. If you don’t believe me, consider this: The EVR went 2-0 against the supposedly dominant Fiesta Region Friday, with Dobson beating Chandler and Westwood beating Mesquite. Earlier this season, Mountain View beat Highland and Westwood beat Gilbert, making the EVR 4-0 against the Fiesta.Fiesta teams are just 8-5 overall, 5-5 if you take away HamiltonSay it with me. Mesa is back.
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It’s nice to see Mesa back on top. We’ll see what Dobson can do next week.
Way to go Dobson! Congrats to Coach DeMassa, his staff and all the team. Dobson is here and they are for real.
This is right on. Mesa Is back and if Dobson can hang with Hamilton this season might be interesting after all.
I don’t think Mesa ever went away. It’s always had strong teams in football, and in other sports, and will always be a force to be reckoned with. Good coaching has a lot to do with it, as does solid fan support (particularly at Westwood, where poverty is a major factor in the lives of many athletes).
Just to add to that, I’d like to point out that Westwood went 9-2 in 2004, 13-1 in 2005 and both Mountain View and Westwood were semifinalists in 2005, with the Toros coming in second last season.
Mesa never went away.
Mesa didn’t go away, but it wasn’t the best region in state for a while. The Fiesta took its crown for a few years there, and the Central was good for a while, too. I agree Mesa is back after a down period. Dobson and Mesa had some terrible teams. The whole region looks pretty good now. We’ll see how good when Dobson plays Hamilton