VarsityXtra

What a game it was.  By the end, it felt like mid-November (and we’re not talking about weather).

Don’t tell that to Desert Vista coach Dan Hinds. Insightful, helpful and gracious that he is, he sat in a auxiliary locker room with his head buried in his hands 30 minutes afterward. Part of him was trying to decompress from a frightening turn of events in the final three minutes which almost (but didn’t) ruined the night, and a big part was worried about the health of the best player in the state, Devon Kennard.

Even though an X-ray revealed nothing broken, there’s no word yet on the status of his right knee as of mid-afternoon Saturday (I wonder if the USC staff member on the sideline watching Kennard was still around in the final two minutes), but there were few words of optimism late Friday night.

So we’ll wait and everyone hopes for the best.

Regardless of Kennard’s situation  - which will be either one gargantuan exhale or one enormous sucker-punch to the team’s collective gut, Hinds has no reason to waste mental energy and sleepless nights playing the “What if…” game.

It was the right call.

Kennard is a load to bring down with his size and speed, a perfect combination when you’re trying to run out the clock with a narrow lead in the final two minutes. He had more success than any other running back on the night, even in limited action, and it appeared to be a clean-but-unfortunate tackle on the part of Chandler’s defense. Kennard ran for 500 yards last year, and his 16 carries are tied for the team-high, so this is nothing new.

After all that, if you’re still going to complain about why coaches had Kennard was in the game given the situation, you better promise there hasn’t been a single snap in the past 17 games where you wanted the team’s best player to have the ball.

Want to know how your football team could conceivably win four games this year and still sneak into the 5A Division I playoffs?

Craft Gilbert Mesquite’s schedule.

As of this moment, it’s a ringer.  Relatively speaking, it might be worse than Chandler Hamilton.

Mike Reardon’s team has No. 1 Tempe Corona del Sol, followed by Phoenix Desert Vista and Chandler Basha (both of which should be top 8 teams by regular season’s end).

Then the Wildcats get Yuma Kofa (they better win that game), followed by the Fiesta Region games with Hamilton, Chandler, Gilbert and Gilbert Highland (three more who should be in top 8).

In a word: Ouch.

Starting a sophomore at quarterback can make a coach go gray quickly, so at Scottsdale Coronado B.J. Pasquel is slowly brining along Alex Buya.
Buya’s primary responsibility this season has been to transfer the ball from center to running back – 60 of the Dons’ 72 offensive plays have been runs.
When he has been called on to throw, though, Buya has been highly effective. The 6-foot-2, 176-pounder completed five of six passes, one for a touchdown, in Coronado’s season opening win at Flagstaff Sinagua. In last week’s victory over Phoenix Cortez, Buya hit on three of six attempts and two went for scores.
With his eight completions, Buya has thrown for 311 yards, second most in the East Sky Region, and his touchdown passes have gone for 48, 63 and 47 yards.
Just as impressive, he has yet to throw an interception.

Here’s one of Dan Hinds’ theories behind the about-face his Phoenix Desert Vista team pulled off between a 28-7 whipping at the hands of Gilbert, and the 49-0 beating they delivered to Mesa. 

(Cody Sokol was 14 of 20 for 200 yards and two touchdowns in his first start at quarterback, so that helped).

The Thunder are a little thin on the offensive line. So during practice they often line up against guys who rotate through the scout team (kids who either generally don’t see much playing time in games, or regulars who are just trying to catch their breath during practices).

So defensive guys such as Devon Kennard and Danny Mularkey would get breaks during practice, and the offensive line wouldn’t get regular snaps against the best and Hinds felt he had his blockers unprepared for Gilbert’s solid defense.

So now the 1st team defense takes the vast majority of snaps and drills during practice, which means Kennard, Mullarkey, Cole Pembroke and Co. don’t get much reprieve during practices anymore, but Hinds has altered the team’s conditioning at the end of practice, and other than Tuesdays and Wednesdays, the Thunder lighten up their practice regiments.

Could be sound reasoning.  Could be much-ado about nothing more than playing a Mesa team that’s not currently as good as Gilbert.  We’ll learn a lot more Friday against Chandler.

Corona del Sol moved to the top of this week’s Tribune football rankings because the Aztecs are undefeated and the way they’ve gone about disposing of their first three opponents.
Wins of 41-7, 37-12 and 50-8 have been dominant. While Dobson and Red Mountain don’t appear to be as strong as they were last year, neither was ever in the game against Corona. The Aztecs have forced 12 turnovers and given up just two offensive TDs. Both came in the second half, likely with some reserves getting some playing time.
That’s not to say Hamilton and Brophy may be better teams based on playing better opponents so far. But if USC were to lose next week to Oregon State, or anyone later on for that matter, and another solid team in the country was still unbeaten the Trojans wouldn’t be No. 1 either.
The top ranking is Corona’s to maintain now. They’ll get tested before the season is done. And as it nearly always does in football, the cream will rise to the top in the end.

Each of the past two seasons, Gilbert Higley has lost only two regular season games.
Two weeks into this year, the Knights have already matched that total, but the coaching staff isn’t about push the proverbial panic button.
“I’d be worried if we were losing 35-0 or 20-0, but we’ve been in every game,” said coach Jim Beall, whose team lost 24-14 to Cave Creek Cactus Shadows and 23-14 to Tempe McClintock. “We still feel good.”
Turnovers – four so far – and a longer-than-expected adjustment period to a new offensive scheme are the biggest reasons for Higley’s winless record.
“We’re doing some good things, but we’re just kind of shooting ourselves in the foot with interceptions and some mistakes,” Beall said.
“Offensively we haven’t started clicking. . . . We’re trying to put in this spread and combine it with our power game. That’s going to make us a lot tougher, but it takes a little bit of time when you’re trying to put a new offense in and do the things you did last year.”
A turnaround should begin this week when the Knights play 1-2 Phoenix Washington in their home opener. Games against Flagstaff Coconino (0-3) and Phoenix Moon Valley (1-1) follow, giving Higley good odds to go into region play 3-2.

Not many outside of the Scottsdale Saguaro football program knew who Erik Brown was before Friday night.
The senior transfer from Texas was still feeling his way around in the season-opening win over Prescott, but made quite the impression in Week 2 against Tucson Sahuaro.
Brown, who starts at wide receiver and cornerback, averaged 43 yards per punt return on five attempts and returned two for scores in a 71-7 win.
On one of the touchdowns, Brown completely hurdled a defender on his way into the end zone.
“Not quite like that,” coach John Sanders said when asked if he’d seen a player jump completely over a defender. “He’s that kind of athlete. You don’t plan that.”
The video has hit YouTube for people to marvel at again.
Fans were going so crazy after the play, Sanders said, that “the stands almost fell down.”

A couple weeks into the season, I respectfully submit eight teams are solidly in the mix for the  battle for the 5A Division I football title. I don’t expect any others although a few may have an outside shot at entering the fray.

Chandler Hamilton, Phoenix Brophy, Tempe Corona del Sol, Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa Mountain View, Phoenix Desert Vista and Tucson Salpointe would be those eight. The battle tested of the bunch thus far – Hamilton, Brophy, Gilbert, Desert Vista and Salpointe.

The real qualifying tests for most of the rest and a team or two more not in that group takes place this week or next. Chandler at Desert Vista Friday, Mountain View at Brophy Sept. 26. Mesa Red Mountain is on the outside looking in. Red Mountain’s game Sept. 26 at home vs. Hamilton will be a tell-tale game for the Lions. Gilbert Highland will have to wait until Oct. 10 when it faces Chandler. Corona del Sol, while not playing a rugged schedule thus far, has dismantled all its foes from start to finish.

Barring a huge effort from this week’s opponent, Gilbert Mesquite, the Aztecs are going to be 6-0 when they battle Chandler on Oct. 17. Mesa High also will know where it stands by Oct. 3 after it faces Avondale Westview and Brophy in successive weeks.

If you love parity (I warned you that word was coming) then September is becoming a month to remember.

The status quo has held true through most of the Class 1A through 5A-II schools to date. Of those schools in this week’s rankings, only Chandler Valley Christian suffered a defeat on Friday night, and that was a close game against a good Phoenix Christian team.

In 5A-I, however, things get dicey.

Chandler Hamilton looked like the leader, until it got beat pretty good by Peoria Centennial. Phoenix Brophy rebounded well enough from losing to Hamilton, but Horizon is in 5A-II and struggling. Previously-undefeated Gilbert has already meandered through a truckload of tribulations and was stopped by Tucson Salpointe.

Tempe Corona del Sol and Mesa Mountain View are rolling early, but the competition won’t be worldly for another couple weeks. Phoenix Desert Vista was awful in Week 1, awesome in Week 2.

Chandler Basha almost lost the farm against Glendale Deer Valley but held on late, prompting Bears coach Tim McBurney’s line of the weekend: “It’s a good thing I already had my heart attack because this was a tough one.”

(Careful Tim, major cardiac episodes aren’t like removing your appendix. They can come back.) 

Chandler and Scottsdale Desert Mountain are off to the races early, which should make next Friday’s Chandler-Desert Vista matchup a sight to see.

All of this means that in a world of premature, lock-of-the-week prognosticating - I was hoping our preseason football preview videos were taken off our Varsity Xtra website, but am told they’re still prominently displayed - these first three weeks have left more questions and precious few answers.

The 5A-I rankings will change again next week (Sorry, you’ll have to bite your nails until Monday or Tuesday). The way it’s gone thus far, this shuffle is going to continue.

Hope you like parity.