VarsityXtra

Phoenix Brophy and Phoenix Xavier’s placement in 5A in the newly formed Central Region doesn’t make much sense in terms of geography. That was supposedly the No. 1 criteria in the proposal for realignment adopted last week by the 5A Conference.
Brophy moved from its longtime home of the Desert Valley to the Central. The schools in the Desert Valley for the next two-year block - Chaparral, Desert Mountain, Horizon, North Canyon, Pinnacle and St. Mary’s are much closer to Brophy-Xavier than the teams they are now aligned with in the Central. What’s the difference? The longest trip for Brophy-Xavier in the Desert Valley would be Desert Mountain at 40 miles round trip. The shortest trip in the Central is 44 to Desert Vista and the longest is Red Mountain at 62.
Geography? That guideline has fallen by the wayside when it comes to competition. But at least the architects of the new proposal had the gumption to use the the C word (competition) publicly and numbers (enrollment) to devise the new alignment.

One of the best matchups in the Valley this week has lost some of its luster.
When No. 3 Scottsdale Coronado travels to No. 5 Gilbert Higley on Friday, the Dons will be without Kaylin Ashley, one of the state’s top running backs.
Ashley, who leads all of 4A-II with 1,322 rushing yards and 18 touchdowns, is out with a sprained MCL. He suffered the injury near the end of the first half of last week’s win over Chandler Seton Catholic, but not before rushing for 268 yards and two scores.
Coronado coach B.J. Pasquel said Ashley might miss next week’s regular season finale against archrival Phoenix Arcadia as well, but he should return for the first round of the playoffs.
“Knowing him, he’ll probably be back as good as new,” Pasquel said.
Ashley isn’t the Dons’ only good running back – David Alfaro and Josh Castillo are each averaging at least 6.9 yards a carry – but replacing his speed and athleticism will be impossible.
“We have some depth at running back, but he’s a game changer,” Pasquel said. “Everytime he touches the ball, there’s a chance he could score. But we have other kids who can run. They’re obviously not as explosive as him.”
Ashley’s injury has spoiled the possibility of a stellar individual matchup as well. His counterpart at Higley, Chris Campbell, is second in 4A-II with 1,070 rushing yards.

The offers are trickling in for Scottsdale Saguaro running back Beau Burton.

He picked up his first from UNLV last week, and was offered today by Colorado State. Oregon watched him play on Friday against Apache Junction, and coach John Sanders thinks itc ould offer him a scholarship soon as well.

A big smile crossed Burton’s face when he was informed of the news.

“It feels good,” Burton said. “I was watching all the other guys get offers around here - we have eight with Division I offers - and I was one of the last ones. It’s good to get that out of the way so I don’t have to worry so much about that and focus on the games.”

Burton said a lack of speed was why teams held off from offering him last year, but he has improved in that aspect this season. Academics were also a problem, but he took care of that in the summer.

Burton is leaning towards attending UNLV at this point.

Chandler Hamilton went 2-1 in its early-season meat grinder facing Miami Booker T. Washington, Phoenix Brophy and Peoria Centennial. The Huskies hadn’t developed consistency to that point on offense, but it’s happened over their last five games. That should be of concern to the other 5A Division I contenders with postseason looming in a couple weeks.
Hamilton’s five-game stretch Sept. 13-October 17 saw it outscore those opponents, 218-38. Hamilton has rushed for 1,796 yards and passed for 1,543 and is easily the most balanced and prolific team among the contenders.
Coach Steve Belles’ mantra since January has been for his team to build on performance game-on-game. That was something that didn’t happen late last season when the Huskies survived a few close calls in postseason before falling to Brophy.
So far Hamilton has taken Belles’ urging to heart. If it continues, Hamilton will sit atop the 5A-I perch again.

…..But not far off either.

The adventure started a couple hours before Chandler Valley Christian’s big win against previously-unbeaten Northwest Christian on Friday night.

The Trojans have rode the same bus for nearly 20 years, but on the way to North Phoenix, she gave out during Friday’s rush hour on the I-17. Coughing, wheezing and suddenly unable to go more than 50 miles per hour.

So after a few miles of this while being stuck in traffic, the bus driver manages to pull off the freeway and onto Van Buren Street, a few miles from the team’s biggest rival, Phoenix Christian.

The bus is shot - belt, fuel pump, any number of possibilities - so the team is stranded on Van Buren. The school could have sent vans to pick up its team, who knows how long that might of taken.

Fortunately, Trojans defensive coordinator Ernie Zavallos still has friends at Phoenix Christian from his coaching days at P.C. and called a Cougars assistant and explained the situation.

Phoenix Christian sent a second bus to Van Buren to pick up Valley Christian’s football team, brought them back to school (How’s that for an awkward scene: Phoenix Christian was about to board their bus at their school next to Valley Christian players?).

So Valley Christian waited at Phoenix Christian for a few minutes, then got on a Phoenix Christian bus and was taken to Northwest Christian for the game. The bus drove the team back to Valley Christian after the game, and will be returned to Phoenix Christian on Monday.

Mesa Skyline switched quarterbacks before last week’s crucial 29-21 win against Phoenix Pinnacle. Junior Mike Bailey replaced Anthony Ybarra and went 5-of-12 for 39 yards, a touchdown and an interception.

The team doesn’t pass a lot, and Ybarra was used often in option plays. Coach Pete Jonovich said Bailey is probably more of a pocket passer, but also has the ability to run. Bailey had nine carries for 13 yards in the victory over the Pioneers.

He will get the start tomorrow against Scottsdale Horizon. Ybarra is the team’s starting free safety, and had an interception against Pinnacle. Jonovich said it’s possible for Ybarra to get in the game offensively at running back or wide receiver.

The 5A conference really put the unwritten guideline of competition forward as a key ingredient in its latest realignment Thursday.
Putting Brophy-Xavier, Hamilton, Chandler, Desert Vista, Highland, Red Mountain and Mesa High together in one region is essentially a super region. The only logic missing is to take Mesa High out of the new Central Region and replace it with Mountain View to get a true super region based on Mountain View’s overall success this decade compared to Mesa’s.
Geography, loss of school time and travel are supposed to be the criteria for placing schools in regions. Those guidelines become more irrelevant as the years go by.
The dog-eat-dog world of the East Valley and 5A athletics will get more brutal the next couple years. The champions will still come from here, at least for the most part in 5A-I. Now if we could only get a big arena closer to the eastside to play in. Save on those hefty gas bills to Glendale.

The inaugural Scottsdale Chaparral football team will return Friday night to be honored during the homecoming game against Phoenix Shadow Mountain.

The 1973 squad had just 38 players and shared a campus with Scottsdale Saguaro while its school was still under construction. Former coach Les Unruh will travel from Missouri to take part in the festivities.

Phil Cancik was the team’s star, and he will have his jersey retired on the field. Cancik was an all-state selection at Chaparral, played four years at Northern Arizona and was the first Chaparral player in the NFL when he joined the New York Giants in 1980. Cancik led the Kansas City Chiefs in special teams tackles in 1981, and finished his career in the USFL in 1983.

Chaparral booster club member Mike Norris and Bill Cleverly, a player on the 1973 team, spearheaded the plans.

“I thought this would be great fun because the team had never before gathered through all these years,” Cleverly said in a press release.