Yes, the 4A-II state football tournament was supposed to be wide open. But even this was surprising.
The 4A-II East Sky Region sent four teams into the state tournament on Friday, and all were eliminated in the first round.
Scottsdale Notre Dame was creamed by Tucson Santa Rita. Scottsdale Coronado was soundly beaten by Peoria Liberty. Gilbert Williams Field fell behind early and then lost to No. 13 seed Tucson Amphitheater in overtime.
The biggest shocker, though, was Phoenix Arcadia, which had been playing the best football of anyone in the second half of the year, losing at home to Douglas.
So was this an overrated region from start to finish? One bad week? Honestly, probably a mixture of both. If Arcadia had another shot, it could probably beat Douglas.
And that’s the beauty of football this time of year. One good week and you’re alive to see another day. One bad week, and it’s time to clean out the lockers.
The 4A-II conference is still hard to figure, but one thing is now clear: We’ll have a new state champion, and it won’t be coming from the East Valley.
Arcadia’s top three backs were all hurt. Schrimsher(ankle injury) ran the ball 1 time for 10 yrds and was done on offense when he came up limping. He did play the rest of the game at MLB. McClain(foot injury) played little offense, but played most of the game on D. Hirshie(foot ligament injury) never saw the field.
Without these guys, Kirkegaard had little protection in the backfield, no middle power game, and his big play running backs were out. He scrambled for his life most of the night and tried to make plays. Douglas(hats off to them) kept the pressure on and forced turnovers and plays. If Arcadia was healthy, it would be a different game, although Douglas did dominate in the trenches with the hugh size. Reminded me of Saguaro last year.
I think part of Arcadia problem was their heads fitting through the locker door after the way they ended the season i.e. came in thinking they could just show up. Hopefully they didn’t have state championship hats already printed up…
OVERRATED!!!!!!!
DOuglas would play them any time and still beat them douglas was just the bettean team the whole gila region is the best region come on 4 of the elite 8 are from there and there is potential to have three of the final 4 to be from there good luck gila region
????? What? At least in the East Sky most schools teach grammer and english. What are you talking about?
Jake hirschi was first team all region for Arcadia. He would have won the game for Arcadia with his speed