VarsityXtra

Mesa Dobson senior guard Andrea Jones has given a verbal commitment to play basketball next season at Southern Utah, Dobson coach Tyler Dumas said Thursday.
Jones visited Southern Utah last and loved the staff, players, campus and school making the decision quickly. Jones will be playing in her fourth varsity season next month when the 2009-2010 season begins. She averaged 12.8 points per game, 5.2 assists per game and 3.2 steals per game for the 24-9 Mustangs.

Former Mesa High standout Gabriela Valles was selected NAIA national offensive player of the week and Golden State Athletic Conference player of the week for women’s soccer after a five-goal week that helped Vanguard University to a pair of victories.
Valles, a sophomore midfielder, scored three goals in a 4-1 win over and top-ranked California Baptist and capped her week with two more goals and an assist in a 3-0 win over Embry-Riddle Aeronautical, Ariz. Vanguard is ranked ninth in the NAIA women’s soccer rankings nationally.

Chandler football coach Jim Ewan said Wednesday that running back Taylor Walstad may be a game-time decision whether or not he plays Friday against Mesa Red Mountain.
“He’s dealing with some tendinitis,” Ewan said. “The knee is still tender. We’ll work him lightly today, sit him at practice Thursday and then see how he feels in warmups Friday.”
Ewan said the emergence of Oshac Hatcher and Andrew Muscara in the Wolves’ backfield has softened the blow of Walstad’s five-game absence.

A trio of former East Valley and Scottsdale prep baseball standouts are back in the Valley performing for teams in the Arizona Fall League.
C.J. Retherford, who played at Chandler Hamilton and ASU, is playing for the Peoria Javelinas. Retherford is in the Chicago White Sox organization as a middle infielder. He led all minor leaguers this past season with 46 doubles. He played for AA Birmingham.
Ike Davis, who starred at Scottsdale Chaparral and ASU, is a member of the Surprise Rafters and the 18th pick in the first round of the 2008 Major League Draft by the New York Mets. Davis played for the Mets AA team in Binghamton.
Tuffy Gosewich, a catcher who prepped at Scottsdale Horizon and played at ASU, is a member of the Scottsdale Scorpions and played for the Philadelphia Phillies Class AAA affiliate Lehigh Valley.

Mesa Red Mountain’s leading rusher from last season and this year, Derek Molina, and Chandler High’s top returning rusher from last year, Taylor Walstad, should return to action this week when their teams lace it up for another tough 5A Fiesta Region clash on Friday at Chandler High.
Red Mountain coach Jim Jones said Molina, who missed the Mountain Lions’ game with Phoenix Brophy on Oct. 2 with a bad shoulder, practiced on Monday and was at about three-quarters speed.
Walstad hasn’t played since taking a helmet to the knee late in the Wolves’ opening night win over Mesa Skyline on Aug. 28. Chandler coach Jim Ewan said Walstad practiced last week, the Wolves’ bye week. Walstad did not practice Monday — instead making a doctor’s visit.
Both coaches indicated their talented backs are more likely to play this week than not — at least on a limited basis if what they’ve seen during the last week is an indication.

When Gilbert Mesquite kicker Devin Foy was sidelined with an injury at the outset of the season, he helped recruit friend and fellow soccer player Dane Wertz to kick in his stead for Mike Reardon’s Wildcats.
Wertz has been more than Reardon could have hoped for. Wertz has kicked five field goals (four in the last two weeks). He is handling the punting and kickoff chores more than adequately. And don’t forget Wertz picking up his blocked field-goal attempt and running it in for a game-winning overtime score against Mesa Desert Ridge in the season opener. Foy is nearly healthy again. Will he get his job back?

Amassing 100 yards receiving or more in a game isn’t that rare at any level of football, but catching 10 or more passes in a game is. A trio of receivers from East Valley schools fit that description last week.
Gilbert High’s Jesse Brantley caught 12 passes for 197 yards, three TDs and the game-winning touchdown vs. Mesa Dobson. Scottsdale Horizon’s Nate Defreitas hauled in 14 receptions for 103 yards and a score (28-7 loss to Mesa High). And Queen Creek’s Kendal Augustin was on the receiving end of 10 passes for 163 yards and a TD in the Bulldogs’ 30-13 loss to Glendale Cactus. Augustin’s 10 catches doubled his season total of 10 heading into the contest.

Gilbert Perry football coach Preston Jones said the suspensions of 11 players last week are over, so it’s all hands on deck for their toughest game of the year to date at Scottsdale Chaparral.

Perry will get a few starters back due to the end of sanctions. Also quarterback Chase Richardson, who was limited in practice last week due to nagging bumps and bruises, is practicing again. The Pumas also got top rusher Tauren Darnell back last week for a few snaps and Darnell responded with his fourth TD of the year.

Perry will need all the bodies it has to make a game of it with the high-powered Firebirds.

Mesa Westwood is trying to rebuild its kicking game this week after losing kicker/punter Chris Lopez to a knee injury last week.
Coach Greg Mendez said Lopez was likely lost for the year with the injury. Lopez handled kickoff, punting and place-kicking chores as well as playing linebacker and some tight end. The Warriors hope to have a replacement that will suffice in time for Friday’s region opener at Gilbert Perry.
“We’ve been trying some guys out,” Mendez said. “We have to find a way to be decent with that part of the game.”

The second big invitational of the season takes place Saturday with the annual Dobson Invitational at Mesa Dobson High.
Its a non-team scoring event with singles and doubles champions crowned. Play begins a 9 a.m. and continues through the afternoon ending around 3 or 4 p.m.
The defending tournament singles champ, as well as the 5A state champ, Emily Harris of Scottsdale Desert Mountain, is the favorite. Schools entered are Phoenix Central, Desert Mountain, Mesa Desert Ridge, Phoenix Desert Vista, Dobson, Gilbert High, Chandler Hamilton, Scottsdale Horizon, Mesa High, Gilbert Mesquite, Phoenix Mountain Pointe, Mesa Mountain View, Gilbert Perry, Mesa Red Mountain and Mesa Westwood.