VarsityXtra

Dana Zupke called the Phoenix Pinnacle locker room “a morgue” at halftime last Friday when the Pioneers learned its leading defensive player, linebacker Andrew Hurley, suffered a broken fibula and will likely miss the rest of the season.

Hurley was injured in the second quarter in the first round playoff game when he was engaged by a Glendale Ironwood lineman, then had his legs taken out by another Ironwood player.

Zupke said it was an obvious chop block and called it “a cheap-shot play,” but no penalty was called.

Hurley had 73 total tackles, a sack, an interception and fumble recovery this season, and though his stats were down this season because he moved from defensive end (where he had 20 1/2 sacks as a junior) back to outside linebacker, he’s the team’s captain and emotional leader.

Pinnacle hosts Desert Valley Region foe Scottsdale Desert Mountain on Friday for a second time this season.

A classic turned into a clunker at Mesa Red Mountain on Friday night.  It left one coach (Red Mountain’s Jim Jones) hot under the collar and unsure of his future, while the other team (Mesa High) whooped it up after winning its first football playoff game since 2000.

It sets up a Fiesta Region rematch (which was exactly what nobody in the region wanted to deal with, even though losing was the only way to avoid such collisions).

Mesa will play at Phoenix College against Brophy, where the Jackrabbits lost 26-18 in mid-October, a game closer than the score indicates (and the score indicates a close game).

What a job Mesa’s defense did to Red Mountain’s offense (except for one drive in the third quarter which briefly put Red Mountain back in the game, mostly because the Lions remembered they have a good QB in John O’Connor and a good WR in Elizha Cordova). Oddly enough, the Lions never went back to the hurry-up, line-up-and-throw style after that drive the rest of the game.

More importantly, what a job Kelley Moore has done in three years at Mesa.

As for Red Mountain, Jim Jones’ team lost a few key starting linemen to injuries during region play, which is also when his team couldn’t stop the likes of Phoenix Brophy, Chandler Hamilton, Chandler and 5A-II power Peoria Centennial.

Jones groused about Mesa Mountain View not being in the Fiesta Region while Mesa and Red Mountain were.

His point: If it was supposed to be about geography, where’s the geography?

“It’s a damn shame they had to go through a schedule like we did,” he said. “It’s not fair to anyone in Arizona high school football.”

It’s a good point.

Let’s at least throw out the possibility there was anger and frustration involved because his team had just been kicked in the teeth by Mesa to end its season.

Then again, the Jackrabbits lost a slew of close games during region play and lost power points because of the Laveen Cesar Chavez debacle. The Jackrabbits never said a word.

(Incidentally, neither did Phoenix Desert Vista, and if this really was about competitive balance and putting all the perennially premier teams in one region, Desert Vista belongs in the Central).

As for Jones, he’s Red Mountain’s only football coach since it opened in 1989. This may have been his last game as the school’s coach, but he wasn’t about to tip his hand one way or another afterward.

One way or another, though, his decision won’t drag on, but a sour ending to a strong start this season wouldn’t be fair after 20 years.

Just in time for the playoffs, Phoenix Brophy gets an important parts of its defensive line back this week as tackle Adan Nunez will get back on the field for the first time in six weeks.

Nunez, a 5-foot-8, 200-pound senior and two-year starter, suffered a knee injury during the Broncos game against Mesa Red Mountain, which eventually required surgery.

Nunez has 20 tackles this season, but his ability to clog the middle is important for the Broncos’ run defense.

The Broncos had used a rotation of replacements, primarily having center Hank Jenkins play both ways. Brophy hosts No. 14 Glendale Mountain Ridge at Phoenix College on Friday night.

Phoenix Arcadia coach Jim Ellison is this week’s Cardinals coach of the year.

Ellison and the Titans clinched the 4A East Valley Region championship with a 35-14 victory against previously unbeaten Williams Field High School last Friday night. Quarterback Colby Kirkegaard was 11 of 17 passing for 216 yards and three touchdowns in the win.

The Titans begin the postseason on Friday night when they host Douglas.

Phoenix Mountain Pointe running back Davon Jones was named this week’s player of the week by the Arizona Cardinals.

Jones rushed for 203 yards and three touchdowns in leading the Pride to a 26-23 victory over previously unbeaten Tempe Marcos De Niza last Friday night. Jones helped the Pride finish the regular season with a perfect 10-0 record and a 5A East Valley Region Championship. The senior running back has 1,442 yards rushing and 25 touchdowns this season as part of one of the biggest single-season turnarounds this decade.

Mountain Pointe hasn’t won a playoff game since 1998, but will have its latest chance to end that slide when the Pride host Mesa Westwood on Friday night.

A different kind of Friday flashback will take place when No. 10 Phoenix St. Mary’s plays at No. 7 Chandler Basha.

St. Mary’s QB Bryan Holland is the son of former Tempe High standout QB Ty Holland, who played for Basha coach Tim McBurney at Tempe High in the mid-1980s.

Ty was an All-State QB. He led the Buffaloes to the playoffs in 1983 and 1984, and played through a broken right (throwing) hand in the playoffs each of those years, having suffered the same injury in the week before the playoffs both years.

In those days, he was cleared to play by his mom, not the doctor.

“He was a stud,” McBurney said this week. “Undersized (5-foot-10, 175 pounds) but a great heart. He was the soul of our offense and the team.”

Tempe Marcos de Niza ushered in a familiar face (and a blast from the past) this week when the Padres hired Greg Vanney as their boys soccer coach.

Vanney, 35, was an all-state player who led the Padres to state championships in 1990 (a tie with Phoenix Brophy), 1991 and 1992.

He went on to play at UCLA and was drafted in 1996 by the L.A. Galaxy of the Major League Soccer.

He played professionally in L.A., as well as Europe and was part of the U.S. National team from 1997-2005 in which he participated in two World Cups.

Vanney also founded the Arizona Futbol Club (AZFC), a youth soccer club program in the Valley.

Another wild night in Toro town, where defense need not apply (and, for the most part, didn’t).

–This isn’t the Mountain View team of 2006 which went to the 5A Division I state championship game, but the Toros are pretty good.

Six weeks ago, the world was coming to an end when they got hammered by Scottsdale Chaparral and lost a closer one at Tucson Sunnyside, but they reeled off five consecutive wins between then and Friday night.

Even Friday, the Toros had a couple chances to forge ahead and win the game, but they can (and, I think, will) win the Central Region against Chandler Basha next week.

That’s pretty darn good for a team which was completely reconstructed after last year’s trip to the state semifinals.

Toros coach Tom Joseph laughed about the size/speed differential between them and Chandler before the game, and he was right, but the final score pretty much dictated otherwise. So, too, did the penalties, which cost Chandler dearly (again).

–Brett Hundley understandably got the headlines for his play, but the Toros were every bit as effective (if slightly less flashy) offensively against Chandler’s short-handed defense.

Brad Heap was nearly flawless (15 of 20 for 180 yards and two TDs with one INT) and put on a couple moves when he had to scramble. Jacom Brimhall’s fumble on the second-half kickoff proved pivotal, but he busted through the middle on his next touch and was his usual self (139 yards, TD, 2-point conversion reception).

Chase Richardson has Brimhall-esque elusiveness running or receiving, and Jordan Hinton (7 rec., 86 yards) is pretty good.

–Imagine how this game might have gone (or still be going) had Mountain View not had those two turnovers. The Wolves committed zero turnovers and had only two second-half penalties.

–Lastly, we touched on the onside kick rules here a couple weeks ago, and, sure enough, the Toros were offsides twice in the final minute while attempting an onside kick. Both times the ball went right to Chandler but the play was blown dead and Mountain View got to re-kick. The third time, Matt Gulbrandsen put down a perfect attempt and after a vicious collision and scramble, Andrew Muscara recovered it for the Wolves.

Why the Toros were basically allowed three chances at an onside kick for committing two penalties, is beyond me.

In a senior season supposedly set for sweetness, Kyle Yount’s 2009 had instead turned sour and bitter.

Coming off a 2,000-yard passing season in 2008, Yount was again annoited Chandler’s starting quarterback to start this season, but Brett Hundley’s athleticism and ability flickered late in 2008 and the Wolves knew his capabilities.

The change came during the Centennial blowout in Week 2, and Yount was obviously livid. He was moved to wide receiver (with an occasional snap at QB) and was invisible for a couple weeks.

Three weeks ago he made a presence against Mesa Red Mountain with a couple receptions as the Wolves rolled, and sent a text message to Chandler coach Jim Ewan’s wife saying it was the first time this season he’d left the locker room feeling good about himself.

“He’s such an upbeat kid, and, make no mistake, (the switch) hurt him and it ate at him,” Jim Ewan said. “But he’s done himself good by being such a team-first kid.”

Same thing happened against Phoenix Desert Vista last week, but Yount’s best game - regardless of position - came Friday night against Mesa Mountain View.

From his wide receiver position, he threw a perfect 34-yard touchdown pass to Michael Okonkwo on a trick play in the second quarter. He also caught four passes for 33 yards, including a 10-yard touchdown catch from Hundley midway through the fourth quarter to give Chandler a 45-35 lead it would need.

Yount took a clean, punishing hit from the Toros secondary in the end zone but hung onto the ball, cleared the cobwebs and promptly kicked the extra point as an emergency fill-in for the injured Logan Spears. He doesn’t have great speed or separation, but is a big target (6-foot-2) and can benefit underneath from the Wolves other vertical threats.

Yount and the Wolves have also benefited from some perspective. Chandler has a great chance to win out this regular season and host a playoff game not only because of Hundley’s remarkable talent, but because his predecessor ultimately chose winning over sulking and sympathy cards.

“Kyle’s my guy,” Hundley said. “I give him all my respect. He’s earned the ball and played his butt off.”

Here are the Super Regional breakdowns/schedules for 5A Division I and Division II girls golf which tee off Monday and Tuesday mornings for the right to play in the State Tournament on Nov. 9 and 10.

Unlike the boys, the qualifiers for the girls state tournament (team and individuals) fluctuate in numbers depending on the number of teams in each Super Regional, though individual qualifiers who are not part of a qualifying team must shoot a two-day total of 200 or below.

5A Division I

Super Regional #1  (at Ahwatukee Country Club)

Monday at 8 a.m.;  Tuesday at 8 a.m.  (shotgun start)

Top 5 teams, Top 4 individuals advance

Basha, Buena, Desert Ridge, Mesquite, Mountain Ridge, Mountain View (Mesa), North Canyon, Skyline, St. Mary’s, Trevor Browne, Xavier.

Super Regional #2  (at Ken McDonald Golf Course)

Monday at 9 a.m.; Tuesday at 9 a.m. (shotgun start)

Top 4 teams, Top 4 individuals advance

Cesar Chavez, Chandler, Hamilton, Kofa, Mesa, Mountain Pointe, Red Mountain, Salpointe, Westwood.

Super Regional #3  (at Lone Tree Golf Course)

Tuesday at 8 a.m.; Wednesday at 7:30 a.m.  (shotgun start)

Top 4 Teams, Top 4 individuals advance

Alhambra, Casa Grande, Corona del Sol, Desert Vista, Dobson, Gilbert, Highland, North, Tucson.

5A Division II

Super Regional #1  (at Dobson Ranch Golf Course)

Monday at 10 a.m.; Tuesday at 8 a.m.  (shotgun start)

Top 5 teams, Top 5 individuals advance

Central, Chaparral, Desert Mountain, Goldwater, Lake Havasu, Marcos de Niza, Millennium, Perry, Sunnyside, Tolleson.

Super Regional #2  (at Silverbell Golf Course)

Monday at 7:30 a.m.; Tuesday at 7:30 a.m.  (shotgun start)

Top 4 teams, Top 4 individuals advance

Cibola, Deer Valley, Gila Ridge, Ironwood, Ironwood Ridge, LaJoya, Mountain View (Marana), Westview, Willow Canyon.

Super Regional #3  (at Encanto Golf Course)

Monday at 7:30 a.m.;  Tuesday at 7:30 a.m.  (shotgun start)

Top 5 teams, Top 2 individuals advance

Boulder Creek, Centennial, Fairfax, Horizon, Kingman, Pinnacle, Rincon, Sandra Day O’Connor, Valley Vista, Yuma.