VarsityXtra

Vaughn and his Pride improved their record to 7-0 with a come from behind 35-34 victory against Desert Ridge High School last Friday night. Mountain Pointe was down 28 points before rallying for the win. Running backs De’Andre Currie (18 carries for 199 yards and two touchdowns) and Davon Jones (23 carries for 144 yards and two touchdowns) both starred in the victory.

Phoenix Mountain Pointe coach Norris Vaughan was named the Cardinals coach of the week.

The Pride fell behind 28-0 at halftime against Mesa Desert Ridge but rallied for a 35-34 victory last Friday night to improve to 7-0 on the season.

Running backs De’Andre Currie (18 carries for 199 yards and two touchdowns) and Davon Jones (23 carries for 144 yards and two touchdowns) both starred in the win.

The award will be presented to Vaughn and the Mountain Pointe football team on Wednesday at 3 p.m. at the school’s Retro Hall following classes for the day.

Monday was only the first of two day’s worth of high school golf regionals in 4A Division II, and Higley senior Malin Mathisen stole the show.

The senior exchange student from Norway fired her first hole-in-one at Las Colinas Golf Course with a 9-iron from 102 yards away off the tee at No. 6.

Mathisen finished with a 77 for Higley (374) which enters the final round in second place behind Scottsdale Notre Dame (301).

Chandler Basha quarterback Mike Benjamin was an obvious choice for the Cardinals player of the week honors after he ran for a school-record 270 yards and four touchdowns in a win against Gilbert Highland.

The senior has completed 68 percent of his passes for 1,043 yards and five touchdowns. He’s also run for 627 yards and seven TDs for the 5-1 Bears, who face Mesa Dobson on Friday night.

Benjamin will receive a plaque before practice on Thursday afternoon.

Scottsdale Chaparral has been hit hard by injuries to its offensive and defensive lines since August, and another fell on Friday against Scottsdale Horizon.

Starting defensive tackle Xavier McDonald suffered torn meniscus tendon in his knee and could miss the rest of the season.

At some point, he’ll require surgery, but Firebirds coach Charlie Ragle said there’s an outside chance that rehab and a brace could be effective enough for McDonald to return around the playoffs in a few weeks.

The 6-foot, 220-pound senior had 17 total tackles and 1/2 sack this season.

Williams Field coach Steve Campbell was named the Cardinals coach of the week after the Black Hawks defeated two-time 4A Division II champion Scottsdale Notre Dame last Friday night.

After trailing the Saints by 14 points at halftime, the Black Hawks came back for the win which ended Notre Dame’s 28-game winning streak and kept the Black Hawks undefeated at 6-0.

The award will be presented on Wednesday afternoon at the school’s football field prior to practice.

It hasn’t been all fun and games for Phoenix St. Mary’s lately, especially in the win-loss department, but there are a few bits of good news from Knights camp as region play begins against Scottsdale Desert Mountain.

The Knights went 12 plays, 99 yards in a second-half drive against Phoenix Desert Vista last week, a game which was headed down to the wire until the final few minutes.

It was the fifth time this season the Knights have gone at least 98 yards on a scoring drive, two of which came in a win against Goodyear Millennium.

The Knights also got Cameron Gregory back at defensive end, which means he and ASU-commit Josh Fulton are back as bookends with Michael Jajou moving back inside from end to tackle. That, in turn, allows the Knights to keep one more player from going both ways.

As for Desert Mountain, the Wolves got good news on quarterback Drew Seaman, who got crunched on a hit against Gilbert Highland two weeks ago. He suffered a torn bicep muscle in his left (non-throwing) arm. He sat out last week against San Luis, he’ll play this week.

At least one thing went right (sorta) for Scottsdale Desert Mountain in its 28-27 meltdown loss against Gilbert Highland last week, even though we’re taking a circuitous route toward getting there.

(Hey, when you gave up 28 unanswered points, a couple fumbles, a 76-yard kickoff return and lost your starting QB all in the same quarter, you have to find something).

Good news No. 1: The Wolves lost quarterback Drew Seaman to a left (non-throwing) shoulder injury when he got crunched by Highland defender, but coach Tony Tabor said MRI and X-ray this week revealed nothing broken or structurally wrong. He did some throwing at practice this week but Tabor said he’s unlikely to play this week.

Which leads us to good news No. 2 ….

The Wolves get San Luis. Yes, the team which lost to Carl Hayden a few weeks ago which ended the 66-game losing streak.

In other words, the Wolves will get an easy victory and won’t need Seaman at quarterback anyway, especially after Kevin Radcliffe ran for more than 200 yards in the loss last week.

As for the Wolves, I think last week is going to hurt them more from a power-points perspective by season’s end then psychologically, which is a credit to what Tabor has instilled the past few years.

“I told them it’s better to have it happen now than later,” he said.

A few changes will be made going forward, mostly involving special teams, but also sounded like a coach who, a few days later, was no longer the wreck he was over the weekend.

Scottsdale Chaparral coach Charlie Ragle and Tabor talk regularly as close friends, and it reminded Ragle of a 2007 game against Paradise Valley.

The Firebirds led 31-14 after three quarters and were up by 17 points with seven minutes left when it all fell apart.

“It’s an out-of-body experience,” Ragle said. “It’s like watching some really bad movie on your couch, and the remote isn’t right next to you, but you just won’t get up and get it to change the channel.

“Even then it was still in your control whether to get your (butt) up and get the remote. Coaching games like (last week) is a disaster and eventually you’re basically left standing there watching it, and there’s nothing you can do. There’s no remote and nothing anyone can do to change the channel.”

Taylor Walstad is dying to play. We know his parents are as well, and even Arizona State would like to see one of its commitments for next year back on the field.

It’s been a methodical but progressing recovery and rehab for Walstad after he suffered a knee injury in the opening game against Mesa Skyline.

Walstad is back at practice this week, but Wolves coach Jim Ewan called it a “40-60″ proposition his star running back would see the field.

That’s being generous. Even if he gets back on the field this week against Chandler Hamilton, it won’t be for many plays. It’s a pretty rough transition going from a month on the bench to game speed against the No. 1 Huskies.

Chandler has a bye next week, followed by Mesa Red Mountain, Phoenix Desert Vista, Mesa Mountain View and Phoenix Trevor Browne.

The Wolves could sweep those four games going into the playoffs, especially if Walstad is playing and close to 100 percent (which he should be).

We know this week is a big game and that the Wolves have never beaten Hamilton, but Walstad’s health for the next 6-8 weeks is more important than beating Hamilton in Week 6.

Five or ten snaps wouldn’t be a bad thing, but even though another two weeks of practice would make him go stir-crazy, Walstad and the Wolves would be wise for the lack of wear.

Phoenix Mountain Pointe running back De’Andre Currie was named the Arizona Cardinals high school player of the week.

As he’s done all season, Currie had eight carries for 198 yards and four touchdowns last Friday in the Pride’s 69-14 win against Casa Grande.

Teammates Davon Jones and Zach Deitchman also topped 100 yards for undefeated Mountain Pointe.

Currie will receive a plaque on Wednesday afternoon.

Highland coach Pete Wahlheim earned coach of the week honors after the Hawks’ improbable comeback against Scottsdale Desert Mountain last week, in which they trailed 21-0 entering the fourth quarter but won, 28-27, on a touchdown and 2-point conversion in the closing seconds.

The Hawks (2-2) won their second consecutive game and face Gilbert Mesquite on Friday night.

Debate, adulation and anger surfaced this week toward Show Low coach Randy Ricedorff (once a Mesa Westwood state champion as a player and a Warriors assistant). This after he left his son, Rathen, into the second half to break the Arizona record for passing touchdowns (9) despite a 52-0 halftime lead against Chinle.

The situation and ensuing debate has leaked out nationally, and I found several comments and thoughts from parties involved intriguing, to say the least (and apparently a few parties which weren’t involved, such as the mayor).

From the Rivals story:

They said: “Every kid that dressed played. That spoke a lot on their behalf. They made every effort to keep the score as low as possible. If they wanted to, they could have went three digits on us.” –Chinle athletic director Steve Troglia

I say: Seems like Troglia either believes that, or is taking the high road and not interested in getting into a pissing contest or war of words about the situation. It’s not about how many points Show Low could have scored (it probably could have been 80 or 90). It’s that, if the team’s starting quarterback is still in the game trying to throw touchdown passes for some boring record in a 52-0 game, then where is “every effort to keep the score as low as possible?”

They said: “I feel that people have the perspective that Show Low is not a class program,” he said. “You don’t like that there are people who were not at the game and go by hearsay. The perception is the problem.”   –Ricedorff

I say: He’s right in that perception is (or could be) a problem, but you leave yourself wide open to this when you’re throwing the ball with your starting quarterback midway through the third quarter. Why do we have to be at the game to believe you shouldn’t be throwing the ball to appease your kids who are clamoring for a record when it’s 52-0?  Some things are pretty black-and-white.

They said: “We know it’s going to be a blowout. Whether we run the ball or throw the ball is not going to make a difference.” –Ricedorff

I say: Not going to make a difference?  See “Perception”  above.

They said: “Obviously the game was a runaway, (but) if the other team is not complaining, I would think what our team did was fine.” –Show Low mayor Steve Fernau

I say: What does the mayor have to do with this story?  As opposed to, say, other schools who’ve been involved in a similar situation(s)?   Beyond that, why does one team have to openly complain for the other team to set its standards on sportsmanship?

An oldage:  What’s popular isn’t always right. What’s right isn’t always popular.

For all we know, Randy Ricedorff has been a quality, first-class coach for more than 20 years, and he can’t be blamed for the scheduling because most of that is beyond his control.

But this game offered a host of teaching moments about priorities that he whiffed on in a big way.