Monarch Sports Arizona is proud to announce the Inaugural Christian Challenge, which is scheduled Friday, January 13 at Mesa Community College. The boys' varsity doubleheader will feature four Christian schools from four cities in Metro Phoenix, two defending state champions, and two highly-regarded 2026s:

6p Gilbert Christian vs. Northwest Christian
730p Scottsdale Christian vs. Valley Christian

More information, in addition to the event press release, can be found on Twitter/Instagram (@MonarchSportsAZ).

Marc A. Beasley
Monarch Sports Arizona
marcbeasley23@gmail.com

School - Former Coach - New Coach (previous title)
San Tan Charter - Kerry Taylor - Chase Cartwright (QB coach @ San Tan Charter)
Crismon - (New School) - Corbin Smith (HC @ McClintock)
Westwood - Kyle Ide - Brandon Large (OC @ Higley)
Florence - Bill McKane - Jesse Hart (DC @ Westwood)
Skyline - George Hawthorne - Adam Schiermyer (OC @ Eastmark)
St. Johns - Mike Morgan - John Richardson (assistant @ St. Johns)
Rio Rico - Kevin Kuhm - Jeff Scurran (previous HC @ Catalina Foothills)
Agua Fria - George Martinez - Ricky Higuera (assistant @ Millennium)
Flowing Wells - Scott Cortese - Brian Hook (OC @ Flowing Wells)
Perry - Preston Jones - Joseph Ortiz (HC @ Cactus)
Youngker - Anthony Cluff - Josh Sekoch (former HC @ Valley Vista)
Tempe - Todd Hanley - Sean Freeman (previous DC @ Westwood)
Combs - Travis Miller - Levi Hoaglund (JV HC @ Combs)
Corona del Sol - Jon Becktold - Jake Barro (HC @ Casa Grande)
Sahuaro - Scott McKee - Al Alexander (Assistant @ Mica Mountain)
Highland Prep - Shane Stephenson - Jason Shaw (HC @ North Pointe Prep)
North Pointe Prep - Jason Shaw - Vance Phillips Jr (Assistant @ Salt River juco)
Ironwood Ridge - James Hardy Jr. - Dale Stott (Assistant in Utah)
Chinle - Alan Barwick - Pita Olomua (HC @ Red Mesa)
Maryvale - Sam Schilling -Byron Traylor (WR coach @ Sierra Linda)
Parker - Jeston Lotts - Jeff Wheatley (Assistant @ Parker)
Trivium Prep - Michael Spencer - Stephen Hemming (OC @ Gilbert Christian)
Camp Verde - Rick Walsworth - Aaron Gronwald (Assistant @ Camp Verde)
Desert Vista - Ty Wisdom - Nate Gill (HC @ Sierra Linda)
Pima - Jim Hughes - Josh Wilkins (JV HC @ Pima)
Cactus - Joseph Ortiz - Brian Belles (DC @ Cactus)
Peoria - Will Babb - Jason Golden (DC @ Peoria)
Kofa - Karl Pope - Alfonzo Brown (Assistant @ Gila Ridge)
Casa Grande - Jake Barro - Mark Luna (Frosh HC @ Casa Grande)
Tonopah Valley - Joshua Oliver - Brett Davis (HC @ Spiro in Okla.)
Lee Williams - Patrick O'Boyle - Stevann Brown (OC @ Lee Williams)
McClintock - Corbin Smith - Mike Fell (HC @ Mesa Mountain View)
Coronado - Jerry Black - Rick Benjamin (Former HC @ Tuba City)
Sierra Linda - Nate Gill - Ty Preyer (OC @ Trevor Browne)
Red Mountain - Mike Peterson - Kyle Enders (DC @ Red Mountain)
Mesquite - Scott Hare - Vance Miller (previous HC @ Arcadia)
La Joya - Devin Dourisseau - Adam Beene (HC @ North Canyon)
Maricopa - Rick Skinner - Tevin Rutherford (previous HC @ AZ Compass Prep)
Greyhills - Vaughn Salabye - dropped football
Desert Sunrise - (New School) - Jonathan Clark (HC @ River Valley)
River Valley - Jonathan Clark - Kevin Hall (RB Coach @ Ariz. Christian)
Buckeye - Kelley Moore - Puni Ellis (OC @ Buckeye)
Cibola - Steven Fritz - Kasey Koepplin (HC @ Beulah HS in N. Dak.)
Antelope - Gary Mauldin - Doug South
Benson - Chris Determan - Dustin Cluff (assistant @ Round Valley)
Kingman - Russ Stryker - Trent Graff (JV HC @ Kingman)
Holbrook - Christopher Starkey - Shawn Holley (OC @ River Valley)
North Canyon - Adam Beene - Jeremy Dieck (assistant @ North Canyon)
Arete Prep - Cord Smith - Brandon Payne (HC Papago Pumas - juco)
Sequoia Pathfinder Academy - (New School) - Steve Ciszek (DC @ Mountainside)
Palo Verde - Mike Wells - Jamal Chatman
Kingman Academy - Bill McCord - Sean Windecker (OC @ Kingman Academy)
Red Mesa - Sandy Benally - OPEN
Highland Prep West - (New School) - Mario Jimerson (assistant @ West Point)
ALA-West Foothills - (New School) - Tim Su'esu'e Liufau (OC @ Millennium)
Tempe Prep - Larry Cain - Jason Jones (OC @ Tempe Prep)
ALA-Anthem South - (New School) - Kent Anderson (Assistant @ Mesquite)
Fort Thomas - Bracken Walker - Erique Aguilar (assistant @ Safford)
Cactus Shadows - Mike Hudnutt - Chris Dixon (assistant with Arizona Rattlers)
Santa Cruz - James Fitzgerald - Thomas Cortez (previous assistant @ Santa Cruz)
Wickenburg - Mike Mitchell - Ismael McNeil (LB/WR coach @ Wickenburg)
Fountain Hills - Jimmy Curtis - Sean Moran (OC @ Shadow Ridge)
Sunnyside - Glenn Posey - Thomas Romack (DC @ Sunnyside)
Tucson - Richard Sanchez - Malcolm Nelson (assistant with Tucson Sugar Skulls)

Let us take a look at some candidates for 3-6A.

POY is usually the best player on the best team to win it all--In most years!

Feel free to play along!

22 for 2022: ArizonaVarsity Top Games of the Week (9/1-9/2)

My Top 22 games of the week, plus my picks.

Seeing 2 teams this week that I've never see play in 14 years of covering games. Both have records of 5-2 and the loser of the game will have no shot at the playoffs. For the 2nd week in a row, I'm hitting up the PXU as Trevor Browne hosts Thunderbird on the West Side.

The Bruins and Titans (formerly the Chiefs) played one another in Thunderbird's first season (Trevor Browne's 2nd) in 1973. They continued the series for the next 4 years with it being even at 2-2-1 (no OT in the '70s). 45 years later, we have meeting #6!

Thunderbird is #16 in the 4A and trying to hang on to that spot. The Titans have scored 40 or more points in 4 of their 5 wins and are allowing just 14 points per game. Sean Mathews gets it done on both sides of the ball with 5 TD runs and 3 INTs this season.

Trevor Browne started 5-0, but has dropped to #20 in the 6A (after Open teams factored out). That means the Bruins are on the outside looking in as they seek their first playoff appearance since 2009. TGB has allowed 7 or fewer points in 4 of their 5 wins (3 shutouts) and are allowing just 15 points per game. The Bruins also have a 2-way player in CJ Greer, who has rushed for 7 TDs and intercepted 3 passes.

It may be 4A vs. 6A, but it looks to be a pretty even matchup. I've been fortunate the past 2 weeks to have seen games with scores of 27-21 and 27-20. We'll see if I get another good one.

Making another run...

The 2011-12 season was also a tale of two seasons, but for a different reason. We felt like we were solid at every position with good size and depth. We opened the season by going to Hutchinson, Kansas to play in their tip-off tournament. Their arena is the Mecca of junior college basketball and exactly why I wanted MCC to stay in Division 1. That is where the annual national tournament is held for D1 and has been for almost 70 years. The building is practically a museum for junior college basketball and just reeks of the history of basketball. Mike Grothaus and I had breakfast one of the days we were there with a couple of the founders of the national tournament, including the late Sam Butterfield, for whom the court is named. They explained to us that the first two years a national tournament was held, it was in Pasadena, California. The tournaments, like the Fiesta Bowl one in Maricopa County, drew small crowds and got little media attention. These gentlemen asked the NJCAA if they could take a crack at it in their town of Hutchinson. It turns out that they had just completed a new 10,000 seat arena for basketball. The NJCAA said yes and it has been there ever since. It was then, and still is conducted by a local group- not the NJCAA, as is the case with most of their tournaments. The NJCAA is kind of a Mom and Pop outfit really. California wanted to send two teams to the tournament, but the guys in Hutch said no- you only get one, since California was one region on the NJCAA map. California balked and has never participated in the tournament or the NJCAA since. Talk about holding a grudge. A lot of people in California that I have talked to, to this day do not know the story and think the issue is just money.

There is a giant map of the United States in the lobby of the arena, and all the champions through the years are marked from their locations in the various states. Obviously, California is blank, but so is Arizona. Both states together comprise Region 1, but for reasons previously mentioned, California does not choose to participate. In all of those 70 years, Arizona has one runner-up finish by Arizona Western, when Jim Amick was coaching. In 1969, Phoenix College went into the national tournament ranked number 1 at 35-0, but lost in the opening round. They were coached by Leon Blevins and had an All-American player, Dennis “Mo” Layton. Mo would go on to play at USC with another very good guard named Paul Westphal, and then, like Paul, would play for the Phoenix Suns. Mesa had a third place finish in 1987, when just like for Phoenix and Arizona Western, all of the ACCAC teams were in the same division and was sending a representative to Hutch every year. Coach Bennett had six teams make it to Hutch during his tenure alone, but that 1987 team was his seventh, and was co-coached by him and Royce Youree. They lost to the College of Southern Idaho by one point in the semi-finals when a tipped three pointer banked in. Since the breakout of divisions, Arizona has hardly ever had a team make it to Hutch, as the Region 1 winner has to play the Region 18 winner to get in. The difference in funding for us at Mesa and Region 18 teams is like the difference between NAU and Duke. We kept trying, but the map of Arizona is still blank. I think Mesa is about to give up on it.

We lost to Hutchinson College in the tournament final, but beat two good teams earlier to get there, including Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, which was ranked in the top 25. The whole trip was memorable because of the sheer history of the place. One of the things I loved about playing games in the Midwest over the years was the fan bases of the various teams. They were generally very knowledgeable about basketball and its history; they understood the different strategies that a particular game could have; and they were very loyal to their home teams- and I mean very loyal. In Hutch, some locals really liked us the first two games, and were pleasant to talk to before and after each game. Then, we walked in to play Hutch, they wouldn’t even speak to us. We loved it and appreciated that kind of loyalty.

By the end of December we were at the top of the conference going into the Fiesta Bowl tournament. As mentioned earlier, we defeated Three Rivers Community College from Missouri in the championship game. At that moment, I could not imagine that anyone in the country was playing better than us. Three Rivers was nationally ranked, would ultimately win their very tough region and go to Hutch, and had the winningest coach in junior college history, Gene Bess. We jumped on them early and led 44-25 at the half. I think they were in shock. We still had mostly Arizona kids in those days- before the rise of the prep schools and the NAIA’s in the Valley, so the win was really meaningful to us.

Then the one thing that many coaches find troubling happened to the team. The Fiesta Bowl tournament drew a lot of college coaches from NCAA Division 1 schools, and winning it was a really big deal for them. One of our players, Asaad Woods, was named the tournament MVP, which put him in elite company. The interest from the colleges increased greatly for him, which began to cause a certain friction in the locker room. I think Pat Riley refers to this phenomenon as the “Disease of Me”. This is junior college- everyone comes to juco to develop and move on to a four year school. I never had a player sit down and say “this will do it for me. I just wanted to play juco”.

To make a long story short, our team fractured and succumbed to the disease. We needed to win one of our last three games to make the playoffs. We lost the first two- both by one point. We then traveled to Thatcher to play the season finale against Eastern Arizona. We got behind early and were down double digits most of the second half. Although not liking each other very much, the guys were still competitors and made a strong comeback to be down one with 13 seconds left. We got the ball after Eastern missed a shot at the end of the shot clock, and I decided not to call timeout. I wanted to Eastern to have to scramble back. What happened next encapsulated the team’s demise in the second half of the season. Our point guard came down the floor and looked over the floor and you could see that he had no confidence in who to get the ball to. He deferred on a couple of guys and passed it to a freshman wing- who really did not want it. It was time to make a play and he passed it instead with one second left. We ended up with a terrible shot and our season ended. It was the only time we would not make the playoffs in twelve years at MCC. So, after starting out 11-2 and winning the best holiday tournament in the country, we ended up 17-12. The Disease of Me.

Next time: Building...

The 3rd Annual Capital City Tip-off Classic returns to the high school basketball calendar! The boys' varsity doubleheader will feature the following games:

Friday, December 2
6p Aurora (CO) Regis Jesuit vs. Phoenix (AZ) St. Mary's Catholic
7:30p Goodyear (AZ) Millennium vs. Phoenix (AZ) Brophy College Prep
Games will take place at Brophy College Preparatory (4701 North Central Avenue) in Phoenix.

Past History
'20-'21 @ St. Mary's: Chandler def. Surprise Valley Vista, 63-62; Phoenix Sunnyslope def. Phoenix St. Mary's Catholic, 59-51.
'21-'22 @ Brophy Prep: Gilbert Perry def. Scottsdale Chaparral, 49-36; Phoenix Sunnyslope def. Phoenix Brophy Prep, 43-40.

Marc A. Beasley
Monarch Sports Arizona
@MonarchSportsAZ

Haven't seen anyone posting the links to these shows in a while on the boards so I started a new thread.

Congratulations to Eric and Zach on Episode 100

Take it EZ Sports Show (Ep. 100) 100 episodes with Chilly and Ralph

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Week 1:

Any and all recruiting updates and articles for the 2022-2023 schoolyear will be posted here

Agua Fria Union High School District media day recap from Richard Smith

Updates on Desert Edge, Millennium, Agua Fria, Verrado and Canyon View

ArizonaVarsity Top 10 Preseason Rankings, 6A​

I spent a week convinced that I was going to have Hamilton at #1, waited to see if the AIA was going to grant the Hamilton appeal of their probation to affirm that I'd have Hamilton at #1, slept on it, and them woke up with Hamilton at #3. The reality of losing coach Doherty (assuming he's not involved in any way behind the scenes) had me drop the Huskies to #3 behind Saguaro and Chandler.

I know everyone at the top wants some type of proof that they had doubters, so a pre-emptive 'you're welcome' to Chandler, and an apology to Saguaro for the order of my 1-2. What it came down to for me was simple- the biggest flaw Chandler had last year was the running game, and unless I see for myself that it's been repaired, it was hard for me to give them the top spot over the team that just beat them 9 months ago in the Open final.

Brett Quintyne asked me if this is Basha's best team. I believe it is. And I believe they're going to open some eyes in their opener against Los Alamitos. They have talent everywhere, and a level of buy-in that makes them a legit title contender.

Highland is your returning 6A champion, and I think they'd have made noise in the open had they been included. Brock Farrel is a fantastic coach, and all of the sudden, the Hawks are beyond a neighborhood success story, and becoming a destination school.

The 6-10 spots are the teams that I believe are going to compete for the 1-5 spots in the 6A playoffs, though the better of Liberty and Centennial when the dust settles should absolutely be placed into the Open playoffs. It's wild to think that the eventual 6A champion might not even be in my preseason 6A Top 10, any combination of Mountain Pointe, Brophy, Chaparral, Salpointe and Williams Field could make it happen, and it's crazy to exclude O'Connor and Perry from any playoff conversation as well!

This is the most loaded 6A I've ever seen, and I genuinely believe 12+ teams would be considered the top team in 5A if they were to be placed down a division.

ArizonaVarsity Top 10 Preseason Rankings, 5A​

I'm not asking for pity, but 5A is the hardest division to determine a TRUE top 10. My top 10 is attempting to project what the top 10 will look like at the end of 2022, but a true top 10 probably includes teams from three of the eight regions (San Tan, Desert West and Northeast Valley).

In a perfect world, none of these teams get included in an open division playoff, because none of these teams would be included in a top 10 ranking of 6A.

But the AIA, in its infinite wisdom, has decided that both promotion and an Open Division playoff will help create more parity, which is like opening the window and the refrigerator to cool your house.

Angry rant aside, I do like four teams that have been opening round warm up acts in the Open over the last three years to finish atop the 5A.

Desert Edge plays a tough schedule, and is replacing some serious talent, but the talent they have left, and the continuity of having the Carter brothers around for three years should go a long way in helping them finish at the top. ALA Queen Creek is talented, runs a fantastic offense, and has the returning talent on defense to justify being a favorite to compete for a 5A title if they don't get pulled up. Horizon is well coached, and WR Cole Linyard showed toward the end of last year that he should be on everyone's 5A Playe of the Year watchlist. Desert Mountain has a tough schedule, but QB play might be the thing that sets them apart in the end.

I like Cienega to go undefeated in region, even if they start the year at 2-3, and I feel strongly about the star power of Marana QB Elijah Joplin and Apollo RB Adam Mohammed leading them to region titles as well. Central should probably pull off a region title, and be a playoff team, but I have them outside the top 12 as far as end of season rankings.

Higley has somehow managed to go under the radar after struggling through a youth movement, and I think anyone sleeping on them is making a mistake.

The two teams I debated including, and would love to be proven wrong about, are Millennium and Gilbert. Zeus Pindernation and Cooper Zellner are fantastic talents, and either team needs to have a strong in-region run to get into the postseason.

The division I know the least about is the 5A Central Valley, but if I had to guess, Paradise Valley and Copper Canyon will take the region title down to the wire.

ArizonaVarsity Top 10 Preseason Rankings, 4A​

The 4A Division is filled with teams that were competitive in 3A over the last couple of years, so this might be the most complicated prognostication of the 2022 season. There are a handful of teams that didn't make my preseason top 10 that it felt strange to exclude so that I could fit in teams from last year's 3A playoffs, and teams I felt were ready to make a leap had they stayed in 3A this year that I couldn't justify including in a 4A top 10 (looking at you, Arizona College Prep).

I have Poston Butte as my 4A title favorite heading into the 2022 season, and as the 2021 runner up, some might think this is obvious, but the Broncos have to replace a very productive and athletic starting QB. According to the AIA Sollenberger preseason magazine, PB has five different players competing to take that spot over, and that went a long way into restoring my confidence that Cade Alissa, Conor Lopez and company would be back competing for a title.

I'm all in on Yuma Catholic being able to make a smooth transition to 4A title contender, because of the absurdly prolific passing offense that most 4A defenses will be completely unprepared for. Not only is Richard Stallworth the odds on favorite for 4A player of the Year, if he does what he did last year after the Shamrocks got moved up to 4A, the overall Arizona player of the Year has to be a reality.

I have Canyon del Oro in my top 3, in part because I think they're the class of their region. If they can beat St. Mary's on the road, they might have a legitimate shot at a 10-0 regular season.

Prescott over Coconino as the lone Grand Canyon region representative is something I went back and forth over, but Prescott's performance in last year's playoffs has me thinking they haven't peaked just yet.

I think ALA Gilbert North is more than ready for this challenge, and at the same time, if they aren't ready, a 3-7 record isn't hard to imagine either. They're probably the team with the greatest variance in what their end of season record can be.

There are three teams besides Coconino that I didn't include in my top 10 that I might be embarrassed about at the end of the season. Apache Junction, Walden Grove, and Lake Havasu all have players that I'm excited about, and schedules that I can envision might work out in their favor.

I was able to catch the Thatcher vs Eastmark game this week, and it's ultimately what led me to give Thatcher the #1 designation over Pusch Ridge despite Pusch Ridge starting the season 2-0. Normally I wouldn't displace the preseason #1 team for any reason other than losing, but Thatcher getting a win over a then-top-5 ranked Round Valley, followed by beating another top 5 team in Eastmark, earned them this spot.

But just because Pusch Ridge got bumped down doesn't mean I'm not impressed with QB Bubba Mustain and his 8 TD passes in the first two weeks.

The actual ending of the Thatcher/Eastmark game was one of the stranger conclusions I've ever seen. Down 30-28, Thatcher ran the ball on every down until they were inside the Eastmark 10-yard line, then on 2nd and goal, brought in kicker Jett Howard to attempt the game winner. Eastmark blocked the kick, and Jett Howard recovered the ball himself, which gave Thatcher another attempt at the game winner. Thatcher didn;t have any time outs though, so the clock would have run out, but an Eastmark player was injured on the FG attempt, giving Thatcher the time needed to re-set and re-attempt.

They nailed it, and won.

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Some players that impressed me are Eastmark QB Mack Molander, and his massive TE target Ramar Williams (6-4, 235). On the Thatcher end, RB Ayden Bingham and QB Brandon Napier are a very dangerous pair. They carved up Round Valley, but to see what they did on the final drive in a game in which they were trailing in both the first half and fourth quarter was really special.

3A is by far the deepest conference when it comes to teams in consideration for a top 10 spot. Kingman, Arizona Lutheran and Benson all have a case. While I support teams that have a long history of success in a division being moved up by the AIA, two good years and a championship, in the case of a school like Arizona Lutheran, doesn't make sense to me. So if it seems like there's a lack of respect for Arizona Lutheran, a team @codytcameron went out and covered this last week, I don't mean it that way. I'm just not sure they're ready to be a top team in a higher division just yet.

ArizonaVarsity Top 10 Rankings: 2A (8/30/2022)


Willcox beating the brakes off of Gilbert Christian caused a rankings shake-up this week, and while stats haven't been uploaded yet, I was able to find a link to watch a replay of the game. (Check it out for a wildly unsafe fireworks display at the 41:30 mark) Cristian Pando had himself a game, setting the tone early with a first quarter TD, and defensively, Gilbert Christian had no answer for 6-4, 230-lb Willcox DL Darrek Lee, and FRESHMAN Christian Teeters had a fourth down sack that really impressed me. Up 13-0, sophomore Remington Todd took a ball right out of a receivers' hands for an interception, and Aidan Fuentes scored his second consecutive TD (He had 3 on the day) to make the game 20-0 at the half. Gilbert Christian closed the gap to 26-14 toward the end of the third quarter, but Willcox responded with a near 8-minute Pando TD drive to slam the door shut on any chance of a comeback.

If I had to give anyone on Willcox some pub that hadn't previously been mentioned, Willcox DL Mikey Martinez and LB David Allred are fantastic passrushers on a loaded 2A defense.

Also a bit of a surprise is San Tan Charter sitting at 2-0. After letting last year's coach (Kerry Taylor) go, some might be surprised to see STC have early success.

New to the top 10 this week are Miami, who defeated Chandler Prep, and Sequoia Pathway, who got two fumble recoveries from Kyrese Banks and three rushing TDs from Kevin McIntosh in a blowout over Veritas Prep.

Maintaining the top 3 spots are Pima, Scottsdale Prep, and Morenci.

CTown Rivals Podcast: Season 10, Episode 1

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Showing some love to the PXU this week and heading out to Central to see the 5-1 Bobcats against Fairfax. Central is ranked No. 13 in the 5A right now and needs to win out to make the playoffs for the first time since 2009 (8-2 won't cut it).

Fairfax is 3-3 and has played four straight games decided by 1 or 2 points! They've split those, so the Stampede is thisclose to being 5-1. . . . of course that means BFHS is also close to being 1-5. The Stampede have a balanced offense scoring 9 touchdowns rushing (7 from senior Andre Branch) and 7 passing (behind senior QB Anthony Escobedo).

Central brings the aerial show of a pass game averaging 268 yards per game led by senior Dom Bagchi. He has 20 TD passes (with just 2 INTs) and has completed 65 percent of his throws. 13 of those touchdowns have been caught by Kohnor Roque-Brown (7) and Breon Ballard (6). I went to Central last year, but Bagchi was out with an injury.

Fairfax is the newest of the 10 Phoenix Union high schools (opened in 2007 and played first varsity season in 2009) and the Stampede has never lost to Central (7-0 all-time). However, this is the Bobcats' best team during that time.

Central sits No. 13 and is helped by its win over No. 14 Paradise Valley (also 5-1). The Trojans continuing to win will help CHS. The remaining schedule after #33 Fairfax is Maricopa (#42), McClintock (#29) and Camelback (#20). Central is only 0.83 ahead of #17 Sunnyslope, who has a couple tough games remaining. It would be disastrous if Central missed the playoffs at 9-1 and if that happens, I hope there is a move to reward region champions with playoff spots once again. The Bobcats' loss was to Casa Grande, which is currently #15.

I know the top-4 but that is really it--I got this list from a 3A head coach who knows his league well..

The birth of the Fiesta Bowl Junior College Shootout....

I am writing this blog to help people understand what high school and junior college basketball are like- mostly for those who are considering making a career of coaching it. This seems like the right forum for that. If I can influence one person in some way in their career choice, that's great. I have tremendous respect for coaches.

Over the summer of 2010, and into the fall, we brainstormed about possible sponsors for our new holiday tournament. It finally dawned on me that earlier in my career, while I was coaching at Camelback High School, we had proposed to the Fiesta Bowl organization a revival of their Compadre Classic, which had been held for many years at Chandler High School before dying out. Our proposal had gone so far as to having a meeting with the bowl committee at their headquarters office in Tempe. At that time, the spring of 1997, the committee and organization was led by John Junker. We came to the meeting with a slick pamphlet for each member and made a good enough impression on them that they approved the idea. It would start in December, 1997 and be held at Camelback High School. In those years, the Metro Conference was still very powerful, so the idea of four inner city schools competing against four teams from out of state had a strong appeal to the Fiesta Bowl people, who, thanks to an influx of money from their highly successful bowl game, were looking for exactly that kind of charitable sporting event. Then there was a problem…I left for a new position at Mountain Pointe High School.

Why would that be a problem, you say? Just bring your tournament with you, right? Well, Mountain Pointe High School already had a working agreement with the Fiesta Bowl to host one of the bowl participants annually as a practice facility. That meant all locker rooms were off limits right during the time when we would be having the basketball tournament. It never occurred to me to ask a sister school out in Tempe to host our tournament, and McClintock with head coach Doc Zinke evidently had a pretty good one going out there anyway. So, the Fiesta Bowl idea was dropped.

Fast forward to 2010, sitting in the office with the coaches at MCC. It just popped into my head- John Junker was still in charge of the Fiesta Bowl organization, which had grown even bigger and more powerful over the ensuing years. Tragically, that would change forever not long after, but not yet on that day. I told the guys the story of our meeting with the Fiesta Bowl and how much they liked our idea back in 1997- perhaps they would like the idea of a junior college tournament aimed at the very best NJCAA Division 1 junior colleges in the country. I called and they were interested. John Junker and a few other people actually came over to MCC to talk with us about it. This began a very important relationship, financial and otherwise, with the Fiesta Bowl organization that would last the entire length of my career at Mesa. Within a few short years, we had the best teams in the country coming to what was considered the second best junior college tournament in the nation, outside of the national D1 tournament in Hutchinson, Kansas. There were several times when one of teams in the tournament would go on to win the national title, and there were some other times when the eventual national champion would lose in the Fiesta Bowl Junior College Shootout.

Several times, undefeated teams would arrive for the tournament. During one tournament, number 1 ranked Monroe College of New York came in at 13-0 and left at 13-3. Their coach swore to us that he would never return, but competition and vanity overtook him, and he returned at 13-0 again in 2013, only to be beaten by the Mesa Community College Thunderbirds in the championship game of that edition. The last tournament to be held had the number 1, 2, and 5 teams in the NJCAA D1 rankings in it. Can you imagine if Arizona State held such a tournament annually at their level? It would be widely publicized and attended. The Maui Invitational comes to mind as something comparable. But this was junior college- so there was absolutely no media attention and you would never know that we actually won the tournament twice- in 2011, defeating Three Rivers, Missouri, who had the winningest coach in NJCAA history- Gene Bess; and the aforementioned 2013 victory over Monroe. Think about it- we were 1-0 against the winningest coach in history and 1-0 against the winningest junior college program in history (Moberly)!

The 2010-2011 team was a tale of two seasons. We got off to a good start by winning two games in Utah against Snow College and nationally ranked Salt Lake City. Then, about a third of the way into the schedule, we lost both of our point guards to injury. These were two really good players- Travis Timmons from Tucson, and John Balwigaire from California.

Gotta stop right here and mention these two guys. Mike Grothaus and I came into the office one day during that first season of 2008-09, and checked the phone messages like we always did. One came up from Dan Munson, the head coach at Long Beach State. It was a very long message where Dan told us about a kid he had signed who was a great player and person. He went on and on about his family and his high school career, and Mike and I were just looking at each other like “great story- what does this have to do with us?” After several minutes, Dan said that the kid turned out to be ineligible and had become so depressed that he moved out of his house and went to live with his aunt in Arizona. And he had enrolled at Mesa Community College. Dan said we should find him. His name was John Balwigaire. We agreed immediately. And then we found him, and he was all Dan said and more. He spent almost three years with us, was a great player- a better person- got a D1 scholarship to Wright State, and is now an assistant coach at the college level.

Travis Timmons enrolled in our walk-on class, but didn’t make our 2010 team, which was loaded. He was a guard out of Tucson. Mike Grothaus, who ran the walk-on class really liked Travis and told him to come back in the spring when we would start building our 2011 team. A lot of guys wouldn’t have done that, especially these days, but Travis came to most of our games, and then was there in the spring. He became our point guard for the next two seasons, went on to Southeastern Oklahoma State, and is now, like John, a college assistant. I cherish the friendship that I have with these two young men to this day, which is the best part of coaching.

You know what they say- you can’t win without good guard play, and that was certainly true for the next nine games without John and Travis. We lost them all. I had never been through that as a player or coach. We had no one who we believed could be a point forward, and we were big up front, but not overly skilled there. We had a freshman shooting guard, Jeff Coon, from Las Vegas, who was exactly that- a shooting guard. He was not a point guard nor a combo guard in any sense of the words. He got pressed into service to try and run the team, but it was tough for him. He was a great kid, but those nine games were a disaster for him. Teams in conference knew that we were in trouble and pressured Jeff and our forwards mercilessly.

We used a rating system for scoring how players did in games. A lot of coaches do, and it can be a good tool for pinpointing things that individual players needed to work on, as well as highlighting team needs. If a player scored anywhere from a +5 to a -5 in a particular game, that was considered an average score. A +6 to a +15 was a good game score, and above +16 was an excellent effort. In the other direction, a -6 to a -15 was considered a bad game score, and a -16 or lower was gradually more awful. In one of the games, Jeff Coon scored a -36. After the film session where we scored the game, as the lights in the room came back on, Jeff said “other than that, how was I?” Like I said, he was a great kid.

We did get both guards back near the end of the season, but the nine league losses had put us in a perilous position for making the playoffs. We would have to win our last three games to get in, and the last one would be against the #1 Division 2 team in the nation- South Mountain Community College at their place. We won the first two and then headed over to face the Cougars and their star player, Michael Craig. We won that one, too, and then had to face our nemesis- Arizona Western in the first round of the conference playoffs in Yuma. We literally led the entire game- by as many as 11 in the second half until the last three seconds- losing by one. We ended up having a losing record, 13-18, but were actually better than that. I know a lot of coaches say that, but we really were. Look up John Wooden's definition of success. This team fit.

Next time: Another big run begins...

I’m bringing back the student section power rankings! I had a lot of fun with this last year and I think it’s a good way to keep all the schools involved. I’ve talked with some of my fellow media members some of whom are on here and asked them to give me the best they’ve seen so far this year… Here’s the top ten so far 👀

1. Basha “Bear Den” (Defending Champs) @bashabearden
2. Liberty “Uproar” @libertyuproar
3. Perry “Hype Squad” @perrypuma_pit
4. Hamilton “Dawg Pound”@DawgPound2023
5. Mountain Ridge “Ridge Army” @Ridge_Army
6. O’Connor “The Nest”
7. Corona Del Sol “The Tribe”
8. Chaparral “The Birdcage”
9. Horizon “The Dawg Pound”
10. Notre Dame Prep *Didn’t get the official name*

We might as well talk about it

This week brings a chance to look at how far Pinnacle has come in the past 2 years. The Pioneers (4-1) play at Chaparral (3-3) on Friday in Scottsdale. In 2020, I was at the season finale of the COVID-shortened season (also at Chap). Pinnacle lost on that night, 52-10 to finish at 3-4 and miss the 6A playoffs (only 8 teams went that year). Chaparral was 3-2 and made the playoffs. The Firebirds went on to win the '20 title (6A) and return to the championship the next year.

A total of 6 Pinnacle players, who were sophomores, suited up for that game and made the box score (not sure how many O-Linemen there were, but Elijah Paige was probably one of them). One of the sophomores was Devon Dampier, who is of course, now at Saguaro. The others?

Running back Jacobie Rucker and receivers Duce Robinson & Myles Libman. Rucker has 4 rushing TDs this year while Robinson (511 yards, 8 TDs) and Libman (366 yards, 4 TDs) are probably the best WR tandem in the state. On defense, Jadeim Birthwright and Coleson Arends (who is now mostly used as a TE) were on that Pioneer team.

Pinnacle is ranked No. 5 in the first Open ratings, which came as a surprise to many. The Pioneers have beaten El Camino (who is 5-2), Queen Creek (by 26), Horizon (by 35), and Valley Vista (by 48). The lone loss is to #1 Liberty. After this one, PHS still has Brophy before finishing with Highland, Saguaro, and Centennial. Can the Pioneers make the Open at 8-2?

Chaparral has had closer games with 4 of its 6 being decided by 4 or fewer points. The wins came against Salpointe & Queen Creek while the losses were to Desert Mountain & Mountain View. The Firebirds have an impressive win over Mountain Pointe (31-13), but a loss to Williams Field when Dylan Lee ran for 518 yards. CHS is ranked #8 in the first 6A rankings, so should remain in a good position to make another playoff run.

In addition to the 2020 loss to Chaparral, Pinnacle saw its season end in '21 in the quarterfinals against the Firebirds (41-36), so there is a revenge factor at play.

Here we go again.

Already know of 3 job openings!
I think--

I think WF was just an interim job

Over under normally at 25ish.

The first championship...

Stephen Rogers was a 6’8’ wing with superb skills, who had played on a great Mesa Mountain View state championship team in 2005. Stephen had signed with the University of San Diego and then gone on an LDS church mission for two years. While he was gone, USD had fired their coach and the new staff did not seem as interested in Stephen as the old staff was. That was incredible, because Stephen was a player- a big time player. He then ended up at Arizona State University, who had tried to recruit him out of high school. They characterized Stephen as “soft”, but Mike Grothaus had played some city league with him and said that he was anything but soft. ASU decided to redshirt him for a year, and Stephen became disenchanted with that program. Mike had gotten to know him and immediately pitched the idea of coming to Mesa. It turned out that Salt Lake City Community College had gotten wind of Stephen’s desire to leave, and they also got into the mix. SLCC is a perennial top ten Division 1 junior college program, who could offer a full ride that included room and board. Mike was relentless and eventually Stephen committed to us.

Even though we had a strong returning group and now had Stephen Rogers, we were picked to finish 7th in the coach’s poll. More locker room material. We opened the season in, of all places, Salt Lake City. We beat Snow College the first night, then lost to Salt Lake the next night. I know some of their coaches were looking at Stephen like “dude, you should have come here.”

Stephen was definitely a difference maker. In only our second year, we beat Arizona Western all three times we played them, and went 25-7 overall while playing an all D1 non-conference schedule, which included going 19-3 in the ACCAC. We lost to Cochise College twice by one point during the regular season, but beat them 72-69 at their place for the Region 1 championship. That was Mesa’s first region championship in men’s basketball since the splitting of the colleges into divisions- about twenty years earlier. The long bus ride back from Douglas was one of the most memorable things in my coaching career. In the old pre-division days, that victory in the championship game would have been good enough to earn a trip to the National Tournament in Hutchinson, Kansas. I really felt like we had a team that was strong enough to contend for the national championship. Since the Arizona league had six Division 2 teams in it, the NJCAA would no longer offer a bid to go straight there from the region tournament. We had to go through Region 18- which had teams from Utah, Idaho, and Colorado. It was a very strong region.

Three days after beating Cochise, we were tasked with going to Salt Lake City to play their region championship team, which was the College of Eastern Utah. I remember walking in to the gym at SLCC and seeing the Salt Lake CC coaches, who had earlier questioned his decision to go to MCC. Stephen Rogers walked by them kind of looking proud to be a T-Bird. Eastern Utah was coached by Chris Craig, which is another whole story in itself; and had the nation’s leading rebounder in Michael Glover. Glover would go on to Iona University, where he led the NCAA D1 in rebounding. Their entire front line were NCAA Division 1 commits, so we knew this was going to be tough. It was a great game, but we lost by one point in overtime, which was devastating. If this was the NCAA, we would have gone on as an at-large pick, but that's what makes the NJCAA D1 tournament so hard to win. This had been such a fun team to coach, and they would never be together again. CEU went on to reach the national semi-finals in Hutchinson, and was actually leading Howard College of Texas by 16 with 4:30 left in the game. I was watching the game back in my office in Mesa and saw Howard put on the obligatory, down 16 press, and then sat amazed as CEU self-destructed and lost. This was followed a few months later by Chris Craig self-destructing, which made a big story in Sports Illustrated.

There were other side notes from that 2009-10 season. One of the goals that we had coming in the door was to resurrect the old Mesa Rotary Shootout, which for a time, had been the best junior college holiday tournament in the nation. We went to the Rotarians in Mesa and made a pitch, but evidently they had ended their relationship with MCC on bad terms and were really not interested in our pitch about tradition. We plunged ahead anyway and put together a tournament that year which did not have a major sponsor. MCC did not pay for these types of tournaments- they just let us use our gym. We had to come up with money for all tournament costs, including room guarantees for the out of state participants, which proved to be substantial and a major headache. It was obvious that we were going to have to find a major sponsor for this event if it was going to continue. We would. More on that later.

Also, Stephen Rogers was named the conference player of the year, as well as becoming a Division 1 All-American. He was technically a freshman, but was being actively recruited by every major conference in the country. ASU never contacted us about him- I guess he was still too soft for them. There was a glimmer of hope that he liked us coaches so much that he would return to Mesa, where we gave him an unbelievable $325 per semester, but that was crushed when BYU came calling. BYU had an excellent team with a great player named Jimmer Fredette, and it turned out that Stephen’s father had been the one to convert the Fredette family to the LDS church when he was on his mission in New York. So, Stephen got to play with Jimmer and was a starter on a team that reached the NCAA Sweet Sixteen. But, we were blessed to have gotten to know Stephen and his family, and being able to be around him as a player was amazing, as was the whole 2010 team. I’ll never forget walking with Stephen’s Mom through our gym lobby one day and she said to me “you guys must not have much pride in your athletic program”. She was referring to our trophy case, which, in fact, was a mess. There was massive dust, people had tucked candy wrappers into some of the openings, some trophies were either knocked over or broken, and some of the neon lights were flickering or out completely. To be honest, it was one of those things that we expected someone else to be in charge of, so we just kind of left it alone. After the season, I spent part of everyday for almost a month fixing it up. Eventually, the school completely overhauled it, so perhaps there will be no repeat of Mrs. Roger’s comment.

Another side note from 2010, was that as conference coach of the year, I was tabbed to be the head coach the Arizona team in the first (and only) Arizona vs. the United States junior college all star game in Las Vegas. The game would be held at the Orleans Arena in conjunction with the Nike Basketball Coaches Clinic, which was the largest coaches clinic in the world at the time. Our team and MCC coaches were also invited to the NJCAA Coaches Hall of Fame banquet at the same venue. Now, I’m not sure who came up with the idea of pitting Arizona’s all star team against the rest of the nation, but knowing what we knew already about what was out there, it didn’t seem like the fairest of match ups. Only sophomores were allowed to play by NJCAA rule, so right off the bat, our conference player of the year was ineligible, because he was technically a freshman. We had some pretty decent players, but only a handful who were NCAA Division 1 commits. The United States team was loaded with D1 commits, including national player of the year Jae Crowder from Howard College. Am I setting you all up for the story of a real massacre? We practiced for three days and then drove vans to Las Vegas. The USA team guys all flew in. We were actually leading at the half, 52-48. I told my son Jordan to take a picture of the scoreboard- we could say we won to people back in Phoenix and show them the picture. I mean, no one in Arizona even knew this game was happening, right? The second half, the USA team, and especially Jae Crowder and Michael Glover asserted themselves and won handily. But, we gave them a go. From then on, the game would be a traditional East-West affair.

Next time: the Fiesta Bowl Junior College Shootout is born...