Arizona High School Sports - SportZine Magazine

    High school athletes will have an opportunity on Friday, Nov. 28, to get a free assessment to find out how prepared they are for the next season. Velocity Sports Performance will conduct the Combine at its Scottsdale facility, beginning at 1:30 p.m.
    The Combine will include speed tests (30/40 yard sprints), vertical jump measurements, upper body power assessments, and agility tests. The testing will be done indoors on a Mondo track and artificial turf areas with electronic equipment to assure accurate and reproducible results.
    Velocity Sports Performance is the largest athletic performance training organization in Scottsdale and North America. It helps athletes maximize agility, speed, flexibility, and energy systems with an emphasis on injury prevention, recovery/regeneration and nutrition.
    Each participant will be required to have a parental release form filled out at Velocity on the day of the event. Warm-ups will begin at 1:30 and testing will follow immediately afterwards.
    To register for this free event, open to all athletes 10 years or older, call Velocity at 480-503-8212.

    High school athletes are being challenged to complete a series of five simple exercises, as Ikei Sports Performance searches for those 'with the heart of a champion and pride of a warrior." The winners earn the right to over $1,000 in prizes - and the satisfaction of knowing they have also participated in the fight against autism.
    The company has created the "Warrior Fitness Challenge" for high school students in grades 9-12, and invites participants to challenge their friends, classmates, and teammates to see who can earn "Warrior' status. Five simple exercises are required: Pull-up, Push-up, Squat, Sit-up, and 300-yard run.
    Ikei Performance is using this event to help support The Travis Laboy Foundation - Supporting Autistic Causes for Kids (S.A.C.K.). Proceeds from the Challenge will help benefit S.A.C.K.
    The cost to participate is $25 per person, or $35 for two participants, and sessions are held weekly. Prizes include free personal training sessions, an autographed NFL football, Arizona Cardinals Travis Laboy jersey, Sunfare gourmet meal delivery service, and T-shirts.
    To find out more about the Warrior Fitness Challenge, call 480.657.6937 or email: info@ikeiperformance.com.

    Former Peoria High School football stand-out Keegan Herring, now in his senior year at ASU, and Dexter Davis, a junior on the Sun Devil football squad and former player at Thunderbird High School, were named as players being considered for some of the nation's most coveted football honors.
    Herring has been named a candidate for the 2008 Doak Walker Award, which is awarded annually to the nation's top running back. He is currently ranked 10th on ASU's all-time rushing list, with 2,234 yards coming into the season, and has three straight seasons of averaging more than five yards per carry.
    Davis has been named to the Watch List for the 2008 Rotary Lombardi Award, which is presented annually to the nation's best football lineman or linebacker, and to the Watch List for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy for the best defensive player in college football. He has started all 26 games in his ASU career and has led the Devils in sack both seasons. Last season, he tied for third in the Pac 10 with 10.5 sacks, and also had 33 tackles - for a total of 73 tackles over two seasons.
    Finalists for the Doak Walker Award will be announced on Nov. 24 and the recipient selected on Dec. 1.   A list of 12 semi-finalists for the Lombardi Award is released at the end of October, with the winner announced on Dec. 10.

A final thank-you to the high school football coaches from around the Valley that submitted information to enable us to feature their schools and, more importantly, to be able to recognize their athletes.

   CLOSING OUT our 2008 preview, we take a look at some of the teams that scored big last year and plan to be back at the top of the heap again this season. We include State 5A champion Brophy Prep and a variety of regional champs as this final segment includes Buckeye Union HS, Corona del Sol HS, Deer Valley HS, Higley HS, and Mountain Ridge HS.

    "I'm looking forward to working with another hard-working bunch of young men," says Brophy Prep's head coach Scooter Molander. "(It's) another year and more fun challenges!"
    The challenge for Molander is whether his Broncos are up to defending their 5A I State Championship in 2008. The Broncs went 12-2 in 2007, winning the Desert Valley regional championship enroute to its second state title in three years.
    Molander has 10 returning starters, on both sides of the line, to work with as he builds this year's program. His senior defensive end, 6-5 Trenton Murphy, is already picking his way through a pile of offers from D-I college programs.
    Joining Murphy again this year are senior linebackers Matt Padilla (All-State), Adam Holzmeister (2nd team All-State), and Brandon Boyardi, also a stand-out on the Bronco baseball team.

We want to continue to thank the high school football coaches who have submitted the information that is enabling SportZine to recognize their schools and, especially, their athletes in our Preview.

ROUNDING OUT our segment on those schools trying to make the turn this year after posting sub-par seasons in 2007, we are featuring Agua Fria HS, Arcadia HS, and Bourgade Catholic HS.
    NEXT UP... the schools that were successful in 2007, but have set their sights on continuing their winning ways in 2008. Coming in the next segment: Brophy Prep HS, Buckeye HS, Corona del Sol HS, Deer Valley HS, Higley HS, and Mountain Ridge HS.

    Agua Fria coach, Kelly Epley, says his Owls will know this week which way their season will go. They play Apache Junction HS Friday night and Epley says, "That's the game that's going to make or break our season. It's a game that we can win."
    The Owls are a 4A I team that play in the West Valley Region. They are coming off a 4-7 season last year, but still managed a playoff berth. This year, they are counting on 15 seniors to lead the way back to the playoffs. Last year, they started a lot of juniors and sophomores, but Epley points out that "Every team is only as good as its seniors." And he feels he has some good ones in Justin Lewis, who will play both ways at defensive end and tight end; running back Jordan Yancey; and 250 lb. offensive tackle Ramon Lopez. The Owls' strength this year lies largely in the offensive and defensive lines.

The Arizona Interscholastic Association recently announced that the 4A and 5A high school football championships will be moved to Glendale this year, to be played in the new Arizona Cardinals stadium. Class 4A and 5A Division II title games are scheduled to be played on Dec. 2 , and the Class 4A and 5A Division I will be on Dec. 9.

Treg Jeffery is beginning to bring things into focus… which is not good news for the rest of the runners in 4A-I this year.

The senior at Moon Valley High School plays soccer, ran a year of cross-country, and is putting in his fourth year on the track team, where he was state champion last year in the 400 meter and 800 meter and anchored the 4x400 relay.

Ann Meyers Drysdale steps out of broadcasting and onto the floor at US Airways Center, where she will take the reins of General Manager of the Phoenix Mercury. She plans to provide an exciting brand of winning basketball that will draw high school fans to the women’s game.

Text messaging is the newest recruiting
tool of college coaches – and some are concerned
that it is becoming too intrusive into
the lives of highly-prized high school athletes.

Week four proved to be a focal point for the Peoria panthers and the Westview Knights. Both teams had been ranked in the Top 5 during the opening weeks of the season, but by the fourth game of the season, Peoria had dropped from the rankings and needed a win against Westview to re-establish its footing.