It’s down to two candidates – one internal, one external – for the chance to be the next Corona del Sol football coach.
Ken Olson was a longtime assistant at Corona under now-retired Gary Venturo. He teaches at the school (a plus) and has weight room experience (also a plus).
Phoenix South Mountain coach Zane Zamenski is the other finalist. He took over the program two years ago after being an assistant under George De La Torre for a few years prior. De La Torre left to coach Florence.  Zamenski went 8-3 …

Chandler boys basketball coach Mike Ellsworth has been suspended for the remainder of the season for producing a flier with the names of four players that quit the team.
The incident happened early last week, and Ellsworth has not been on the bench for the past two games.
He declined comment on Tuesday, as did athletic director Dave Shapiro.
Assistant Kyle Darr has been promoted and is expected to remain the interim head coach until the end of the season. He was the freshman head coach for a season and has been an …

I had several conversations Tuesday involving the football coaching searches in the East Valley, but school officials and the candidates themselves were pretty mum on what is about to take place. My gut feeling, however, tells me that Queen Creek’s next coach might be a former East Valley standout who won a state title at Mountain View, won a Rose Bowl and owns a Super Bowl ring as a backup to Kurt Warner in St. Louis.
That guy is Joe Germaine, who is one of several candidates interviewed for the position. …

Nobody remotely affiliated with Corona del Sol will say (or claim to know) anything about the Aztecs football coaching search, so after much scouring, secrecy, prodding and pleading with outsiders, here are four candidates  who feel like front runners to replace Gary Venturo.
Naturally, it’s all unofficial.
–Tim Kelly and Ken Olson:  Both were assistants under Venturo the past few years. Both have weight room experience, both know the kids, neighborhood and already have a school presence. The big questions are experience, philosophy and whether the Aztec administration decides to change directions …

Hamilton offensive tackle Christian Westerman Jr. and Valley Christian quarterback/safety/punter Jordan Morgan were named to the ESPN Rise magazine’s first-team among the nation’s junior class.
The 6-foot-8, 280-pound Westerman was a catalyst for Hamilton’s second consecutive state championship as he paved the way for Zach Bauman and Michael Allen to rush for 1,000 yards.
Morgan is a two-time All-State player who led Valley Christian to the 2A state championship. He threw for 23 touchdowns to four interceptions, rushed for 1,450 yards and 20 touchdowns, had 139 tackles and five interceptions on defense …

Saguaro offensive coordinator Matt Lewis is one of two finalists for the Red Mountain coaching gig, he said Friday.
He also has a second interview at Corona del Sol early next week for its vacant head coaching position after originally interviewing on Thursday.
Lewis was the offensive coordinator for the final pair of state titles in Saguaro’s run of three straight from 2006-2008. He has also been a head coach in Texas.
Lewis said he has not been contacted by Queen Creek, which also has an opening.

Red Mountain athletic director Mike Anderson said Friday the school likely will go to Monday, perhaps a bit later, before announcing a new coach. Background check by Mesa Unified School District human resources personnel are still not complete. Anderson was hoping a hire could be confirmed by Friday. The next week or two could be wild in terms of coaching hires with three local schools still without a coach – Red Mountain, Corona del Sol and Queen Creek.

A top-notch 5A Division I girls soccer matchup between Xavier and Desert Vista has been moved to Saturday at 2 p.m. at Xavier/Brophy field.
It was originally supposed to be played on Friday at 6 p.m. at Desert Vista but the Thunder’s field is flooded.
Brophy will host the Desert Vista boys on the same field at noon on Saturday preceding the girls match.
Xavier will also play a make-up match against Hamilton on Monday at 3:30 p.m. in a match which was supposed to have been played on Wednesday.
The Red Mountain-Hamilton girls …

A couple of basketball games involving East Valley schools were affected by the area’s biggest set of storms since 1993.
Hamilton and Xavier’s girls basketball teams played to a 57-57 tie after regulation Tuesday night and couldn’t finish the game due to a leaky roof at Xavier. There had been minor problems with drips during the game and once it got to overtime the schools closed it out. The game will be continued with the start of overtime on Jan. 27 at 6 p.m. at Xavier.
On Thursday night, Seton Catholic …

San Tan Foothills, a 3A school in Queen Creek (although part of the Coolidge Unified School District) that recently completed its first year of varsity-level athletics, is ready for a new direction.
The first step was hiring Rodger Schenks, a longtime coach in the East Valley who’s most recently been the offensive coordinator at Red Mountain. His first day at San Tan is Friday.
Schenks’ various successes at the 5A level and his 3A state championship at Globe in 2002 made him stand him apart from the 20 other candidates who applied.
“He’s …