Here is the Desert Sky all-region teams, led by Saguaro point guard Jack Connors, who was named the Player of the Year.
Click on the links for the Central and East Valley and Desert Valley all-region teams.
Desert Sky All-Region
Region Player of the Year: Jack Connors – Saguaro – Sr
Coach of the Year: Bob La Rue – Saguaro
3-point shootout participant: Ryan Berg – Saguaro
First Team
Cameron Forte – McClintock – Sr
Casey Perrin – Cactus Shadows – Sr
Jalen Richard – Poston Butte – Soph
Maurice Kirby – Poston …

Horizon combo guard Collin Woods was named the Desert Valley’s Region Player of the Year after averaging 21.8 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game this season. He has signed to play with UC-Irvine next year.
Below is the rest of the all-region teams from the Desert Valley. Here is where to find the Central and East Valley region teams. Anyone with the other all-region teams can e-mail me at kodegard@evtrib.com with the information and I will post it in the blog.
First team
Collin Woods- Horizon (POY)
Drew Bender- Pinnacle
Peter Smith- …

The Arizona Baseball Coaches Association has released its state rankings. Here they are:
5A-I
1. Gilbert 3-3
2. Brophy 6-1
3. Hamilton 6-1
4. Mesquite 5-1
5. Mountain Pointe 4-1
5A-II
1. Horizon 2-3
2. Ironwood Ridge 2-1
3. Boulder Creek 4-2
4. Pinnacle 7-0
5. Chaparral 2-2
4A-I
1. Saguaro 4-3
2. Sunrise Mountain 2-0
3. Catalina Foothills 4-2
4. Canyon del Oro 2-0
5. Sabino 4-1
4A-II
1. Notre Dame 3-5
2. Greenway 4-0
3. Liberty 4-2
4. Arcadia 6-1
5. Thunderbird 2-0
3A
1. Blue Ridge 4-1
2. Florence 6-0
3. Estrella Foothills 4-0
4. River Valley 3-2
5. Safford 1-1
2A
1. Scottsdale Christian 0-0
2. Phoenix Christian 4-0
3. Yuma Catholic 1-1
4. Pusch Ridge 0-2
5. Camp Verde 3-0
1A
1. Bagdad …

Phoenix Union Relays
Chandler got the 2011 season off to the flying start, as both the boys and girls teams won the team titles at Friday’s Phoenix Union Relays at Maryvale High School.
The girls won all but two events (and they didn’t have any competitors in one of those) and scored 110 points, 50 more than second-place Dobson. The boys had 99 points, well ahead of South Mountain’s 40.
It took the Chandler girls just one week to post a faster time than anyone did in 2010 in the 400 meter …

When I covered the Mesquite-Gilbert baseball championship game of the Scottsdale Quarterback Club Invitational on Saturday, it was hard not to notice the gloves Mesquite’s Lane Doty wore when he was batting.
The senior first baseman uses yellow worker’s gloves instead of traditional batting gloves at the plate. He said it’s something his dad did and passed on to him.
“My dad grew up in the country, and when I was younger I just started using those instead of paying for batting gloves that rip over and over again,” Doty said. “These …