At least a couple Chandler High wrestlers took the “Prusuing Victory with Honor” mantra seriously.
The Wolves competed at the Brad Jones Wrestling Invitational last weekend at Peoria Centennial High School, a meet recently named after fallen Glendale Police Officer Brad Jones.
Jones, who’d been with the police department for four years, was dispatched to aid a probation officer dealing with a probationer.
At some point during the contact, a physical struggle ensued. Jones radioed for help and several officers responded to assist him, but the suspect drew a gun, fired at Jones …

Several East Valley football standouts will make their college choices public tomorrow on National Letter of Intent Signing Day.
Chandler’s Javon Williams, Hamilton’s Jaxon Hood and Chaparral’s Dylan Cozens will announce their choices at the Doubletree Guest Suites hotel in Phoenix. There is a signing day event at the hotel from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Corona del Sol’s Andrus Peat will choose his college at 11:35 a.m. from the school on ESPNU’s signing day show.
Peat is choosing among Stanford, Nebraska, Florida State and USC.
Williams is down to Arkansas and UCLA. Cozens …

Saguaro began interviews for a new football coach yesterday and is finishing up today, athletic director Bob LaRue said in an email.
The school hopes to have a coach in place by next week.
John Sanders was fired in early January after leading the team to four state championships in five years, including the past two in a row. Sanders had great on-field success, but it was a build-up of incidents off the field that led to his dismissal, sources said.
Offensive coordinator Jason Mohns is a candidate, and numerous players are lobbying …

Desert Vista LB Mike Arredondo had a change of heart last week and will instead attend the University of New Mexico.
More details found here.

There have been several inquiries regarding changes to soccer locations for this year’s state tournament. Namely, why are the top-4 seeds in each division hosting doubleheaders?
Last year, all early-round matches were held at Reach 11 Sports Complex or at Red Mountain Park. That drew significant shouts of disdain. Some enjoyed being able to watch multiple games at the same time, others were vociferous in their dislike of losing home-field advantage for the first and second rounds, rendering power points virtually meaningless and not saving schools themselves any travel costs. A …

Pinnacle boys basketball forward Cody McDavis sprained his ankle on Friday night against Sandra Day O’Connor and will miss the next two-to-three weeks, coach Charlie Wilde said.
There was a concern that the ankle was broken or dislocated, which would have likely ended McDavis’ season, but an MRI showed it was only a sprain. He is averaging 13.0 points and a team-high 9.0 rebounds per game this year.
“He lucked out,” Wilde said.
McDavis will miss the final week of the regular season and most likely the sectional tournament, but Wilde is hoping …

It’s the final go-round of regular season games for girls basketball. Everything wraps up Friday night and Sectionals from each Division begin next Tuesday, with semifinals set for Thursday night and championship games on Friday night, Feb. 10  (Division IV girls are Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday).
The top eight teams in each Section advance to the Sectional Tournament, which is single elimination. If a team wins its first game in the Sectional Tournament it should advance to the state tournament.
(All games are 7 p.m.  and records are PP games only through Monday).
Pinnacle at St. …

The last week of the regular season is here. The format for the postseason has changed, so before looking at the East Valley basketball bubble teams, here’s a refresher course:
- Eight teams make each sectional. A first round victory automatically gets the team in to the state tournament. Each sectional tournament game counts in the power point rankings, which will cause plenty of movement after the regular season concludes.
- Twenty-four teams will make each division’s state tournament. Twelve teams will automatically get in by winning a section game, and the …

The Suns are taking nominations for its annual Spirit of Cotton Award which honors a deserving boys or girls basketball coach in Arizona.
The award recognizes a high school basketball coach who consistently demonstrates the best qualities of coach, educator, mentor and community leader. All high school head basketball coaches are eligible to be nominated. Nominations can be made by a community member, fellow coach, teacher, school administrator or student-athlete. The Spirit of Cotton Award winner receives a $10,000 grant from the Suns for use in that school’s athletic program, plus …

I went and caught the Red Mountain-Desert Ridge game tonight because I had yet to see Jaguars guard Derreck Brooks this season, and he didn’t disappoint.
The Grand Canyon University signee hit 14-of-21 shots from the field for 38 points, although the Lions used good balance to win the Division I matchup, 69-62 at Red Mountain.
Brooks scored 20 points in a row at one point in the first half and kept the Jaguars in the game until the Lions used a 15-4 second-half run to push a six-point lead to 17.
Desert …