Although the AIA has failed to acknowledge an error and refused to meet with local engineer John Carrieres about the problem, Bolitho said that ‘to say the AIA is ‘ignoring’ an error is incorrect.’

He goes on to say that ‘the current system does not present an error as the formula is working as created by the committee that represented the member schools.’

While this may technically be true, it fails to address the fact that the power points system was flawed from the get-go. Just because it was passed by the executive board doesn’t mean there isn’t a flaw.

When Bolitho was asked in an email: ‘Does this mean it’s possible that playing more matches (Maryvale playing 14) could be an inherent advantage for the sake of Power Points?’ his answer was ‘No’.

This is the crux of the issue. At this point, there is mounting evidence that playing in more games is, in fact, an inherent advantage.

The point here is not to assess blame. The goal for the AIA should be to fix this error so that future teams are not unfairly punished because of the number of games they played.

If this system stays in place for the spring season, softball or baseball teams could schedule more games and benefit no matter the outcome. It could get ugly.

Bolitho said the AIA is paying close attention to the sectional tournament results this week and will bring those findings to a board meeting on Feb. 21.

Hey, at least that’s progress, but the spring season is going to be very interesting if the power points are not adjusted soon.

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The move was anticipated for several weeks and was finally made official on Wednesday.

Sanders went 62-7 and won four state championships in five years as coach of Saguaro. He has been replaced by offensive coordinator Jason Mohns.

Former Saguaro star Kyle Cladwell has been hired to coach the defensive line and be the the Sabercats’ strength and conditioning coach, according to his Twitter page.

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She was fresh out of Arizona State following a solid playing career, but never coached before and was broke.

“I was floored when it said $2,000 to coach the season,” she said earlier this week. “I was in it for the money.”

She went 13-13 her first season, and joked that she was too intimidated by her first boss to quit at the time, so she did it for a second season and started to enjoy it.

Since then, she’s won five state championships, finished runner-up three other times and has a 500-112 overall record (.817 winning percentage). She’s on committees, is the point person for girls basketball state records that were oft-ignored since the death of Barry Sollenberger. She also has three kids.

Last weekend she won her 500th career game at Seton, and, much to her chagrin, the school was aware of it. Her plan was a nice dinner with her husband, but after that milestone victory against Higley, athletic director Bob Bitler, parents, and her staff helped put together a postgame reception in the gym with several alumni who returned and others who sent her letters.

Self is now one of four girls basketball coaches in Arizona basketball history to win 500 games or more. She joins retired coaches Don Petranovich (Winslow) and Tom Bunger (Prescott, Mountain View and Gilbert), plus current Highland coach Miner Webster.

The two-time defending champions are young and don’t have the bigger-name players of the past few years, yet the Sentinels are the No. 1 seed in a difficult Division II, Section III as sectional tournaments are played this week.

She has no interest in leaving anytime soon. Already weirded out by coaching kids who were born the year she took this job, she’d like to someday coach kids of parents that were in the program.

It’ll probably happen. She’s earned her spot as having the most secure job in Arizona girls high school basketball.

“It took awhile for the coaching bug to catch on, and now I get more passionate about it every year,” she said. “Somewhere along the line I learned how much I don’t know.”

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But a well-known face from a local competitor told him differently.

Chaparral defeated Tolleson, 81-73, on Feb. 2, and Lopez went to dinner with his father, David, and brother, Eli, after the game. David Lopez is the former coach of St. Mary’s and is now assisting Eli at Mountain Ridge.

Damin originally thought a Jan. 24 loss to Desert Mountain ended his team’s postseason hopes, but the Firebirds won their last four games to grab the final seed in the Division I, Section III sectional tournament.

“My dad and my brother and I went to dinner, and my dad prophesized that we would jump them (in the rankings),” Damin Lopez said. “These were my exact words: I said, ‘Dad, you’re crazy’. But he said that all of the teams on our schedule were winning, and I thought at that point we had a chance.”

Chaparral defeated South Mountain by three points on Friday, but the power points weren’t finalized when Lopez last checked at 12:30 a.m. He awoke seven hours later to see his team had grabbed the last spot. Chaparral nudged past Mountain Ridge by less than two-tenths of a point.

“It was interesting to watch that entire process,” Lopez said. “It was bittersweet for me. I’m extremely excited and happy for our kids and how hard we worked to get there. To get down to the last 15 minutes of power points and nudge your brother out, it really made my heart sink in my belly from a family perspective.”

The Firebirds have been buoyed by the return of junior forward Joe Boyd, who averaged 8.9 points and 4.6 rebounds last season but missed nearly the entire regular season with a foot injury. Boyd returned last Tuesday against Westwood.

Chaparral has won six of its past seven games, and Lopez is glad that his team controls its future now. The Firebirds can guarantee themselves a state tournament berth with an upset of Desert Vista on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at Chaparral.

“I’m real with our kids,” Lopez said. “We dodged a bullet. We did work hard to get there. We put ourselves in the position. Now that we’re here, the great part is that we’re in charge of our own destiny for four quarters.”

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Both coaches have 774 wins.

The Toros will play Desert Mountain in the first round of the Division I, Section III tournament on Wednesday at Desert Mountain. Mountain View is the No. 2 seed and the favorite to win that game.

Ernst has the majority of his wins at Mountain View, where he took over in 1985. Ernst led the Toros to the 5A Division I state championship last season and has the third-ranked Toros in the mix again this season.

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Division I, Section II (at Mesquite)
First round: No. 1 Corona del Sol over No. 8 Dobson; No. 5 Gilbert over No. 4 Buena; No. 6 Red Mountain over No. 3 Ironwood Ridge; No. 2 Basha over No. 7 Hamilton.

Corona shouldn’t have too much trouble with Dobson, but the other three games are interesting. It’s tough to know how southern Arizona teams Buena and Ironwood Ridge will match up against some of the East Valley’s better teams, but we’ll find out soon. Buena’s blowout loss to Chavez raised warning flags, which is why I like the Tigers. Ironwood Ridge lost by 15 points to Dobson earlier this year, so Red Mountain should be the favorite. Basha beat Hamilton twice in the regular season but has lost twice in the last week. However, I think the Bears hold on.

Semifinals: Corona del Sol over Gilbert; Red Mountain over Basha.

Gilbert is a nice team that will give certain opponents trouble, but the Aztecs are the real deal and should eventually pull away. I like the Mountain Lions to pull the upset of the Bears in the lower bracket. Red Mountain point guard Logan Larsen is unassuming but one of the East Valley’s best passers, which should lead to several easy buckets against a leaky Basha defense.

Finals: Corona over Red Mountain.

Big surprise, right? Corona del Sol’s only loss this season came to Mesquite in the preseason Jackrabbits Invitational, and is the favorite not just in the section tournament, but state as well. Red Mountain is a solid team but doesn’t have the firepower to hang with Corona del Sol.

Division I, Section III (at Chaparral)
First round: No. 1 Desert Vista over No. 8 Chaparral; No. 4 Pinnacle over No. 5 Boulder Creek; No. 3 Brophy over No. 6 Mountain Pointe; No. 2 Mountain View over No. 7 Desert Mountain.

There should be plenty of motivation for Chaparral and Desert Mountain as both teams probably think they are playing for their playoff lives, but because of a likely power point flaw, the Firebirds and Wolves will likely both get in even with a loss. Pinnacle-Boulder Creek is an interesting matchup, especially because the Pioneers are still without forward Cody McDavis (sprained ankle), but I think Pinnacle’s efficient offense will be enough.

Semifinals: Pinnacle over Desert Vista; Mountain View over Brophy.

We have a couple primetime matchups here.It wouldn’t surprise me if any of these four teams made the state semifinals in a couple weeks. I like the Pioneers to avenge their early-season loss to the Thunder and Mountain View to take out Brophy in a slugfest.

Finals: Pinnacle over Mountain View.

This final will be another good matchup, no matter which way the brackets play out. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Pinnacle, Mountain View or Desert Vista win the section, but I think Dorian Pickens has a big game from the perimeter to offset the Toros’ bigs down low to lead Pinnacle to the victory.

Division II, Section I:(at Amphitheater)
First round: No. 1 Amphitheater over No. 8 Casa Grande; No. 4 Nogales over No. 5 Catalina Foothills; No. 3 Salpointe over No. 6 Douglas; No. 2 Poston Butte over No. 7 Queen Creek.

Amphi and Nogales are both defending state champions and look to be on a semifinal collision course. Poston Butte is on a big-time roll but has a tough first-round matchup with Queen Creek. Salpointe shouldn’t have a ton of trouble against Douglas.

Semifinals: Amphitheater over Nogales; Poston Butte over Salpointe.

Tim Derksen is the star for Amphi, and while this team isn’t quite as good as it was last year with sidekick Lester Medford around, it is still plenty capable. Poston Butte can open some eyes by making the sectional final.

Finals: Amphitheater over Poston Butte.

The Broncos should be happy to advance this far, but beating Amphitheater is a tough task.

Divison II, Section III (at Coronado)
First round: No. 1 Fairfax over No. 8 Tempe; No. 5 Sunnyslope over No. 4 Sierra Linda; No. 3 Paradise Valley over No. 6 Saguaro; No. 2 Arcadia overNo. 7 Youngker.

Not the easiest first round matchup for Fairfax because Tempe is pesky, but Stacy Davis will be too much inside for the Buffaloes to guard. Paradise Valley-Saguaro is the best first round matchup as the teams split in the regular season, but Paul Watson and the Trojans should pull this one out.

Semifinals: Fairfax over Sunnyslope; Paradise Valley over Arcadia.

Fairfax shouldn’t have too much trouble with this one, while the Trojans get another tough East Valley foe in Arcadia. This game would pit Watson, arguably the best junior in the state, against Larry Lewis, one of the top seniors. Should be a good one.

Finals: Fairfax over Paradise Valley.

Fairfax is the defending 5A-II champion and has beaten Mountain View and Cesar Chavez this year. It is on the short list of favorites in the Division II tournament and could head in riding high with  a sectional championship.

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The most interesting being an old friend, fellow retiree and longtime East Valley coach Mike Reardon as his offensive coordinator.

Reardon coached at various spots for 42 years until he retired from coaching and teaching after the 2010 season from Mesquite. He went to the playoffs three straight seasons at Saguaro and won a state championship in 2006 before moving to Mesquite in 2007, where he went to the playoffs his final two seasons with the Wildcats. Successful nearly everywhere he’s been a coach or assistant, Reardon also coached at Highland and has known De La Torre for years.

It’s a win-win. The Mustangs get a hall-of-fame coach in Reardon. Reardon gets to focus on coaching kids rather than the extraneous, non-football duties that have defined head coaching jobs these days, and the kinds of things Reardon was never fond of doing in the first place.

De La Torre is bringing Eric Hjalmarson from Florence to run the defense. Hjalmarson was De La Torre’s defensive coordinator in Florence the past couple years. He also coached with Reardon in the past and played for the legendary Paul Moro at Lakeside Blue Ridge.

De La Torre said most of the program’s junior varsity and freshman-level coaches and teachers will stay with the program.

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As I said late last week, it looks like the Perry boys basketball team may get squeezed out of the state tournament because of the alleged flaw exposed by a local engineer.

The Pumas did not qualify for their section tournament, and currently sit No. 22 in the power points. Normally, it would leave Perry with a very good chance to qualify for state, but the alleged mistake now makes it more perilous.

Here’s why:

Desert Mountain (No. 24 overall), Chaparral (25), Tolleson (32), Kofa (33) and Millennium (36) have all qualified for their section tournaments.

If the number of total games doesn’t affect a team’s power point ranking, like the AIA claims, then losses by Desert Mountain and Chaparral would leave Perry in the clear. Both teams will be heavy underdogs in the first round, and it doesn’t make any sense that a loss by either team would help it jump the Pumas in the standings.

However, if the flaw is realized, Desert Mountain will likely pass at least Cienega and possibly Perry, which would drop the Pumas to the 23rd spot. If Chaparral also passes Perry – which doesn’t look likely at this time, but who knows? – then it gets very dicey for the Pumas. Luckily for Perry, Westwind Prep is ahead of it and won’t play in the tournament, so that does give an extra spot to a 25th team.

Furthermore, Perry is directly behind North in the standings, and a loss by the Mustangs in the first round of the sectionals would have made the Pumas nearly a shoo-in to make the tournament. But if the flaw is real, North won’t drop behind Perry with the loss.

As it shakes out, the Pumas still have a good chance to make the Division I tournament, but the team will have to sweat it out until Thursday morning.

On the flip side, Chaparral should make the tournament even with a loss as long as Tolleson, Kofa or Millennium doesn’t pull an upset. The Firebirds would have been in danger of falling behind Mountain Ridge by losing in the first round, but the alleged flaw in the system likely won’t let that happen.

Desert Mountain, too, should qualify regardless of its result on Wednesday unless two of the teams below it win first round sectional tournament games.

In Division II, it looks like the playoff teams are set because everyone in the top-24 made the sectionals. If the flaw didn’t exist, No. 25 Desert Edge (74.5378 PP) could hope to jump No. 24 Thunderbird (74.9588 PP) if the Chiefs lost, but Thunderbird will likely get a boost either way and should be in.

In girls hoops, keep an eye on No. 26 Horizon in D-I. The Huskies are currently No. 26, but No. 25 Basha and No. 24 Marana Mountain View are idle this week. Horizon may be able to sneak past them by playing in an extra power point game.

The Queen Creek girls are in the same boat at No. 25. No. 23 Sierra Linda is idle this week.

This is a lot of information to digest and may be hard to understand, but it should become clear by Thursday which teams were helped and which teams were hurt by this alleged power points flaw.

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Those were in 2007, the same year Marcos de Niza was last relevant in boys soccer. Until now.

This year’s few Marcos’ seniors who’ve been around since their freshman year had a total of seven wins through the first three years of high school soccer at the school. Needless to say this season has been a renaissance, as the Padres went 12-0 in power point matches to earn a No. 3 seed in the Division II state tournament.

That would have been cause for a parade by itself, but, in typical Padres fashion this season, they beat a solid Phoenix Washington team in penalty kicks to begin the state tournament; Another nail-biter that went the Padres way that kept their season alive.

The Padres host a Tucson Catalina Foothills team that is better than its No. 6 seed on Saturday afternoon. But, outcome aside, in some ways it’s a moot point.

Former Padres coach Greg Vanney was one of the best soccer players in state history, but when RLS and, eventually, the pros called him about a job, he couldn’t say no. But before that, he got a Californian and former player Daryl Chavez onto Marcos’ coaching staff. Chavez had won state championships coaching Seton Catholic’s girls when the school had just opened.

Chavez fully took over when Vanney left (though Vanney often missed practices and matches because of his other job duties). Chavez walked into a culture of “nothingness” at the school when he took over the program barely a week before last season.

“The culture of winning was non-existent,” Chavez said this week. “It was like, ‘Eh, nobody cares about Marcos. Who cares about us?’”

Thus began the painful transformation. Losses piled up in 2010-2011 while he attempted to earn the trust and acceptance of his players.

But they saw his 4 a.m. alarms for his 6 a.m.-3 p.m. day job (finance) then to practice and matches at the school. Everyone on the team had to sign a four-page contract laying out expectations by players, coaches and parents. He set up a summer camp twice per week in the heat, and players/kids who wanted to try out for the team attended.

“We have athletes but didn’t understand the game to save their life, but outside of teaching the game, the standards and pride are the two biggest changes we’ve tried to make,” Chavez said.

There’s no escaping the notion that this two-year scheduling implementation has been advantageous for the Padres. It has.

So, too, has senior goalkeeper Victor Sanchez, who Chavez has raved about this season and did so in making a big save in the shootout victory earlier this week. It’s the first time in recent memory the Padres had a goalkeeper instead of an unknown trying to just fill in that key position.

“He really is a huge impact and giving us that kind of assuredness in net,” he said.

Danny Molina played RSL soccer but came back to play high school this season. Naveed Khosraviani, David Ieng and Jose Segura have been integral, and the Padres have played most of their bench regularly.

After missing the Diablos Tournament during Holiday Break (Chavez said the team was in the tournament and then notified by the school a day before they weren’t playing it. It remains a mystery), Marcos played seven matches in nine days to end the regular season, and it took its toll.

But not enough, because the players have bought what Chavez is selling. When an already-ill Chavez couldn’t get out of work to go with his team to Yuma for a match, a parent who works for an airline pulled some strings, and Chavez wound up on a one-way flight to Yuma for a soccer match. He arrived, grabbed dinner, coached the team and rode back to the Valley with another parent.

When things like that go your way, maybe a first soccer championship in 20 years is no longer a fantasy.

“It’s been worth the price of admission,” Chavez said. “I’m thrilled for them that the effort has paid off and people are rallying around them.”

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If his allegation is correct, then teams that play more power point games are inadvertently rewarded for simply playing the extra games. Wins magnify the problem more, but if the claim holds true, even losing the extra game is likely to benefit a team.

This is very important because it may alter the landscape of the boys and girls boys basketball tournaments.

There are several real-world examples of who this supposed flaw may affect in the next eight days, but the best example is probably Perry boys basketball. As it stands, the Pumas are 20th overall in the Division I power point rankings and ninth in Section II.

As a reminder, 24 teams make the state tournament, with 12 coming from automatic bids by making the sectional semifinals, and the other 12 coming from at-large berths on the strength of their power ranking.

Perry went 12-6 and is done with its power point games, so it’s very unlikely that the Pumas qualify for the section tournament.

If there is no flaw, missing the tournament would not necessarily be a bad thing, because as of now, the No. 8 seed (Dobson) would have to face top-ranked Corona del Sol. If the Aztecs hypothetically beat the Mustangs in the first round, it could actually help Perry because Dobson would tack on a loss to its power point record, which common sense dictates would make the Mustangs slide down in power points.

However, if the flaw is real, a loss in the extra game is actually going to help teams. There is a very real possibility that every team that loses in the first round of the section tournaments gets a boost to their power point rankings.

This is obviously a big problem for Perry, because any team below them in the power rankings could get a boost for losing in the section while the Pumas sit idle.

It also hurts teams like Desert Ridge and Highland, who were probably longshots to qualify for the tournament but now would have no chance at all if the formula is flawed. Chaparral will likely be in the same boat if they don’t make the Section III tournament.

If Dobson and Hamilton win tonight, both teams should qualify for the section tournament and would subsequently greatly enhance their chances at making the postseason if this flaw is real.

One last point: If any of the lower seeds make a run to the sectional finals or win it, this flaw will allow them to make a gigantic leap in the standings (possibly into the top-8).

So hold on to your hats. If this alleged mistake rears its head during the sectional tournaments, there are going to be a lot of unhappy coaches by the end of next week.

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