It’s Brophy vs. Gilbert in the first edition of the Arizona Soccer Showcase tournament championship.
Arizona Soccer Showcase boys final will be played Friday afternoon on Field No. 4 at 1 p.m. at the Scottsdale Sports Complex.
Brophy – again considered one of the Division I favorites in pursuit of its second consecutive state championship – needed a comeback against Hamilton late to win, 2-1. Ryan Grotjohn missed a penalty kick early, but came back and scored both goals for Brophy, the game-winner coming with a minute left in the second overtime.
That …

Here are my Division I playoff predictions. Division II can be found here. Division III can be found here.
Division I
First round schedule: No. 16 Valley Vista at No. 1 Hamilton; No. 9 Chandler at No. 8 Westview; No. 12 Sunnyside at No. 5 Red Mountain; No. 13 Boulder Creek at No. 4 Desert Ridge; No. 14 North Canyon at No. 3 Desert Vista; No. 11 Cibola at No. 6 Pinnacle; No. 10 Tucson at No. 7 Basha; No. 15 Mountain Pointe at No. 2 Brophy.
First round winners: Hamilton, Chandler, Red …

After Friday’s 28-21, come-from-behind victory by the Hamilton football team over Chandler, I’m split on how I feel about this year’s Huskies.
On one hand, the three-time defending state champions have knocked off three powerful programs — Mountain Pointe, Desert Ridge and Chandler — to prove their worth as the No. 1 ranked team in Division I.
After the regular season win over last year’s state runner-up, Desert Ridge, I thought Hamilton was a cut above the rest of the contenders.
Since then, though, some luster has come off those early victories. Mountain …

Mesquite was the first victim of this year’s ultra-tough bottom bracket in the 5A boys volleyball tournament, losing to Mountain View in three sets on Monday.
The second-round matches feature four teams that could have been in the semifinals if the matchups aligned differently, but between Gilbert-Brophy and Mountain View-Hamilton, two teams will be going home earlier than expected.
In the top half, meanwhile, Chandler and Desert Vista are thanking their lucky stars. The Wolves had little problem dispatching defending-champion Glendale Deer Valley in three games, as they were underdogs in seeding …

Coaching a baseball team must be frustrating at times.
In football and basketball, there are still upsets, but generally the best team on that particular day wins the game.
In baseball, that’s not always true.
In Tuesday’s 5A Division I second-round state tournament game between No. 1 Mesquite and No. 9 Brophy, the Wildcats hit the ball all over the yard, but had trouble actually getting runners to home plate in a 5-3 loss to the Broncos.
Brophy coach Tom Succow lauded the composure of sophomore pitcher Steven Oleksak, and his ability to keep …

It’s time for the big-time.  Again.
To the surprise of precious few, it’ll be No.  1 Brophy vs. No. 2 Hamilton in the 5A Division I state championship futbol match on Saturday night (6 p.m. at Campo Verde H.S.).
(It’s about as shocking as the idea of Hamilton vs. Brophy in the football championship).
The two schools met in mid-January on the turf of the Brophy Sports Complex. Hamilton staked itself to a 1-0 lead, but Brophy found a way come back in a 2-1 victory.  It was contested and heated, and that’s …

A couple big-time soccer matches take place Wednesday night, both involving Hamilton, both definitive possibilities of being a preview to a certain mid-February match.
On the boys side, No. 1 Brophy and No. 2 Hamilton will square off at 6 p.m. at the Brophy Soccer Complex (7th Street just south of Camelback Road in Phoenix).
The Broncos (16-0-1) are unbeaten this year, including a win against Phoenix Trevor Browne in which they were shorthanded after receiving a red card. It could be coach Marc Kelly’s best team (which is saying something given …

Relive all the action from last Friday night’s football games with photo slideshows:

Higley at Williams Field  (12 photos)
Queen Creek at Apache Junction (13 photos)
Brophy at Hamilton 10/22/2010 (17 photos)

And if you’re not already, become our friend on Facebook and follow the latest Varsity Xtra news on Twitter. Then, join us for live updates this Friday for VX Live at http://varsity.evtrib.com.

We are hours away from another high school football season kicking off, so here are my predictions on how 5A and 4A will shake out at the end of the year:
5A-I: Hamilton finishes another season undefeated, giving the Huskies an ever bigger presence on the national stage as pundits put them in the conversation as the country’s best team. The Huskies beat Mountain Pointe in the title game. The Pride earned the No. 2 seed in the tournament by losing only one game in the regular season — the season …

The last and perhaps biggest track and field meet of the year is coming.
After two rounds of qualifying, the nation’s elite individuals will swoon upon Sacramento, Calif., for the USA National Junior Olympic Track and Field Championships.
The nation’s best of the best from ages 8 through 18 begin competition Tuesday and run through Aug. 1.
All competitors are divided into five classifications: Bantam (born in 2000 or later), Midget (born in 1998 or 1999), Youth (1996 or 1997), Intermediate (1994 or 1995) and Young Men/Women (1992 or 1993).
(Yes those birth years …