2012 All-Mesa Team
Mesa City Player of Year:  Siera Philips (Red Mountain)
Mesa City Coach of the Year:  Rich Hamilton  (Red Mountain)
 
First Team
Pitchers:  Val Kaff, Jr., Mountain View;  Bre Macha, So., Red Mountain;  Sierra Whitmer, Sr., Mesa
Catchers:  Jordan Beck, So., Red Mountain;  Sidney Ryan, Jr., Mountain View
Infielders:  Aubrey Whitmer, Sr., Mesa;  Haley Culley, Sr., Red Mountain;  Aly Ramsaier, Sr., Mountain View;  Ashley Hill, So., Red Mountain; Kelli Wickerman, Sr., Mountain View
Outfielders:  Payton Kornfeind, Sr., Red Mountain; Lorlei-Marie Huber, Sr., Mesa; Bianca Gonzalez, So., Skyline;  Alyssa Thibodeau, So., Dobson
Utility:  Mercedes Montoya, Sr., Westwood
Flex/DP:  …

Here is the schedule for the seventh annual Highland Triple Play Classic baseball tournament, which runs from March 12-15:
Monday, March 12:
Dobson at Perry, 9 a.m
Highland at Mesa, 9 a.m.
Williams Field at Dobson, 12 p.m.
Cesar Chavez at Mesa, 12 p.m.
Apache Junction at Cesar Chavez, 3 p.m.
Williams Field at Perry, 3 p.m.
Highland at Apache Junction, 6 p.m.
Tuesday, March 13:
John Paul II at Dobson, 9 a.m.
Mesa at Apache Junction, 9 a.m.
John Paul II at Williams Field, 12 p.m.
Cesar Chavez at Highland, 6 p.m.
Wednesday, March 14:
Four pool play games at higher seed depending on …

This should have been started last week when power point games began for the spring season. Apologies.
But better late than never, so we’ll get to some of the more interesting games on the docket this week around the East Valley.
(All records are power-point games only as of Monday morning):
Division I
Red Mountain at Mountain View (Tuesday):  An early-season battle of the Mesa schools should be a good one. The Lions (2-1) are defending champions (5A-I), and, after a loss to a good Gilbert team, beat a solid Desert Ridge and Casa …

You can’t get to the state tournament semifinals without a lot of (team)work, talent, coaching and a little luck, but this is girls basketball, and nobody wants going skimp on the swank either.
The “Best Shoes” award goes to Hamilton, as their starting five mixes a nice blend of bright yellow, purple, blue and perhaps someone might have a pair with polka dots or Zubaz stripes from the early 1990′s. We’ll see if it blinds Mountain View players when they play Thursday at 4:15 p.m. at Jobing.com Arena.
After their win against …

The 21st edition of the Dobson-Marcos de Niza invitation, a popular East Valley-centric softball tournament, gets underway Wednesday at both Dobson and Marcos de Niza high schools.
It’s Pool play for the first three days (Wednesday-Thursday-Friday). Placeholders from each pool play each other on Saturday at Marcos de Niza H.S., beginning at 10 a.m. The top team from Pool A and Pool B will play in the championship game at 2 p.m. at Marcos.
Here’s this week’s schedule:
WEDNESDAY 2/22
Pool A at Dobson H.S.
12 p.m.:  Dobson vs. Westwood; 2 p.m.:  Highland vs. Apache …

With hopes of getting things ramped up at his new school in the next two weeks, new Dobson football coach George De La Torre is already picking a few of his people.
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 …

There is a very interesting story on our website today in which a local engineer and power points guru exposes an alleged flaw in the power points system.
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 …

On the surface, Dobson’s hiring of George De La Torre as its new football coach is a pretty good one.
The guy can coach. He turned around South Mountain in the mid-2000s and brought consistency to an otherwise hot-and-cold program with three consecutive playoff appearances and went to the 5A Division II semifinals in 2007.
Then came another challenge in Florence, a program whose success had deteriorated significantly in that same period. De La Torre came in and went 1-9 in 2008 with only one senior willing to stay on board with …

Dobson running back T.J. Thomas will visit Fresno State on Jan. 27, and he has been offered a scholarship by the school, former Mustangs coach Alex Jacobsen said.
It is the first offer for the All-Tribune first team selection, who carried the ball 213 times for 1,910 yards and 19 touchdowns last season.
Jacobsen said Thomas has qualified academically to attend Fresno State.
Thomas was one of the more productive players in the East Valley this season, but different factors have limited his exposure to colleges.
As for Jacobsen, he resigned as Dobson’s coach …

Don’t look now, but the calendar is creeping toward February, which means not only do basketball and soccer postseason tournaments get underway — and the way divisions and sections shake out, competitively both those sports’ postseasons figure to be something special — but football vacancies will be filled.
Chaparral fired the first shot in promoting longtime offensive coordinator Dave Huffine, which surprised no one given his accumen, former coach Charlie Ragle’s endorsement (which, like it or not, resonated) and Huffine’s understanding of the beast that Chaparral’s program has become.
Other dominoes will …