Remember the original iPhone?  Barry Bonds hitting his 756th home run? Luciano Pavarotti’s death?
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 …

A day (or two) late again, but while soccer is in its final few days, girls basketball regular season is in its final week before the new Sectional tournaments (the top 8 teams from each sectional play in its respective tournament, which counts toward power points) at the beginning of February.
It’s a light schedule in terms of big attractions for this week’s games, but next week will more than make up for it.
(All records are power point games only through Tuesday night):
Xavier at Westwood (Wednesday):  The Gators (9-5) are currently …

It’s the final week of the regular season as all final matches take place Thursday night. With the new division/section alignment, 9 automatic qualifying spots for the state tournament (top 3 in each section based on power points) and seven other at-large bids based on PP, it’s going to be a wild finish with many schools playing 2-3 matches this week, and a lot of really good teams will be left out to dry.
(All records are power point matches only as of Monday afternoon):
Notre Dame at Cactus Shadows (Monday); vs. …

Thanks to Marcos de Niza coach Roy Lopez for the heads-up………
A few former Valley football players have a championship to play for this weekend.
Following a three-week layoff from the FCS Division I-AA semifinals, No. 2-seed North Dakota State (13-1) will play No. 1-seed Sam Houston State for the Div. I championship in Frisco, Texas, on Saturday afternoon. The game will be shown at 11 a.m. on ESPN2.
Three former East Valley players and an Avondale Westview grad will be playing for North Dakota State.
The one who gets the most playing time …

Point guard Omar Lee is back at Chandler for his last high school basketball season. The senior played for the Wolves two seasons ago before transferring to Marcos de Niza.
He averaged 7.5 points, 2.7 assists and 1.2 steals last year for the Padres.
Lee is expected to be the starting point guard for Chandler. He averaged 6.0 points and 2.2 assists for the Wolves as a sophomore.

The Division II postseason begins on Friday. Below are my thoughts on how each round plays out. Here are my Division III predictions. I’ll have Division I predictions on Friday.
Division II
First round schedule: No. 16 Gila Ridge at No. 1 Chaparral; No. 9 Lake Havasu at No. 8 Perry; No. 12 Willow Canyon at No. 5 Centennial; No. 13 Ironwood at No. 4 Deer Valley; No. 14 Notre Dame at No. 3 Salpointe; No. 11 Apollo at No. 6 Ironwood Ridge; No. 10 Canyon del Oro at No. 7 Marcos …

Here’s an interesting tidbit learned this week regarding Friday night’s Division II heavyweight matchup between Marcos de Niza and Chaparral.
The game was originally planned to be on national television — likely ESPN2 — and scheduled for 11 a.m. Sunday.
But it fell through. There are rules against activities on a Sunday and both the district and Arizona Interscholastic Association ultimately stepped in.
Why not on Friday or Saturday night instead? Only the TV networks can answer that one because that was the time slot they wanted.
The best guess here being the network …

Former Marcos de Niza outfielder Kendall Konopka transferred to Arizona Christian University this fall. He spent last year at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, where he hit .230 (14-61) in 34 games as a freshman for the Sea Lions, with 4 doubles, 15 runs scored and nine RBI.
As a high school senior in 2009, Konopka hit .606 with 18 doubles, 6 triples, 10 home runs, 49 RBI and 49 runs scored and led Marcos de Niza to the State 5A-II semifinals. Konopka was named State 5A-II Player of …

As chronicled by Mark Heller in our cover story on Wednesday, St. Mary’s has been hit hard by the departure of key players.
The Knights’ loss, though, is Marcos de Niza’s gain.
The Padres made the 5A-II title game two seasons ago and the quarterfinals last year, and most view them as the third best team in Division II heading into this season behind Chaparral and Peoria Centennial.
Marcos lost several key athletes from last year’s team, including running back Anthony Shivers, wide receiver Martwon Weaver  and defensive back JeRyan Butler. That blow …

Marcos de Niza linebacker Adam Pavlenko has committed to Iowa State, according to Padres coach Roy Lopez.
Pavlenko has been a defensive star for the team since his sophomore season, finishing that season sixth on the team with 68 tackles and compiling a team-high 133 tackles last season.
He played an integral role in Marcos de Niza’s surprising 5A-II semifinal victory over Peoria Centennial in 2009. The Padres are expected to be one of the main contenders again to Chaparral in the newly formed Division II.
Pavlenko reportedly had offers from Air Force, …