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:  …

Strictly competitive, win-loss speaking, there’s no chance some more short-term struggles aren’t coming to Skyline’s football program.
Plenty of kids succeeded on and off the field during Pete Jonovich’s decade-long tenure at the school, but Angelo Paffumi is about to take the reigns at the athletically-struggling East Mesa school. Similar to the Westwood (Spencer Stowers) and Dobson (George de La Torre) hires this spring, he offers some reasons for optimism.
Paffumi, 43, is pretty young and energetic. He’s been described as a “rah-rah” guy, but knows how to coach and to get …

Red Mountain’s Lion Country Classic softball tournament kicks off the season this week.
The tournament begins Feb. 22 and runs through Feb. 25 at either Red Mountain H.S. or Skyline H.S. (both have two softball fields).
Here’s the schedule for the first three days:
Wednesday, Feb. 22
at Red Mountain H.S.
3 p.m.: Mesquite vs. Red Mountain; Mountain View vs. Desert Ridge;  5 p.m.:  Deer Valley vs. Red Mountain; Salpointe Catholic vs. Mesquite;  7 p.m.: Chaparral vs. Salpointe.
at Skyline H.S.
3 p.m.: Basha vs. Skyline; Queen Creek vs. Corona del Sol; 5 p.m.: Mountain Pointe vs. …

Public and private opinions on Pete Jonovich losing his football coaching job at Skyline are all over the place.
One side annoited him as an excellent role model for teenagers who saw that wins and losses aren’t definitions to a person’s life. He did the best he could at a school that has mostly struggled since he arrived in 2001 (and pretty much since it opened a few years prior). His outlook was rosy, never complained about resources and circumstances his program didn’t have that neighbor schools possess (Red Mountain, Mountain …

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 …

The dust still hasn’t completely settled from last weekend’s melee between the Mountain View and Skyline boys soccer teams.
The two schools played a regular season match on Saturday, where several red cards were issued to Skyline players (and a couple fans) from the early stages of the match. A red card is an automatic ejection from that match and subsequent one-match suspension.
With Mountain View leading 3-1 late, the match was eventually called by the officials with approximately 15 minutes left because red cards were prohibiting Skyline from fielding enough players.
That’s …

Skyline is 2-0 for the first time since 2008 and has a game coming up against a winless Mountain View team. The Coyotes have never beaten the Toros in school history, and coach Pete Jonovich took out some time this week to discuss the state of his team.
Is there a buzz around campus for this game?
I think there is. Not just for the game, but because we’re on a two game winning streak.
Do the players feel like they have a decent shot in this game?
They’ve always believed that they have …

Chad Leonard, the starting quarterback for Skyline last season, has transferred to Queen Creek, according to Bulldogs coach Joe Germaine.
Leonard was 93-of-175 for 865 yards with four touchdowns and nine interceptions last season for the Coyotes as a junior. He also led the team in rushing yards (228) and attempts (91).
Adam Brzeczek, Queen Creek’s starter under center the past three seasons, graduated in the spring. Leonard will battle with Zach Stimatze and Carson Jones for the starting job.
“It’s been a really good competition,” Germaine said. “We haven’t quite made a …

Even in the dead of summer, a few East Valley schools are aligning their athletic programs.
Mesa hired Mike Masciangelo as its new baseball coach. Masciangelo is a former Dobson player and Higley coach (2008-2010) who  was an assistant at Mesquite in 2011. He’s also been at Mountain View and a first stint at Mesquite prior to that. Mascianeglo was Higley’s coach from 2008. He replaced Joe Bergen.
Skyline lost one of the good guys in high school softball in Jim Faul, who resigned after four years, but the Coyotes went no …

Player of the Year: Mandi Grebe (Perry)
Coach of the Year: Allison Robinson (Perry)
First Team
P: Reba DePriest (Skyline); Jessica Wilkinson (Perry); Kim Myers (Casa Grande)
C: Courtney Stoll (Desert Ridge); Shelby Pacheco (Casa Grande)
IF: Toni Martinez (Perry); Jillian Leslie (Perry); Jackie Hernandez (Desert Ridge); Kaelyn Christofferson (Casa Grande); Nyla Wambold (Mtn. Pointe)
OF: Sella Gonzalez (Skyline); Mari Gomez (Casa Grande); Jasmine Zaker (Desert Ridge); Chandler Hillman (Mtn. Pointe)
UT: Ciara Gonzalez (Mtn. Pointe)
Flex: Krystal Singh (Casa Grande)
Second Team
P: Kayla Heath (Desert Ridge); Tori Herzberg (Perry)
C: Alyssa Dale (Westwood); Cecily …