It’s onward and northward for former Westwood football coach Greg Mendez.
Mendez – who resigned as his alma mater’s coach during the spring after four seasons – is headed to Salem, Oregon, where he’ll be McKay High School’s football coach and teach at the school.
Mendez was 13-32 in his four seasons at Westwood (and was an assistant for five years before that), including a couple playoff appearances. But with a desire for personal change (he and his wife had their second child 10 days ago), he stepped down as Warriors coach. …

Hosea Graham resigned as boys basketball coach at Seton Catholic in 2007 to watch his son, Martin, play in college, and he doesn’t have any regrets.
But now he’s ready to be on the sidelines once again.
After a year serving as the junior varsity coach at Mountain Pointe, Graham has been hired to take over the Westwood program.
“When I stepped down, I was doing it for a reason and I would never give up that opportunity to go watch my son,” Graham said. “But who I am is coach Graham, and …

Westwood will be interviewing eight candidates this week for its open boys basketball position, athletic director Reggie Castro said in an email.
Paul Wilson resigned in late February after six seasons at the helm. The Warriors went 14-14 this year and Wilson was 66-101 in his tenure.
Westwood is losing its top three scorers to graduation, including Luke Tingey, who averaged 13.6 points and 8.6 rebounds per game. The team’s top returning player is sophomore Josh Brown, who averaged 7.0 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.4 assists a season ago.
Castro said the school received …

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 …

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 …

So far it’s been pretty quiet on the East Valley football coaching vacancy front, but for the couple underway within the Mesa district, there’s no bussle of activity yet as it relates to the open Dobson and Westwood football jobs.
Dobson athletic director Ray Perkins said the school — trying to fill its vacancy after Alex Jacobson stepped down — will collect resumes until Dec. 15 and conduct interviews on Jan. 5 and Jan. 6. He has already received several out-of-state candidates in addition to the usual number of in-state coaches …

The Mountain View and Laveen Betty Fairfax boys hoops teams will play each other on Tuesday in the city of Mesa’s Hall of Fame Game at 7 p.m. at Mountain View.
The Toros defeated Brophy to win last year’s 5A Division I state championship. Mountain View loses key contributors Mark Mazzucco, Jaren Sweeney and Kyle Bingham from that team, but Cam Boone, Mitch Wallace and Jeff Kerr return to a Toros squad that is once again expected to be in the mix in Division I.
Fairfax defeated Chaparral in the 5A-II title …

It may be mid-July, but there’s no rest for Westwood football coach Greg Mendez. He’s trying to keep the Warriors playoff contenders through significant turnover and a couple of infant children at home. This season figures to be no exception with few starters back from last year’s playoff team. With two weeks to go before the team heads to Snowflake for football camp, he stopped for a couple minutes to talk about what’s changed and the new schedule that promises to be tough.
With few returning starters, what have you seen …

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 …

Matthew Neil, a senior right-hander at Brigham Young who attended Westwood, has been named the Mountain West Pitcher of the Week.
Neil went 2-0 last week without allowing a run in 11 innings pitched. He came on in relief against Utah for the 10th and 11th innings, throwing a pair of perfect frames and striking out four to grab the win in a 7-6 victory.
On Saturday, he threw a complete game shutout to defeat New Mexico 1-0. Neil gave up six hits and a walk and struck out six. He has …