Arizona: St. Johns Wins Battle of Defending Champs

By Stan Granch

MaxPreps.com

Last weekend featured a battle between state champions and another contest to determine who No. 1 in Arizona is.

St. Johns, the 2A division champion in 2007, hosted last year’s 3A winner Show Low and thanks to Shad Bride’s 286 yards rushing and four touchdowns, the Redskins doubled up the score on the Cougars 42-21. This marked the second-straight win over a 3A foe for St. Johns, which outlasted Round Valley (currently ranked No. 11 in the state by MaxPreps.com) 35-32.

St. Johns coach Mike Morgan had nothing but praise for his team.

"It was monumental, first because knocking off 3A teams is huge as far as power points are concerned, but the biggest thing is the physiological value of it,” Morgan said. “Your kids are beating two good 3A teams, the defending state champion and a final four team from last year."

On the season Bride has 547 yards from 61 carries, good for second-best in the state. Bride has rushed for seven touchdowns and a pair of two-point conversions, averaging nearly nine yards per carry. The 5-foot-11, 200-pound senior has also recorded 30 tackles and 2 sacks in three games this year, including 13 tackles vs. Show Low.

Bride’s presence on the field wasn’t lost by Cougars’ head coach Randy Ricedorff.

“He's an awfully good football player. And he's not alone,” Ricedorff said. “That's the difference between this year's St. Johns team and their championship team from last year when we played them at this time.

"Shad was very dominant. We felt like if we could shut him down we could beat them last year. And this year there were several guys that were pretty good. So they're a very good team. They've got a lot of weapons.”

Thanks to the 3-0 start St. Johns is currently ranked No. 3 in the state by MaxPreps.com. With the loss Show Low is 1-2.

The battle for No. 1 in the Grand Canyon State happened in Peoria where host Centennial (last year’s Class 5A Division II  champion) got a measure of revenge by thumping Hamilton (Class 5A Division I perennial power) 35-16.

Last year the Coyotes only loss came at the hands of Hamilton and the victory propels Centennial to No. 1 in the state according to the just-released MaxPreps.com rankings.

The Coyotes were somewhat short-handed on the offensive line as senior Bryan Gabbard had his appendix removed Monday, making the victory that much sweeter.

However, Centennial coach Richard Taylor didn’t want all of these riches to cause his team to relax, so he had them clean up the bleachers after the game.

"If your head gets too big, someone is going to cut it off," Taylor said. "I think we are just scratching the surface. Dain McFarland (quarterback) improved a lot from Week 1 to Week 2, and our offensive line is coming together."

Perhaps the Huskies simply ran out of gas. Two weeks ago they traveled to Miami, Fla., to beat last year’s state title winner Booker T. Washington and followed with a win in a defensive battle over Brophy, the defending Class 5A Division I champion. Even with the loss, Hamilton is still ranked No. 4 in the state by MaxPreps.com.

“They were the better team tonight,’’ Hamilton coach Steve Belles said.

NOTES

* The biggest mover in the Arizona Top 25 was Salpointe Catholic from Tucson, which jumped up 10 spots to No. 8 after a 20-17 victory against visiting Gilbert. The Lancers will get tested for class as the host Brophy Friday, currently ranked No. 7 in the state.

* The San Manuel-Tombstone football game was cancelled after a van carrying San Manuel’s cheerleaders was involved in a fatal accident along Interstate 10. A cheerleader and a coach who were in critical condition have been upgraded to serious Monday. A total of eight cheerleaders and three coaches were in the van which was part of a three-vehicle accident involving a big rig. Two people in a third vehicle died at the scene. The van rolled when the driver swerved to avoid hitting a dog.

* Desert Vista athletic director Jim Bell has taken a position as an activities director at Corona del Sol and is expected to make the switch immediately. Last year the Thunder won the AIA's Earl McCullar Award, which is given to the state's top athletic program.

* Last year’s 5A-I state Volleyball Champions Xavier showed no sign of slowing down in 2008 as it easily won the prestigious Westwood Tournament of Champions over Corona del Sol. “It’s a good checkpoint to measure where we’re at,” said Xavier coach Tim McHale, “We weren’t perfect, but you want to make sure the players are making aggressive mistakes and that’s what happened this weekend.”