Show Low's Ricedorff breaks Arizona record for career TD passes

Show Low quarterback Rathen Ricedorff drove his team 83 yards and found Trevar MacArthur for a touchdown with 23 seconds left to give his a team a 45-41 Class 3A East Region victory over visiting Payson last Friday.

In so doing, Ricedorff broke Phillip Aholt's state record for touchdown passes in a career. Aholt had 94 TD passes for Cactus Shadows (Cave Creek). Ricedorff will enter this week's 3A state playoffs with 96 after tossing four on Friday when he completed 25 of 32 for 358 yards.

Ricedorff also has a chance to break the state record for TD passes in a season. Brian Wriston of Class 4A Moon Valley (Phoenix) tossed 49 in 2004 and John Beck of Class 5A Mountain View (Mesa) threw 42 in 1999.

Ricedorff already owns the state record for TD passes in a game (nine last season vs. Chinle) and the 3A records for TD passes in a single season (41, 2009) and passing yards in a season (3,014, this season). The state record for passing yards is 3,973 set by Jon Bowman of Moon Valley (Phoenix) in 2006.

For the season, Ricedorff is completing 68.6 percent of his passes and has a 142 quarterback rating with just five interceptions.

Ricedorff is just under 6-feet-tall – a fact that has kept him off college coaches' radar. But his dad and coach, Randy Ricedorff, said he still is growing and it's obvious he has some tools. We wonder if Ricedorff's remarkable season will finally catch some eyes.

Other top storylines from the week
2. Logjam in the East Valley: The 5A East Valley Region enters the final week of the regular season with four teams – Mountain Pointe (Phoenix), Marcos de Niza (Tempe), Perry (Gilbert) and Desert Ridge (Mesa) all tied atop the league standings with 4-1 region records. Better yet, all four teams play each other this week. Desert Ridge is at Perry. Marcos is at Mountain Pointe. All four have a shot at the title depending on how things break. Now that's a good pennant race.

3. 2A and 3A playoff fields set: The Class 2A and 3A regular seasons wrapped up last week with Show Low earning the No. 1 seed based on power rankings, despite a loss to Blue Ridge (Lakeside). Unbeaten defending champion Blue Ridge is the No. 2 seed and those teams figure to meet in the title game Nov. 27 at Northern Arizona University. The 2A field looks far more interesting with Northwest Christian (Phoenix) and Yuma Catholic earning the top two seeds. As many as eight teams appear to have a shot at the 2A title this year.

Click here to view MaxPreps' Arizona football playoff brackets.

4. Volleyball postseason begins: The defending champs in each of the top four volleyball classes all earned high seeds for the state playoffs which open this week. Defending 5A-I champ Xavier College Prep (Phoenix) is the No. 1 seed; defending 5A-II champ Horizon (Scottsdale) is the No. 2 seed; defending 4A-I champ Sunnyslope (Phoenix) is No. 4; and defending 4A-II champ Seton Catholic (Chandler) is No. 5.

5. State championship Saturday: Volleyball and football aren't the only state playoffs that will take place this weekend. The state cross country meets take place Saturday at Cave Creek Golf Course in Phoenix while the state swim meets run Thursday through Saturday at the Kino Aquatic Complex in Mesa.

The Fab 5
1. Teddy Ruben, Sr., QB, Saguaro (Scottsdale): He ran 18 times for 330 yards and three TDs and completed 10 of 15 passes for 173 yards and three more TDs in a win over Apache Junction.

2. Devonte Smythe, Sr., QB, Washington (Phoenix): Completed 21 of 31 passes for 302 yards and four TDs in a win over Thunderbird (Phoenix).

3. Rathen Ricedorff, Sr., QB, Show Low: Completed 25 of 32 passes for 358 yards and four TDs in a win over Payson.

4. Casey Jahn, Jr., RB, Northwest Christian (Phoenix): He had 21 carries for 154 yards and three touchdowns and returned an interception 73 yards for another score in a win over Scottsdale Christian.

5. Izzy Marshall, Sr., LB, Mountain Pointe (Phoenix): The Arizona State-bound senior had two interceptions, nearly a third, and six tackles in the Pride's 35-21 win at Perry that gave Mountain Pointe a shot at a second straight East Valley Region title.

Five Games To Watch
5A non-conference -- Mountain Pointe at Tempe Marcos de Niza, Friday, 7 p.m.: The winner can claim the East Valley Region title depending on the result of the game below.

5A non-conference – Desert Ridge at Perry, Friday, 7 p.m.: The winner can claim the East Valley Region title depending on the result of the game above.

5A-I -- Mountain View at Basha (Chandler), Friday, 7 p.m.: The winner claims the Central Region title.

4A-I -- Saguaro at Queen Creek. Friday, 7 p.m.: The winner claims the Desert Sky Region title.

2A -- Thatcher at Willcox, Friday, 7 p.m.: In the best matchup of the playoffs' first round, unbeaten, top-ranked Willcox faces a team it beat by one point two weeks ago.

Craig's Cranium
When the conference realignments were announced recently for the next two-year scheduling block, Class 5A-II's top football team, Chaparral (Scottsdale) found itself in the newly created Division II, a step down from the top conference in the Arizona Interscholastic Association's shift from seven conferences to six.

Instead of petitioning up – a right all schools have – Chaparral elected to stay in Division II. It's a curious move for a school that has perhaps the best talent in the state this season but passed on a chance to play defending 5A-I champ Hamilton (Chandler) earlier this year.

Firebirds coach Charlie Ragle said the program chose to stay in Division II because Chaparral's enrollment numbers are much smaller than most Division I schools and he feared the program wouldn't be able to compete long-term. But the point is moot.

Chaparral has some of the best talent in the state this season with receiver Davonte Neal, quarterback Connor Brewer and running back Lucas Petrullo. All of those players will be back next season.

And if Chaparral doesn't feel good about its chances two years down the road, it can move right back into Division II when the next realignment is announced.

Chaparral should be playing Division I next season. There are no reasonable excuses.

Craig Morgan is a freelance writer who has covered professional, college and high school sports in the Phoenix area for the past 18 years. He currently serves as the Phoenix correspondent for CBSSports.com, covering the Arizona Cardinals and other local teams. He also writes a weekly column and other features for The Arizona Republic. You can reach him at craigsmorgan@gmail.com.