Arizona HS Season About to Start
Arizona HS Season About to Start
Arizona’s HS league gets off to an interesting start this weekend as players all arrive at the same locale and put their names in a hat to be chosen for random teams.
It’s a time-honored way to host a tournament when you’re not sure who can make it, and the format allows players to meet new athletes, and perhaps use their skills in a different way with different teammates.
But after that things go back to normal. A regular pre-season tournament will be followed by the first league games on the final weekend of January.
Leading the pack at the moment has to be Red Mountain. The program won both the DI and DIII state titles in 2014 - the DIII competition was won with their freshmen and sophomores - so you know they have depth.
“We have a bunch of seniors returning and we also have all those young players who won in DIII,” said Head Coach OJ Hawea.
Among the returning players is flyhalf Malik Vano, who has a good eye for space on the field, and Ryan Hakes, who is moving from prop to No. 8. Almost the entire forward pack returns for Red Mountain, with a large number of previous backups in the forwards ready to step in, too.
“And we have some exciting backs, some fast kids,” said Hawea.
But it will take some time to get the younger backline working well. Hawea said he doesn’t expect everyone to be perfect from to get-go. They will work on the basics, get their skills down, and shoot to peak in March and April.
However, there are earlier challenges on the horizon. Tempe faces Red Mountain on February 21, and Desert Vista opens the season January 31.
“Usually we have it where if Tempe is strong then we are rebuilding, and when Tempe is rebidding we’ve got a strong team,” said Hawea. “But this year we’re both strong. And Desert Vista is an up-and-coming team. They are going to be tough.”
And also Red Mountain will host Snow Canyon out of Utah. Snow Canyon seems determined to give themselves as difficult a season as possible, and their visit to Arizona will be a nice warm-weather trip for the St. George, Utah squad, and a massive challenge for the defending Arizona state champs.
So it’s all starting very soon in Arizona.
