For the seventh year in a row, the man they call “Bam” is spending the summer months guiding a mass of young football players through a litany of conditioning drills on the fields of Mountain View High School. 

A swarm of players line up on a parched practice field on a cloudless summer afternoon in the shadows of the imposing rockfaces of the Santa Catalina Mountains. 

Two-dozen players wearing a duke’s mix of practice pennies race around the parched practice field at Ironwood Ridge on a blistering mid-May afternoon. 

A cacophony of whistles screech across the turf football field at Marana High School last Tuesday afternoon as a horde of teenagers’ sprint through drills. 

Cats nearing College World Series

Local athletes from Canyon del Oro and Ironwood Ridge dotted the AIA’s All-Region teams for boys volleyball, with Dorado Jack Call winning Player of the Year in the 5A Kino region. Nighthawk athletes Justin Miller and Jrue Jantz were co-players of the year in the 5A Sonoran region. 

The Oro Valley Wolverines High School lacrosse team capped off a memorable year with a win of Phoenix-based Desert Mountain earlier this month, in the Division II state championship game. 

AJ Kaiser stung a belt-high fastball deep into an overcast sky last Tuesday afternoon, cutting through a gale force headwind for a two-run home run.

Track and field stars from across the state converged on Mesa Community College over the weekend for the AIA State Track Championships. 

The young men of the Marana football squad have a new leader in Louie Ramirez, who’s set to bring a deep well of knowledge to the back-to-back section champions.

CDO, Marana finish top-five in girls track

The Marana Tigers have a new football coach, in 25-year-old Northern Arizona University Graduate Assistant Louie Ramirez. 

Sarah Whaley has worked at Marana High School for four years, moving into her current role as dean of students and athletic director two years ago. She previously served as a girls basketball and volleyball coach at Marana. She previously worked as an English teacher and girls basketball and…

(As of Monday, April 9)

Boston’s Gourmet Pizza, Marana (5825 W. Arizona Pavilions Drive) is hosting an event this Thursday, March 29 to benefit Marana Tigers Baseball. Boston’s Pizza pledges to donate a portion of its food sales between 4 and 8 p.m. to the Marana Tigers Baseball Boosters.

The Northwest High School teams had some great performances this year in track and field. There were a number of state champions and both individuals and teams who capped off great seasons at state.

The Pima Community College baseball program has its new coach and it is a familiar face.Rich Alday has agreed to come back to lead the Aztecs as their head coach. Alday started the Pima baseball program and racked up a record of 496-220 in his 16-year career from 1974-1989. He took the Aztec…

The CDO baseball team fell 5-3 in the 4A state semi-finals. Nogales jumped out to a 5-0 lead but saw the Dorados climb back into the game in the sixth. Kiko Romero led off the inning with a triple and scored to batters later on a Derrick Calvillo single. With two on Brian Romero hit the team…

The CDO softball team beat Sunrise Mountain 4-2 to win their ninth softball state title in school history.

The Canyon Del Oro softball team is back in familiar ground, playing for a state title. The Dorados will play Sunrise Mountain on Tuesday for a chance to win their ninth state championship.

The CDO baseball team advanced to the 4A semifinals with a 21-2 win over Coconino. The No. 4 Dorados will face No. 1 Nogales on Wednesday, May 10, for a spot in the championship game.

The No. 4 Canyon Del Oro baseball team rallied from a 5-1 deficit in the final inning to beat No. 13 Apache Junction 6-5 in the first round of the 4A Baseball State Championships.

The Pusch Ridge softball team saw their season come to an in in heartbreaking fashion, with a 4-3 walk-off loss in extra innings to Safford. 

Northwest baseball and softball teams are having an excellent postseason. At press time four of the seven teams were still alive and all seven qualified for the state playoffs, either qualifying outright or winning a regional play-in game.

All four Northwest teams advanced in their respective baseball and softball regional playoff games on Wednesday.

The Marana girls soccer team survived a wet, cold night and a late Flowing Wells flurry to beat the Caballeros 2-1 and win the 5A Sonoran Regional title.

Connor Leavens found the end zone from 5-yards out with less than 30 seconds left in the game to propel Marana to a 28-21 win over Kellis High School in the first round of the 5A state playoffs.

Mountain View spotted Tucson High the first 13 points of the game but used a fast start to the second half to rally and beat the Badgers 44-35.

Ironwood Ridge forced seven Marana turnovers and beat the Tigers 62-42 to open the season.

Once again a four-run Ironwood Ridge sixth inning dashed Cactus softball's dreams. Monday night, it took place in the Division II state title game at ASU's Farrington Stadium. The Nighthawks won their second state title in three seasons with a 6-2 win over Cactus.

Pusch Ridge won the Division IV sate football championship the same way they won their previous two playoff games…in dramatic fashion. The Lions beat Northwest Christian 14-7 to claim the school’s first football state title.

Ironwood Ridge were able to overcome the injury bug a week ago and hang on to beat a pesky Sunnyside team. Marcos de Niza was another story as the Padres had too much talent and beat the host Nighthawks 35-15. 

Marana and Mountain View essentially had playoff games on Friday night. Wins would mean their seasons continued, losses essentially ended them. In the end both teams fell in close, exciting games.

Canyon Del Oro rallied form 12 points down in the fourth quarter to beat Mountain View 43-40.

Just a year after the AIA made a massive realignment change, they are at it again. The organization has realigned all sports by enrollment, creating six new divisions.

Pusch Ridge took control of Division IV, Section VI with a 24-21 win over previously unbeaten Flowing Wells. The Lions not only hold a one game lead on the Caballeros in section play, but hold the head-to-heat tiebreaker, meaning Flowing Wells needs to win out and have Push Ridge lose twice …

Queen Creek jumped out to a 22-0 lead and fended off a Mountain View rally to beat the host Mountain Lions 22-20.

Rivalry games are by nature unpredictable, and that was certainly the case during Ironwood Ridge’s 46-28 win over district rival Canyon Del Oro on Friday night.

Marana got a much needed win on Friday night, beating Catalina Foothills 27-24. The Tigers scored 20 straight points then held off a Falcon rally.

A look at the five games involving Northwest-side teams this Friday.

Summary: In the fourth week, some teams and individuals have posted more than seven qualifying scores. Averages are based upon the best seven scores adjusted for the ratings and slopes of the courses played. Other, higher scores are discarded making averages lower as up to fourteen scores ma…

Will Walker scored from three yards out with 3:00 left in the game to help Cienega to a 31-28 win over Canyon Del Oro on Friday night.

Ironwood Ridge used two early scores to jump out in front of a shorthanded Salpointe club and beat the Lancers 33-7.

Despite weather challenges interrupting scheduled matches, teams have played more rounds.  The standings have not changed much for teams with individual standings showing most all of the movement. Team section leaders remain the same from week one (CDO, Salpointe, Walden Grove). Two of the t…

 Marana used a 37 from John Fiore to down Flowing Wells and Catalina in boys golf at the Quarry Pines on Wednesday.

It was not a game for the feint of heart, or even for those who like defense, but Mountain View held on to beat visiting Horizon 40-37.

The high school boys golf season is underway and for the second consecutive year the Explorer News/Marana News/Foothills News wlll  post the weekly standings. These rankings are separate from the iWanamaker system, but use a nearly identical formula.

Hamilton showed that the old adage was true, a good large school usually beats a good small school. The team from Chandler ventured down Interstate 10 and beat the hosts from Oro Valley 44-7 to open their 2015 high school football season.