Odds and ends from high school sports | Explore Wellness

Questions, questions, questions… and a few answers.

Q: Which Northwest-area high school graduate is most likely to make a big splash in big-time athletics next fall?

A: That would be former Marana High quarterback Trenton Bourget, who, at the end of spring practice, was penciled in to be the starter at Arizona State next season. 

The previous QB, three-year starter Jayden Daniels, suddenly jumped into the transfer portal and ended up at Louisiana State, where he will be coached by former Notre Dame head Brian Kelly. It’s not known if Daniels was jumping toward an opportunity to perform on an even-bigger national stage or if he were getting out of town before the NCAA hammer comes down for egregious recruiting violations. Whatever the case (maybe it’s both), Daniels is gone and Bourget will head into preseason practice as QB1.

Bourget had a spectacular high school career for the Marana Tigers, passing for over 7,600 yards with a state-record 89 touchdown passes. In his junior year, he threw for 2,984 yards and 38 TDs. 

With the aforementioned NCAA cloud hanging low over the Sun Devil program, Bourget’s ascension to starting quarterback might be akin to being assigned to hand out oars on the Titanic, but he’ll be a starting QB in the Pac-12 and that’s way cool…even if it is ASU.

Q: As we head into the playoffs for the various spring sports, which Northwest school team has the best shot at bringing home a State championship?

A: Obviously, lots of weird things could happen, but while several Northwest teams could make some noise in their respective state tournaments, there aren’t any particular favorites this year. 

The softball and baseball teams from Canyon Del Oro are ranked third and sixth in the state in their respective rankings. The softball team is 13-1, but that one loss is a monster 14-3 defeat at the hands of Salpointe. There is a decent shot that those two teams could meet again in the playoffs. (If the rankings don’t change, it would be in the championship game.) Salpointe would be favored in that contest, but we wouldn’t bet against CDO Coach Kelly Fowler in a championship game.

Q: Since you have this soapbox moment, what would you like to say?

A: Between 2018 and 2020, the Amphi girls’ tennis team went a combined 1-29, with the one win being a forfeit victory over Catalina High. It was a rough time and not just at Amphi. Schools had begun seeing a drop in participation across the board, much of it due to the near-total disappearance of the multi-sport athlete.

Twenty years ago, girls would play volleyball in the fall, basketball in the winter, and then softball or track (or tennis) in the spring. But then came the rise of club sports where kids and parents were $old on the idea that paying to play one sport year-round would somehow lead to a magical college scholarship. (It almost never does.)

So, kids missed out on opportunities to try new things and become more well-rounded people, while secondary and tertiary sports struggled to fill out teams. For decades, basketball programs had varsity, junior varsity and freshman teams. The varsity was for kids in any grade if they were good enough. The JV team was for non-seniors and the freshman team was for freshmen only.

Nowadays, they have JV-A and JV-B teams. The JV-A team is for non-seniors while the JV-B team is for freshmen and sophomores. The hope is that enough kids will come out in the hopes of just playing some ball. But even that isn’t working everywhere. Many schools, including 5A Ironwood Ridge, have only one JV team and other sports like swimming, cross country and tennis struggle to fill out rosters.

It’s time to turn things around. I’m old and, in many ways, old school. I always preach to kids that they should do high-school stuff while they’re in high school. Be in the drama production, play in the band, work for student council, try new sports. 

I’ve always considered myself a basketball coach first, but I’m also a tennis coach. Last year, my first at Amphi, we only had two kids (Leilani and Mi Meh) because of the pandemic. They played well, often winning their respective singles matches and doubles match, but we’d forfeit the other six matches.

This year, they’re back and playing spectacularly. (They also play basketball and soccer.) And I got a bunch of my basketball players to come try tennis and fill out the roster. The results have exceeded my wildest dreams. We’re 9-2 heading into a showdown at Nogales, with the winner grabbing the division title. 

I just want people to know that it can be done. And, for the sake of the young people, it should be done.

EXTRA POINTS: Okay, pop quiz (this is a tough one). Which is crazier: The fact that the University of Arizona men’s tennis team in undefeated in conference play and about to claim the Pac-12 title or the fact that the UA women’s softball team is in LAST PLACE in the Pac-12 with a record of 4-11? I would tend to go with the tennis, seeing as how the UA has never won a Pac-12 title in that sport since joining the Pac in 1978. And, in that time, USC, Stanford and UCLA have won a combined 26 national championships. Except for Washington in 2005, the aforementioned three schools have also won every Pac-12 title in the past two decades. Arizona crashing that exclusive party is a really big deal… The Wildcat men’s baseball team was in first place in the Pac-12 until a bumpy visit to Utah last weekend. The Cats dropped two games to the Utes and fell into third place in the conference…