Welcome to Gridiron Arizona
Expanding with the times in our 3rd season of tracking AZ high school football
WELCOME BLOG: 6/21/11
This weekend brings the finish of summer passing league tournaments and the calendar will move ever closer to "real football". You know, the kind with pads, helmets, and 11 young men on a side.
I'm happy to welcome you (or welcome you back) to GRIDIRON ARIZONA! This is your weekly home for coverage of high school football all year long. Anything you desire to view is here and you only need to make a few clicks to see all the details for every Division I and II team.
Yes, that's right, it's now called Division I and II. 5A is no more and as the divisions have grown larger with the recent realignment, so will the coverage you see here. I started up the site in 2009 at the beginning of the last two-year block with 63 total teams. This fall, 40 teams will play in Division I and another 42 in Division II. That's the 82 largest schools throughout the state! Welcome to those players, coaches, and fans affiliated with previous 4A schools! Let's show you around the site.
It all starts with a picture telling the story at the top of the home page. During the season, it will be an action shot from one of the games around the state. In the offseason, it can be a variety of things such as coaches, fans, mascots, or cheerleaders. Every Friday night under the lights, memories are created whether it is by a player, coach, family member, student, or fan. In the shot above, the Marcos de Niza cheer squad showed its support for the Padres and performed its routine. It seemed like any other game. It's what happened later that made it memorable. I sat with a pair of the dads of these cheerleaders for the first three quarters (yes, I sit in the stands, with the fans!). In the fourth quarter, the dads made their way onto the track and played cowbells adding a different rhythm to the cheers. I don't know if they do that every week, or if it was a one-time event. I just know I hadn't seen it before. That picture is below the column.
Each week during the season, I trek out to all corners of the Metro Phoenix area. Some of the destinations include Peoria, Goodyear, Avondale, and Laveen on the West side; Mesa, Chandler, and Ahwatukee on the East side. Yup, that's about the whole Valley. It wasn't until the start of the playoffs that I learned about the Manual setting on the camera (what can I say, I guess I was a little slow!). That should improve the photos again this season. Left of the photo and game article (which includes a box score) is the weekly scoreboard. I put the schedule for the games up on Tuesday nights. Late Friday night, scores appear in the boxes to the right of the team names as the finals come in.
Below the weekly writeup are the power point calculations. Once again, 16 teams will qualify for the playoffs in each division. Last year, these were usually updated by around noon on Saturday. On the last night of the regular season, the final rankings were posted about 30 minutes after midnight and were spot on!
Check out the team-by-team schedules on just four pages! The 82 schools are arranged alphabetically and each page displays 20-21 schools. Scores will be filled in weekly along with an update on opponent's records. On the A-C page, the section standings are displayed. Keep in mind that the top three teams from each section are guaranteed playoff spots. Below that, will be a chart showing the strength of each section.
The top of the D-K page will show what schools are playing the toughest schedules this season. It has been expanded to 15 (from 10) teams this year. St. Mary's played the toughest slate last year having to line up against Hamilton, Chaparral, and O'Connor who all went undefeated! I don't expect the Knights to have the hardest schedule again, but we won't know for sure until the season gets kicked off. This page also contains the previous four columns, in case you miss one and want to catch up.
The L-Q page features a weekly mail bag segment (or however often I get fan mail). In this space, I will attempt to answer your questions or post your comments about the site. What do you think of things around here?
The R-Z page has a listing of the addresses of all 82 schools (newly updated) in Division I or II so you can figure out how to get your vehicle to the next road game and support your team.
Last year, I debuted the Team Sites page. So far, nine schools have taken me up on it and posted a link to Gridiron Arizona on their site. In return, I post their site on my page. Thanks to those fans at Mountain Ridge, Lake Havasu, and Perry! I've seen a lot of hits come from those links.
As I begin year three of this, I take a quick look back to this past offseason. I ran weekly columns on coaching changes at St. Mary's, Sunnyside, and Sunnyslope. I had rankings of the top running backs, quarterbacks, and wide receivers. Also, I had the opportunity to run features on players, which was a unique treat. Best of luck this season to Boulder Creek teammates Beau Kitson (OL) and Ryan McKinley (DB), and thanks for providing a window into your world.
Finally, I am still looking for a sponsor as there are some expenses involved in running the site and traveling around to provide weekly coverage. If this is an area that you would like to help out, please drop me an e-mail. Here's hoping each of you involved with the game work hard and strive to achieve your goals in the 2011 season!
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