Southern Arizona had its share of moments, athletes and coaches to remember from the just-completed 2011-2012 prep season. Here is a list of 10 -- certainly not exhaustive -- that stood out over the last nine months. They are listed in no particular order.

1. Amphitheater basketball player Tim Derksen. Although Amphi didn't win a second consecutive boys hoops title after a ferocious late rally from Peoria in the D-II final, watching Derksen play was a treat. In an age of talented players who often steal the show, Derksen played the consummate team game and didn't carry the glitz and glitter many seem to hail. Solid in every aspect of the game, he truly deserved an honor such as Arizona's Gatorade Player of the Year ifor 2011-2012. Good luck to Derksen at the University of San Francisco.

2. Cibola cross country and track athlete Bernie Montoya. Ever since finding a niche running over hill and dale and on all-weather surfaces, the once football player turns in great performances in the fall and spring. Montoya won his second consecutive Division I cross country title and won three events at the D-I track meet (800, 1,600, 3,200) this year rather than two. Best of all, for those who like watching him run and not competing against him, there's another helping of Montoya next year.

3. Salpointe Catholic boys soccer coach Wolfgang Weber. After watching a young, out-physicaled squad get eliminated early in the D-I state tournament in 2011, Weber's team came back in D-II and presented the longtime coach with his fifth state title when the Lancers defeated Notre Dame Prep, 3-0, in February. It was Salpointe's first outright soccer title since 1996. Weber has been in the state soccer coaching circles since soccer began being played in Arizona high schools 30 years ago.

4. Canyon del Oro softball player Kayla Bonstrom. For the second year in a row, a pitcher's home run decided one of the state softball title games. In 2011, Deer Valley  used Lauren Haeger's late homer to edge Ironwood Ridge for the 5A-II title. Bonstrom got revenge for herself and Tucson, dealing another northwest Valley entry, Sunrise Mountain, the loss with a laser-beam homer down the right-field line. Bonstrom bounced back from giving up five runs in the bottom of the seventh that allowed Sunrise Mnt. to tie their D-II title game and send it to extra innings. Bonstrom takes her lethal bat to Stanford this fall. For CDO it was its fifth softball title in the last seven years.

5. Yuma Catholic wins Division V football title. Yuma Catholic hasn't been around that long -- about a decade -- but  its long-awaited victory over Northwest Christian in the 2011 championship game gave the city its first ever outright football championship. Frustrated in a trio of regular-season and championship matchups over two seasons with NWC, the Shamrocks and coach Rhett Stallworth eeked one out. It was the lone state title in 2011-2012 for a Yuma area high school, but created plenty of buzz for the magnitude of the triumph.

6. Tennis winds blow strong from the south. Five southern Arizona schools either won a team tennis title or finished runner-up in 2012. Half of the top two team spots (six of 12) in D-I, D-II and D-III boys and girls tennis went to Ironwood Ridge boys and girls titles), Catalina Foothills, Thatcher, Pusch Ridge and Miami. Of the 48 state placers in boys and girls singles and double, 20 were from southern Arizona schools. The state champs were Salpointe's Matt and Andrew Dunn  (D-I), Salpointe's Courtney Amos (D-I), Catalina Foothills Rachana and Kirtana Bhat  (D-II) and Catalina Foothills Zaina Sufi (D-II).

7. Canyon del Oro hurdler Jaide Stepter. For the second year in a row Stepter dominated the 100 and 300 hurdles, winning the D-II state meet in both. She broke her own state record in the 300 hurdles set back in March at the Chandler Rotary, finishing the race in 42.01 seconds. Stepter didn't repeat her state title in the 200 meters, but substituted a win in the long jump after working on enough to the final five weeks of the season. Stepter is headed to USC this fall.

8. Ironwood Ridge breaks on top in Tucson wrestling. Only one southern Arizona school won a wrestling title in 2012 and it wasn't Sunnyside. Ironwood Ridge won its second straight Division II title by a comfortable 54.5- point magin over Gila Ridge. Ironwood Ridge crowned three individual champs -- Trevor Willson, Troy Taylor and Matt Filbert -- plus two runners-up. But the state and individual titles weren't  the only accomplishment of note for the Nighthawks. They won the prestigious Flowing Wells Invitational in mid-January and two weeks later ended a three-decades-plus home dual-meet run by Sunnyside. Ironwood Ridge went head-to-head on Jan. 25 with Sunnyside and thumped the Blue Devils, 41-22.

9. Salpointe Catholic finds its niche dropping a division. Salpointe, long competing with schools with the largest enrollments, stayed where it belonged this year with a new scheduling block. That translated to five state championships for the Lancers (girls golf, boys and girls track, boys swimming and boys soccer). Boys golf and girls swimming earned state runners-up honors.

10. Amphitheater football coach Vern Friedli shuts it down. Vern Friedli didn't close his 36-year coaching career at Amphi the way he usually did with a postseason berth, but Friedli has a number no other Arizona coach has. Friedli capped a four-decade coaching career with 331 wins when he announced his retirement at age 75 in February. Friedli's Amphi teams reached the playoffs 28 times in 36 season. His only state title came in his fourth season there - a win over Mesa High in 1979. Friedli's teams reached the state final three other  times losing to Mesa High (1990), Mesa Mountain View (1997) and in his brief stay at Morenci, bowed to Gilbert High in 1973.