Football Walk Through: Week 11 of 11

October 24, 2016 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365


Not much left for the taking among East Valley schools as far as region championships are concerned. A couple are still up for grabs. We will delve into those and a couple other scenarios on this final week of  the regular season. Here we go:

WEEK 11 of  11 EAST VALLEY GAMES

FRIDAY OCT. 28: 6A -- Perry (8-1) at Basha (3-6); Chandler (7-2) at Hamilton (6-3); Desert Vista (5-4) at Corona del Sol (4-5); Mountain Pointe (9-0) at Gilbert (1-8); Highland (3-6) at Desert Ridge (6-3); Mtn. View (6-3) at Mesa (4-6); Westwood (2-7) at Red Mountain (5-4);  Dobson (5-4) at Skyline (8-1). 5A -- Mesquite (6-3) at Campo Verde (7-2); Maricopa (4-5) at McClintock (3-6); Desert View (7-2) at Poston Butte (4-5); Queen Creek (8-1) at Williams Field (9-0). 4A -- Combs (2-7) at  Apache Junction (3-6); Tempe (5-4) at Marcos de Niza (6-3); Higley (8-1) at Seton Catholic (4-5). 3A -- Safford (5-4) at American Leadership (8-1); Globe (4-5) at Ben Franklin (6-3); Casteel (8-1) at Valley Christian (3-6). 2A -- Arizona Lutheran (3-6) at Gilbert Christian (5-4); Scottsdale Prep (3-5) at Chandler Prep (7-2); Tempe Prep (7-2) at Parker (3-6); Glendale Prep (4-4) at San Tan Foothills (5-3).

THIS AND THAT:  6A regions involving East Valley teams have determined their champions. Unbeaten Mountain Pointe won the Central, twice-beaten Chandler owns the Premier and once-defeated Skyline has captured the East Valley. The Perry-Basha clash is the secondary football rivalry in Chandler to Hamilton-Chandler, but it means a lot to Basha in terms of postseason possibility. The Bears have a shot at making the top 16 if they can upset Perry. The game features Basha's noted senior QB Ryan Kelley (2,350 yards, 19 TDs in 8 games) and Perry's understated junior QB Brock Purdy (2,235 yards, 27 TDs in 6 games). Purdy's most recent performance vs. Hamilton yielded 482 passing yards and 5 TDs. It's sure to be a scorefest as the Val Vista Road rivals duke it out for the fifth time. Basha leads the rivalry 4-1 and has won the last four meetings.....Unbeaten Williams Field got a scare from Mesquite last week and enters a showdown with one-loss Queen Creek in the game that decides the 5A San Tan. Queen Creek has won seven consecutive games. Williams Field's steady run game and dynamic pitch-and-catch trio of QB Zach Shepherd and WRs Max Fine and Justis Stokes are tough to contain. Fine and Stokes account for 83 percent of Williams Field's 1,872 passing yards.  Queen Creek counters with running back Jake Koester and his 1,223 yards rushing He''s eclipsed 100 yards in seven of nine games. The Bulldogs also are piloted by a sophomore QB,  Devin Larsen. Larsen relies primarily on wide outs Armon McGuire and Ian Woods. They can be a handful. The teams have split six meetings dating back to 2011. Williams Field won a defensive struggle last year, 17-14.... Higley put the wraps on the 4A Desert Sky last week topping Marcos de Niza for that distinction. Higley's lone defeat is to No. 1 Saguaro. Tempe High at No. 18 and Seton Catholic at No. 22 are on the bubble for 4A postseason play with Seton a longshot.....American Leadership Academy can officially salt away the 3A Central by beating Safford. The Patriots host Safford, which can make a run at a share of the region title if it  pulls off an upset. Safford can win the region if it beats ALA and Florence loses to Coolidge. Those aren't the scenarios to bet on. ALA got senior quarterback Dallin Edwards back in action last week for the first time since suffering an injury in late August. Edwards appears ready for the finale and postseason after going 14-of-18 for 227 yards and 5 TDs last week vs. Coolidge. Safford needs a win and a Florence loss to Cooldige to snare an automatic berth to the playoffs. Even without that scenario, Safford should be able to nab one of the four at-large 3A playoff berths. Remember in 3A the top two finishers in each region receiver an automatic playoff berth... The 3A Casteel-Valley Christian matchup affords the winner an automatic playoff berth as the 3A Metro's runner-up. Casteel has a berth locked up win or lose as it resides at No. 9 in the power rankings. Valley Christian must win to qualify since its current ranking in 3A is No. 24 and would fall short of an at-large berth..... The East Valley has four teams competing in 2A and at present Chandler Prep is the only one that has secured a playoff berth due to its Metro East Region title. Gilbert Christian and San Tan Foothills are on the bubble heading to the final week. Gilbert Christian is No. 14 in the power rankings and San Tan Foothills No. 19. Gilbert Christian is the favorite in its finale with Arizona Lutheran. San Tan Foothills has a tougher go with Glendale Prep.

NOTE: The weekly power-rankings will update Tuesday morning Oct. 25 at 10. The rankings mentioned above are from October 18 rankings and will be updated in THIS AND THAT after the new release of rankings Oct. 25.