2010-2011 Brophy Broncos Basketball Season Preview

Last season the team finished 18-11, with victories over top ranked Mesa and arch-rival St. Mary's in back to back days.

"We got caught up in the intoxication of so-called success after beating Mesa and St. Mary's. We started thinking that we could just walk out and beat people and we were not that kind of team, we're not there yet," Mr. Fuller said.

Mr. Fuller emphasizes team play rather than individuals, that's why stats are not listed on maxpreps.com. "The whole is greater than the sum of the parts," Mr. Fuller said.

Mr. Fuller was a head coach at Pepperdine and San Diego State and more recently was an assistant at Stanford.

Brophy was ranked No. 5 (5A-I) in Richard Obert of the Arizona Republic's preseason poll. The Broncos dropped out of the top five after going 1-1 in the Arrowhead Desert Classic tournament against 4A-II teams. These results will not be counted in power points.

The biggest cause for concern is the point guard position. Ryan Milne '10 was a great distributor and offenses start with the point guard position.

Projected Starting Line-up Bold = returning starters

C Sai Tummala 6'7 190 Sr.

F James Harper 6'3 175 Jr.

F Jordan Medl 6'4 190 Jr.

SG Chris Pierre 5'11 160 Sr.

PG Peter Scobas 5'9 130 Jr.

Players graduated: F/C Jon Vimmerstedt '10, PG Milne , F Michael Brennan '10, and F/C Jon Lavanway '10 .

Gridiron Highlights, Hiccups, and High Hopes

Summary of the 2010 Brophy Broncos Varsity Football Season

By: Justin Janssen '11

A 6-6 season is certainly not as impressive as recent Brophy teams, although just like 2009, the Broncos were eliminated in quarterfinal round. Brophy won nine or more games in each of the past six seasons.

Hiccups:

This year's team dealt with more adversity than in years past, they have had more players than usual quit the team and the team has been plagued with injuries to their best players.

Two defensive captains, safety Joe Maggi '11 and linebacker Ethan Cooper '11 were lost due to season ending injuries. Maggi led the 2009 Broncos with four interceptions, but he tore his ACL before the season started. Cooper hurt his shoulder against Chandler midway through the season.

Quarterback Chase Knox transferred to Madison High School (CA) just two days before the season started allegedly because he did not want to split time with Tyler Bruggman '13.

Garrett Wilson '11 switched from quarterback to safety in order to get more playing time. However he hurt his ankle midway through the season against Red Mountain and would not return to play again.

Bruggman injured his ankle in what was described as a "freak accident" and his injury could lead into spring practice.

The St. Mary's Knights broke their seven game losing streak against the Brophy Broncos with a 16-13 win. On fourth and goal from the Knights 10, Brophy originally had their kicking team on the field, but after a Knights timeout, the Broncos elected to go for it. Bruggman threw incomplete to Jordan Graves '11, ending the game.

Brophy's kickers - Zac Bryan '12 and Casey Skowron '11 combined on the season to make 6 field goals in 16 tries and made 19 extra points in 29 tries. Skowron first joined the team less than a month before the season concluded; Skowron primarily plays soccer.

Fans had been spoiled by the play of kicker/punter/safety Alex Garoutte '10, who was 14/17 on field goals and 34/37 on extra points. Garoutte is now playing at Arizona State.

Highlights:

Fred Gammage '12 switched from wide receiver to quarterback before the Mesa game because Brophy did not have a healthy quarterback on their roster. Gammage played well considering the circumstances; he completed over 64 percent of his passes.

Three defensive players stood out this year: cornerback Matt Cahal '12, defensive end Charley Beck '11, and linebacker Robert Relf '13.

Cahal led the team with five interceptions, recorded 76 tackles (third most on team), and blocked two field goals. Although Beck is undersized for his position, at 185 pounds, but he has 14 sacks on the season (second in 5A-I), and is second on the team with 93 tackles. Relf leads the team with 113 tackles and also has three sacks.

Running back/wide receiver Josh Dennard '11 played well piling up 1100 rushing and receiving yards. Dennard led the team in scoring with 13 touchdowns.

High Hopes:

There is certainly promise for the future. Speedy wide receiver Devon Allen '13 recorded 60 catches (leads 5A-I) for 915 yards (third in 5A-I) and six touchdowns.

Josh's brother Marche Dennard '13 should be able to fill Josh's shoes; Dennard ran for over 300 yards and averaged over six yards a carry. Over 200 of those yards came in the last four games of the season and scored three touchdowns during that stretch.

Wide receiver/punter Matt Auran '13 came on strong late in the season. He did not get regular playing time at wide receiver until midway through the season, but caught 19 passes for 270 yards and 2 touchdowns. Auran also averaged 33 yards a punt.

The season concluded with a 13-12 loss to No. 5 Mountain Pointe in the quarterfinals. Brophy earned the 13^th seed in the playoffs and knocked off No. 4 Mountain Ridge 24-17 in the first round. The Broncos went on three different two game winning streaks: Deer Valley and Gilbert, Red Mountain and Mesa, and Yuma and Mountain Ridge.

In 2011, the Broncos could go on a tear because their young talent has experience in the varsity level. Brophy relied on a slew of sophomores in 2010; Allen, Dennard, Auran, Relf, Bruggman, Andrew Curtis '13, Charlie Renfree '13, and Dominic Riccitelli '13.

Photo Credits to Andrew Ahearne '11 and Rob March '11

Brophy eliminated from playoffs

On Friday November 19th, the Brophy Broncos concluded their season with a 13-12 loss to the Mountain Pointe Pride in the quarterfinal round of the playoffs.

Mountain Pointe fumbled the opening kickoff and Brophy took over with great field position. A 23 yard completion to Matt Auran '13 from Fred Gammage '12 set the Broncos up with first and goal. A couple plays later Josh Dennard '11 would finish the drive with a touchdown run.

The extra point attempt was 5 yards further due to a false start penalty and Casey Skowron '11 hooked it a few inches to the right.

Later in the quarter, Arizona State commit Izzy Marshall intercepted a Gammage pass and returned it all the way for a touchdown, giving Mountain Pointe a 7-6 lead.

Brophy would have terrible field position for most of the game due to effective punting by Kevin Kadisak of Mountain Pointe. Brophy started drives at their own 1, 1, 2, and 8 yard lines.

Kadisak added a 25 yard field goal with 39.2 seconds before the half to give the Pride a 10-6 lead.

On the Broncos first drive of the second half, Devon Allen '13 lost a fumble giving the Pride excellent field position once again.

Kadisak added his second field goal of the game , from 44 yards, with 9:15 remaining in the third period giving Mountain Ridge a 13-6 lead.

In the fourth quarter, Brophy had its most productive drive of the game. Starting at their own 20, they drove the length of the field.
On 3rd and goal from the 13 yard line, Gammage took off and charged into the end zone closing the gap at 13-12 with 5:06 renaming in the game.

The extra point was blocked due to a bad snap.

Luckily for Brophy, their defense stuffed Mountain Pointe again. On third down Danny Riggs '11 recovered an unforced fumble at the Mountain Pointe 35 yard line with 2:18 remaining.

A couple minutes later on 4th down and four, Skowron attempted a potential game winning field goal from 46 yards, but he hooked it a couple inches to the right.

A few weeks ago Skowron wasn't even playing football; his primary sport is soccer.

“We were two, three inches from moving on. Our team melded together and I congratulate Mountain Pointe," said Brophy coach Scooter Molander.

Fred Gammage, who was a wide reciever a couple months ago, finished 14 of 21 for 123 yards with 2 interceptions and a 13 yard rushing touchdown.

Brophy outgained Mountain Ridge 202 yards to 146 yards, but had three turnovers to the Pride's two.

The Broncos defense held the Pride to just 73 yards rushing - on 26 carries, which is well below their season average of 184 yards rushing a game.

Photos By Ben Jackson '11

Mountain Pointe Cheat Sheet

• Both the Brophy Broncos and the Mountain Pointe Pride earned close first round playoff victories.
  
• Mountain Pointe trailed 14-0 entering the fourth quarter against No. 12 Red Mountain, but scored 21 points in the final frame to mount the comeback.
  
• Late in the fourth quarter Brophy led Mountain Ridge by a touchdown. Twice the Bronco defense forced an interception to seal the game.
  
• Mountain Pointe went 12-1 last season; their only loss was to Mesa in the semifinals 14-10.
  

Key Players to watch:

• #11 WR Garrett Holley- 37 catches 741 yards 9 touchdowns
• #8 LB/RB Izzy Marshall- committed to Arizona State, leads team with 34 tackles, also has 2 sacks and an interception for a touchdown.
• #85 FS/WR Jalen Brown- tied for the lead in 5A-I with 6 interceptions, he is a freshman.

The Pride's uniforms look eerily similar to ASU's
Photo by: Deirdre Hamill /The Arizona Republic

5A Quarterfinals Predictions

I didn't do so hot last week predicting games going 4-4, with 3 double digit seeds winning (No. 10 Desert Ridge, No. 13 Brophy, No. 15 Gilbert). I have included predictions with 5A-II this week to keep the games predicited at 8.

5A-I

8 9-2 Mesquite 13
1 12-0Hamilton 38

Hamilton is on a 38 game winning streak and has dominated everyone they have played They don't look to be slowing down anytime soon. Mesquite had a nice blowout win over North Canyon and has only lost twice all year, to Chaparral and Basha.

13 6-5 Brophy 23
5 9-2 Mountain Pointe 21

Brophy's offense might finally be getting into a grove; the quarterback position has been hurt by injuries and Chase Knox transferring. Mountain Pointe is 9-2 and has impressive victories over Desert Vista and Marcos de Niza. The Pride narrowly escaped last week against Red Mountain.

6 10-1 Salpointe Catholic 17
3 9-2 Desert Vista 20

Salpointe has only one loss, but has played an extremely weak schedule this season. Desert Vista has won seven games in a row after starting 2-2. The Thunder can be inconsistent at times; they escaped last week against 14th seed Mesa Mountain View in double overtime. They beat St. Mary's by only a touchdown, and beat Corona del Sol, who fired their coach recently, by four.

10 8-3 Desert Ridge 24
15 6-6 Gilbert 10

Both teams are coming off of surprising first round upsets, the Gilbert Tigers defeated 2nd seeded Basha and the Desert Ridge Jaguars defeated 7th seeded Chandler. Since starting 2-3, the Jaguars have won 6 games in a row including a victory at 5th seeded Mountain Pointe.

5A-II

1 11-0 Chaparral 56
9 10-1 Lake Havasu 3

You can bet the farm on the Chaparral Firebirds winning on Friday. The defending 5A-II champions have steamrolled everyone, scoring 54 points a game and only allowing 7 a contest. 2010 is only the second season for Chaparral playing in 5A, but they have only lost 1 game in that time period. Lake Havasu only has one loss, but has one of the weakest schedules in 5A.

5 9-3 Boulder Creek 21
4 9-2 Westview 24

Both of these teams are evenly matched with 9 wins. Westview has scored at least 21 points in every single game they've played this season. Boulder Creek led entering the fourth quarter against 2nd seed Sandra Day O'Conner.

3 10-1 Centennial 28
6 9-2 Marcos de Niza 17

Last year Marcos de Niza upset the Centennial Coyotes in the semifinals 16-14, ending the Coyotes 39 game winning streak. You can bet Centennial remembers that game. Both teams are excel on the ground, averaging over 8 yards a carry.

2 11-0 Sandra Day O'Conner 31
7 8-3 Ironwood Ridge 21

O'Conner hasn't lost a game all year and only two of those games they were contested in the fourth quarter. Ironwood Ridge defeated Horizon convincingly in the first round. The Nighthawks have to travel from Tuscon to north of the 101 to play at O'Conner.

Brophy Overcomes First Mountain

On Friday Nov. 12, the Brophy Broncos defeated the Mountain Ridge Mountain Lions by a score of 24-17.

The Broncos came in as the 13th seed playing the 4th seeded Mountain Lions. The game was a rematch of a 2009 playoff game in which Brophy shut out Mountain Ridge 24-0.

Josh Dennard '11 scored two first half touchdowns of distances two yards and 78 yards. The 78 yard touchdown, which gave Brophy a 14-7 lead in the second quarter, was the longest play of the season for the Broncos.

The Mountain Lions appeared to have momentum going into halftime; they were ahead 17-14 and had stopped Brophy on four consecutive runs inside the five yard line. It appeared the Broncos had scored on 1st and 2nd down, but the officials would have none of it.

In the first half, the Mountain Lions were very effective basically running two different plays. One of them was a wide reciever screen to the sideline; the other play was a run up the middle by P.J Sparks.

Midway through the third quarter Devon Allen '13 caught a score from Fred Gammage '12 to give Brophy a 21-17 lead, a lead that would not be relinquished.

At the start of the fourth quarter, Casey Skowron '11 made his first field goal of the season giving Brophy a 24 -17 lead. The field goal was the first of his career; he took over for Zac Bryan '12 last week against Yuma, but he did not attempt a field goal.

Coming into Friday's game, Hunter Young, Mountain Ridge's quarterback, led 5A-I with 13 interceptions.

Midway through the fourth quarter, the Mountain Lions drove inside of the Brophy 30 yard line. However, true to form, Young threw an interception. Marcus Mehlhaf-Brown '11 deflected a throw by Young into the hands of Jordan Graves '11, who is a former reciever.

Mountain Ridge would get a final chance after a Brophy punt, but Young threw his second interception of the game, this time to Paul Wirth '11.

Next week Brophy heads to No. 5 Mountain Pointe to face the Pride. The pride narrowly defeated No. 12 Red Mountain; they trailed 14-0 entering the fourth quarter and scored 21 points in the final period to win.

Photos by the roundup (Ben Jackson '11 and Rob March '11)

5A-I 1st round predictions

1 11-0 Hamilton 41
16 5-6 Westwood 9

Hamilton is a lock this week, even with offensive lineman Christian Westerman out for the season. The Huskies are looking for their third straight state championship.

8 8-2 Mesquite 27
9 7-3 North Canyon 19

North Canyon is limping into the playoffs literally and figuratively. After starting 6-1, the Rattlers have lost 2 of 3 games and their starting quaterback Dominic Portocarrero is out for the season. Mesquite's only two losses on the season were to Chapparal (No. 1 in 5A-II) and at Basha by a point.

5 8-2 Mountain Pointe 20
12 6-4 Red Mountain 16

I've been debating in my head for awhile regarding if I think Red Mountain is for real. They have a nice win over No. 3 Centennial (5A-II), but have lost 4 of their last 6 games entering postseason play. Mountain Pointe has an impressive win over No. 3 Desert Vista and Marcos De Niza, who went to the finals in 5A-II last season.

4 8-2 Mountain Ridge 21
13 5-5 Brophy 19

This game is a real tossup, Brophy has been struggling on offense the majority of the season, especially since quaterback Tyler Bruggman got injured. Mountain Ridge has benefited from playing a light schedule and is led by senior running back P.J Sparks.

6 9-1 Salpointe Cathlolic 16
11 4-7 Saint Mary's 17

There's been a lot of criticism on St. Mary's making the playoffs; they have won 4 games and lost 7, but played the toughest schedule of anyone in the state. The Knights got a much needed win over No. 8 North Canyon to conclude the regular season and defeated arch-rival Brophy earlier this year. Salpointe only has 1 loss, but has played a soft schedule filled with Tuscon cupcakes.

3 8-2 Desert Vista 35
14 5-5 Mesa Mountain View 17

Desert Vista is peaking at just the right time having defeated Fiesta-region foes Brophy and Red Mountain. Mesa Mountain View is dissapointing and is in a downward spiral ever since their dominance in the state ended in the early 2000's.

7 7-3 Chandler 38
10 7-3 Desert Ridge 20

In the offseason it was proclaimed that this would be the season the Chandler Wolves knocked off Hamilton. It didn't happen; Chandler relies on quarterback Brett Hundley a lot, their defense is poor and their runningbacks have been injured. Desert Ridge has flown under the radar this year with a balanced offense.

2 9-1 Basha 31
15 5-6 Gilbert 13

Basha's only loss was to Yuma Cibola which was surprising; they have a couple very close games this season. Gilbert made the playoffs despite losing more games than won. Gilbert lost to the Bears earlier in the season by four scores.

Mountain Ridge Cheat Sheet

• The Mountain Ridge Mountain Lions play host to the Brophy Broncos in a first round playoff game November 12th.
• The game is a rematch of the 2009 first round game between these teams, which Brophy won 24-0.
  
• The Mountain Lions went 8-2 in the regular season, earning themselves the No. 4 seed in the playoffs.
  
• Key Players to watch (stats through 9 games):
  
• No. 22 RB/DB P.J Sparks- 119 carries for 955 yards and 13 touchdowns, 37 yards per kickoff return.
  
• No. 3 QB Hunter Young- 153/246 (62%) 20 touchdowns with 13 interceptions , 36 carries for 268 yards.
• No. 32 LB Spencer Hammitt- 64 tackles, 6 sacks

Photo by Mica Mulloy

Yuma Cheat Sheet

• The Brophy Broncos (4-5, 2-3 Fiesta) head to the Yuma (2-7, 2-5) looking to even their record.
  
• There's only 30 players on Yuma's roster, and they are in 5A-Divison II.
• With a win over the Criminals, the #16 Broncos will advance to the playoffs.
• Since no one not on the team is going to Yuma (I'm not even going, SAT next morning) it will be important to watch the scoreboard.
  
• No. 13 Saint Mary’s plays No. 6 North Canyon, No. 14 Westwood plays No. 19 Gilbert, and No. 18 Cesar Chavez plays No. 3 Centennial (5A-II).
• No. 15 Maryvale and No. 17 Buena have concluded their regular seasons.
  
• Key Player to watch for Yuma: #2 RB Trayvon Clark - I can't find much on him this year because Yuma has only entered stats from two of their nine games, but last year he ran for just over 1,000 yards and scored 14 touchdowns.

Photo by Andrew Ahearne '11

Brophy Struck by Thunder

By Justin Janssen ’11
THE ROUNDUP

Photo by Andrew Ahearne '11 - Josh Dennard '11 (No. 13) encourages his teammates Brophy's last Varsity home game against Desert Vista on 10/29.

First Down: Brophy falls in Fiesta finale

On Oct. 29 the Brophy Broncos (4-5, 2-3 Fiesta) lost to the Desert Vista Thunder (7-2, 3-1 Fiesta) by a score of 38 to 14.

Brophy’s fans were all asked to wear black; little did they know their mood after the game would also be dark.

In the first half, it appeared Brophy would make a game of it.

Marche Dennard ’13 scored the game’s first touchdown on a three yard run to give Brophy a 7-0 lead.

After two Desert Vista touchdowns and midway through the second quarter, Fred Gammage ’12 found Devon Allen ’13 for a 78 yard touchdown to give Brophy a 14-13 lead.

The touchdown play was the longest play of the season for Brophy.

Just before the half the Broncos had a chance to take the lead, but their kicker missed wide left from 29 yards.

Later, with Desert Vista already ahead 25-14 in the third quarter, Hunter Rodriquez found Austin McLennan for 30 yards.

On the next play Mike Arredondo sealed the game with a 5 yard touchdown run giving the Thunder a 32-14 lead.

Second Down: Five Turnovers Doom Brophy

Brophy lost the turnover battle five to one with four of Brophy’s five turnovers coming in the second half.

The four second half turnovers resulted in the Broncos running only 15 offensive plays in the second half, as compared to 35 plays run by Desert Vista in the half.

Brophy’s first play of the second half resulted in a lost fumble, giving the Thunder field position at the Brophy 13.

Two plays later Desert Vista scored a touchdown, giving them a 22-14 lead with 7:46 left in the third quarter.

“You can’t win games when you turn the ball over” said Brophy head football coach Mr. Scooter Molander.

Third Down: Undersized Charley Beck continues to impress

Defensive End Charley Beck ’11 has 10 sacks on the season after sacking Hunter Rodriquez of Desert Vista on Oct. 29.

The Thunder had the ball at the Brophy 11 yard line late in the third quarter facing a second and short.

Beck exploded through a collapsed pocket and wrapped up Rodriquez, giving Beck his 10^th sack of the season. This is six more than anyone else on Brophy.

More importantly for Brophy, the sack forced Desert Vista to kick a field goal.

Beck is listed as 5’10 185 pounds yet he lines up every week against an offensive lineman 50 to 100 pounds heavier than he is and four to six inches taller.

Entering the Oct. 29 game against Desert Vista, Beck also has 67 tackles, which is second on the team. In addition he has blocked a field goal and a punt.

Fourth Down: Brophy still in position to make playoffs

Despite losing the last two games by a combined score of 65 to 14, the Brophy Broncos are in position to make the playoffs.

After losing to Desert Vista, Brophy fell from 15^th in powerpoints to 16^th with one game remaining in the regular season.

The last game of the regular season is Nov. 5 at Yuma, which is located on the California-Arizona border and is just over three hours away.

“It’s important for us to get this next ballgame” said Mr. Molander.

Bronco fans will be scoreboard watching next week because not many can make the trip to Yuma.

Other key games for teams on the bubble for playoff entrance: No. 13 Saint Mary’s plays No. 6 North Canyon, No. 14 Westwood plays No. 19 Gilbert, and No. 18 Cesar Chavez plays No. 3 Centennial (5A-II).