Region Preview: 4A Grand Canyon
The 4A Grand Canyon region should be intriguing, as it consists of Bradshaw Mountain, Coconino, Flagstaff, Lee Williams, Mingus Union, Mohave, and Prescott. Of those teams, all but Coconino made the playoffs last year, though they were spread among different…
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Continue ReadingThe 4A Grand Canyon region should be intriguing, as it consists of Bradshaw Mountain, Coconino, Flagstaff, Lee Williams, Mingus Union, Mohave, and Prescott. Of those teams, all but Coconino made the playoffs last year, though they were spread among different divisions. Here is a breakdown of what to look forward to.
Bradshaw Mountain – Under Coach Matt Simpson, the Bears are coming off of a 16-8 regular season. Key returning players include Blake Huntley and Jevon King, who will both see a larger leadership role this season after eight seniors graduated from last year’s team.
Coconino – Coach Kelley Smith is in for a challenge, as the Panthers finished last season 4-20. The bright side is that they return most of the players from last year’s team. Additionally, one of the wins that they had last year was against Bradshaw Mountain, who figures to be very competitive and have a chance to win this league.
Flagstaff – Fresh off of a 24-6 season with coach James Kirk, including an impressive 13-1 home record and playoff wins against Shadow Ridge and Cesar Chavez, the Eagles figure to be the class of this region. While last year’s team was impressive, this year’s version will be without eight of those players, who all graduated.
Lee Williams – Lee Williams had a solid season last year, finishing 15-14 and advancing to the second round of the playoffs. Also graduating eight seniors, they will be relying on young players to come in and fill a void. Marco Narvarte is their most productive returning player and will be leaned on heavily.
Mingus Union – Issac Escalante and Miles Tapija will lead this squad that finished 22-8 for coach Dave Beery last year. After losing four of the top six scorers and six of the top eight rebounders, this team will hope for an increase in production from last year’s bench in order to repeat last year’s success.
Mohave – Coach Jeff Thomas has one luxury that no other coach in the region has, as he returns two players in Lonnie Langston and Joe Heath whom were both 1st team All-Region last season. Heath will look to improve on his averages of 16 and 8 last season and potentially be region player of the year.
Prescott – While Prescott lost two of their most productive players in Tyler Bell and Logan Smith, the cupboard is far from bare for coach Adam Neely. A productive group will return and fill some larger roles and try to improve on a 14-11 record.
Overall, this region should be interesting from start to finish, as each team is capable on any given night of knocking someone off. The common theme among the teams seems to be the tremendous turnover of the roster, as these teams were mostly senior laden last season. The first round of region games should be a feeling out process, but the second go round should see a couple of teams separate themselves from the pack. Expect the margin of victory, in terms of games, to be very close for whomever comes out on top.
Projected Region Champion: Mohave ties with Flagstaff
Projected Player of the Year: Joe Heath (Mohave)