Flowing Well, AZ

GIRLS TEAM SCORES

1 Liberty 226

2 Sunnyside 159.5

3 Marana 110

4 Canyon del Oro 96

5 Desert Vista 91

6 Mesa 89

7 Buckeye 77

8 Goldwater 7

9 Centennial 6

10 Tolleson 61

10 Tucson 61

12 Gila Ridge 59

13 Flowing Wells 54

14 Valley Vista 53

15 Mountain View Marana 50

16 Cienega 48

17 Willcox 39

18 Rio Rico 38

19 Corona del Sol 33

20 Bisbee 32

21 Ironwood 31

21 Pueblo 31

23 Amphitheater 24

23 Marcos de Niza 24

25 Buena 22

25 Cobre 22

27 Casa Grande 20

28 Deming 18

29 Cactus Shadows 15

29 Canyon View 15

31 Chandler 1

32 Palo Verde 10

33 Ironwood Ridge 8

34 Douglas 7

35 Nogales 4

36 Paradise Valley 0

36 Walden Grove 0

Desert Vista feshman Everest Leydecker (9-0) was named Most Outstanding Wrestler. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)

100

1st Place Match

Kennedy Farrar (Gila Ridge) 17-2, So. over Bella Bocanegra (Liberty) 18-2, Sr. (Dec 4-2)

3rd Place Match

Jacianna Beltran (Sunnyside) 10-2, Fr. over Alani Chairez (Flowing Wells) 24-4, Jr. (Dec 8-2)

5th Place Match

Madilyn Behmer (Cactus Shadows) 6-2, Fr. over Penelope Pina (Tolleson) 10-5, So. (Fall 2:52)

107

1st Place Match

Mia Siqueiros (Liberty) 21-2, Sr. over Lily Mills (Valley Vista) 16-6, Jr. (Fall 2:27)

3rd Place Match

Jenelle Davis (Desert Vista) 15-8, Jr. over Luciana Chavez (Canyon del Oro) 21-9, Jr. (Dec 8-2)

5th Place Match

Leola Govan (Cienega) 17-4, Jr. over Isabella Salazar (Flowing Wells) 13-5, Sr. (Fall 1:45)

114

1st Place Match

Adacelli Noriega (Bisbee) 18-0, Sr. over Lola Hunt (Liberty) 22-3, So. (Fall 3:04)

3rd Place Match

Sophia Smith (Canyon del Oro) 8-2, So. over Iliana Castaneda (Sunnyside) 8-2, So. (Fall 3:00)

5th Place Match

Sophia Renteria (Rio Rico) 19-4, Sr. over Summer Cameron (Corona del Sol) 11-10, Sr. (Dec 8-1)

120

1st Place Match

Everest Leydecker (Desert Vista) 9-0, Fr. over Sophia Gilbert (Canyon del Oro) 28-2, Sr. (Fall 1:00)

3rd Place Match

Taytum Stuhr (Buckeye) 17-3, Jr. over Amy Daer (Marana) 14-5, Jr. (Fall 4:56)

5th Place Match

Larisa Cota (Tucson) 14-4, So. over Jessica Hidalgo (Amphitheater) 9-3, So. (Fall 2:25)

126

1st Place Match

Brianna Reyes (Valley Vista) 17-1, Jr. over Opal Jarman (Mesa) 14-2, Jr. (Fall 3:33)

3rd Place Match

Adrianna Lloyd (Centennial) 14-2, Sr. over Aysha General (Buena) 15-2, Jr. (Fall 0:31)

5th Place Match

Adina Halili (Marana) 33-4, Jr. over Rachel Green (Goldwater) 17-4, So. (Fall 2:22)

132

1st Place Match

Taylor Colangelo (Liberty) 24-0, Jr. over Kailey Cisneros (Mesa) 15-1, So. (Fall 3:49)

3rd Place Match

Haille Hernandez (Sunnyside) 5-2, Sr. over Miranda Ellsworth (Corona del Sol) 7-8, So. (Fall 3:14)

5th Place Match

Taylor Wolf (Canyon del Oro) 10-5, Fr. over Danyale Haver (Mountain View Marana) 21-5, Jr. (Fall 0:49)

138

1st Place Match

Bridgette Sotomayor (Liberty) 22-1, Sr. over Jade Armstrong (Sunnyside) 9-2, So. (Fall 2:23)

3rd Place Match

Dalien Duarte (Pueblo) 25-2, So. over Laura Almanza (Deming) 17-6, Fr. (Fall 1:22)

5th Place Match

Chloe Sweilem (Goldwater) 12-6, Jr. over Julie Acuna (Tolleson) 11-5, Sr. (MD 10-2)

145

1st Place Match

Lily Hunt (Liberty) 23-1, Jr. over Jenell Rodriguez (Sunnyside) 10-4, Jr. (Fall 4:41)

3rd Place Match

Syria Smith (Goldwater) 11-2, Fr. over Briana Quiroz (Casa Grande) 13-4, Sr. (Fall 2:15)

5th Place Match

Eden Gilliland (Buckeye Union) 12-5, Sr. over Makayla Roebuck (Marana) 14-4, Sr. (Fall 4:19)

152

1st Place Match

Lillian Gradillas-Flores (Mountain View Marana) 20-1, Jr. over Claire Avery (Liberty) 18-4, Jr. (Dec 9-4)

3rd Place Match

Amanda Yu-Ramirez (Desert Vista) 21-4, Jr. over Bivianna Rodriguez (Buckeye) 10-6, So. (Fall 4:43)

5th Place Match

Abi Tingle (Willcox) 4-2, So. over Jazlene Wyatt (Tucson) 4-7, Fr. (Fall 2:19)

165

1st Place Match

Alezandra Robles (Sunnyside) 8-2, Fr. over Aubree Avery (Liberty) 12-7, So. (Dec 3-2)

3rd Place Match

Taylor Phillips (Centennial) 12-2, Sr. over Anica Gilliliand (Buckeye) 12-4, So. (Fall 4:22)

5th Place Match

Mattiana Gordley (Goldwater) 10-2, So. over Asia Dansby (Tolleson) 11-6, Fr. (Fall 3:26)

185

1st Place Match

Davia Henry (Marana) 25-2, Sr. over Elizabeth Salman (Ironwood) 6-9, Fr. (Fall 0:11)

3rd Place Match

Ileana Navarro Quintana (Centennial) 7-4, Fr. over Keila Navarro (Douglas) 0-4, Sr. (M. For.)

5th Place Match

Amerika Lopez (Sunnyside) 0-2, Jr. over (Bye)

235

1st Place Match

Audrey Jamieson (Mesa) 16-2, Sr. over Jessence Octavio-Callejo (Rio Rico) 10-3, Fr. (Fall 1:30)

3rd Place Match

Ariselma Alvarez (Flowing Wells) 18-4, Jr. over Madison Bocanegra (Gila Ridge) 12-3, Sr. (SV-1 3-1)

5th Place Match

Brandy Larson (Willcox) 2-2, Sr. over Sophia Orozco (Cienega) 7-8, Fr. (Fall 1:31)

Our @AZPreps365 top refs ! https://t.co/AboGDZDgzD pic.twitter.com/Ccu3eciwLX

— Andy Morales (@AZPreps365Andy) January 15, 2023

Hard to believe but today marks only 50 days until the kickoff of the 2023 Southern Arizona high school football season with games scheduled Aug. 18. AllSportsTucson.com will list 50 of the top seniors in Southern Arizona during this stretch. This is not a ranking. This is a list. We acknowledge more than 50 quality seniors will play on high school fields locally this fall and we will report on them accordingly.

Diego Acosta of Flowing Wells is coming off playing his first full varsity season and tallied 36 tackles, including seven for loss as defensive end. He recorded five sacks. … He earned second-team All-5A Sonoran recognition as a defensive lineman by AZPreps365 last season. … As a tight end, he caught nine passes for 180 yards with three touchdowns. His top game was four receptions for 91 yards and three touchdowns in a 55-23 win over Cholla. … Acosta is also an accomplished wrestler at 157 pounds with the Caballeros. … “I want to get a higher reputation for colleges,” Acosta said. … The Caballeros will try to improve on their 3-7 season in the first season under head coach Brian Hook, who has a history of success as an offensive coordinator with the Caballeros. Former head coach Mark Brunenkant, the school’s athletic director, is the defensive coordinator. … Flowing Wells opens at Agua Fria on Aug. 25.

42. FLOWING WELLS (1-6, 0-2)

Head coach: Brian HookCaballeros compete in the 5A Sonoran. *Region game. Games at 7 p.m.

FOLLOW @JAVIERJMORALES ON TWITTER!

ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon. He became an educator five years ago and is presently a special education teacher at Gallego Fine Arts Intermediate in the Sunnyside Unified School District.

Flowing Wells senior Navine Mallon can play either at wing or power forward, defend any position with her agility and rebound well against post players because of her physicality.

She can do it all, including outscore the opposition in a game.

That happened Wednesday night in the sixth-seeded Lady Caballeros’ 59-26 victory over No. 11 Kingman Lee Williams in a 4A state first round game at Flowing Wells’ East Gym.

Mallon finished with 29 points that included two 3-pointers, a couple of putbacks and many attacks to the basket, helping Flowing Wells improve to 20-8.

“I knew we had to be confident and just play because this is (potentially) our last home game,” said Mallon, who was chosen by 4A Kino coaches as the region’s co-Player of the Year with Salpointe’s Taliyah Henderson.

“I thought my team played really well together. We shared the ball. I feel like I did what I could and scored.”

.@LadyCabsBBall senior wing Navine Mallon had more points (29) than Kingman Lee Williams in the 59-26 win in the first round of the 4A state tournament. She is a very versatile inside-outside threat who has committed to Westmont College in Santa Barbara, Calif. pic.twitter.com/Bx5vn5vDxe

— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) February 16, 2023

Mallon can take with her to Westmont College at Santa Barbara, Calif., the memories of reaching the 5A state championship game the last two seasons and now another run into a state tournament.

Flowing Wells, classified to the 4A by the AIA before the school year, will play at No. 3 Glendale Deer Valley (16-7) in the quarterfinals on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

If the Lady Caballeros win that game and No. 7 Poston Butte upsets No. 2 Flagstaff, they can play at Flowing Wells one more time in the semifinals Feb. 28.

“She’s just a do-it-all kid, man,” Flowing Wells coach Michael Perkins said of Mallon, who now has 1,243 points and more than 900 rebounds in her career. “You can put her outside and set screens for her and shoot the 3.

“You can pound the ball inside and post her up. She just does all the hustle plays, grabbing offensive boards and putting it back. She’s just so smart; she’s in the right place at the right time. Man, easy to coach when you’ve got a kid like that.”

Even easier when talented kids complement her so well.

.@LadyCabsBBall coach Michael Perkins has now taken his program past the first round of the last 3 state tournaments, finishing runner-up at 5A last two years and now into the 4A quarterfinals after tonight’s 59-26 win over Kingman Lee Williams. pic.twitter.com/X1MWDFjwgV

— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) February 16, 2023

Senior post player Sydney Capen, who earlier this week committed to Wilmington (Ohio) College, had five blocked shots by halftime. She altered many other shots inside throughout the game, a significant factor for Lee Williams (24-6) shooting only 10 of 42 (23.4 percent) from the field.

Ayanna De Jesus, a power forward who added to Flowing Wells’ dominating presence inside, contributed nine points.

Flowing Wells set the tone for the entire game when it took a 20-4 lead late in the first quarter. Mallon had nine points and Lee Williams was 1 of 10 from the field with six turnovers at that point.

Sophomore Nevaeh Urenda, thrust into the starting point guard role this season, spearheaded Flowing Wells’ defense on the perimeter scoring most of her 12 points in transition off steals and turnovers.

Lee Williams finished with 28 turnovers, also more than its point total. That’s well over its average of 17.2 entering the game.

Urenda played considerably last year as a backup for Leamsi Acuña and she is using the time last year going all the way to the 5A state championship game to her advantage.

.@LadyCabsBBall sophomore PG Nevaeh Urenda played like a veteran in the 59-26 win over Kingman Lee Williams in the 4A first-round game with 12 points and numerous assists. pic.twitter.com/KGiyuLfrSw

— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) February 16, 2023

“I think it will help with my mentality,” Urenda said of her playoff experience. “If we’re ahead in the game, keeping the lead up. If we’re losing, kind of keeping the energy to kind of come back.

“Playoffs are a whole different game than seasons are. That knowledge from last year will help me a lot this year.”

Flowing Wells has the motivation to get over the hump after losing to Goodyear Millennium in the state championship games the last two seasons.

No Millennium ahead of Perkins’ team this time, but the Lady Caballeros have plenty of challenges ahead, including on the road Tuesday against Deer Valley (which went 10-0 in its region).

“I firmly believe in experience (in the state tournament),” said Perkins, who coached Flowing Wells to the 2007-08 state title. “Kids with experience know how to play. It usually gets you a deep run into the playoffs.

“Love the fact the kids have been there, they’ve felt the emotions, they felt the travel, the packed gyms, the different ball, all that kind of stuff. They are embracing it right now.”

FOLLOW @JAVIERJMORALES ON TWITTER!

ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon. He became an educator five years ago and is presently a special education teacher at Gallego Fine Arts Intermediate in the Sunnyside Unified School District.

Robbie Moen’s long and winding coaching odyssey after completing his Arizona baseball career almost 30 years ago has brought the Flowing Wells High School and Wildcat legend back to Southern Arizona.

He will be the athletic director and a physical education teacher at Coatimundi Middle School in Rio Rico and will join Jeff Scurran’s coaching staff this fall at Rio Rico High School as the wide receivers coach while also working with the punters and kickers.

After an 18-year background as hitting coach at Kansas State and Loyola Marymount and scout with the Tampa Bay Rays, he moved to Frisco, Texas (a suburb of Dallas) in 2016 to be close to his daughters Payton and Paige, who moved to that area with Moen’s ex-wife.

For the last six years, Moen coached softball in Frisco for the Frozen Ropes Softball Academy and at Aubrey (Texas) Braswell High School as the junior varsity coach. He also served as the hitting coach for the Russian national baseball team in 2017.

“I think baseball or softball will be in the future at Rio Rico — I don’t know if it will be this year but it will be part of the future,” Moen said.

Moen returned to Southern Arizona three weeks ago, and he and his wife Mila now reside in Green Valley.

“I’m excited to come back because there’s a lot of opportunities not just for me, but for my wife, who’s an aqua aerobics, yoga and pilates instructor,” Moen said. “There’s gonna be a lot of opportunities to carry her business from Texas down to here. She’ll have to start over with new clients, but it’s a great environment to do it in.”

Moen’s hire with Scurran reunites the two from when Scurran served as Flowing Wells’ offensive coordinator in 1987, Moen’s sophomore season with the Caballeros.

Moen completed one of the most storied high school baseball and football careers in Southern Arizona history his senior season at Flowing Wells when he was an all-state selection in both sports.

He went from being a quarterback as a freshman to a wide receiver/defensive back and punter from his sophomore year until only two games remained in his senior season when coach John Kashner used him at quarterback because of his athleticism out of the Wing T offense.

Nobody at Flowing Wells has topped his five touchdowns in a game that he achieved against Rincon/University in 1987.

“Coach Scurran asked if I could help him in his first year at Rio Rico,” Moen said of the coaching legend who has not coached locally at the high school level since 2018 while at Catalina Foothills.

“For me to make this move, especially uprooting from Texas with my wife, it had to make financial sense and Rio Rico made it happen.”

David Verdugo, whom Moen played football against while Verdugo was a standout at CDO, helped make it happen, according to Moen.

Verdugo is the superintendent of the Santa Cruz Valley Unified School District. Rio Rico is the lone high school in the district.

“David Verdugo wants me to kind of get involved and help grow the baseball and softball programs and keep our athletes at our school (Rio Rico),” Moen said. “Right now, what’s happening is that two years ago, I was told, six of the nine starters on the Nogales baseball team that made it to the state championship were supposed to be at Rio Rico.

“They go to our middle school because it’s such a good academic school and they enjoy it. And then they go to Sahuarita or they go to Nogales High School. So my job being at the middle school is to help get to know those students, develop the relationship at an early age and then let them know that, ‘Hey, these are going to be your coaches, myself included, when you get to high school,’ and hopefully that keeps them from leaving.”

Moen said he will stress to students that, “I’m not just a football guy who’s trying to help baseball and softball. I’m really a baseball and softball guy that’s helping football because that’s my background.”

“That’s what I know the most, but I can coach football; it is just a different skill set to learn,” he continued. “We need to let the kids know that, ‘Hey, I can coach and I’ll be there when you move up the ladder and get into high school. You’re gonna see the guy who’s been there with you.'”

Nearby schools such as Nogales, Sahuarita and Walden Grove will likely find it more difficult to attract students in the Rio Rico area with Moen coaching with Scurran and also leading either the softball or baseball program with the Hawks.

Moen is known for his fierce competitive nature.

“His greatest attribute was he loved to prove people wrong,” said longtime Tucson-area baseball coach Len Anderson, who coached Moen at Flowing Wells and also had stints at Pima College and CDO.

“Robbie was the baseball version of a gym rat. He was coachable and wanted to learn, but the thing I remember most about him, he was full of fire. He never took an at-bat off. You can’t say that about a lot of players.”

A member of Arizona’s All-Century Team (1900 to 1999) in baseball, Moen finished his Wildcat career second in at-bats (843) and doubles (63), third in hits (325) and total bases (465) and fifth in RBIs (185) while playing for Jerry Kindall, Jerry Stitt and Jim Wing.

Moen is also on Arizona’s Baseball Legends Plaza Wall of Fame along with former teammate George Arias, a Pueblo High School alum.

Moen and Arias played golf together on Tuesday before Moen watched the Flowing Wells Little League All-Stars (8-10) play against Tanque Verde in the District 5 tournament at Mehl Park. Moen’s former baseball teammate with the Caballeros, Dave Laguna, has a son (Dominic) who plays for Flowing Wells Little League.

“It’s been good seeing people like George, Dave, one of my best friends at Flowing Wells, Coach Stitt and Coach Wing, as well as Coach Anderson and Steve Reinhardt, my high school baseball coaches at Flowing Wells,” Moen said. “Now, I’m back with Coach Scurran in football and that will be great.

“From that aspect, it has been really good getting back and seeing a lot of friends and catching up.”

Another bonus returning to Southern Arizona for an extended period for the first time since his Wildcat career ended in 1993 is being close to his daughter Payton, who will be a senior at Arizona this school year.

“I’ll get a chance to see her a little bit more and then obviously, I’ll be here when she graduates. That’s pretty exciting,” Moen said.

Moen added that the decision to move from Frisco was “kind of nerve-wracking with anxiety involved,” because some of the ties they developed there.

“I think once we got in here, it’s helped a lot because we’ve found a place to live,” Moen said. “I’m getting a lot of paperwork done for school. I’m getting a head start on football learning the actual plays and what I’m going to be doing. When the school year starts, I won’t have all of those things to worry about.

“I can just move right into my job.”

FOLLOW @JAVIERJMORALES ON TWITTER!

ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon. He became an educator five years ago and is presently a special education teacher at Gallego Fine Arts Intermediate in the Sunnyside Unified School District.

Sahuarita went 5-0 to capture the championship of the 42nd Annual Flowing Wells Girls Volleyball Tournament held Friday and Saturday. The Mustangs held off Dougles 2-1 in the semifinal round, with the deciding set going to 16-14, and Sahuaro beat Rio Rico in three sets in the other semifinal match to meet Sahuarita in the Gold Bracket final.

Sahuarita jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first set and that lead held up the rest of the way with the Cougars cutting the lead down to 10-9 at one point but Sahuarita reeled off five straight points again to help carry the team to a 25-19 win. The second set remained close early with Sahuaro building a slim 11-9 lead but a couple of aces from Sophia Alvarez and a couple more from Payton Zenan helped fuel a 19-12 lead and the Mustangs went on to win the deciding set 25-19.

Willcox beat Tombstone 2-1 (25-10, 26-28, 16-14) to win the Blue Bracket.

Sahuarita is now 11-4 overall and 3-1 in power-ranking matches including a 3-0 win at Sahuaro on Thursday and the team will travel to Sunnyside (4-5, 2-2) on Monday. Sahuaro (9-6, 1-2) will travel to Amphitheater (1-6, 0-1) on Thursday.

The Epic Tourneys Volleyball Invite, featuring around 112 teams in the Tempe area, is slated for Sept. 23-24.

Sahuaro. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9

Flowing Wells over Desert View 2-0 (25-12, 25-9)

Tombstone over Pueblo 2-0 (25-17, 25-23)

Willcox over Nogales 2-0 (25-22, 25-22)

Rio Rico over Desert Christian 2-0 (25-14, 25-13)

Douglas over Sahuaro 2-1 (18-25, 25-23, 15-10)

Sahuarita over Walden Grove 2-0 (25-20, 25-20)

Rio Rico over Flowing Wells 2-0 (25-16, 25-16)

Sahuaro over Tombstone 2-0 (25-17, 25-8)

Walden Grove over Willcox 2-0 (25-23, 25-13)

Desert Christian over Desert View 2-0 (25-11, 25-19)

Douglas over Pueblo 2-0 (25-17, 25-22)

Sahuarita over Nogales 2-0 (25-21, 25-14)

Flowing Wells over Desert Christian 2-0 (25-15, 25-17)

Douglas over Tombstone 2-1 (25-12, 21-25, 16-14)

Sahuarita over Willcox 2-0 (25-22, 25-23)

Rio Rico over Desert View 2-0 (25-23, 25-11)

Sahuaro over Pueblo 2-0 (25-17, 25-20)

Walden Grove over Nogales 2-0 (25-23, 25-15)

Willcox. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 10

Sahuaro over Walden Grove 2-0 (25-16, 25-23)

Douglas over Flowing Wells 2-1 (23-25, 25-16, 15-11)

Sahuaro over Rio Rico 2-1 (20-25, 25-22, 15-12)

Sahuarita over Douglas 2-1 (23-25, 25-18, 16-14)

Douglas over Walden Grove 2-0 (25-15, 25-19)

Rio Rico over Flowing Wells 2-1 (25-27, 26-24, 15-11)

Rio Rico over Douglas 2-1 (25-20, 11-25, 17-15)

Pueblo over Desert View 2-0 (25-17, 25-23)

Nogales over Desert Christian 2-0 (25-23, 25-18)

Tombstone over Pueblo 2-1 (11-25, 25-17, 15-3)

Willcox over Nogales 2-0 (25-18, 25-12)

Pueblo over Desert Christian 2-0 (25-18, 25-22)

Nogales over Desert View 2-0 (25-15, 25-16)

Pueblo over Nogales 2-0 (25-15, 25-11)

Willcox over Tombstone 2-1 (25-10, 26-28, 16-14)

CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH

Sahuarita over Sahuaro 2-0 (25-20, 25-19)