With November here, the post-season is now upon us for fall sport athletes, and there is no shortage of Speed School athletes who will be on the field or court looking to possible state championships.
Volleyball
Sahuaro (Speed School athletes Maddy Baity and Bethany Cheatham) has been close to unstoppable all year and enters the playoffs with a #2 seed. #7 Cienega also looks to make a deep run – and set up a possible Sahuaro rematch – behind the strong play of Southern University commit Imani Litz.
In the 3A divison, Northeast-side neighbors Tanque Verde (Jordyn Evans, Shelby Lansing) and Sabino (Leah McAdams, Dani Bell) enter the playoffs seeded 10th and 11th respectively. The two would face each other in the second round if they both win their first-round matchups.
Football
St. David’s 8-man team has already charged through the playoffs and reached the semifinals. Running back Curtis Mayberry and quarterback Travis Davis both made the two-hour round trip drive to Tucson throughout the summer to train at the Speed School – an effort that clearly has paid off, as a win this Saturday would put them in the state championship game.
A number of other Speed School players and teams enter the playoffs at the larger school level. Perennial powerhouse Ironwood Ridge (Noah Woodall, Connor Reed, Connor Olive, Noe Beccera, Alex Kowalski) enters as the #3 seed in 5A, eyeing a possible rematch with #1 Cienega (Wyatt Bunker, Parker Galipeau, Thomas Webb, Jordan Aldor).
Sabino (James Offerman, Quinn Detwiler, Joe Marshall, Billy Babicke, Issac Leifeld, Grant Studwell) goes into the 3A Division as the #5 seed, with a first-round matchup against Safford. Across town, #11 Tucson High features two-way players and Speed School athletes DQ Bennett and Malik Patterson, facing Hamilton in the first round of the 6A playoffs.
Salpointe likely takes the award for most Speed School athletes on its roster: Mario Padilla, Cameron Tober, Hunter Straka, Meteo Mele, Caleb Eubanks, Granville Smith, Joe Gietl, Damon Fairall, Paulo Morales, Cameron Peron, Alec Bon, CJ Franks, Grant Wagner, and Xavier Farhang. The Lancers, currently ranked #4 at the 4A level, will face off against CDO in the first round.
Good luck to all athletes! Have we missed anyone? Please let us know!
