Nogales girl's volleyball season review

Despite a 5-11 record with one game remaining in the season, the Nogales girls varsity volleyball team garnered media interest in the Nogales International newspaper while Cassandra Alvarez impressivley demonstrated her skills on the volleyball court by dishing out 108 kills.


Norma Suarez, a Freshman at Nogales high school recieved an in-depth article on her and her siblings in the Nogales International. The article focused on the athletic abbility running in her family and the great attitude and personality of her sister Karina and brother Juan.

The article describes how Norma is one of three freshmen to make the varsity volleyball team where, "she’s doing real well," her coach Dan Moran said. "She’s got a natural instinct in going for the ball. She knows where it is. She sets, she hits, she serves and she’s playing all the way around (the rotation) all the time.”

"Norma brings versatility to the varsity team," said Moran .


Some of the season high points include a opening 25-20, 19-25, 25-17, 25-18 (3-1) victory over Santa Rita High School.

Coach Moran describes problems the team faced in a October 14 loss to Flowing Wells. “Again the girls played well enough to win but simple mistakes cost them their victory,” Nogales High coach Dan Moran said. “Their attitude was great and they enjoyed being out there and they tried their best to come away with a victory.”

Other highlights of the season include 21 assists by Crystal Rolinger, 40 blocks by Oliva Valencia, 10 serving aces by Norma Suarez and 11 digs by Katrina Trujillo.

The final game of the season will be a home game, Thursday, October 30th at 6 pm. The Apaches lost the first meeting with Flowing Wells 0-3 and can end their season at 11-19 and can hope to build on their success with 6 of the team's 13 listed players are Juniors or younger and will be eligible to return in 2009.

Steroids, Athletes, and.....Nogales?

Former MLB steroid distributor and self-proclaimed expert Jose Canseco was detained and questioned at the San Diego border by Customs Thursday, October 9, for trying to bring human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) into the US. He was released after 9 hours of questioning and agreeing to let law enforcement search his home.

This got me thinking about steroids in sports and the youth of today using steroids to improve their performance. It's a huge problem in athletics today, and often athletes of all ages and levels ignore the experts and try the stuff in their efforts to get bigger, faster, and stronger.

Jonathon Vorves is an example of such a case leading to tragic results. ABC 15, a Pheonix ABC affiliate, reported Jonathan Vorves, was "constantly taking pills and shooting steroids."
He eventually died.

At the scene of his death his "family found more than a half dozen empty bottles of hydrocone and other powerful pain medication."

Vorves is an example of athletes using these body altering chemicals to obtain their athletic goals quick and easy.

The problem is that student athletes can obtain these medications by going across the border into Nogales and bring them back into the country.

315 steroid seizures have been recorded at the Nogales border since the year 2000. Customs and Border protection describe their principle interest as being anti-terrorism. 15,000 pedestrians cross each day in from Mexico at the Nogales Port of Entry.

These stats demonstrate how easy it is to obtain steroids for a teenage athlete interested in gaining those illusive 20 pounds for football or baseball.

The New York Times even reports that "as tourists cross the border from San Diego, they are likely to be given fliers urging the aspiring Olympian or All-America athlete to stop by the nearest pharmacy and choose from what is advertised as ''Steroids: Largest Selection Anywhere, at Wholesale Prices!''"

Scary thought that a teenage baseball player might see that and think, "Hey, why not try it."

The Mexican General Health Code does prohibit over-the-counter sale of restricted drugs such as steroids but according to many sources from the New York Times to Boston.com, enforcement is usually not stringent, with a Boston.com headline on buying Mexican steroids reading, "Border shopping for steroids fast and easy."

At High School Game Time, a website catering to high school sports in southern Arizona, Brian Baltosiewich wrote a special article warning about the risks of steroids.

"It's in the college ranks, and yes, in the high schools as well," Baltosiewich reports, "I, for one, don't understand. Knowing what we do about these drugs, how dangerous they are in the long run- how anyone would knowingly inject themselves so they can hit a baseball another 50 feet."

He's right.

He goes on to link to a site listing all the famous professional wrestlers who died young (a surprisingly long and tragic list) and describe how these chemicals cheat yourself and the game you choose to compete in.

I personally know someone who used steroids and eventually his kidney and liver function changed permanently only after a year of using the steroids. This shows how scary these chemicals are, hopefully the message gets out to athletes not to do this stuff.

The Nogales Apaches football team is 5-1 and currently tied with Sabino for first place in Class 4A, Division I, Kino Region.

Blowing out opponents such as Rio Rico 61-0 and Cholla 60-17, the Apaches have shown a promise and talent for a possible high school playoff push. With Arizona Border Sports favorite Andy Garcia leading a powerful offense, averaging 46.7 points game, the Apaches might make some noise this post season.

Nogales only has four games left in the season but they have the talent to showcase themselves on a statewide level when the high school playoffs start.

Andy Garcia continues his conscienceless tear through high school football and is now average 11.6 yards an attempt! Imagine that, a player averaging over a first down every time he touches the ball. Not to mention the 21 touchdowns in 6 games he’s posted already (Garica even managed to average 25 yards a carry in one game versus Chollha and 19.8 versus Pueblo).

This Friday October 17th is the biggest game of the year for the Apaches. Sabino, the tie holder for first place in the division comes to Nogales at 7 p.m. and expect major fireworks as the two teams clash for first place.

Sabino was able to pull off the victory last year, with Sabino running back Scott Brown admitting, "The plan all week was just to find Garcia and stop him. He's a great football player."

After Sabino, Nogales plays 2-4 Flowing Wells, 4-2 Cienega and 2-4 Desert View making a 9-1 season a possibility if Nogales can sneak past Sabino.

At the latest rankings from The Tucson Citizen, Nogales at 4-1 was ranked as the 10th best team in Southern Arizona. Impressive considering they are being ranked against 5A teams like Salpointe, Sunnyside and Ironwood Ridge. They have played one game since then where they beat Sahuaro at Sahuaro high school 28-21.

"When we're rolling, there's not much that can stop us," Nogales coach Vince Villanucci said in a recent Arizona Daily Star article after a 58-37 win over Pueblo Friday, September 19th.

The Apaches need to take that attitude into their next three games and into the playoffs if they want to represent the Arizona border and make some serious noise in the playoffs, noise that will be covered here at ARIZONA BODER SPORTS.

Top Prospects to look out for this High School football season

After a combination of research, stat tracking and following high school football on the border, here is a list of six of the class of 2009’s most elite athletes from the high schools of Arizona’s border to look out for:

At Quarterback Matt Inman of Yuma Catholic high school in Yuma, Arizona. Inman was named to the “1st team all 3A-1A” his junior season and even more impressively managed to pass for 2,960 yards and 30 touchdowns. He showed great instincts and efficiency last year throwing only six interceptions which figures to a 6 to 1 touchdown to interception ratio. The 6-0 foot and 180 pound senior also Integrates a unique mobility into the picture, with 9 rushing touchdowns the same season. Arizona Border Sports can understand why he was the first quarterback in Arizona to land an offer.

At the Offensive Line Position, Center Max Montt of Nogales high school in Nogales, Arizona. South Dakota State is one of the colleges to show recruiting interest in Montt, making an offer to the 5-11 240 pound Aztec Center. He was named 2nd team all region as a junior.

At the Running Back position, Austin Rodriguez of Yuma Catholic High School in Yuma, Arizona. As a junior, Rodriguez was able to rush for 8.1 yards a carry and named a 1st team all region performer. With only 67 carries during the season, Rodriguez’s nose for the end zone is apparent, he obtain 546 yards and 10 touchdowns, that’s scoring once almost every 7 times he rushed the ball. He showed a rare versatility as well playing the safety position as well and recording 64 tackles, 1 interception and 3 blocked kicks!

At the Wide Receiver Position, Roderick Ford of Yuma Catholic High School in Yuma, Arizona. Only participating in 5 games during the season, Ford managed an impressive 17 catches and 456 yards for 3 touchdowns. Showing an obvious burst of speed and knack for running the deep pattern Roderick Ford was able to average just over 26 yards a catch! The 6-1 180 pound physical specimen goes both ways as well playing safety where he was able to grab 5 picks and 31 tackles. With 4.72 speed, a 28 inch vertical jump, and grabbing those 5 picks in the 5 games he played in, Ford is an easy entry on this list. New Mexico Highlands, Northern Arizona and San Diego State have all shown recruiting interest in Ford.

At the Defensive End position, Laurence Gibson of Buena High School in Sierra Vista, Arizona. Gibson dominates at defensive end with a 6-5 244 pound frame. With 5.08 speed, Gibson also played Tight End for the Colts. He recorded a 28 inch vertical jump in a Scout.com combine in Pheonix, as well as 4.87 speed in the short shuttle and 8.07 speed in the 3-cone drill.

At the Cornerback position, Daniel Foster of Buena High school in Sierra Vista, Arizona. At 5-10 and 160 pounds, Foster was named to the second team all region as a junior.

Latest and most essential news on professional baseball coming back to Tucson

Professional Baseball is back in Tucson in the form of the newly announced Tucson Toros!

Jay Zucker, former owner of the Sidewinders has announced he plans to bring professional baseball back to Tucson. Zucker has negotiated a deal to bring the Golden Baseball League to Tucson. The Golden Baseball League is unique in that it is a singular league unaffiliated with Major League Baseball or any of its Minor League systems. The Toros will play all of their home games at Hi Corbett Fieldstarting May 27, 2009.

The newly formed league will be entering its 5th season in existence.

The Toros will play 40 games at Hi Corbett Field and 40 on the road.

Hi Corbett Field, the 71 year old baseball park was last renovated in 1999, it is part of a complex including Reid park and Randolph park. Hi Corbett is less than 3 miles away from The University of Arizona.

The team plans on playing in the “South Division” of the league along with teams from Long Beach, Orange County and Yuma.

The team plans on playing with a new logo and set of colors as seen above.

There is hope that this new team can survive due to the renovation of the stadium and because the previous Toro team was able to find a following there. Former Toros players such as Carlo Colombino and Dave Rohde both believe when the Sidewinders moved from Hi Corbett Field the first time it was a mistake and blame the failure of the Sidewinders on the move.

In 1981, the Toros were able to attract a crowd of 12,863 at Hi Corbett Field where Tucson‘s population was less than half of what it is now.

Zucker is working hard to get Tucsonan's excited about baseball again, stating “The Toros will be part of the fastest growing baseball league in the world,” he proclaims. “While most professional franchise are affiliated one of 30 major league teams, there is a new breed of baseball and these teams are independent.”

The level of this play has been reported by baseball officials in the industry as up to the par of Double A Minor League baseball play. The league has even brought in famous names such as Ricky Henderson to play in the league as well as infamous names like Jose Canseco.

The league is surviving in Yuma, and if it is surviving in a market as small and isolated as Yuma than it has to have a chance of surviving in Tucson.

Tucson Sidewinders leaving the southside for the bright lights of…. Reno?

Why should we care that the Tucson Sidewinders are leaving may you ask?

Well, Tucson is losing a franchise that has won the city 3 league titles, 1 conference title and 4 division titles. In 2006, The Sidewinders won the Pacific Coast league Championship, defeating the Toledo Mud Hens 5-2.

The Tucson Sidewinders are leaving Tucson Electric Park after calling it home for 10 years. The Sidewinders will remain the Triple-A farm system franchise of the Arizona Diamondbacks as they prepare to move to Reno.[Photo]

So what has made this franchise with a recent history of winning move from the desert to… well, the desert?

Money of course.

The Sidewinders just weren’t attracting enough people to remain a profitable franchise. There could be a variety of reasons why the Sidewinders just weren’t able to find a consistent following. Tucson is a college town, it is extremely hot in the Summer, Tucson Electric Park's location can be a long drive. But the bottom line is the original owner, Jay Zucker decided to sell the franchise in June of 2007 for $15 million dollars.

But not all hope is lost.

Zucker soon announced he is planning on bringing a new franchise to Tucson. This new team will be called the Tucson Toros, and will play in Hi Corbett Field. Hi Corbett Field is closer to the University of Arizona so it may mean the minor league team could become more relevant to the University and its student body.

The team will need this new found relevance and fan base to survive as the old Tucson Toros, who would later rename themselves the Sidewinders , played to only to 285,817 in a season of over 140 games in 1997.

Hard to imagine a professional sports team could survive with little over 2,000 fans attending a game.

Let’s hope Jay Zucker has something up his sleeve so we can keep as much sports action as possible along the border.

Senior sensation Andy Garcia a player to watch

In a game demonstrating the offensive firepower of the high schools of southern Arizona, Senior running back Andy Garcia continued to impress with 22 touches, 161 total years and 2 touchdowns in a 55-36 losing effort to Sahuarita.

The loss is a surprise to Nogales who defeated Sahuarita, 28-24 last year.

Still, Andy Garcia is the player to watch for in southern Arizona high school competition. This athlete at times can also be found playing saftey, kick returner and punt returner for a vaunted Apache team that last year went 9-1. The Aztects may find themselves 1-1 after the loss to Sahuarita Friday night, but Andy is the major bright spot this team can build around and look to the future for.

Garcia’s coach, Vince Villanucci said about the super talented Garcia, "We knew he was going to be someone special when he was a freshman."

"Garcia is such a special talent Villanucci knew he had to get him involved in the game as much as possible, Last year, I moved him from receiver to tailback so I could get him the ball more. He took the challenge. He was probably the main reason we went 9-1."

"He's amazing. If he makes that first guy miss a tackle, it could be a touchdown every time."

Listed as one of Arizona's "Top 50 Athlete for 2008," Garcia is 5-foot-11, 185 pound statistical production machine. He has averaged an unheard of 9.4 yards a carry 53 attempts this season. His total yard production has been 499 yards and achieved an incredible standout performance where he rushed for 292 yard and 4 touchdowns against Douglas high school.

Currently Garcia has received a variety of letter from college recruiters. His standout performances and speed make him a wanted aquisition for a variety of colleges according to his coach.