2013 Sports Archive Stories

The students at Yuma High School are going to have to hear it from their teachers for another year.For the second straight time, the Staff brushed aside the Students 71-61 in the 2nd Annual Pros vs. Joes basketball game on Wednesday night at Palace Gym. “It's good that we don't have to hear about it for the entire y

Two years ago, Tanner Clayton was a member of a Division I men's volleyball team.Next year, he'll be a member of a Division I men's basketball team. The 6-foot-9 post signed his letter of intent to play for Stephen F. Austin State University in East Texas and was one of three Arizona Western men's basketball players to mo

You have to wonder if, when Brett Simala was a young boy, was he the type of youngster who did exactly the opposite of what he was told to do?Because that's been his mode of operation recently at Cocopah Speedway, and it's working out quite nicely for the driver in the Pro-Stock Division.In eight feature event starts so f

There are grumblings going on at Cocopah Speedway.Some drivers in the 2013 Cocopah Speedway Racing Series don't like the track's progressive posture, specifically the move to two IMCA racing divisions starting in 2014. That's when what is now known as the Factory Stock Division will become the IMCA Hobby Stock Division. Then in 2015,

Riding home from Mesa on Saturday was a big moment for me. After covering the state track meets, it dawned on me that it was the final prep sporting event I'd cover during this school year. The sports seasons are all done now, ready to give way to summer. With that, allow me to look back and rank the some of the best game

METAIRIE, La. — Chuck Muncie, a Pro Bowl running back with both the New Orleans Saints and San Diego Chargers who played junior college football with Arizona Western, has died at age 60, the NFL clubs and a family spokesman said Tuesday.Muncie family spokesman Vintage Foster of AMF Media Group in San Ramon, Calif., said Muncie

Gila Ridge senior Irving Lopez will be playing college ball down the street. The Hawk star signed his letter of intent to play at Arizona Western late last month, and Lopez's skills across the baseball diamond give the Matadors some flexibility.“He's a guy who can do a lot of different things and fill a lot of diffe

I was listening recently to a conversation on TV with Hall of Famer Jim Palmer of the Baltimore Orioles. Palmer was comically, but truthfully, recanting a conversation with his former manager Earl Weaver.Weaver was making a trip to the mound in the seventh inning. Palmer had already thrown 130 pitches to that point. &ldqu

To an outsider, it might seem strange why University of Arizona fans were booing their beloved hall of fame basketball coach at Lutes Casino Thursday night.They weren't booing. They were saying “Lute.”The Wildcat fans knew exactly what they were doing, emphasizing the “u” as they cheered former Ari

On the first day of the Arizona Interscholastic Association Track and Field State Championship on Wednesday, Bernie Montoya did what Bernie Montoya does and won state in the 3,200.Ho hum.Fellow Raider Monica Huston racked up a pair of second-place finishes in the 800 and 1,600. Again, not a shock.T

It isn't often that I get chills and have to wipe away tears at a sporting event.But it happened last weekend down on the front straight at Cocopah Speedway during the opening ceremonies.I've seen a lot of openi

A sea of 5- and 6-year-olds swarmed one of the outfields at the Ray Kroc Baseball Complex, each with a soccer ball at their feet and enough energy to power Yuma for a month.Caught in the riptide of the three-foot-tall ocean was coach Ruben Perez, giving direction to his group at the first of six free soccer clinics being put on by th

Not every city gets the annual University of Arizona Road Tour to show up at its door every year, but Yuma is an exception.For the fourth straight year, a cast of coaches — including head football coach Rich Rodriguez, head men's basketball coach Sean Miller and head women's basketball coach Niya Butts — will be at Lutes

On the night before Chester Daffern shipped off to Afghanistan for his seventh tour of duty in September, he was at Cocopah Speedway where he watched his cousin win a race.On the night he returned from that tour of duty he was at Cocopah Speedway, again, watching his cousin win, again.The fact that his cousin won another

There is a certain fickleness to sports fans that does not carry over into everyday life.A pitcher can have a brilliant shutout one week and have the fans asking for his head when he gets shellacked for seven runs in his next start.A quarterback can become the king of a city with a 300-yard masterpiece, but might not be a

It was enjoyable watching this year’s NFL draft. The predictions, the fanfare, the detailed analysis by 10 different experts. I especially enjoy the experts that say, “This is a can’t-miss pick.”NFL teams spend more time and money on draft picks than we can imagine. Batteries of psychological tests, intelligence

On the corner of 8th Street and Magnolia Avenue sits an old, grey brick building with “Arviso Karate” painted above the black barred gate in front of the double-door entrance.Upon entering, a trophy case displays the accomplishments of students from the past 50 years, while the next doorway leads to the room where those s

As I was prepping Matt for his shift Sunday laying out the Monday paper, I told him there could be as many as four NBA Game 7s.About an hour late I said there could be three. Than I saw the Hawks loss. So I said two.Then a couple hours later, the Rockets and Clippers both lost. And we went from four Game 7s to none on Sun

Trash talking in the NBA has gone too far.Now, I love trash talking. But during the past day, a couple of instances seem totally ridiculous.Take Jordan Crawford, Celtics bench “player” — player is in quotes because he doesn't technically “play.” He said something to Carmelo Anthony that I can

So far, Ty Rogers is a perfect 7-0.His plan is to go 10-0.But that, he said, will take a lot of luck.“About 90 percent,” he said this week as he prepared for the next round in the 2013 Cocopah Speedway Racing Series Saturday night at Cocopah Speedway.Since the season opened in January,

It doesn't matter if you are a racing fan or not, you have to find humor in the philosophy of Brian Schultz.The driver from Casa Grande started racing in 2006 and won his very first feature event last week at Cocopah Speedway in the IMCA Modified Division finale. Afterward he was talking about what he had gone through over the years

Baseball is weird.Baseball can get weird in ways that other sports can't even dream of. Last night I got home from work at about 10, then went to the gym and did some grocery shopping before returning home at about 12:30 a.m.I then get a text from my brother.“Are you watching this?” it

When Miles Morris arrived at Cocopah Speedway Saturday night, he wasn't dressed to go racing.Not hardly.Fresh from the father-daughter ball at his daughter's school, wearing dress clothes and a tie, he quickly put on his driving suit, traded his dancing shoes for his driving shoes, and got down to the business of winning

The Kofa softball team was quietly one of the best in the region this year, and snuck into the playoffs as a No. 24 seed in the last week of the season.Unfortunately for the Kings, their season came to a close Saturday when they suffered a first-round lost to Desert Mountain 6-2.After talking with Kofa coach Emma Morrison

Their season already guaranteed to end, the players on the Arizona Western softball team mounted an eighth-inning comeback in Game 2 against Eastern Arizona on Saturday at the AWC softball field.But that rally ended, and with it the season, the way 24 other at-bats against Gila Monster pitcher Rita Hokianga ended — with a strik