Changes on the horizon for PHS sports

The Arizona Interscholastic Association’s mandate to do away with the ages-old region-conference configuration in high school sports and replace it next school year with a division-section alignment will undoubtedly change the dynamics of smalltown Arizona sports.

The transformation will be especially true in Payson because many of the old rivalries built up over the years, especially those formed in the now defunct 3A East region, will fall by the wayside

The change to the new format went into effect for the individual sports, like wrestling, track and golf, at the onset of the 2010-2011 school year. For team sports, the change will not take place until the upcoming fall season.

Payson High School golf coach Bret Morse was one of the first to notice that the division-section alignment represented a change for PHS sports when he said during the past season that he and his players missed playing in rivalry matches that they had enjoyed in the past.

The new configuration pitted the golf team against some schools the Horns hadn’t played before and knew very little about.

The same will be true next school year for the fall team sports of football, volleyball, boys and girls soccer.

Cross-country is considered an individual sport so PHS’s boys and girls teams competed last season in the division-section format.

Football is probably the team most affected by the change because the Longhorns will no longer play the “Beasts of the East” as they had since the 1991 season except for 1998 when PHS was a member of the 3A Central region.

The only East team on the Longhorns’ football schedule for fall is Show Low.

As members of Division IV Section III, the Horns are now scheduled against Chino Valley, Camp Verde, River Valley, Fountain Hills, Miami, Sedona Red Rock, Mingus, Globe and Scottsdale Coronado.

While some coaches are not entirely embracing the realignment, PHS football coach Byron Quinlan says he is looking forward to the changes. His players will be banging heads with some refreshing new foes rather than against Blue Ridge, Snowflake and Round Valley as they have for decades.

In volleyball, Payson has been assigned to Division III Section I, as have former East schools Blue Ridge and Show Low.

Also in Section I are Northern Arizona reservation schools Monument Valley and Chinle, as well as former 4A schools, Flagstaff Coconino, Mingus, Mohave and Page.

Fort Lewis College Athletics - Lyons, Schroeder, Spray named to ...

The trio led the Skyhawks to their greatest season ever, culminating with a deep run at the NCAA Division II Championships last month at the Fighting Joe Course at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at the Shoals in Florence, Ala. FLC was tied for seventh in the nation after 54 holes of stroke play before falling to Abilene Christian in the match play quarterfinals. FLC also won the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference regular season championship, finished second in the RMAC Championships and third in the NCAA Division II Central/West SuperRegionals in 2011. Lyons, a senior from the Scottsdale Christian Academy in Scottsdale, Ariz., averaged 73.78 strokes in 31 rounds in 2010-11. He amassed a bevy of accolades along the way, including first team All-RMAC, co-medalist at the RMAC Championships, All-RMAC Tournament Team and first team RMAC All-Academic while sharing FLC's Most Valuable Player honor with Schroeder.

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