Catalina Foothills head coach Jeff Scurran complains to an official after a penalty during the fourth quarter of the Catalina Foothills vs. Flowing Wells high school football game on Friday, Oct. 10, 2014, at Flowing Wells High School in Tucson, Ariz. Foothills handed the home team its first loss of the season with a 41-14 win.Β 

I like what Catalina Foothills football coachΒ Jeff ScurranΒ says about the Arizona Interscholastics Association’s bungling attempt to reposition and reclassify all of the state’s high school sports teams: β€œThis could well be the veritable straw that broke the camel’s back for the outdated AIA. They have forgotten they are a service organization, not one that dictates to schools. We need seven divisions of football because open enrollment, budget differentials, travel and the leveling of competition.” The AIA’s initial attempt at reclassifying schools had tiny Immaculate Heart High School, with 90 students, playing in the same division for some sports, including volleyball, with Sahuarita High, which has 1,150 students. If Tucson football powers Cienega and Ironwood Ridge remain in Division I football, with the Phoenix superpowers, they won’t likely contend for the state championship again, and they’ll both make four or five bus trips to Phoenix every season. That’s not good for anybody.Β 


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