High On Amphi Wherein Mr. Sports Dude Turns His Attention To The New Home Team. By Tom Danehy I WENT TO a high school football game the other night. It didn't rain, nobody got hurt, and the team I was rooting for won. To quote my homie, Ice Cube, I guess it was a good day. I've always been a fan of high school sports, but I had drifted away from football in recent years, concentrating more on basketball. But now my daughter Darlene is attending Amphi High (which is a story in itself, considering that everyone this side of the pope had assumed that she would attend Salpointe Catholic). She chose to go to Amphi and had some very good reasons for doing so, and we support her wholeheartedly. (My son, Alexander, will follow Darlene to Amphi.) So we'll just refer to this next eight years as my Panther period. Which is not to be confused with Eldridge Cleaver's Panther period, which was followed by Political Refugee in Algeria Period, his Fashion Designer period, and finally his ongoing Shameless Shill For Any Right-Wing Cause Willing To Pay His Sorry Butt To Sell Out Period. I want you to know right now that I will never live in Northern Africa, I will never design men's clothing with a codpiece in it, and most of all, I will never sit next to Evan Mecham and smile. (Cleaver did it in exchange for two 40-ounces and a chance to ride up front in first class on the plane ride over.) Anyway, Amphi is the traditional football power in Southern Arizona (the Panthers have gone to the state playoffs every year since 1981!) and even though they lost a lot of guys off last year's undefeated conference championship team, they should still be okay this year. As we approached the stadium, we had to wait for the Panther team to go by. They walked, in pairs, holding hands. Two-by-two, hand-in-hand. I remember thinking that since it was Amphi, with a winning tradition, this was cool. But if some sorry team tried to do it, onlookers (if there were any) would have a field day. The Amphi players walked by, absorbed in concentration. Their opponent that night was Mayfield of Las Cruces, New Mexico, which had won that state's Big School state championship last year. It would be a good test for both teams. Amphi is coached by the dean of local coaches, Vern Friedli, who has guided the Panthers for 20 years and has two Class 5A state titles to his credit. He runs a good, clean, old-fashioned football program, built on discipline and hard work, long on tradition and short on nonsense. The Panthers play smash-mouth football. No surprises. Just line up and run straight ahead. You know what we're going to do, now try to stop us. And so it was this night. Lots of wishbone stuff, option plays, with only a handful of passes thrown in. Amphi got off to a quick start when junior running back Antrell Bates turned his first varsity carry into a 71-yard touchdown. (Somewhat surprisingly, Bates is no relation to Michael and Mario Bates, two former Amphi stars who are both in the NFL now.) Mayfield had two touchdowns called back, much to the chagrin of the small, but vocal visiting crowd. It really didn't seem like it would matter, since Amphi was dominating the game. But midway through the fourth quarter, Mayfield cut the margin to 21-14 and had the Panthers pinned back on their own two-yard line with a third down and long situation. Amphi called time out and Friedli himself walked onto the field to address his team. I don't know what he said, but the next play, his offensive line blew off the line of scrimmage and opened up a hole so big, I could have run through it. Bates ripped off a long gain for a first down and Amphi ran out the clock for the victory. I was especially impressed with the Amphi quarterback, Lee Joplin. He did a good job of running and throwing the ball, but what's best is that he plays linebacker on defense. Having played defense in a former life, I have a deep-seated dislike for quarterbacks. Most of them are pansies who wear orange vests (and pink panties) in practice so they won't get a boo-boo by actually colliding with another football player. Heaven forbid. Joplin seems to like contact. He's also an All-City baseball player for the Panthers. His sister, Sheena Gameros, played Bobby Sox softball for me last season. She even played one game with a broken thumb suffered in a collision at third base. She's at Amphi, too, but thus far has chosen cheerleading (!) over real sports. We're all going to keep working on her. Amphi looks like a slight favorite to repeat as league champs, this according to Jake Cavey, whose Arizona High School Football Kickoff magazine just hit the stands. Cavey's labor of love is in its fourth year of publication, and, in my mind, he's raced past the magazine put out by Barry Sollenberger, long considered The Man in Arizona prep sports. (Sollenberger's magazine somehow managed to leave Catalina Foothills, Palo Verde Christian and Pueblo out of this year's issue.) Cavey sees Amphi winning the league, with Sunnyside in hot pursuit. Canyon Del Oro, Sierra Vista Buena and Salpointe could challenge. I do enjoy rooting for a winner. Plus, the Amphi green goes great with my eyes. Hey, maybe there's a future for me in fashion design, after all.

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