Arizona held its DI and DII Boys HS semifinals this past weekend.

In DII, Old Pueblo defeated Hamilton in a game that was tight early on but Old Pueblo ran away with it late to win 50-24. The second semifinal was a lot closer, with North Valley, only a year removed from playing in the DII final, facing new team East Valley. North Valley prevailed 27-22.

In DI, undefeated Red Mountain faced El Mirage. Red Mountain scored in the first two minutes and never looked back. They led 41-0 at halftime and scored 43 more to get to the team's 5th straight state final.

The second semifinal saw Scottsdale (who have been boosted by the addition of players from the defunct Tempe Devils team) play Desert Vista. The score was tight at halftime and even 10 minutes into the second half it was still close at 22-14. Over the next 25 minutes, Scottsdale exploded for 52 points to win 74-19.

Old Pueblo will play North Valley at 10am as part of the buildup to the ASU Rugby Bowl, and then Red Mountain will face Scottsdale at 11:20am.

Red Mountain Head Coach OJ Hawea was pleased with his team's performance.

"We are improving on our team work and staying solid in the rucks," he said. "Our forwards are setting a good platform for the backs to work with.  Defensively, we haven’t been tested much, so I can’t tell if we have improved, but we will have to be ready for a team that just put 74 points up on their opposition."

Leading the Red Mountain effort was vice captain Ethan Shirley. Usually a lock, Shirley played openside flanker this weekend and was stalwart in defense and always first to the breakdown.

"It was really a good team effort on Saturday," said Hawea. "We pulled our [four starters] at the half and the next four about ten minutes into the second, and didn’t miss a beat.  We had strong offensive performances from our centers this weekend, but they know they’ll need to be up for the Scottsdale midfielders who are big and love to run."