One of 12 freshmen in a field of over 70 golfers at the City Section Championships in Griffith Park, Robin Jang wasn't supposed to contend for the individual title, let alone win it. Yet he did just that Wednesday and it could be the first of several for this cool, calm kid from Koreatown.
The 14-year-old Jang attends Van Nuys, which wasn't in the team competition, so he flew under the radar on his way to a 73 and a share of the lead Monday on Harding. That was one thing. But with the pressure cranked up a notch in the final round on Wilson, he was the only player to shoot under par. He won by a stunning four shots with a sparkling two-day total of 144.
Given his mastery of the greens, Jang stands an excellent chance to repeat next year.
It's all over but the medal presentations at Griffith Park, where Granada Hills held off a final-round charge from El Camino Real to win the City Section golf championship by seven shots.
Defending champion El Camino Real made up seven strokes Wednesday on the 6,942-yard Wilson Course but finished in second place with a two-day total of 782. Chris Kim shot a final-round 75 and Brady Ma carded a 78 to lead 6A League runner-up Granada Hills, which finished at 775.
Van Nuys freshman Robin Jang shot a one-under-par 71 to win the individual title by four strokes over Kim and Gabe Durkin of Cleveland.
The opening-game schedule for the Nike Fairfax Summer Basketball Classic June 24-29 at Fairfax is loaded with quality matchups.
The June 24 schedule: Loyola vs. Pasadena, 4:30 p.m.; Harvard-Westlake vs. Santa Monica, 5:50 p.m.; Dominguez vs. Leuzinger, 7:10 p.m.; Campbell Hall vs. Orange Lutheran, 8:30 p.m.
The June 25 schedule: Westchester vs. Dorsey, 5:50 p.m.; Crespi vs. Mater Dei, 8:30 p.m.; Taft vs. Long Beach Poly, 4:30 p.m.; Fairfax vs. La Canada, 7:10 p.m.
It's no surprise that Chris Kim of Granada Hills is in contention for the individual title heading into today's final round of the two-day City Section Championships at Griffith Park. After all, he won the 6A League tournament by three shots last week and tied for seventh in the City last spring.
What is surprising is that the Highlanders lead the team competition by a comfortable 14 strokes over pre-finals favorite and reigning champion El Camino Real. Four Granada Hills players posted sub-80 scores Monday on the par-72 Harding Course and Michael Nishida, the Highlanders' fifth scorer, carded an 81.
Kim is tied atop the leaderboard at one-over-par with teammate Dohnte Allison, Brennan Amirkhizi of Taft and Robin Jang of Van Nuys. Eight players are within three strokes of the leaders, so it's still anyone's tournament.
Play switches over to the longer Wilson course today, where scores figure to go up, not down, and it'll take an effort equal to Granada Hills' first-round performance for the Conquistadores to defend their title. The first of 20 groups in today's final round teed off 30 minutes ago and qualifiers for the Southern California Regionals should be determined by early evening.
Ten minutes after Granada Hills' reign as City champion ended Tuesday night in Pacific Palisades, Coach Tom Harp was in a matter-of-fact mood. Rather than offer up excuses for his team's shaky performance, he simply gave credit to the other team.
"Palisades played a solid game and they deserved to win," he said after the Highlanders' 13-25, 25-20, 25-17, 25-22 semifinal loss. "Our lack of blocking and the fact that we couldn't get any runs going really cost us."
Harp also issued a proclamation--one that doesn't bode well for Palisades' next opponent, ninth-seeded El Camino Real: "If those guys play as well as they did tonight, they're going to be awfully tough to beat."
"We know we're young and tonight was a great learning experience," Mashhoud said. "We were hoping for a different result, but we just didn't play our game.... We really look forward to next year."
One of the guys coming back is OH Tyler Honeycutt, pictured. The junior spikester finished with 18 kills and 16 digs in the loss to El Camino Real and is one of the City Section's top hitters. Setter Felipe Garcia and MB Stuart Cohen are also due back.
So don't be surprised if the Spartans finally reach the big dance in 2009 after suffering semifinal exits in two of the last three years.
During Tuesday night's Championship Division semifinal between fourth-seeded Sylmar and ninth-seeded El Camino Real, I kept waiting for things to change in the Spartans' favor. After all, I saw their first-game loss as nothing more than a mental fluke, and I felt they'd at least take the next game.
Of course, maybe I wouldn't have been embarrassed by my misguided outlook if I had just noticed the big dark horse that galloped into the gym right at the end of the first game.
The Conquistadores (12-5) jumped onto the back of that well-deserved reputation and rode it to a couple more victories, sweeping the favored Spartans, 26-24, 25-23, 25-21, to earn their first trip to the Championship Division finals. They will play Palisades at 5 p.m. Saturday at Cal State Northridge.
The closer Palisades got to victory Tuesday night, the louder its gym got.
Much of the noise was generated by a small but boisterous cheering section off to one side of the court. That clique consisted of players from Palisades' girls' volleyball team, which won the City title in November. Now the boys want to hang their own banner on the wall.
"Our fans were great -- we could definitely hear them and it fired us up," hitter Adam Cristiano said after the Dolphins' four-game victory over defending champion Granada Hills in the semifinals of the City Section's Championship Division. "It would be great to win it the same year as the girls. That's what we're going for... a Pali sweep, baby."
The last time Palisades won girls' and boys' volleyball titles in the same year was 1998. The boys have not won it since, while the girls went on to win the title again the following year and added titles in 2003 and 2007.
There will be a new City Section champion this season and, for the first time in a decade, it could be a team from outside the San Fernando Valley.
Palisades defeated two-time defending champion Granada Hills, 13-25, 25-20, 25-17, 25-22, in Tuesday night's semifinal and will play El Camino Real for the title at 5 p.m. Saturday at Cal State Northridge.
The loss snapped Granada Hills' 13-match playoff win streak dating back to the first round in 2006. The visiting Highlanders didn't surrender their championship easily. Trailing, 24-18, they fought off four match points before an awkward kill attempt sailed long.
Some quick stats...
Kene Izuchukwu had 10 kills and Noah Kauss added nine for the Dolphins, who turned the match around with their defense beginning in the second game. Jordan Cohen had 17 digs and Matt Hanley added 12 for Palisades. Joe Randis had 16 kills to lead the Highlanders.
Palisades is one game away from advancing to its first City Section Championship Division title game in 10 years.
Granada Hills started off fast Tuesday, winning the first game, 25-13, but it's been all Dolphins since. They answered with a fury, taking the last two games 25-20 and 25-17. Host Palisades is attacking from too many angles for the Highlanders to defend, and the reigning champions will have to make blocking adjustments to get back in the match.
For the first time, El Camino Real will be playing for a City Section Championship Division boys' volleyball title.
The ninth-seeded Conquistadores overcame a bumpy performance in Game 1 and went on to sweep fourth-seeded host Sylmar, 26-24, 25-23, 25-21, in the semifinals Tuesday night.
El Camino Real will play the winner of the Granada Hills-Palisades match in the title match at 5 p.m. Saturday at Cal State Northridge.
Check back for more on this upset in a little while.
Behind a hard-nosed killing barrage headed by Scott Wolfson, ninth-seeded El Camino Real took a 2-0 lead in its Championship Division semifinal contest with fourth-seeded host Sylmar, thanks to a 25-23 victory in Game 2.
Wolfson and Mikel Du Boise allowed El Camino Real to keep the lead for the entire game despite a late charge by Sylmar. Unofficially, I have Wolfson down for eight kills and Du Boise seven.
I was really surprised the Conquistadores controlled the tempo of the game since Sylmar looked so strong in the first game.
The Spartans are now one game away from advancing to the finals at 5 p.m. Saturday at Cal State Northridge. Stay tuned...
Ninth-seeded El Camino Real has won the first game of its City Section Championship Division semifinal with host Sylmar.
Despite trailing nearly the entire time, El Camino Real took advantage of some timely hitting from Scott Wolfson and Mikel Du Boise, to win, 26-24. Fourth-seeded Sylmar led, 24-23, but a spike into the net coupled with net contact handed the first game to the Conquistadores.
I'm expecting the Spartans to take the next game, but they need to play consistently for the entire match if they're going to get back in it.
The Championship Division semifinal between fourth-seeded Sylmar and ninth-seeded El Camino Real is set to start in a couple of minutes, and I'm lucky to be alive.
While attempting to snap some semi-clear photos, I almost had my head blown off by a bouncing spike from El Camino Real's Mikel Du Boise. The sophomore didn't seem like the anti-media type, but I'll think twice before walking near the firing range with this kid on the court.
The Spartans have a couple of heavy hitters in their stable, too. Tyler Honeycutt is one of the region's top point gatherers and Felipe Garcia is a top-notch set-up man. This should be a great match.
As soon as the player introductions are over, the match will start. I'll keep you in the loop with game updates.
Yes, I know it's only the semifinals but tonight's match between Palisades and Granada Hills might as well be for the City Section title. After all, these are the two highest seeds remaining in the 32-team tournament and the winner will be an overwhelming favorite against whichever team emerges from the upper half of the draw -- either No. 4 Sylmar or No. 9 El Camino Real.
Second-seeded Palisades got a scare from 18th-seeded Marshall in the second round before holding on to win the decisive game, then dispatched Taft in four games in the quarterfinals. The Dolphins are the only City team not to lose a best-of-five match this season and were the last team outside of the San Fernando Valley to win the City championship, beating Taft in 1998.
Third-seeded Granada Hills, meanwhile, enters tonight's contest playing its best volleyball of the season. The two-time defending champion Highlanders have won 13 consecutive playoff matches and are the only one of the four remaining teams that hasn't dropped a game in the playoffs. They also swept top-seeded Chatsworth on its home court in their West Valley League finale.
The CIF state football championship bowl games have been expanded from three to five games for 2008, but the only one that most folks are going to care about is the new open-division game that will be played on Saturday, Dec. 20 at 8 p.m. at the Home Depot Center in Carson.
That game will match the best team in Northern California, regardless of enrollment, against its counterpart from Southern California. It's the closest thing yet to crowning a true state champion in football.
The remaining bowl games are about school pride. Only the individual schools and their fans will really care. The CIF can't even guarantee if all five games will be televised. It's negotiating a new contract after FSN's contract to televise the three bowl finals each of the last two years has expired.
It was only a spring league basketball game, but Taft guard Michael Williams left everyone wondering Monday night if there's a better three-point shooter in the City Section after making seven three-pointers en route to a 34-point performance in Taft's 50-48 loss to Fairfax.
The Lions were without Renardo Sidney. Taft was without Justin Hawkins, but Williams made it clear he should be one of the best shooters in his senior year.
I wouldn't say Granada Hills has built an insurmountable lead in the City Section Championships, but it's going to take a great score in Wednesday's final round to overtake the Highlanders, who had four players shoot in the 70s to post a 384 on Monday -- good enough for a 14 shot lead -- on Griffith Park's Harding Course.
Leading the way for Granada Hills were Dohnte Allison and Chris Kim who each shot a one-over-par 73 and share first place with Robin Jang of Van Nuys and Brennan Amirkhizi of Taft. Gabe Durkin of Cleveland and Gary Valdez of San Pedro are tied for second, one stroke behind. North Hollywood teammates Khorri Ellis and Joe Donato each shot 75 and are tied for third.
Three weeks ago, 6-foot-8 junior forward Tyler Honeycutt of Sylmar had no scholarship offers. Now he has schools clamoring to sign him, with Arizona, Arizona State, California, Washington, USC, San Diego, San Diego State and Gonzaga in hot pursuit.
"Nothing has changed," Sylmar Coach Bort Escoto said. "People just don't do their job."
Escoto said Honeycutt always had good potential, but when he started playing for the Pump 'N Run travel team last month, college recruiters took notice.
Honeycutt is also playing for Sylmar's volleyball team.
Chris Kim shot a two-under-par 35 on the front nine to spark Granada Hills to an early lead in the first round of the City Section golf championship.
Kim was the medalist at last week’s 6A League finals and has carried that momentum over to Griffith Park’s Harding Golf Course. Joining Kim at 35 through nine holes was Gary Valdez of San Pedro. Three players were one shot off the lead at the turn -- Granada Hills’ Dohnte Allison, Franklin’s Bernard Leon, and Justin Nakagiri of Venice.
At 188, Granada Hills leads the team competition, 17 strokes ahead of 2A League champion Venice.
I'm at Griffith Park for the first round of the City Section championships and so far no one has missed a tee time. The field of 77 players was divided into 20 groups, over half of which are already on the course.
They'll be playing the Harding Course (6,536 yards) today, then switch to the longer Wilson Course (6,942 yards) for Wednesday's final round. Unfortunately, neither spectators (parents, friends, classmates) and media (like me) are allowed on the course during competition so it looks as if I'll have to hang out at the 19th hole until front nine scores start trickling in.
The Los Angeles Sports and Recreation Character Counts! Partnership will honor a group of individuals and schools Monday at a dinner in Burbank for displaying Pursuing Victory with Honor during sports competitions.
Among the recipients: athlete Paulina Goodman from Van Nuys, parent Parbla Lozano from Fulton College Prep, Coach Herman Franklin from Los Angeles, administrator Robert Buck from Granada Hills Kennedy, official Michael Marsh and spectator Raymond Baker from Washington. Also, View Park Prep is being honored as a school.
The first round of the City Section championship tees off Monday in Griffith Park and I'm not going out on a limb when I say that El Camino Real has to be considered the team to beat in the two-day tournament.
The Conquistadores dominated the 6A League (the strongest in the City) all season and proved that it was no fluke last Wednesday, winning the league tournament by five shots over Granada Hills at Wilson and Harding -- the same courses used for this week's City finals.
Andrew Sarawasi is hoping to make up for a missed opportunity at the City Individual doubles tournament, which begins Tuesday. After losing in the finals last spring with freshman Jeffrey Yun, the junior from Carson has another partner, Sammy Macias, and they are seeded No. 1 out of 56 teams. Sarawasi and Macias got the nod over Alex Freeman and Aaron Teitelbaum of City champion Taft. Freeman and Teitelbaum were undefeated in 16 matches this season.
Matt Goodman and Jeremy Shore of City runner-up Palisades are seeded third and fellow Dolphins Ren Nielsen and Kyung Choi are fourth. Dom Plata and Evan Kopel of Granada Hills are seeded fifth. Plata reached the semifinals last year with Zach Katz. Rounding out the eight seeded teams (all of which get first-round byes) are Ramon DeVilla and Bevis Tran (Eagle Rock), Robert Chew and Greg Fukushima (Venice) and Brian Feldman and Julius Nazareno (L.A. Marshall).
Following are the pairings for Tuesday’s (12:30 p.m.) first-round matches at Balboa Sports Center in Encino:
Having led Taft to its second straight City Section team championship Friday, Josh Tchan will now try for something he doesn't have: the City Individual singles title. Chan is the No. 1-seeded player in the 56-player draw and has a bye in the first round, which starts Tuesday. Tchan, a junior, had to default his semifinal match because of a heel injury in last year's tournament.
Defending champion J.R. Sarmiento of Carson is seeded No. 2 and also has a first-round bye, as do the six remaining seeded players: Dennis Mkrtchian (Sherman Oaks CES), Ken Mkrtchian (also of SOCES), Dillon Klincke (North Hollywood), Ace Macias (Narbonne), 2007 finalist Rommel Orpiano (Carson), and Joseph Valentino (Eagle Rock).
Following are the pairings for Tuesday's (11 a.m.) first-round matches at Balboa Sports Center in Encino:
You might think Jimmy Wellman would be out celebrating after clinching Taft's second consecutive City Section title, but the Toreadors' sophomore had other plans.
"I'm going right to work on the ball machine," he said. "I need all the practice I can get."
Wellman lost his first three singles sets on Friday, but he'll remember the one he did win for the rest of his life. Having failed to convert three championship points at 5-4, he saved three championship points in the 12th game, then won the tiebreaker over Palisades' Trinity Thornton to score the last point Taft needed to repeat.
With every point won Aaron Teitelbaum hopped up and down like a pogo stick. Waiting to give him a high-five was his doubles partner Alex Freeman. They couldn't contain their enthusiasm Friday afternoon at the City Section tennis finals, sweeping three sets to spark Taft's 15-14 1/2 victory over Palisades.
The Toreadors' top tandem collected four and a half points, and Taft needed every one of them to successfully defend its championship at Balboa Sports Center in Encino.
Freeman and Teitelbaum are now undefeated in 16 matches this season. The question is, what makes them so hard to beat? You can start with confidence and teammwork.
Taft once again proved it's the best team in the City Section, but not by much. The top-seeded Toreadors -- thanks to the last-set heroics of sophomore Jimmy Wellman -- edged second-seeded Palisades by the narrowest margin possible, 15-14 1/2, to defend their title Friday afternoon at the Balboa Sports Center in Encino.
With players from both teams lining the fences to watch the winner-take-all final set, Wellman fought off three championship points in the 12th game. He then won a pressure-packed tiebreaker, 7-3, over Palisades freshman Trinity Thornton for Taft's decisive point.
Josh Tchan swept his four singles sets and Alex Freeman and Aaron Teitelbaum swept three sets at No. 1 doubles for the Toreadors, who beat Palisades 20-8 1/2 to win the championship last year.
Ninth-seeded Los Angeles University upset second-seeded Monroe, 20 1/2-9, to win the Invitational division.
About 40 minutes from now the first ball will be served and the battle for the City Section championship will be on between defending champion Taft and perennial powerhouse Palisades at Balboa Sports Complex in Encino. It's a rematch of last spring's final in which Taft ended the Dolphins' quest for a third consecutive title with a 21-8 1/2 victory. Don't expect the score to be that one-sided this afternoon.
Palisades, the No. 2-seeded team, is playing in its fourth consecutive final and seeks its 27th section crown. Top-seeded Taft is pursuing its fourth championship and second in a row under Coach Tom Wright. The Toreadors clearly have the best player on the court in Josh Tchan, but it remains to be seen which school has the better team. Depth is the key in round-robin play, where 15 points are needed to win.
Neither team has lost to a City opponent this season. Taft (14-1) suffered its lone defeat to Westlake in an intersectional match in March. Palisades (22-2) lost twice in the Bay Area Classic, to Southern Section playoff squads Mira Costa and Beverly Hills.
Here's the schedule for baseball games in the Southland today and tonight. Start times are usually around 3 p.m. (unless noted), but if you need specifics, contact the schools.
CITY
SOUTHERN
Contreras at Maywood
SUNSET SIX
Grant at Canoga Park
Van Nuys at Sun Valley Poly
Verdugo Hills at North Hollywood
VALLEY
Arleta at Discovery Prep
Northridge at Vaughn
Sherman Oaks CES at Fulton Prep
When is the last time the No. 1 seeded team lost to No. 16 in the City Section boys' volleyball playoffs? The answer is never, but that's what happened earlier this week, when Birmingham upset top-seeded Chatsworth in five games.
"I was just shocked," said Tom Harp, coach of No. 3-seeded Granada Hills. "Somebody told me and I didn't believe it."
Coach Anthony Thomas of Birmingham said it was the first time in weeks that the Patriots were finally healthy with their top three players -- setter Jose Ortega, 6-foot-6 middle blocker Daniel Lopez and outside hitter Richard Galindo -- on the court at the same time.
Birmingham, which finished fifth in the West Valley League behind Chatsworth, will try to continue its climb in the second round tonight against another West Valley opponent, El Camino Real.
Jonathan Sheriff has resigned after one season as boys' volleyball coach at Chatsworth to spend more time with his family, Athletic Director Mike Immken said Thursday. Sheriff will continue to coach the girls' team.
Chatsworth was seeded No. 1 in the City Section Championship Division but was upset by No. 16 Birmingham on Tuesday.
Here's the schedule for baseball games in the Southland today and tonight. Start times for non-tournament games are usually around 3 p.m. (unless noted), but if you need specifics, contact the schools.
CITY
COLISEUM
Crenshaw at Dorsey
Jefferson at Fremont
Locke at Manual Arts
EASTERN
Huntington Park at Los Angeles Jordan
FREEWAY
Orthopaedic at Elizabeth
MARINE
Narbonne at Carson
San Pedro at Gardena
Wilmington Banning at Washington
It was a matchup I was secretly hoping would materialize: San Pedro's Taylor Petty, the City Section's all-time winningest pitcher, against Crenshaw slugger Alia Williams, who has hit a state-record 18 home runs this spring.
Any chance of seeing that scenario ended when Crenshaw lost to Palisades in the first round of the City Section playoffs, but in a weird sort of way the result might actually allow Williams to add to her record homer total because her season still isn't over.
By losing, Crenshaw dropped to the Invitational bracket where the Cougars stand a much better chance of advancing to the finals--potentially giving Williams four more games to swing away.
Williams went three for three against Palisades, raising her batting average to .746 and, according to Crenshaw Coach Frank Price Jr., at least one of her hits might have been a home run except for one small detail: Palisades' field has no outfield fences.
"Her first hit was a line drive way over everybody but it rolled off the field of play and was ruled a ground-rule double," Price said. "Alia was rounding second and their outfielder was still chasing after it when it went out of bounds so she definitely would've scored."
Williams will have her first chance to improve on her record Thursday when the 17th-seeded Cougars host No. 32 King-Drew.
Well, well... the City Section playoffs just got a lot more interesting, didn't they?
With top-seeded Chatsworth's stunning five-game defeat at the hands of 16th-seeded Birmingham on Tuesday night, it's clear that all of the eight remaining teams have legitimate shots to win the section title this season. In fact, the upper division nearly lost both of its top two seeded teams before the quarterfinals, as No. 2 Palisades survived a five-game scare of its own from No. 18 Marshall.
If you count No. 11 Grant ousting No. 5 Van Nuys, that's two major upsets and another major upset barely averted in the second round. So who is the new favorite to be crowned champion on May 17 at Cal State Northridge?
The Southern California CIF All-Star Series baseball game will take place June 6 to 8 at USC's Dedeaux Field. Some of the best senior ballplayers from the Southland will take part in the tournament, which will feature four regional teams made up of 30 players each.
Click here for more information and to find out how players can be nominated.
Here's the schedule for baseball games in the Southland today and tonight. Start times for non-tournament games are usually around 3 p.m. (unless noted), but if you need specifics, contact the schools.
CITY EASTERN Bell at South East (6 p.m.) Los Angeles Jordan at Garfield South Gate at Los Angeles Roosevelt
USC-bound Matt Barkley from Mater Dei is the consensus No. 1 quarterback in the Southland, but several other quarterbacks are picking up college offers and figure to make a run at Barkley for No. 1 this fall.
Upland's Josh Nunes, pictured, has picked up 16 scholarship offers, the latest being one from Oklahoma. Mission Viejo's Allan Bridgford has offers from California, Stanford, Arizona and Arizona State. Richard Brehaut from Los Osos has offers from San Diego State, Colorado, Boise State and Arizona.
But if you want to know who's No. 2 behind Barkley, wait to see who UCLA offers from the list of seniors in the Southland.
That will reveal the feelings of offensive coordinator Norm Chow. The question is whether these players are going to wait until UCLA finishes its evaluations.
Here's the schedule for baseball games in the Southland today and tonight. Start times for non-tournament games are usually around 3 p.m. (unless noted), but if you need specifics, contact the schools.
CITY
COLISEUM
Crenshaw at Fremont
Jefferson at Manual Arts
Locke at Dorsey
FREEWAY
Elizabeth at Orthopaedic
MARINE
Carson at San Pedro
Narbonne at Wilmington Banning
Washington at Gardena
Taft will be facing a familiar opponent when it tries to defend its City Section championship against Palisades on Friday in a noon showdown at Balboa Sports Complex in Encino. And once again, the pressure is on Toreadors' Coach Tom Wright to come up with a winning formula.
The teams have met in the playoffs three straight times. Palisades beat Taft in the semifinals in 2005 and 2006 and went on to win the title both times. Last year, the Toreadors turned the tables with a 21-8 1/2 upset when, in a surprise move, Wright dropped his best player, Josh Tchan, into doubles.
Heather Daims, principal at Los Angeles Contreras, has been elected the 27th president-elect of the California Interscholastic Federation.
She will oversee the Federated Council that is the governing body for high school sports in two years.
The Federated Council also approved a two-year pilot program for a Southern California Regional boys' volleyball championship. The Central, Southern, Los Angeles and San Diego sections will compete in three eight-team divisions next spring.
Here's the schedule for baseball games in the Southland today and tonight. Start times for non-tournament games are usually around 3 p.m. (unless noted), but if you need specifics, contact the schools.
CITY EASTERN Bell at Los Angeles Roosevelt South East at Huntington Park South Gate at Garfield
FREEWAY Community Harvest at Harbor Teacher Prep Los Angeles CES at Central City Value
This season has been tough on me. Ranking 25 teams every week in softball has taken its toll, left me curled up in a blanket watching "Murder, She Wrote" reruns and quietly sobbing into a bag of Fritos.
If you have followed The Times' top 25, you know that last week top-ranked Corona Santiago lost to a sub-.500 Corona Centennial and then laid the wood to second-ranked Norco. And what did I do? I left Santiago at No. 1, suffering no consequence for losing to a team that had previously been winless in the Mountain View League. Have I gone mad???
I told Editor Bob of my "problems," while continuing to mutter "parity, parity" to my daughter's teddy bear. Then Editor Bob reminded me that I don't have a daughter. Finally, I admitted I might take to pulling names out of a hat, just to see if any monkey with two working digits can do what I do while I get some much-needed rest inside a room with comfortable rubbery walls. E-mails the last few weeks indicate that a growing number of schools want to be ranked and seem to think that the stars of "Orangutan Island" can do a better job of determining the 25 best teams in the land. If only all schedules were created equal.
I grabbed a hat. I put 37 team names on pieces of paper.
The dynamic duo of Perelini Koria (left), the state's career home run hitter, and Taylor Petty, the City Section's career wins leader, helped defending champion San Pedro claim the top seeding in the City Section softball playoffs, which begin next week.
CITY SOFTBALL City championship First round, Tuesday, 2:30 p.m. unless noted #32 King-Drew at #1 San Pedro (3 p.m.) #17 Crenshaw at #16 Palisades #24 Grant at #9 Chatsworth #25 Bell at #8 Westchester #28 Los Angeles Wilson at #5 Granada Hills #21 San Fernando at #12 Verdugo Hills #20 Venice at #13 Los Angeles Marshall #29 Fremont at #4 Sylmar #30 Bravo at #3 Carson #19 Sun Valley Poly at #14 South East #22 South Gate at #11 Lincoln #27 Narbonne at #6 Granada Hills Kennedy #26 Los Angeles Roosevelt at #7 Wilmington Banning #23 Los Angeles Hamilton at #10 Birmingham #18 Eagle Rock at #15 Cleveland #31 Washington at #2 El Camino Real
When it comes to recruiting, no one gets as much attention as Renardo Sidney, one of the most sought-after Division I prospects in the nation. However, the big man from Fairfax isn't the only underclassman from the City Section powerhouse that scouts have been noticing recently.
Interest in Solomon Hill, the defender with his arm raised in the picture, grows weekly. Make that daily.
The 6-foot-6 junior has emerged as a legitimate talent and it appears as if Texas is one of the early front-runners to win his services, according to these quotes. The Longhorns have been in contact with Hill for a majority of the last five months or so, and spoke to him as recently as last weekend.
There are reports on the Internet leading most to believe that Nevada Las Vegas has offered him a scholarship, his first, to date. Colorado, Oregon, Utah and USC are in the mix as well for Hill, who's stock figures to rise over the summer, with or without Renardo Sidney around.
Here's the schedule for baseball games in the Southland today and tonight. Start times for non-tournament games are usually around 3 p.m. (unless noted), but if you need specifics, contact the schools.
CITY
COLISEUM
Crenshaw at Jefferson
Dorsey at Manual Arts
Locke at Fremont
EASTERN
South East at Los Angeles Roosevelt
FREEWAY
Central City Value at Elizabeth
Los Angeles CES at Harbor Teacher Prep
West Adams at Community Harvest
Laron Armstead, a 6-foot-5 senior All-City basketball player at Fremont, has accepted a scholarship to Loyola Marymount.
First-year Coach Bill Bayno recruited Armstead, who averaged nearly 20 points for the City Section semifinalists.
Armstead was rewarded for his outstanding academics, dedication and character. He refused to abandon Fremont when the school was banned from the playoffs for two years for rule violations.
Chatsworth's reputation preceded it going into the season and maybe that's the reason it was chosen as the No. 1 seed for the City Section playoffs, which begin Thursday night.
The one-loss Chancellors got the nod ahead of Palisades, which hasn't lost a best three-out-of-five match all year. West Valley co-winner Granada Hills got the No. 3 seed, Valley Mission League winner Sylmar is No. 4, Western runner-up Venice is No. 5 and Sunset Six League champion Van Nuys was picked sixth in the 32-team draw.
Chatsworth suffered a late-season sweep on its home court at the hands of reigning City champion Granada Hills--a setback that seemingly left the door open for Western League champion Palisades to grab the No. 1 spot. As the two highest seeds, Chatsworth and Palisades have home-court advantage throughout the playoffs. The finals are May 17 at Cal State Northridge, where Palisades won its last City title in 1998.
Since then, West Valley League teams have won nine consecutive section titles. Until its streak ends that league will continue to get the benefit of the doubt at seeding time.
First-round losers drop to an Invitational bracket and winners stay in the Championship draw. Visit the City Section website at www.cif-la.org for complete City, Invitational and Small Schools pairings.
Here's the schedule for baseball games in the Southland today and tonight. Start times for non-tournament games are usually around 3 p.m. (unless noted), but if you need specifics, contact the schools.
CITY EASTERN Bell at Los Angeles Jordan Garfield at South East Huntington Park at South Gate
One round down, three to go ... and not a single upset to write about. What's a blogger to do?
Form held on Monday in the first round of the City Section Championship Division team playoffs, but barely. Fifth-seeded Carson escaped by the slimmest possible margin, 15-14 1/2, against Cleveland, the lowest seed in the 12-team bracket. No. 8 Venice beat No. 9 Chatsworth, 18-11 1/2, and No. 7 Marshall beat No. 10 El Camino Real by the same score. No. 6 Granada Hills was impressive in dispatching No. 11 Franklin, 25 1/2-4.
The top four teams -- Taft, Palisades, Eagle Rock and Van Nuys -- had byes in the first round.
Higher-seeded team will host quarterfinal matches on Wednesday at 1 p.m. Here are the matchups: Venice visits top-seeded Taft; Carson is at No. 4 Van Nuys; Granada Hills travels to No. 3 Eagle Rock and No. 7 Marshall visits No. 2 Palisades. Look for Taft and Palisades to win easily but the other two matches could be close, especially if Carson steps it up a notch and Granada Hills plays as well as it did Monday.
Click here to view the Championship Division bracket or here for the Invitational Division bracket.
In a perfect world, maybe Crenshaw's Alia Williams would have homered in the bottom of the seventh inning in a tightly contested game, but the world isn't perfect, even though Williams' swing has been.
Williams hit her 18th home run of the season on Monday -- in her 18th game, no less -- and set a state record in the process as she led Crenshaw to a 25-0 Coliseum League victory over Jefferson. She had three hits and seven RBIs, which gave her 62 on the season, but 18 was the number that mattered as Crenshaw (15-3) won the league with a 10-0 record.
She broke the single-season record first set by Lisa Dodd of San Diego University City in 2003. Last season, San Pedro's Perelini Koria hit 17.
Playoff action in Southern Section boys' lacrosse continues Wednesday with semifinal action in Orange County after the top four seeds all won opening-round games Monday.
The schedule: No. 1 Foothill (19-2) at No. 4 JSerra (17-5), Wednesday, 5 p.m. No. 2 Corona del Mar (16-3) at No. 3 St. Margaret’s (20-2), Wednesday, 7:30 p.m.
The Orange County championship game will be Friday at Trabuco Hills at 7 p.m.; the Orange County champion will take on the North Division champion on May 9 at Trabuco Hills for the unofficial Southern Section championship.
The Fairfax spring basketball league made its debut Monday night, and defending City Section champion Taft had no problem defeating Crespi without North Carolina-bound Larry Drew Jr., the Toreadors' starting point guard for four years.
However, Michael Williams, Taft's sixth man last season, left little doubt that he should be one of the top guards in the City Section next season. Coach Derrick Taylor made it clear to everyone that Williams was the team's best shooter last season, and he should have more opportunities to score this season.
It's late and I'm grumpy. So just let me vent like a steaming, screaming train whistle...
Nothing makes me more crazed, more vengeful, more explosively nuclear -- OK, I'm a tad melodramatic at 1 o'clock in the morning -- than when I go to MaxPreps.com and cannot find statistics on a player. I came up with three possible scenarios why a coach will not upload stats onto the web site:
Here's the schedule for baseball games in the Southland today/Tuesday and tonight. Start times for non-tournament games are usually around 3 p.m. (unless noted), but if you need specifics, contact the schools.
CITY SECTION
COLISEUM
Crenshaw at Locke
Jefferson at Dorsey
Manual Arts at Fremont
FREEWAY
Los Angeles CES at Elizabeth
Orthopaedic at Community Harvest
West Adams at Harbor Teacher Prep
Here's the schedule for baseball games in the Southland today and tonight. Start times for non-tournament games are usually around 3 p.m. (unless noted), but if you need specifics, contact the schools.
CITY SECTION EASTERN Huntington Park at Bell Los Angeles Jordan at South Gate Los Angeles Roosevelt at Garfield
A City vs. Southern Section all-star baseball game for high school seniors will be held June 7 at Lake Balboa Birmingham. Last season's inaugural game was won by the City team.
Birmingham Coach Matt Mowry is putting together the game. Player nominations can be forwarded to Mowry at matt@fairwaysgolfcamp.com
Byron Moore had NCAA Division I scholarship offers on the table from several programs, six, to be exact. And there were quite a few other schools interested in the junior from Narbonne, a couple of which were on the verge of extending him an invitation for the next four years.
Apparently, there was something special about UCLA. So special, in fact, Moore felt compelled to verbally commit this weekend, choosing the Bruins over the likes of Arizona, Cal, Colorado, Minnesota and New Mexico. Click here to see quotes about the decision-making process.
