Hi, and welcome to a different edition of Prep Rally. My name is Eric Sondheimer. With one week remaining within the regular season, let’s take a look at basketball player of the yr candidates. After all, it’s within the playoffs where individual and team accomplishments count most in determining one of the best, so there’s loads of time for somebody to complete as MVP.
MVP candidates
Boys’ player of the yr candidates:
Jared McCain of Corona Centennial has led the two-time defending Southern Section Open Division champions to a 23-3 record. The Huskies haven’t lost to a team from California. He’s scoring, passing and playing great defense.
Trent Perry of Harvard-Westlake is a junior point guard who has played with a lot consistency and keenness that he’s helped the Wolverines to a 26-1 record and No. 1 rating.
Marcus Adams Jr. of Narbonne has grow to be probably the most dominant player within the City Section. Whether scoring, rebounding or blocking shots, he’s showing he’s a person amongst boys.
Andrew Meadow of West Ranch makes multiple contributions each game for a team that has won 25 of 26 games and might be very tough to beat within the Southern Section Open Division playoffs.
Dusty Stromer of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame has demonstrated unselfishness and a willingness to do whatever it takes to lift the Knights, whether which means shutting down the opposing team’s best player or attracting defenders around him to unencumber teammates.
There’s also Will Smith of Bishop Montgomery, Brady Dunlap of Harvard-Westlake and Isaiah Elohim of Sierra Canyon.
Girls’ player of the yr candidates:
Juju Watkins, Sierra Canyon. The McDonald’s All-American selection continues to point out that she’s a once-in-a-generation player with skills to attain from anywhere on the court for the unbeaten Trailblazers.
Kennedy Smith, Etiwanda. Only a junior, Smith has led the Eagles to a 24-2 record. She’s preparing for a long-anticipated matchup against Sierra Canyon within the playoffs.
Skye Belker, Windward. A top scorer for Windward, Belker’s continued development has led the Wildcats to an unbeaten record within the Gold Coast League.
Caia Elisaldez, Mater Dei. The senior point guard has sparked the Monarchs to a 24-2 record.
Chloe Briggs, Ontario Christian. Averaging 26.6 points, Briggs is closing in on the state profession scoring record.
There’s also Mackenly Randolph of Sierra Canyon, Ava Dominguez of Rosary and Mariah Blake of Westchester.
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Basketball rewind
Senior guard Kristan Yumul of Oxnard set a Ventura County record by making 11 threes in a win over Rio Mesa. She had 37 points.
Senior Amanda Edwards of San Juan Hills set school records for points and threes by ending with 36 points and making nine threes in a win over Tesoro.
Juju Watkins of Sierra Canyon scored a career-high 45 points and had 16 rebounds and eight assists in a win over Bishop Alemany.
Ava Dominguez of Rosary scored 30 points and made seven threes in a win over Santa Margarita.
Gabby Kay Robinson of Corona Centennial set a college record with 12 threes and had 48 points in a win over Norco.
Eastvale Roosevelt junior guard Darnez Slater scored 52 points in a win over Corona Santiago, giving coach Stephen Singleton his 2 hundredth victory.
A crowd of seven,856 was at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion to see Sherman Oaks Notre Dame defeat Sierra Canyon 66-62. Here’s the report.
Marcus Adams Jr. scored 40 points for Narbonne to assist the Gauchos clinch the Marine League title with a win over San Pedro. Here’s the report. Jason Crowe Jr. of Lynwood scored 46 points in a win over Firebaugh. Long Beach Jordan has clinched its first Moore League title since 2009.
Mercy Miller of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame had 39 points on the Nike Extravaganza. Here’s a report from the Nike Extravaganza.
Westchester forfeited its game against Crenshaw on Saturday night when the team was pulled from the court with 1.3 seconds left and Crenshaw leading 63-62. The City Section is investigating. Here’s the report.
Here’s this week’s top 25 boys’ basketball rankings by The Times.
McDonald’s honorees
As buzz around Bronny James’ college commitment continues to grow, the Sierra Canyon boys’ basketball senior checked off a significant highschool honor, tabbed to play within the McDonald’s All-American game March 28 at Houston’s Toyota Center.
James joined Sierra Canyon girls’ star Juju Watkins as Trailblazers represented amongst a bunch of 48 total named to the lads’s and ladies’s rosters — the primary time, in line with historically available rosters, that a Los Angeles-area school has named All-Americans on the lads and ladies’s side in the identical yr. Corona Centennial four-year senior Jared McCain was also tabbed for the lads’s game.
Here’s the report.
Kobe’s prodigy
Stephen Curry has his mouthguard. Amalia Holguin has her gum.
By this point in her freshman season at Newport Beach Sage Hill, defenders have began pressing so close in Holguin’s airspace, they may guess the flavour. It’s often mint. Sometimes orange. Holguin began with gum within the sixth grade; didn’t like mouthpieces but needed to be chewing something. So she pops in a latest piece before every quarter.
“Keeps it fresh,” Holguin said, grinning.
In a mid-January game against Orange County power Santa Ana Mater Dei, Holguin is hounded each time she touches the ball, picked up full-court, face-guarded. She goes coast to coast for a layup, hits a deep three.
All of the while, she chomps her gum.
Sage Hill coach Kerwin Walters doesn’t want robots, he says. He wants “swagger.” And Holguin has it, flinging one-handed, cross-court passes, cashing threes with a slingshot form harking back to Chino Hills-era Lonzo Ball. She creates highlights. She makes mistakes. But her confidence is extraordinary, never a touch of frustration passing over the 14-year-old’s face.
“By the top of her time in highschool,” Walters said earlier within the season, “she’ll be probably the greatest guards that’s ever stepped on the court.”
You may’t teach confidence. But you may mold it. And greater than 4 years after she walked into her first Mamba Academy practice, Holguin’s mentor still motivates day-after-day. In every drill. Another rep for him.
Kobe Bryant’s lessons still echo in her head.
A profile of Kobe’s last prodigy.
Arenas stars
“Jesus Christ.”
That was the response blurted by former NBA guard Gilbert Arenas as his 15-year-old freshman son Alijah launched a 25-footer from the highest of the important thing for Chatsworth High against Taft. The ball swished, three of his son’s 36 points in a 110-75 loss to Taft.
There’s an interesting experiment underway. Gilbert was an All-City player at Grant, made it to Arizona, then the NBA. His son could have gone to any basketball power on the town but his dad decided it will be good for him to experience the ups and downs related to playing for a team that didn’t have stars throughout the lineup, forcing him to learn to be aggressive. So game by game and practice by practice, the 6-foot-4 Alijah is gaining insight playing for a team that’s fighting a 5-18 record.
Here’s a report
‘Crafty’ Julien Gomez
“Crafty.”
That’s the word getting used to explain 6-foot-3 sophomore Julien Gomez of La Mirada, considered one of the highest highschool basketball scorers in Southern California with a 26.6 scoring average.
He takes it as a compliment, since it means all the several ways he has explored to make baskets is paying off.
“I’m pleased people call me crafty because me and my coach having been working on all my craftiness, working on my handle, working on my shot,” he said. “It just feels nice individuals are finally seeing the work I put in.”
Leave him open for a three-point attempt and it’s swish time. Guard him closely and he knows the right way to put the ball on the ground, drive and use either hand to attain. Send him to the free-throw line and it’s swish time again.
Here’s a look at Gomez and several other other players who’ve thrust themselves into attention.
Baseball
For the primary time in years, Orange Lutheran goes to wish to re-tool its batting lineup. There’s only three returning starters. However the Lancers have a lot better pitching depth and the three returnees are standouts.
It starts with third baseball Casey Borba, a Texas commit and the son of head coach Eric Borba. He showed power last season and figures to maintain progressing. There’s also standout junior center fielder Derek Curiel, an LSU commit, and Texas commit Evan Miranda, a pitcher. Junior Ben Reiland is an outfielder/infielder committed to Oklahoma State.
Among the many Lancers’ transfers are Vinny Hudson, a junior pitcher from Ayala, and Gabe Fraser, a junior infielder from Huntington Beach. Orange Lutheran is predicted to hitch Santa Margarita as the highest teams to challenge title favorite JSerra.
Corona coach Andy Clever keeps shaking his head seeing what sophomore shortstop Billy Carlson can do together with his glove and bat. “He’s a freak,” Clever said. Carlson is committed to Vanderbilt and a part of a shortstop class in Southern California that’s clearly the strongest position for the 2023 season.
All-City pitcher Oscar Lopez looked in midseason form for El Camino Real in a winter game against Mira Costa. He struck out 4 of the seven batters he faced.
Latest coach at JSerra
JSerra might need provide you with the football coaching hire of the yr when Victor Santa Cruz was recruited to grow to be the Lions’ latest head coach.
The 50-year-old had been defensive coordinator at Hawaii after being Azusa Pacific’s all-time winningest coach with an 84-69 record for 14 seasons. He spent five years coaching highschool football within the Nineties at Oceanside, then left for the school ranks. Now he’s able to tackle the high expectations of coaching within the Trinity League.
He was interviewed during “Friday Night Live” about his vision for JSerra. Here are a few of his responses.
Unlike the school transfer portal, there’s no official highschool transfer portal regardless that there are a whole bunch of sports transfers in Southern California annually.
Considering the variety of top players moving around, it’s time to launch a transfer tracker for Southern California football.
In line with CIF rules, players who transfer and physically move together with their family are eligible immediately at the brand new school. If a player transfers and doesn’t move, there’s a sit-out period of near 50% of the season. The date athletes grow to be eligible after sitting out is Sept. 22 for the City Section and Sept. 25 for the Southern Section.
Here’s the link to the brand new transfer tracker that will likely be updated because the transfers are confirmed each week.
Soccer
Mira Costa has been on a quite a soccer run the previous few seasons. This yr’s boys’ team won the Bay League championship with a dramatic goal.
The Mustangs are 19-3-2 overall and 8-0 in league.
JSerra is looking just like the No. 1 team in Southern Section Division 1 at 11-1-1 and 6-1-1 within the Trinity League.
Within the City Section, Birmingham is on the verge of winning the West Valley League after a 5-0 win over El Camino Real. The Patriots are 13-1-3 and 5-0-2. They end the regular season in a showdown game against Cleveland on Friday.
In girls’ soccer, Corona Santiago continues to be the team to beat at 17-1-1 and 7-1 in league. Roosevelt handed the Sharks their first defeat last week 3-1. Roosevelt is 15-4-3 and 6-1-1.
They screamed. They cried. They embraced
As a final pass fell incomplete Sunday afternoon, clinching a 19-18 win over Long Beach Poly and the first-ever girls’ championship for Gardena Serra High girls’ flag football, the Cavaliers poured out every drop of emotion from swelling their hearts.
Good luck finding a postgame celebration in any sport that contained as much sheer joy. Among the girls had trouble catching passes early within the season, Serra coach Monique Adams said, and so they was lightning-quick athletes inside just a few months. A few of them are like Serra’s Kaylah Holmes, who grew up roughhousing together with her brothers and has been craving to play football since she was 5 years old.
Here’s a report on the championship game against Long Beach Poly played at Redondo Union.
Notes . . .
Joshua Knight is the brand new football coach at Don Lugo. He comes from Baldwin Park, where he was the offensive coordinator. . . .
The City Section Board of Managers has rejected a proposal to revise schools within the East Valley and Valley Mission Leagues, leaving them intact for an additional 4 years. . . .
Tony Delgado is the brand new softball coach at Bishop Amat. . . .
Former Pasadena assistant Robert Maxie is the brand new football coach at Baldwin Park. . . .
Juan Viramontes has resigned as football coach at Katella. . . .
Former Cal Lutheran football coach Ben McEnroe is the brand new head coach at Thousand Oaks. . . .
Cathedral announced that Brother John Montgomery is stepping down after 25 years as principal and will likely be replaced by Arturo Lopez, who’s the varsity’s soccer coach and vp. . . .
Adam Uballez is the brand new football coach at Bosco Tech. . . .
Lalo Diaz has taken over as distance coach at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame after serving for a few years at Loyola. . . .
Football/track standout Rodrick Nice of Gardena Serra is scheduled to make his college announcement on Wednesday morning in the varsity gym. Oregon, USC and UCLA are the finalists. Wednesday is one other letter of intent day for prime school seniors. . . .
St. John Bosco defensive lineman Sua Lefotu has committed to Nebraska. . . .
Temecula Valley has named John Bonaventura as football coach. . . .
Wrestling dual meet championships nearing the finals. Here’s the schedule for the City Section and Southern Section. . . .
Garden Grove Pacifica outfielder Alysa Del Val has committed to Oregon State for softball. . . .
Gardena Serra track sprinter Brazil Neal has committed to Oregon for girls’s track.
From the archives: Trent Irwin
Few highschool receivers had higher hands than when Trenton Irwin was catching passes at Hart, so it’s no surprise he has made to the NFL catching passes from quarterback Joe Burrow for the Cincinnati Bengals.
Irwin became a standout receiver for Stanford.
Here’s a 2012 story about Irwin when he was a sophomore at Hart.
Here’s a 2014 story about Irwin becoming a state record holder.
Irwin has a brother, Shawn, who will likely be a senior receiver for Hart this fall.
Here’s a story from this week with Irwin talking about his football profession and days as an actor.
Recommendations
From the Latest York Times, a story on college athletes raking in the cash.
From the Los Angeles Times, a story on the retirement of long-time Channel 4 sports anchor Fred Roggin.
From Spokesman.com, a story on former Lawndale quarterback Gervani McCoy winning the Jerry Rice Award last month for being the outstanding freshman player within the Football Championship Subdivision.
Tweets you would possibly have missed
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Until next time…
Have a matter, comment or something you’d prefer to see in a future Prep Rally newsletter? Email me at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com, and follow me on Twitter at @latsondheimer.
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