March 2008 Archives

La Miada's Derrick Williams and St. Paul's Lesley Vodicska are the 2008 Daily News Players of the Year for boys and girls basketball.
St. Paul's Robert Miller and Whittier Christian's Bill Crammer are the boys and girls Coaches of the Year.

Daily News 2008 All-Area Boys Basketball Team
Player of the Year: Derrick Williams, La Mirada
Coach of the Year: Robert Miller, St. Paul

First team
Guard - Jordan Sachs, La Habra
Guard - Maurice Cole, Santa Fe
Center - Drew Harris, California
Forward - Alex Valdez, Schurr
Forward - Dominique Moreno, La Habra

Second team
Guard - Steven Saenz, St. Paul
Guard - Justin Sasada, Schurr
Center - Fernando Alvarez, La Serna
Forward - Andrew Torres, Montebello
Forward - Kevin Pitzer, La Habra

Honorable mention
California - Tim Palomino, Greg Perea
El Rancho - Jeremiah Salcedo
La Habra - Randall Nygren
La Mirada - Ryan Kelly, Cameron Gillett, Mark Nichiporuk
La Serna - Jeremy Madrigal
Pioneer - Michael Saldana, Michael Crosby
Santa Fe - Frank Corona
St. Paul - Dont'e Webb, William Duff, Adrian Flores
Whittier - Daniel Enriquez, Andy Leonette
Whittier Christian - Jake Cokely, Zach Torres.

Daily News 2008 Girls All-Area Basketball Team
Player of the Year: Lesley Vodicska, St. Paul
Coach of the Year: Bill Crammer, Whittier Christian

First team
Guard - Lyanna Augborne, California
Guard - Luna Amico, Whittier
Center - Jessica Vingerelli, Santa Fe
Forward - Elissa Ronquillo, Whittier Christian
Forward - Skye Savini, St. Paul

Second team
Guard - Kala Amico, Whittier
Guard - Callie Rohrbacker, Whittier Christian
Center - Sonia Martinez, California
Forward - Brittany Aranda, Santa Fe
Forward - Jacqueline Joseph, Whittier Christian

Honorable mention
California - Ericka Arroyo-Villeza
Cantwell - Patricia Luna, Valerie Carrasco
El Rancho - Megan Barr, Adriana Favela
La Habra - Whittany Radcliffe
La Mirada - Nicole Martin, Keisha Washington
La Serna - Kristina Ortega, Briana Vasquez
Montebello - Roxanna Canales
Pioneer - Darlene Luevano
Santa Fe - Shelby Magallon
Schurr - Keimi Lew, Jeannette Ramirez
St. Paul - Daisy Bueno, Andrina Rendon
Whittier - Loren Gurrola
Whittier Christian - Kristen Schaefer, Amy Woodward

La Habra High School's 2007 CIF Southern Section, Southeast Division football championship team members will be celebrated under the lights at a gathering Friday beginning at 7 p.m. in the school's football stadium.
The players will receive their championship rings and their faithful and members of the community are invited to join the festivities.
Wearing the school's colors is encouraged, and there will be opportunities to take pictures of and with the players, coaches, friends and families.

Breaking News:

The Del Rio League wins 5-4 in penalty kicks in the 2nd Annual Almont League versus Del Rio League boys soccer classic.

The game went into PK's after a 3-3 tie through 90 minutes of regulation (I think the refs forgot this was a high school game).

With the score at 5-4 in pk's, Schurr's Christian Mendoza shot wide right, just over the corner of the net, ending a wild game.

California's Arturo Hernandez put his team up for good in the first of sudden death pk's (both teams tied 4-4 after 5) when he nailed a shot into the upper right corner of the net past Montebello goalie Jorge Sainz. That's when Mendoza went up and just missed a heart-breaking shot.

Del Rio League goals were scored by Santa Fe's Byron Galdamez (Santa Fe's Manuel Rodriguez assist), California's Christian Soto (Santa Fe's Gonzalo Rodriguez assist) and Whittier's Pablo Duarte (Soto assist). La Serna's Tony Aceavado turned into four saves while Santa Fe's Joseph Anguiano registered two additional saves.

For the Almont Leaguers, goals were scored by Schurr's Michael Mendez (unassisted), Mendoza (from Mendez) and Bell Gardens' Gregory Vasquez (Bell Gardens' Damien Franco). Sainz had a game-high 7 saves.

Soto was named the game's Offensive MVP.

Check out tomorrow's paper for more info.

El Rancho defeated Santa Fe today, 9-1, combining impressive hitting
with some charitable Santa Fe pitching (nine walks, one hit batsman) in their Del Rio League opener.
El Rancho is good and deserves to be the DRL favorite.
But the Dons faithful should be cautious in their evaluations, and
Santa Fe's followers should not despair.
Little was learned about the Chiefs' current status today other than they have trouble
throwing strikes, at least for this one.
If that becomes the norm rather than the exception, then there will be
reason for concern.
Above all, keep this one in proper perspective.
It was one league game. There are 14 more to play.

On a brighter note, bunches of kudos to the Santa Fe program for
building a first-rate baseball facility -- and doing it without district
money.

That question will be taken to the soccer field this Friday evening at Bell Gardens High School, as the boys soccer all-stars from the Almont League will host the Del Rio League all-stars at 6:30 p.m.

The 2nd Annual All-Star challenge is only open to seniors and includes Montebello and Schurr from the Almont League and El Rancho, California, La Serna, Santa Fe, Whittier and possibly Pioneer from the DRL. Coaches for the Almont League are Montebello's Jesus Garcia (head coach) and Brian Mejia (assistant) while La Serna's Alex Clark will lead the DRL team.

While the Almont League team is yet to be finalized, the DRL squad will include among others Christian Soto (California), Emilio Dominguez (El Rancho), Frank Casillas (El Rancho), Keanan Smith (La Serna), Byron Galdamez (Santa Fe), Manuel Rodriguez (Santa Fe) and Jonathan Quezada (Whittier).

Best of all folks, admission is free. Hope to see you there.

I know it's news that's slightly out of the area, but the Almont League would be interested to know that long-time Alhambra High School football coach Gil Ruedaflores will return for another season, which may very well be his last.

Ruedaflores had told the Pasadena Star-News in February of last year that the 2007 season would be his final. It appeared to be so up until about a month ago when Ruedaflores had begun to ponder returning for a 21st season (the Star-News has him as coaching for 20 years while Alhambra AD Lou Torres said 2008 will be his 20th season).

With both him and his family in relatively good health, Ruedaflores is back for a final year (of course he's been saying that for a while) and will make a formal announcement soon.

Does Ruedaflores' return shake anything up in the Almont League? Given that Alhambra, San Gabriel and Schurr all sustained heavy losses, who's the favorite returning next year?

Personal Note: Having seen the way Alhambra lost the Almont League No. 1 seed against Schurr in the season finale and how they lost to La Serna in the first round, it's good to see coach come back for one last year.

It was the Lancers and Mats who represented the area well in the All LA84 Southern Section Selections (formerly All-CIF).

La Mirada, fresh off a Division III co-championship shared with Mayfair, had seven players and coaches selected to the Division III team.

Sophomore Natalia Ledezma, whose sublime 30-yard game-tying free kick ensured La Mirada's 1-1 tie with Mayfair in the Division III championship game, was the named the Division III Defensive Player of the Year.

Mats Coach Dennis Guerra was also named the Division III Co-Coach of the year along with Mayfair's Sal Marroquin. Guerra helped guide La Mirada to an 18-7-6 record and the program's first-ever divisional title in its first appearance. La Mirada had to pull off three straight upsets just to reach the title game with heavily favored Mayfair.

Here's the rest of the Mats on the Division III list:

First Team
Forward - Jasmine Herrera, So.
Midfield - Lauren Nanez, So.
Goalie - Kiki Salazar, Sr.

Second Team
Defender - Krystal Gomez, Sr.

Third Team
Midfield - Tatiana Cortez, Jr.

As for the Division IV-champion Lancers, La Serna has eight representatives and swept the top three awards.

Dynamic forward Nicole Reed, who led the area with 23 goals and 21 assists, was awarded as the Offensive Player of the Year in Division IV.

Stellar defender, Elyssa Quijada, who is only a sophomore, spearheaded a defense that did not allow one goal in five postseason games. For her efforts, Quijada was named the Defensive Player of the Year.

Finally, the coaching duo of Tessa Troglia and Amanda Broussard were named Coaches of the Year. Both guided La Serna to a team-record 26 wins along with earning the program's first title in three tries with a dominating 4-0 win over Granite Hills.

Included on the Division IV list are:

First Team
Forward - Alex Marin, Sr., California
Forward - Stacey Cervantes, Sr., La Serna
Midfield - Jordin Dolbin, Sr., La Serna

Second Team
Forward - Mariah Palmer, So., La Serna
Midfield - Jasmine Martinez, So., California
Goalie - Nicole Godinez, So., La Serna

Third Team
Defender - Christina Ortega, Sr., California

Overall, I felt that the girls above were deserving but I was surprised to see that no one from La Habra made it in Division III or Schurr or Montebello in Division V.

The All LA84 Southern Section Selections (formerly All-CIF) have been released for boys soccer with some expected names and a few surprises.

La Habra High School's Edgar Bran, fresh off a 37 goal and 15 assist season, was named the Division III Offensive Player of the Year. Bran helped clinch the honor by scoring both goals in the Highlanders 2-1 win over top-ranked Saddleback in the Division III title game.

Highlanders coach Steve Aanderud was also honored with the Division III Coach of the Year award for leading La Habra to its second straight divisional title as the Highlanders finished the season 26-4-1.

Here are the other Division III honorees:

First Team
Forward - Christian Soto, Sr., California
Forward - Marco Ruvalcaba, Sr., La Mirada
Midfield - Bryan Aanderud, Sr., La Habra
Defense - Daniel Magdaleno, Sr., La Habra

Second Team
Midfield - Jonathan Prieto, Jr., La Habra
Defense - Petey Puga, Sr., La Habra
Defense - Pedro Contreras, Sr., California

Third Team
Midfield - Jaime Colon, Sr., California
Midfield - William Maurer, Sr., La Mirada
Midfield - Tony Montalvo, Sr., La Mirada

While all the boys were deserving it was sad to see no one from El Rancho, the Del Rio League champion, made it. In Division I, no one from the entire Almont League (Montebello and Schurr) made a 1st, 2nd or 3rd team. No one from St. Paul in Division VI or any other local school. That's a shame because there were several others that should have been included.

Breaking News

After a successful one-year tenure in which he turned around the El Rancho High School football program, coach Gene Parsons has stepped down.

Parsons, who as late as last Friday said he would be returning for a second season, cited "family reasons" for his sudden departure.

The 61-year Parsons said that rumors and speculation about the future of the program did not play into his decision.

Parsons led El Rancho to a 5-6 record and its first postseason berth in three years. There will be more in the paper coming soon.

Mike Moschetti and Ollie Lynch have been named co-head coaches for La Mirada High School's football program.
They are replacing Dave Rush, who posted a 16-17 record in three seasons as the Matadores' head coach.

Moschetti is a former standout quarterback for the Matadores, who went on to play professional baseball before returning to play football at Mt. San Antonio College and then the University of Colorado. He was an assistant coach at Mt. SAC this past season.
Moschetti will handle the offense this fal.

Lynch went to high school in Santa Cruz before playing football at Whittier College. He has been on Rush's staff the last three years, including serving as the offensive coordinator this past season.
He will take care of the defensive responsibilities in his new position.

Athletic director Kim Brooks, long-time defensive coordinator during head coach John Mele's reign, will be part of the coaching staff in a role as yet to be determined.

A decision reportedly has been made concerning the La Mirada High School head football coaching position, and an announcement is forthcoming early next week, perhaps Monday.

Jordan Dolbin, a solid fixture in La Serna High school's girls soccer program the past four seasons, has signed a letter of intent to attend Cal State Fullerton, according to a release from the school.
Dolbin, a three-year varsity captain, was a key figure in the Lancers winning the Del Rio League championship four times during her stay.
She earned all-league honors four times, all-CIF recognition three times and was named the team's offensive MVP twice.
Titans coach Demian Brown called Dolbin "an exceptional soccer player with a termendous amount of skill. She is extremely dangerous at serving balls on set pieces from anywhere on the field."
Dolbin is one of 12 signees that make up what is being called "one of the largest freshman classes in the program's history."

La Mirada High School's search for a head football coach has reached the final interview stage and plans are hopefully to make an announcement next week.

2008 Non-League Opponents (22-32)

West Covina (6-6)*
Cerritos (1-9)*
Bell Gardens (5-5)
Montebello (2-8)
Franklin (8-4)

2007 Non-League Opponents (24-31)
Cerritos (3-7)*
Bell Gardens (6-5)
Montebello (3-7)
Arroyo (5-6)
St. Paul (7-6)*
*upper division foes

El Rancho coach Gene Parsons spoke today about a bevy of topics regarding ER football, one was obviously the upcoming 2008 schedule. The Dons open up with quite a challenge in Zero Week, taking on San Antonio League power West Covina.

There was some talk about some of the changes and rumors flying around "the Ranch." For now, the only confirmed coaching change will be at offensive coordinator where Joe Ledesma has stepped down. Currently the Dons are in the process of interviewing candidates, although Parsons felt it wouldn't be fair to say whom.

There will be more on the Parsons discussion in the paper soon.

Breaking News from the CIF-State Playoffs.

Second Round
Division IV playoffs
Garces Memorial 48, Whittier Christian 46.

Up by 9 points with a little over two minutes left, Whittier Christian surrendered a 14-3 run to the host Rams, Central Section Division IV champs, in falling by a deuce.

It was a tough loss by the Heralds, champions of D-VAA, who committed eight turnovers in the fourth and three in the final 70 seconds.

Callie Rohrbacker and Kristen Schaefer scored a team-high 12 points for the Heralds.

I'll have more of an update once I get over the grapevine.

The Whittier area had three divisional soccer champions and yet none were selected to the SoCal Boys and Girls Regional Soccer Championships that starts Tuesday.

La Serna (26-3), the Division IV champion coming off a 4-0 pasting of Granite Hills, was not selected in favor of Division I co-champions Long Beach Poly (27-1-4) and San Clemente (24-3-7), Division II champion Thousand Oaks (20-4-2) and Division III co-champion Mayfair (26-2-4).

Granite Hills (20-6-2) and Bishop Montgomery (12-6-2), two teams that La Serna beat en route to its title, qualified in Division II.

La Mirada (18-7-6), which is coming off a titanic upset of Mayfair in Saturday's Division III title game, tying the Monsoons 1-1, was also left out.

The tournament had both La Serna and La Mirada in Division I, since both school's student enrollment was over the 2300 student threshold.

I spoke to Matadores Coach Dennis Guerra, who didn't seem too upset over the snubbing.

"Those are four pretty strong teams," Guerra said. "Our girls are proud of their accomplishment this season and didn't want it spoiled by having to play in another tournament."

La Serna coach Amanda Broussard wasn't pleased at all and described her initial reaction to the released brackets as "apalling."

On the boys side, Division III champion La Habra (26-4-1) also won't be competing in the tournament.

However, coach Steve Aanderud said shortly after Saturday's championship game that it was unlikely the Highlanders would have accepted an invitation since several players on the team had other commitments. The fact that the tournament did not include every section in California was also a major factor.

Is this surprising and why? Who was most deserving?

Whittier Christian High School won the CIF Southern Section, Division V-AA girls basketball championship Saturday morning, but Sunday morning the selection committee for the state playoffs didn't give the Heralds much respect.
Moved up to Division IV (based upon student enrollment) for the state tournament, Whittier Christian is the No. 6 seeded team and will have to travel Tuesday to play Bakersfield Garces, the division's No. 3 seeded team.
Game time is 6 p.m.
Whittier Christian's record is 24-7. Garces is 23-3.
Garces was 10-2 and the second place team (behind Bakersfield HS) in the Southeast Yosemite League.
The Rams have an eight-game winning streak that includes three victories en route to winning the CIF Central Section, Division IV championship (57-47 over Exeter in the title game Saturday).

Whittier Christian's (from left) Whitley Brown, Andrea Garcia, Jamie Duchi, Carrie Crawford, Tara McGinnis and Chloe Davis react to the final horn that signifies game over and the Heralds have won their second consecutive CIF-SS, Division V-AA basketball championship. (Staff photo by Leo Jarzomb)

Congrats all around in order for the four area teams that entered
Saturday's games and then brought home the championship hardware from
CIF Southern Section divisional soccer and girls basketball competition.
As you probably already know (if not, here it is):

Whittier Christian High School's girls made it back-to-back titles by
defeating Maranatha, 37-31, for the Division V-AA basketball crown.

La Habra's boys rallied to defeat No. 1-seeded Saddleback, 2-1, to
successfully defend their Division III soccer title.

La Serna's girls made it look easy in blanking Granite Hills, 4-0, in
capturing the Division IV soccer championship.

And La Mirada's girls, in the biggest upset of the day, after having lost
to Mayfair by 5-1 scores twice during Suburban League play, stunned the
heavily favored Monsoons with a come-from-behind tie to gain a share of
the Division III soccer title.

Impressive performances by all.
A red-letter day for area high school sports.

Were you there to see any of it?
If so, good for you.

Or did you just read about it the next day?
If so, good for you, too, for being interested, for caring.

A simple yes or no to either question will suffice, although a brief reaction would be nice.
In either case, more congratulations all around.

Caption: La Mirada players celebrate their tie with Mayfair in the CIF Division III Girls Soccer Finals at Warren High School in Downey on Saturday March 1, 2008. La Mirada and Mayfair tied with a score of 1-1 making the teams co-champions. (SGVN/Staff Photo by Keith Durflinger/SPORTS)

Perhaps Mayfair Coach Sal Marroquin said it best when he stated, "La Mirada just outworked us."

Congratulations to the La Mirada High School girls soccer team in pulling off an incredible upset in tying top-ranked Mayfair 1-1.

Not too many people gave them a chance, including this reporter, and yet they played an incredible game and never quit.

The title is the first in school history and validates what Mats Coach Dennis Guerra has been saying throughout the playoffs, "we're a different team, we're playing with heart."

A special congratulations to Mats goalie Kiki Salazar, who unfairly was given a lot of blame in the first two La Mirada 5-1 losses to Mayfair. She may have played her finest game of the postseason Saturday.

Forgive the small write up in today's paper, we were on a short deadline. There will be more in Tuesday's paper.

Oh, in case anyone didn't notice, Whittier area teams went 3-for-3 in capturing soccer titles. Not too bad for our small side of the woods.

Breaking News from the CIF-Southern Section Division IV title game at Downey High School.

Final Score:
La Serna 4, Granite Hills 0

Congratulations to the No. 3-ranked Lancers (26-3) for a throughly dominating 4-0 win over the host Cougars (20-6-2), who looked completely overmatched.

La Serna took a 2-0 lead into the first half and doubled that in the second half. Goals were scored by Nicole Reed, Mariah Palmer and a deuce from Stacie Cervantes. The win is the first title in school history and La Serna's sixth-straight shutout and 16th win in a row. Check out tomorrow's paper for more details.

Breaking News from the CIF-Southern Section Division III Finals at Downey High School.

Finals Score:
La Habra 2, Saddleback 1 F.

Congratulations to the La Habra boys soccer team on a tremendous victory today 2-1.

Edgar Bran scored the tying goal off a pass from Jonathan Prieto in the 43rd minute and then the game-winner on an incredible cross from Juan Estrada in the 65th minute. The defense, which gave up a PK in the 22nd minute, played exceptional in the second-half in shutting down the No. 1 ranked Roadrunners (25-3-1).

The win was the 10th postseason victory in a row for La Habra (26-4-1), which won its second straight title. Check out tomorrow's paper for more info.