April 2011 Archives

Just got an e-mail from Los Osos principal Chris Hollister saying that assistant coach Jeff Paul was named the interim coach of the Grizzly baseball team, a position that he'll assume for the remainder of this season.

Paul was chosen after a meeting this morning on campus between Hollister, coaches, players and parents after the removal of Dominick Copas as head coach last week. According to a source, Copas was suspended and removed after a profane voicemail to a player left in the fall surfaced and was reported to administration.

The Los Osos baseball program received a jolt this past week, as Dominick Copas was removed as head coach, according to telephone conversations with Copas and Los Osos athletic director Tom Martinez.

"I am no longer the baseball coach," Copas said during a telephone interview Monday. "I have been instructed to not comment further on anything else, but I was removed as the baseball coach last week."

The Grizzlies (12-5 overall, 5-4 Baseline League) are currently tied for second with Alta Loma in league, two games behind first-place Glendora. He is 43-23 since taking over for Anthony Vasquez prior to the 2009 season, leading Los Osos to the playoffs in his previous two seasons.

According to a source, the nexus of Copas' removal was a profanity-laced message left on the voicemail of a Grizzly player last week. Neither Copas nor Martinez would comment on that or other allegations.

Despite the loss of his position as head baseball coach, Copas still remains employed as a Web Page and Design teacher at the high school, as position that isn't threatened by last week's action.

"This whole thing has nothing to do with my teaching or my standing as a teacher," Copas said. "That much I can comment on. My standing as a teacher remains the same as it was last week."

That stance was reiterated by Los Osos principal Chris Hollister Monday in an e-mailed statement.

"I will not discuss the details surrounding Mr. Copas' removal as our baseball coach. He has made many positive contributions to the Los Osos community and remains on our faculty as a teacher," Hollister said. "I expect that he will continue to make positive contributions in the classroom and on campus."

What is unclear is where Los Osos goes from here. According Hollister, a decision on an interim coach for the remainder of the season will be made after meetings with remaining coaches, players and their families.

Alta Loma High School has hired Colony assistant coach David Furman as its next basketball coach according to an e-mail sent last night by ALHS prinicipal James Cronin. Furman takes over for Thomas Nixon, who was 2-22 - including 0-10 in the Baseline League - in his only season as the head man of the Braves.

Colton High School will be hosting a recruiting seminar titled "The Realities of College Recruiting" Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the school auditorium open to high school athletes and their parents. The seminar, presented by Jack Renkens, will hit on the methodology of college recruiters, NCAA Clearinghouse Guidelines and the best way to present yourself to colleges. For more information go to www.recruitingrealities.com.

The Citrus Belt Area will vote for and announce its releaguing for the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons May 2 after an 8:30 a.m. meeting at Riverside Norte Vista High School. As expected, rumors are flying about possible shifts, with several prominent county schools possibly being impacted.

Possibilities that are being put out there through discussions with sources include Cajon moving from the San Andreas to the Citrus Belt League to replace Fontana, which would join fellow Fontana Unified School District schools Summit and Kaiser in the Sunkist League. The Sunkist would be a FUSD-Colton Joint Unified School District league, with Colton and the new Grand Terrace school joining Bloomington.

The Riverside County schools in the Sunkist -- Jurupa Valley, Patriot and Norte Vista -- would likely be placed in Riverside County-contained leagues. There might be a jumbling of schools in Riverside County, as schools such as Riverside North and Riverside Poly are supposedly asking for relief from the ultra-competitive Big VIII League. That relief, if granted, could cause a shuffling of schools or even the formation of another league.

Obviously these situations are rumor at this point and will be revealed and voted on in a couple weeks, but I thought it'd be fun to see what people think about such proposed changes.

Rialto's do-everything forward Brittani Walker will sign with La Sierra University in a ceremony in the Rialto High School Gymnasium according to a phone call I received from Knights coach Michael Anderson. Walker, who was the glue do Rialto's CIF-SS championship and CIF-State runner-up team, averaged 8.4 points, 9.5 rebounds and 4.1 steals this past season.

The rosters for the 31st Annual boys San Bernardino vs. Riverside Senior All-Star Showcase on April 22 at 8 p.m. at Cajon high School were released moments ago. Here they are

San Bernardino

Julian Nichols, Upland
Marquis Kirkwood, Oak Hills
Terrell Todd, REV
Zeke DeBlase, Victor Valley
Samuel Holmes, Chino
Steven Reneau, Carter
Albert Hecox, Chino Hills
Montigo Alford, Summit
Raymond Brooks, Ontario
Brandaon Agapay, Chaffey
Choncey White, San Bernardino
James Millias, Rim
Royal Mathews, Rancho Cucamonga
Paulin Mpawe, REV
Jeremiah Tardy, San Bernardino
Khoury White, Miller
Dashun Hardrick, Arroyo Valley
Dorian Cason, Summit
Bernard Ireland, Eisenhower

Coach: Darrin Graham, San Bernardino

Riverside

Andy Farra, Temecula Valley
Gelaun Wheelwright, Centennial
Dominique Dunning, Centennial
Bryan Saffel, Patriot
Darren Skinner, JW North
Charles Carlisle, West Valley
Spencer Poston, Rancho Verde
Mason Biddel, Arlington
Michael Caffey, Centennial
Robert James, Desert Hot Springs
Josh Richardson, Temecula Valley
Andre Wilson, Valley View
Danny Hopkins, Arlington
Peter Parks, Jurupa Valley
Mark Ringnell, Perris
Leon Wells, Ramona
Anthony Collins, San Jacinto
Taj Spencer Canyon Springs

Coach: Josh Giles, Centennial

Chino will be playing San Dimas in the finals of its tournament on Saturday at 6 p.m. at Chino High School, the last of four games that will be played on the final day of the tournament. Admission to each game, which will be held in three-hour intervals at 9 a.m., noon, 3 p.m. and 6 p.m., is $3.

Colton senior golfer Ryan Smith will sign a National Letter of Intent with UC Riverside Wednesday at 7 a.m. at the high school according to a text message sent Monday by Colton athletic director Harold Strauss. Smith has been the top golfer for the Yellowjackets since arriving on campus as a freshman and has averaged in the mid-to-high 30s per nine holes for Colton this year.

Colton football coach Rick Bray will reapply for his position as Colton football coach after an upwelling of support on his behalf from the community according to a text I received from Bray and the Colton football Facebook page.

The Facebook entry, written by "Colton Football Coaching Staff" says the following:

Coach Bray would like to thank the community for the endless support he's received since he made his decision friday afternoon. It's because of this support that he has decided, he will not let one mans ego decide the fate of a program he's... help build over these last 25 plus years.

We will still need every community members support.

The Colton Joint Unified School District will be accepting applications for the job until Friday and from there they'll make the decision. And quite frankly, if they decide on anyone but Bray, it will be one of the most stupefying decisions that I've encountered in my years as a sports journalist.

In possibly the most surprising phone call I have received in my four-plus years of covering sports for the Sun, Colton football coach Rick Bray has indicated that he will not be the Colton High School football coach for the 2011 season after the Colton Joint Unified School District's school board decided to fly the position outside of the district at last night's meeting.

"I applied for the job, as I have to do every year, and the school board last night decided to fly the job outside of the district," Bray said. "I'm tired of the fighting and the lack of loyalty and I just don't want to have to deal with it any longer."

Being a campus security officer instead of a certificated teacher, Bray knew he had to reapply for the job every year due to the Rialto Rule, which states that an open position must be flown to certificated teachers within the school district before they can hire teachers or other personnel from outside of it. Bray knew that coming in, but didn't expect the district to open up the job after no other in-district teacher applied and after the Yellowjackets won their first CIF-SS title since 1978.

"I understand that this was going to a yearly thing, having to reapply, because I am not a teacher, but once I saw that no teachers within the school district applied, I felt I was Ok," Bray said. "It's definitely a shock right now and I have a good idea of where it's coming from, but I don't want to name names.

"As loyal as myself and my staff have been, having the team in good academic standing, getting four kids scholarships to college, not to mention winning a championship, this is all a slap in the face. I'm done - they can find somebody else because apparently my staff and I didn't do everything they wanted.

"Right now it's more anger than anything else. It's my way of letting people know that I'm tired of the fighting. I had to apply three separate times for this position last year because they kept adopting new rules. I'm tired of fighting it. We worked our butts off, our kids have worked their butts off in the classroom and on the field and our parents have been great. I thought we did the right thing, but I guess it wasn't good enough."

Having been born and raised in Colton and been an assistant for the Yellowjackets from 1985-2009 - minus a four-year hiatus - before taking the head coaching job from Harold Strauss, Bray is admittedly devastated with today's news and can't imagine the possiblity of going to coach for another school.

"I'm a Colton guy and I love this job," Bray said. "I was born and raised here and have been coaching at Colton since 1985. I don't want to go anywhere else."

20 percent of the teams ranked in the top 25 of the Calhisports girls basketball top 25 are from the county, led by San Andreas League co-champion Cajon's No. 9 mark. Other teams to be ranked include fellow SAL co-champion Rialto at No. 15. The Knights also won the CIF-SS Division 2AA title and made it to the CIF-State Division II championship game before losing to Stockton St. Mary's. Baseline League champ Etiwanda clocked in at No. 17, with Rancho Cucamonga and Summit notching rankings of No. 24 and 25, respectively.

Here's the final rankings.

1. Mater Dei
2. Stockton St. Mary's
3. Brea Olinda
4. Long Beach Poly
5. Berkeley
6. Canyon Springs
7. Windward
8. Concord Carondelet
9. Cajon
10. La Jolla Country Day
11. Berkeley St. Mary's
12. Narbonne
13. Edison
14. Troy
15. Rialto
16. Corona Santiago
17. Etiwanda
18. Santa Maria St. Joseph
19. Santa Monica
20. San Ramon Dougherty Valley
21. Oakland Bishop O'Dowd
22. Loomis Del Oro
23. Sacramento St. Francis
24. Rancho Cucamonga
25. Summit

The rosters for the 31st Annual Inland Empire Senior Showcase girls basketball game, set for April 22 at 6 p.m. at Cajon High School, were released earlier this week. Colony High School dominates the San Bernardino roster, with three Titans -- Devin Hudson, Candice Mathis and Brianna Jones -- on the roster. Colony coach Fonda Wilson will coach the San Bernardino all-stars, which also features Josel Wing (Rim of the World), Jen Dupper (Mesa Grande Academy), Sheyenne Williams (Los Osos), Shylynn Trone (San Bernardino), Tabitha Vigen (Yucca Valley), Marlena Hill (Yucaipa), Shannon Moore (Cajon), Crystal Cleveland (Arroyo Valley), Jashae Lee (Sultana) and Rikki Frohmader (Redlands).

The Riverside all-stars will be coached by Canyon Springs' Gail Hale, with two Canyon Springs players -- Teara Laudermill and Sophie Laudermill -- joining her. The rest of the Riverside roster includes Michia Boyd (Vista del Lago), Jade Khuri (Santiago), Shaneika Puryear (Poly), Tyler Woods (Centennial), Karina Hernandez (Patriot), Olivia Rodriquez (Desert Mirage), Amber Wharton (Murrieta Valley), Eboni Jacobs (Citrus Hill), Jamila Williams (Valley View), Deja Watkins (North), Tarea Cunnigan (Chaparral), Cwynnci Lobaugh (Norco) and Bree Madory (Notre Dame). Admission to the game is $5.

Five county wrestlers excelled at the NHSCA Wrestling Nationals last weekend. Leading the way was Oak Hills 171-pounder Robert Marchese, who finished second in the junior division. Redlands East Valley senior Chris Mecate, the state champions in the 135-pound division, finished in third in the senior division at nationals, losing in the semifinals to eventual champion Terrel Wilbourn of St. Charles, Mo. 6-4. Mecate defeated Bakersfield's Timmy Box -- who he defeated in the state semifinals -- 7-4 in the third-place match.

Oak Hills had two other wrestlers place in their respective divisions, with Ray Delgado placing fifth at 112 pounds in the senior division and Justin Gilliam placing third in the heavyweight division in the freshman division. Rim of the World junior Christian Smith also finished sixth in the junior division.