Recently in Ambassador League Category

It was a racuous, hot and overflow crowd on Thursday night as Ontario Christian pulled out a 65-58 victory over host Aquinas to take home the Ambassador League boys basketball title.
Aquinas, which earlier endured a 6 minute,15 second scoreless stretch late in the 3rd and early in the fourth quarter, went cold again in overtime as the Falcons were held scoreless for the first 3:15 of overtime while Ontario Christian was scoring the first nine points.
Ontario Christian won despite a poor night from the foul line, as the Knights made just 19 of 32 free throws.
it wasn't quite as thrilling a finish as my other overtime game this week, when Cajon beat Arroyo Valley by 1 on a Michael Henley buzzer-beater in overtime. It could have been, as Ontario Christian's Kevin Ross missfired on a long attempt in the final seconds of regulation.
Demetrius Overstreet scored 20 points, Joseph Rushing had 15 and Carlos Padilla had 13 for Aquinas. Brandon Zuidema scored18 points, Cameron Levise scored 16 and Daylan Lawrence and Ross had 13 points apiece for the Knights.

Back from vacation and publishing these a bit late.

FOOTBALL
Superlatives
Offensive MVP: Burrell Handy, Jr., Aquinas
Defensive MVP: Zack Williams, Sr., Aquinas
Coach of the Year: Nick Matheny, Aquinas
Sportsmanship Award: Calvary Murrieta

First Team
Shaquille Gilbert, Sr., Aquinas
Burrell Handy, Jr., Aquinas
Troy Knowlton, Sr., Aquinas
Roberto Martinez, Sr., Aquinas
Joshua McPeck, Sr., Aquinas
Mikael Valdez, Sr., Aquinas
Zack Williams, Sr., Aquinas
Patrick Blaylock, Sr., Linfield Christian
Gabe Grene, Sr., Linfield Christian
Nick Moreno, Jr., Linfield Christian
Levi Rolban, Sr., Linfield Christian
A.J. Hettinga, Sr., Ontario Christian
Jordan Kloosterman, Sr., Ontario Christian
T.J. Spykstra, So., Ontario Christian
Morgan Whalen, Sr., Ontario Christian
Sang Ha Lee, Sr., Western Christian
Christian Solis, Sr., Western Christian
John Koehn, Sr., Arrowhead Christian
Kirk Pearce, Sr., Arrowhead Christian
Sam Schwab, Sr., Calvary Murrieta

Second Team
Richard Anhauser, Jr., Aquinas
Joshua Joseph, Sr., Aquinas
Frank Klementich, Jr., Aquinas
Raymond Padilla, Fr., Aquinas
Patrick Browning, Jr., Linfield Christian
Anthony Simeone, So., Linfield Christian
Matt Wilson, Jr., Linfield Christian
Mike Salas, Jr., Ontario Christian
Mike Mendoza, Jr., Western Christian
Andrew Sutton, Sr., Western Christian
Jeremy Eldridge, Sr., Arrowhead Christian
Jacob Stephenson, Sr., Arrowhead Christian
Ryan Bannon, Sr., Calvary Murrieta
James Prosmire, Jr., Calvary Murrieta

This league's two guaranteed playoff spots are already clinched, as are the seedings, so besides Ontario Christian having faint at-large chances, this is boring as heck. Just to warn ya.

1. Aquinas (8-1, 4-0): Has clinched a playoff spot and the No. 1 seed out of the Ambassador League regardless of what it does Friday against Western Christian.

2. Linfield Christian (5-4, 3-1): Has clinched a playoff spot and the No. 2 seed out of the Ambassador League regardless of what it does Friday against Calvary Murrieta due to its head-to-head tiebreaker advantages over Ontario Christian and Western Christian.

3. Ontario Christian (3-6, 2-2): The Knights are eliminated from automatic playoff consideration because Linfield Christian owns the head-to-head tiebreaker. The only shot Ontario Christian has is to beat Arrowhead Christian Friday and hope that making the East Valley championship game last year holds weight in the at-large selection process.

4. Western Christian (3-6, 2-2): The Lancers are eliminated from automatic playoff consideration because Linfield Christian owns the head-to-head tiebreaker. A win over Aquinas could look good for an at-large selection, but it likely wouldn't be enough.

5. Arrowhead Christian (3-6, 1-3): Eliminated from playoff consideration.

6. Calvary Murrieta (1-8, 0-4): Eliminated from playoff consideration.

The traditional rivalry for Christian League supremacy much of this decade was Aquinas and Ontario Christian, as the teams split titles the last eight years. And even though both teams are moving to the Christian League, that rivalry should be just as intense.

The Falcons have won the last three meetings, therefore winning the last three league titles. Last year, Aquinas went 7-4 behind an elite cast of players that included QB/WR Jim Jones, who signed with UTEP, RB Derrick Radden, LB Jake Henderson and DL Uche Amajoyi. Those four players depart, but the Falcons are expected to be as tough as ever.

Nick Matheny returns for his second year at coach with a team that should be stout up front and has talented, albeit young, players filling in at the skill positions.

A quick cheat sheet of what it will look like the next two years.

Football playoff divisions for 2010 and 2011

CENTRAL DIVISION (one at-large)
Mt. Baldy (4 teams)
San Andreas (4 teams)
Desert Valley (3 teams)
Inland Valley (4 teams)

EASTERN DIVISION (one at-large)
Desert Sky (3 teams)
Mojave River (3 teams)
Sunkist (3 teams)
Mountain Pass (3 teams)
Sunbelt (3 teams)

EAST VALLEY DIVISION (four at-large)
Ambassador (2 teams)
De Anza (2 teams)
Mountain Valley (2 teams)
Academy (2 teams)
Alpha (2 teams)
Frontier (2 teams)

INLAND DIVISION (zero at-large)
Baseline (3 teams)
Citrus Belt (3 teams)
Sierra (3 teams)
Big 8 (4 teams)
Southwestern (3 teams)

An expansion of what I blogged about last night in reference to the new football realignments. Got a hold of some coaches on the topic. This will also run in the Sun and Bulletin tomorrow.

The playoff alignments for various sports, including football, for the 2010-2012 seasons were released by the CIF-SS offices Monday, with some interesting changes in football.

The Baseline and Sierra Leagues, which were in the Central Division the last two years, will swap back into the Inland Division to play against the Citrus Belt League, the Big 8 and the Southwestern Leagues. The Inland Valley League will swap out, moving back to the Central Division with the expanded San Andreas and Mt. Baldy Leagues and the Desert Valley League, which moves up from the Eastern Division. The Sunbelt League switches places with the Desert Valley, moving into the Eastern Division.

These changes will make life tough on the Baseline League, which ripped up the Central Division in both seasons in it. Three of the four semifinalists during the last two years were Baseline teams, with the Central Division title game being an all-Baseline affair (Rancho Cucamonga over Upland in 2008 and Upland over Los Osos in 2009) both seasons.

Another change that will impact the Baseline is the zero at-large entries in the Inland Division. Considering that the Central champion this past year, Upland, was an at-large entry from the Baseline, a brutal league will become even more cutthroat.