Recently in Austin Cole Category

Meant to write about this before, but I headed out to Eisenhower High School Saturday afternoon for their 50th anniversary celebration. It was quite an event, with a car show, all the food you could possibly want, live music, student performance and, oh yeah, the naming of the football stadium after Ronnie Lott.

It's the last part which I went out to cover. Knowing that the ceremony would be pretty chaotic, I went early, schmoozing Rialto Unified School District Public Information Office Syeda Jafri well enough to get an invitation into the VIP area, where I schmoozed with Congressman Joe Baca, among others, waiting to get my time with Lott.

While Barstow got a lot of hype for making it to the CIF-SS Eastern final, Twentynine Palms was doing the exact same thing in the East Valley Division. The Wildcats marched to the CIF finals for the first time in a generation, finally falling to Small School state champion San Juan Capistrano St. Margaret's in the championship game.

Twentynine Palms surged to the final thanks to a loaded roster featuring seven all-CIF players, most notably wide receiver Montreal Harris, running back Jared Demoss and defensive tackle Rusty Tausaga. As the Wildcats try to finish the job, the number of those all-CIF players is reduced to do.