Recently in Bloomington Christian High School Category

Here is the first spring all-league team that I have received, the Victory League all-league softball team

League MVP: Jen Deiner, Mesa Grande Academy
Coach of the Year: Cedric Mitchell Mesa Grande Academy
Team Sportsmanship Award: Desert Chapel

First Team All League:

I was at the Southern California Shootout at Azusa Pacific, with some very intriguing games involving county boys basketball teams.

First, I arrived for the end of the Chino Hills-Upland game, which went into overtime tied 50-50. Myles Pearson went 6-for-6 from the line in the final minute of overtime, snapping a 53-53 tie en route to a 59-53 Upland win.

Next, it was Bloomington Christian and coach Danny Fuller facing his former JV high school coach Mike LeDuc of Glendora. Bloomington Christian, from 5AA, represented itself well, but ultimately came up short, losing 57-46 to the 2A Tartans.

Then it was a wild-and-woolly game between Colony and Santa Maria Righetti. Colony's offense was way off in the first half and the Titans trailed 33-22 at halftime. They picked it up in the second half, and got to within 69-66 in the final minute before Righetti held on for a 77-71 victory. So there were 55 points scored combined in the first half and 93 combined in the second half.

Next was the marquee game of the event, Etiwanda and Damien. Two years ago the same teams played in the same event at APU, and Etiwanda won it on a shot at the buzzer.

This time, Damien led for most of the first half and was ahead 25-23 at halftime. Etiwanda's defense went from very good to stifling in the second half. Damien went more than six minutes from late in the second quarter to the third quarter without scoring a point and Etiwanda began the second half with a 14-0 run. The Eagles never really looked back (Damien never got closer than 9 points) and sophomore Jordan McLaughlin scored 15 of his 27 points in the second half of a 64-45 Etiwanda victory.

Speaking of football recruiting, Bloomington Christian will be hosting a seminar by the National Collegiate Scouting Association at 7 p.m. on January 31 called "College Recruiting Simplified."

The keynote speaker for the seminar is Derrick Mayes, a former NFL wide receiver who played for the Green Bay Packers and the Seattle Seahawks from 1996-2000, winning a Super Bowl ring with the Packers in 1996. Mayes, who attended Notre Dame, serves as the NSCA's Athletic Recruiting educational speaker.

People not affiliated with Bloomington Christian who wish to attend the seminar can contact Tiffany Menzione at (312) 624-7437.

Alta Loma has hired former Bloomington Christian coach Joe Szczepanski as its next football coach according to an e-mail I received Monday afternoon from Alta Loma principal James Cronin. Szczepanski, who was the head man at Bloomington Christian the last three seasons and the defensive coordinator at Alta Loma from 2004-07, replaces Jose Fuentes, who resigned after losing all 20 games that he coached the last two seasons.

Szczepanski, who teaches at Alta Loma, compiled a 13-18 record in his three seasons at Bloomington Christian, taking the Ravens to the playoffs in 2009. Alta Loma made the playoffs in three of his four seasons as an assistant, as the Braves lost in the first round of the playoffs in 2004, 2005, and 2006.

"I'm happy to be back here," Szczepanski said. "It was tough to teach here at Alta Loma and travel to Bloomington Christian to coach, so I'm looking forward to being on campus with these kids and really getting things started. There's a buzz around campus and I want to take advantage of it."

Szczepanski has a formidable task in front of him, as the Braves have a 24-game losing streak dating to 2007 and play in a brutal Baseline League. But the coach, who was also an assistant at Etiwanda and Montclair, is eager to begin the task at hand.

"We know we have a tough job, but we feel that we can pull it off," the 42-year old Szczepanski said. "I believe in being aggressive and that's exactly how we are going to approach this."

After forfeiting last Friday's game to Anza Hamilton due to a rash of injuries, Bloomington Christian will be able to host its Homecoming game Friday against Fairmont Prep according to Ravens athletic director Brad Stott.

"We were in a tough spot with injuries and we thought the best decision would be to forfeit the Hamilton game to rest up some players and get them ready for our first league game and our Homecoming game," Stott said. "We didn't want to risk that game, so we decided to forfeit against Hamilton."

Last week's decision was a culmination of a rash of injuries that wiped out the top four running backs on the depth chart and several key players at other positions, as a roster that was already low at 25 to start the season was in the mid-teens a week ago. But the 1-4 Ravens are expecting to be ready to go come Friday.

"A lot of our injured players were a week away last week and should be good to go this week," Stott said.