April 2010 Archives

According to ESPN.com's Keith Law, Los Osos High School's Jake Hernandez is the 4th-ranked catcher in the upcoming Major League Baseball first-year player draft. Not just the 4th-ranked high school catcher, but the fourth-best at his position of any player eligible for the June 7-9 draft. A high compliment for the 6-foot-1, 180-pound 17-year-old signed with USC.

Because Keith Law is an ESPN "insider" I can't provide a link to the rankings, but here are the local high schoolers in his top 100 players eligible for the draft.

37. Jake Hernandez, C, Los Osos
47. Griffin Murphy, LHP, Redlands East Valley
58. Vincent Velasquez, RHP/C, Garey
91. Scott Frazier, RHP, Upland

Denver Broncos All-Pro left tackle Ryan Clady, an Eisenhower High School graduate, injured his knee in a basketball game over the weekend, according to this Denver Post story, will miss three months but is hoping to be ready for the start of the NFL season.

The 12th overall pick out of Boise State in the 2008 NFL draft partially tore his patellar tendon but because it was only 50 percent torn the surgery performed Tuesday in Denver will likely cause him to miss nothing more than the preseason.

Clady allowed the fewest sacks among tackles as a rookie and last year became the 11th tackle to earn Pro Bowl honors in his second season.

Colony head football coach Matt Bechtel may not be ready to compare his first effort at quarterback camps to Orange County guru Steve Clarkson's, but those who have experienced both are. A turnout larger than expected showed for each Field Generals camp -- one late March and another early April -- run by Bechtel, Corona Santiago head coach Jeff Steinberg, Jurupa Valley head coach Dave Pierson and former Division I quarterbacks coach Ben Noonan. Eighteen quarterbacks attended the camp at Kaiser High on March 27 and 28 while 20 attended the April 10 and 11 camp at Citrus College.

"We had some parents come up to us at the end and tell us it was worth every penny," Bechtel said. "We don't want to compare ourselves to Steve Clarkson but we had some parents tell us that they sent their kids to his camp and they did a lot of standing around there."

With a quarterback to coach ratio of 5:1, the hour in the classroom followed by two and a half hours of drills and an accuracy competition was more productive than at some larger scale camps, according to Bechtel. Serrano freshman quarterback Daniel Epperson won the accuracy competition at the Kaiser camp by hitting 24 of 40 targets.

"We had some talent out there," Bechtel said. "There were some JC kids and some young kids who you probably won't hear about this year but definitely next year."

Bechtel is hoping to run as many as four camps next year.

Player of the Year
BYRON WESLEY
Etiwanda, 6-foot-5, Junior, forward
The transfer from Cajon who is verbally committed to USC averaged 19 points and nine rebounds in leading Etiwanda to the CIF-SS Division 1AA finals and the state tournament quarterfinals.

Player of the Year
ADRIENNE THOMAS
Summit, Point Guard, 5-foot-9, Senior
Arizona State-bound guard averaged 16.1 points, 3.3 assists and 3.8 rebounds in leading the SkyHawks to the CIF-SS Division 1A championship game.

Etiwanda and Ayala not only own the No. 1 rankings in their respective divisions but are ranked 5th and 6th in the nation by ESPN Rise Magazine.

DIVISION 2
1. Etiwanda
2. Vista Murrieta
3. Redlands
4. Irvine
5. Canyon Springs
6. Temescal Canyon
7. Upland
8. Chaparral
9. Lakewood
10. Los Osos

DIVISION 3
1. Ayala
2. Atascadero
3. Tesoro
4. Oaks Christian
5. Glendora
6. Bonita
7. Cajon
8. Downey
9. Alemany
10. La Reina

Player of the Year
Adrian Topete, Montclair, Jr., GK

Coaches of the Year
Vince Mangione and Moses Venegas, Ontario co-head coaches

FIRST TEAM
F -- Mario Zaragoza, Rancho Cucamonga, Sr.
The first team all-Baseline League forward scored a league-high 25 goals in addition to tallying nine assists in helping the Cougars to a second-place finish in the Baseline League.

F -- Corey Hostetter, Sr., Los Osos
The senior scored 14 goals, 11 of which came in league play, and dished out five assists for a defensive-minded Los Osos squad that won the Baseline League title.

F -- Daniel Nunez, Sr., Ontario
The Division 3 first team all-CIF forward had six goals and one assist in just eight games for the Jaguars, who won a wild-card and first-round playoff game in the most successful postseason in Ontario school history.

Player of the Year
Kaiyltn Mendoza, Ontario Christian, F, Sr.

Coach of the Year
Jeff Allen, Ayala

FIRST TEAM
F -- Makenzy Doniak, Ayala, So.
The first team All-CIF forward was the Sierra League offensive MVP after scoring 19 goals and collecting eight assists for the league champs and CIF Division 2 quarterfinalists.

F -- Jamia Fields, Los Osos, Jr.
Fields earned Baseline League co-MVP honors by contributing 12 goals and six assists to the league champs despite two other double-digit goal scorers on her own team.

F -- Vanessa Machado, Montclair, Jr.
The two-time first-team All-Mt. Baldy League selection had 18 goals and five assists for the Cavaliers, who went undefeated in the Mt. Baldy League.

Webb filled its head football coaching vacancy with last week by hiring Ray Fenton, whose resume includes a CIF-SS Southwest Division championship in 2007 and four appearances in the semifinals in five years at Cypress.

Fenton showed interest in the Webb position only after receiving a reduction in force notice from Cypress for the second consecutive year, meaning his position could be eliminated. Webb athletic director Steve Wishek, who is thrilled to have a coach of Fenton's caliber, actually rebuffed Fenton's first attempt at contact with Webb upon hearing he was a physical education teacher.

"We don't have P.E. so I kind of gave him the cold shoulder," Wishek said. "Then I noticed on the OC Register Website that Cypress had a coach in the top 10 coaches of the decade and thought 'Didn't I get a call from a guy from Cypress?' That's when it clicked."

Over 30 people applied for the position vacated by Robbie von Pertz on Jan. 23 for medical reasons. Wishek was surprised at the high level of applicants, estimating only about two applicants were less than qualified.

Ontario High School is holding a ceremony on Wednesday at 2:45 p.m. to name its baseball field after longtime baseball coach Bob Beck. Beck, who retired from his Ontatio coaching job four years ago, led the Jaguars to an undefeated season and the 1991 CIF-SS 3-A championship with a roster that included current 15-year major league baseball veteran Mike Sweeney Jr.

Beck, a Chaffey Joint Union School district employee for 40 years, will have the field's scoreboard and a plaque dedicated to him during the ceremony prior to Ontario's game with Montclair.

Krishawn Tillett is the latest Ayala girls basketball player to suffer anterior cruciate ligament damage. After two of her teammates tore ACLs prior to this season, the senior with a basketball scholarship to Army underwent surgery this week for a partially torn ACL suffered in the Bulldogs quarterfinal playoff victory on Feb. 24.

"She was chasing a girl on a breakaway and when the girl stopped to pump fake and so did Krishawn. That's when she hyperextended her right knee," Tillett's father Daniel said. "It was strange because she came back and played in that game and even played the first 10 minutes of the next game before she said 'This doesn't feel right.'"

Tillett's recovery time is expected to be six-to-eight weeks. The first team all-Sierra League guard averaged 16.4 points, 3.3 assists and 2.4 steals for the Sierra League champions.