July 2010 Archives

Diamond Ranch High School's Chase Price verbally committed to San Diego State on Wednesday, according to Diamond Ranch head coach Roddy Layton. The fullback that has helped the Panthers to consecutive CIF championship game appearances received interest from other schools, but no other official offers besides that of San Diego State.

"It's Division I, it's in Southern California and it's far enough away so that he can get the college experience but it's not too far away from his family," Layton said. "I think it's a perfect fit."

Following in the footsteps of Alta Loma High School's leading rusher, the Braves' leading tackler of last season has completed a transfer to defending CIF champion Upland. The 5-foot-10, 240-pound Christian Powell, who, along with running back Donta Abron will be a junior this season, collected 104 tackles as a defensive end in 2009 and was Alta Loma's second-leading rusher from the fullback position, though his 150 yards and four touchdowns were a distant second to Abron's 1,356 and seven.

Abron transfered to Upland during last school year and Powell completed a change of residence transfer early in the summer, according to Upland head coach Tim Salter, who rebuffed any accusations of recruiting players from Alta Loma or elsewhere.

"I'm not going to stop kids from coming over but they've got to do it legally," said Salter, who has won three CIF titles in 16 years at Upland. "We don't need to recruit. We run a good show and if kids want to move in, they move in. The first time I met (Powell) and his mom was the day they were registering for school."

Donavan Weldon, a 5-foot-11, 190-pound junior-to-be who played for Alta Loma last season, is likely transferring to Pomona, according to Alta Loma head coach Jose Fuentes, further depleting a roster that has obviously sustained heavy losses since an 0-10 season a year ago.

Donald Williamson, identified by prosecutors as a past president of the booster club for Ayala High School's girls basketball team, is facing two felony charges for allegedly embezzling from the club. Prosecutors accused Williamson, 49, of taking more than $400 from the club between Nov. 20 and Dec. 1. Williamson, of Chino Hills, was charged July 7 with embezzlement and grand theft, and is due in Chino Superior Court Aug. 18 for an arraignment.

Read the story in its entirety here on DailyBulletin.com.

After he was released form his letter of intent with UCLA following a June 23 arrest on suspicion of theft, Kaiser graduate Josh Shirley decided Thursday he will begin his college career at Washington, the school's Web site reported.

Shirley and two other incoming freshmen who were denied admission to UCLA are facing felony-theft charges that could be lessened to a misdemeanor after the three reportedly stole a purse. UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel left open a window for the three players to return to UCLA for the winter quarter but that is obviously no longer an option for Shirley, who reached a financial aid agreement with Washington.

"We are very aware of the circumstances surrounding Josh," Washington head coach Steve Sarkisian told GoHuskies.com. "We have done our due diligence and truly feel that this is not indicative of his true character or the way that he was raised."

Washington was one of the final schools Shirley was considering when rivals.com's No. 9 outside linebacker in the country chose UCLA over Miami, Arizona and USC in a signing day surprise. The 6-foot-2, 210-pound Shirley was selected to the U.S. Army All-American game after a senior season in which he was named the CIF co-defensive player of the year in the Eastern Division.

Ashley Cooke, the CIF-SS Masters meet 300-meter hurdle champion, signed a letter of intent with Cal two weeks ago. Cooke graduated from Colony this year and will begin classes at Berkley in the fall. She ran the 300 hurdles in 42.65 seconds at Masters to outlast hurdlers including eventual state champion Kori Carter of Claremont. Cooke just missed a spot on the podium at the CIF State meet, finishing fourth in the event in a time of 42.01 seconds, .01 seconds behind the third-place finisher.

Three players who were part of Colony High School's Mt. Baldy League championship football team last season have transferred to Pomona High School but one of them isn't eligible to play his senior season, according to the CIF Web site. Anthony Rice, who coached the Colony football team to two CIF championships during his four-year tenure that ended last season, took over as Pomona head coach in May but CIF rules prevent players from transferring to the same school as their coach.

Demetrius Counts, the second-leading rusher for Colony last season, transferred to Pomona June 14, per the CIF Web site, which states that he is denied eligibility in all sports for his final year of high school. Counts was also a starting guard for the prolific Colony basketball team. Rice was unavailable for comment.

Before transferring to Pomona, Makale McCobb, a second-team all Mt. Baldy League receiver as a junior at Colony last season, transferred to Ontario Christian in April or May, according to Colony athletic director Jaime Sandoval. The 6-foot-1, 170-pound senior-to-be is eligible for the upcoming season, according to the CIF Web site, due to a valid change of address and perhaps because McCobb didn't transfer directly from Colony to Pomona.

A rocky end to the baseball season led to the resignation of Etiwanda baseball coach Shane Moses last month, athletic director Brice Sunderland confirmed. Things between Moses and the administration were bad enough that the baseball coach temporarily resigned on April 22, missing two games before returning to finish out the Eagles' 13-13 season.

"Obviously there were some things going on at the tail end of last season," Sunderland said. "I think (Moses) thought it was best for him to step down."

Moses said he resigned for personal reasons, according to Sunderland, who declined to elaborate on the friction during the end of the season. During Moses' final six seasons, Etiwanda posted a winning record once - 14-10 in 2007 - but did not earn a playoff berth in compiling a combined 26-65 record in the Baseline League. Etiwanda is currently accepting applications for the job from within the Chaffey Joint Union School District.

Courtesy of Staff Writer J.P. Hoornstra:

A game of tug-of-war might be teamwork in its purest form. Digging in your heels and pulling -- just the way these guys like it.

After several hours of drills, sprints and lifts, 38 teams of high school linemen grew wide-eyed just thinking about it Saturday at Los Osos High School. They squared off NCAA-bracket style, until all but two teams had collapsed at the end of their rope. When Los Osos out-tugged Chino for the title, the winning linemen huddled, chanted and sprayed water on each other like a bunch of boys on top of the world. For a lineman, this is as good as it gets.

"These guys don't get to do a lot of competing," said Mike Randall, the lineman coach and running game coordinator at Los Osos. "The 7-on-7 guys can throw the ball around twice a week."

I spoke recently to Monse Estrada, who was retiring after the season after more than three decades as teacher and head baseball coach at Garey HIgh School.

At the request of the administration, Estrada is returning as an off-campus head coach. He said he will help train his successor and ease the transition.

Estrada's star player, Vincent Velasquez, a second-round draft pick by the Houston Astros last month (58th overall) made his pro debut last week.
After signing with the Astros, Velasquez reported to rookie-level Greeneville (Tenn.) and he has pitched in two games. In those two games, he's 1-0, having pitched four innings, allowing one hit, no runs, two walks while striking out five.

After the Seattle Mariners made him their 22nd-round pick in the MLB draft on June 8, Carter High School pitcher Stephen Landazuri reached an agreement with the organization Thursday night. The right-hander received a $95,000 signing bonus.

Landazuri, a first-team All-Valley selection, was drafted 672nd overall, one selection before Los Osos catcher Jake Hernandez, who opted not to sign with the Detroit Tigers, rather utilize his scholarship to USC. Landazuri posted a 3-7 record and 3.05 ERA his senior season for a Carter team that went 5-18. He struck out 86 batters in 62 innings and held opponents to a .241 batting average. He also batted .403 with three home runs and 18 RBIs.

Devon Blackmon thought last summer was intense. Until this summer.

The Summit High School quarterback with too many scholarship offers to keep track of - his estimate was 50, but it added a little perspective when he recalled that just yesterday he discovered an offer from Harvard rifling through a box of letters - has reduced his potential destinations to six: Alabama, Florida, Cal, Oregon, UCLA and USC.

"USC is temporary," Blackmon said. "But those other five are solid. I might add one or drop one if the right offer comes in. It was time to say 'Thanks, but no thanks' to some of the coaches offering me."

Since college coaches have been allowed to visit Summit (58 different schools have dropped by so far) and call Blackmon beginning June 1, the pursuit of Rivals.com's No. 5 player in the country has risen to a new level of intensity, one that was written all over the 6-foot-1, 180-pound senior-to-be's face. Blackmon is the No. 41 player in the nation, according to rivals.com and rated the country's fifth-best receiver, the position at which most are recruiting him.

"In all my years coaching I've never seen a player get this kind of attention," Summit coach Tony Barile said. "I don't think he'll get the entire scope of this until he can look back on it 10 or 15 years later."

Fontana High School athletic director Evelyn Vance may be retiring but it's a safe bet she won't ever escape the competitive drive that drew her to the school 29 years ago. On June 30, Vance stepped down after five years as Fontana's athletic director and 24 years coaching "just about every sport" at Fontana. Her newfound free time, however, will be devoted to an effort to rejoin the U.S. National triathlon team.

Despite a knee replacement a year ago, Vance, 60, is ready to dive back into the regimen that took her to 10 Iron Man competitions. She's hoping that feats the likes of a 2.5-mile swim followed by a 112-mile bike ride capped by a full marathon lie ahead of her. The fruits of the journey she's leaving behind are nothing short of impressive.

"I came here in 1980 and it was the start of an empire," Vance said. "I was running a junior high program that looked like a small college program. The town took me in and I've taken so much pride working in this city and for this school."

It won't be more than a "partial commitment" until his unofficial visit to the University of Oregon next weekend, but Etiwanda offensive tackle Jamal Prater issued something of a verbal pledge to the Ducks on June 26.

"Right now it's sort of a partial thing," said the 6-foot-4, 290-pound Prater. "I don't want to commit to them blindly. I just want to get up there and see the campus and everything."

The 16-year-old rising senior also has scholarship offers from Oregon State, Washington State, San Diego State and San Jose State. Prater is 61st rated tackle in the country by scout.com and the 74th-ranked player in California by rivals.com. The soft committment seems to be of mutual benefit to Prater and the Oregon coaching staff who has been expressing interest since Prater's sophomore season.

"They want to avoid a guy giving a verbal (commitment) and not really loving the place," Etiwanda coach Steve Bryce said. "He has commmitted to them but it's a tentative commit because they want him to see the place to avoid him backing out."

Chino Hills defensive back Ifo Ekpre-Olomu has already had a productive summer as the 5-foot-10, 180-pound reigning Sierra League MVP heads into his senior season. Rivals.com's 11th-rated cornerback in the country has been to four high-profile camps - USC, UCLA, Nike (at USC) and Rising Stars (at USC) - since the summer began but his spring may have been even more fruitful.

Following an all-CIF junior season that began at safety (where he nabbed a school-record 8 interceptions as a sophomore), included a full-time job as the Huskies leading wide receiver and ended with a heavy load at running back in the playoffs, Ekpre-Olomu was offered 11 scholarships in the spring. Of the 150 schools Huskies head coach Derek Bub said have visited since last season, there are parties recruiting Ekpre-Olomu at all of the above positions and cornerback... his offers are as follows:

The high school football class of 2011 is in the early stages of the steep climb to its zenith in the internet college recruiting sphere, but most collegiate coaches are already honing in on the class of 2012.

The majority of the scouting has been done prior to one's senior season, according to recruiting analyst Randy Taylor of the National Collegiate Scouting Association. All that's left are details like, say, colleges issuing their remaining coveted scholarship offers and waiting with bated breath as rabid fan bases anticipate who will tilt the landscape of college football in February with their school selections.

"I've already got a couple of players on my list for the class of 2015," said Taylor, a former college football coach who was most recently the director of football operations for UCLA and Minnesota. "The coaches are done with the class of 2011 except for maybe looking at a few sleepers."