January 2011 Archives

Three Inland Valley football players were selected to the maxpreps.com all-state team released Monday. Upland kicker Jake Van Ginkel, who is expected to sign with Boise State on Wednesday, was named the first-team kicker after he connected on 15 of 20 field goals this season with a long of 50 yards.

Ekpre-Olomu, a safety from Chino Hills who is expected to sign with Oregon, was selected to the second team after a senior season that included 71 tackles, two interceptions, 1,694 all-purpose yards and 14 total touchdowns. Claremont quarterback Daniel Kessler, who will be a preferred walk-on at Utah, was also named to the second team ater leaving the Claremont record books in tatters with 3,490 passing yards, 37 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.

Etiwanda cornerback Courtland Fort was offered his first scholarship Monday morning by Army and will visit the campus in West Point, NY this weekend, according to Etiwanda head coach Steve Bryce. The 6-foot, 178-pound senior, who is only 16 years old, had 47 tackles and a pair of interceptions for the Eagles this season. After Bryce sent one final wave of e-mails on Fort's behalf last week, Army responded by visiting the Etiwanda campus, viewing Fort's game film and eventually offering him two days before national signing day.

"A lot of colleges were hemming and hawing and I was afraid Cortland had missed the recruiting boat," Bryce said. "I just had such high expectations for him that I was getting a little worried and I think he was too."

With four days remaining before National Signing Day, here is a list of football players in the Daily Bulletin coverage area and the schools with which they are expected to sign on Wednesday.

Promise Amadi, Chino, WR - Hawaii
Devon Blackmon, Summit, WR - Oregon
Allen Brown, San Dimas, OT - Fresno State
Jacoby Carter, Diamond Ranch, CB - Sacramento State (FCS)
Ifo Ekpre-Olomu, Chino Hills, DB - Oregon
Nate Harris, Chino Hills, RB/CB - Montana
Daniel Kessler, Claremont, QB - Utah (preferred walk-on)
Marcus Mason, Etiwanda, RB - Washington State
Quinton Pedroza, Chino, WR/DB - Arizona State
Paul Pitts, Los Osos, WR - San Diego State
Jamal Prater, Etiwanda, OT - Oregon
Chase Price, Diamond Ranch, RB - San Diego State
Greg Sherwood, Los Osos, LB - Nebraska at Kearney (Division II)
Christian Solis, Western Christian, WR - Malone University (Division II)
Brandon Tuliaupupu, Claremont, DT - Washington State
Jake Van Ginkel, Upland, K - Boise State
Dominique Williams, Garey, WR - Washington State

After Rancho Cucamonga snapped a 66-game Baseline League winning streak with two of his players out and a third playing with a concussion, it was hard to blame Etiwanda girls basketball coach Anders Anderson for insisting his players take it easy in practice this week.

"I didn't want anything," Anderson said, "to mess this game up."

Arizona State bound senior Jada Blackwell returned to the Eagles lineup to the tune of 20 points and nine rebounds to help Etiwanda to a 62-57 win in the rematch with Rancho Cucamonga. Thanks to the Cougars' 14-point loss to Los Osos on Tuesday, Etiwanda got its revenge for the Jan. 7 48-39 loss and sole possession of first place in league too.

INLAND DIVISION
Offensive Player of the Year - Michael Eubank, Corona Centennial
Defensive Player of the Year - Chris Gonzalez, Corona Centennial
Coach of the Year - Matt Logan, Corona Centennial

Offense
Barrinton Collins, RB, Corona Centennial
Sateki Finau, RB, Rancho Cucamonga
Kelsey Young, RB, Norco
Marcus Mason, RB, Etiwanda
Darius Guillory, RB, Chaparral
Nate Harris, RB, Chino Hills

CENTRAL DIVISION
Offensive Player of the Year - Travis Champion, Rancho Verde
Defensive Player of the Year - Devan Hussey, Colton
Coach of the Year - Richard Bray, Colton

Offense
Xavier Browne, RB, Jr., Chino
Tyler Ervin, RB, Sr., Colton
Chyl Robinson, RB, Sr., La Quinta
Superiorr Reid, RB, Sr., Arlington
Devonte Jordan, RB, Sr., Rancho Verde

SOUTHEAST DIVISION
Offensive Player of the Year - Chris Solomon, West Covina
Defensive Player of the Year - Maurice Dupleasis, West Covina
Coach of the Year - Mike Maggiore, West Covina

Offense
Max Gama, RB, Sr., La Mirada
Elijah Penny, RB, Sr., Norwalk
Ulises Ochoa, RB, Sr., Burbank
Richard Alvarez, RB, Sr., La Serna
B.J. Lee, RB, Sr., West Covina

EASTERN DIVISION
Offensive Player of the Year - Seth Middlemas, Elsinore
Defensive Player of the Year - Nolan Peralta, Elsinore
Coach of the Year - Tony Peralta, Elsinore

Offense
Seth Middlemas, RB, Sr., Elsinore
Scott Benson, RB, Sr., Heritage
Jimmy Awolesi, RB, Sr., Kaiser
Taylor Ruize, RB, Sr., Serrano
Davien Payne, RB, Jr., Citrus Hill
Antawaun Jones, RB, Sr., Granite Hills
Montigo Alford, RB, Sr., Summit

MID VALLEY DIVISION
Offensive Player of the Year - Nick Bueno, Monrovia
Defensive Player of the Year - Derrick Johnson, Monrovia
Coach of the Year - Ryan Maddox, Monrovia

Offense
Matt Fregoso, RB, Sr., Rosemead
Giovanni Rivera, RB, Sr., Sierra Vista
Marquise Thomas, RB, Sr., Northview
Amjed Aboul-Hosn, RB, Jr., Village Chrsitian
Christian Blanco, RB, Sr., Monrovia
Vinny Venegas, RB, Jr., Covina

Chino wide receiver/safety Quinton Pedroza, who verbally committed to Arizona State Jan. 8, took an official visit last weekend to Utah, which offered him a scholarship three days after his commitment to Arizona State. Pedroza will visit Arizona State this coming weekend but he may soon have another school to consider.

USC has expressed interest in the 6-foot-3, 195-pound senior, going so far as to request Pedroza's transcripts today, according to Chino head football coach Matt McCain. USC is interested in Pedroza as a safety, where he collected 67 tackles and four interceptions in the fall during his first and only season of high school football. ASU is open to him playing receiver, where he had 54 receptions for 1,078 yards and 16 TDs.

"It could be that he'll visit Arizona State this weekend and that'll be the end of it," McCain said. "But you never know what a kid is going to say when somebody like USC gets involved."

BASKETBALL
BOYS
DIVISION 1AA
1. Long Beach Poly
2. Etiwanda
3. Mater Dei
4. Corona Centennial
5. Montebello
6. Murrieta Valley
7. Thousand Oaks
8. Rancho Verde
9. Upland
10. Chino Hills

Promise Amadi verbally committed to the University of Hawaii during his trip to Manoa, Hawaii this past weekend, according to Chino head coach Matt McCain. The 6-foot, 180-pound senior issued a verbal commitment to New Mexico State during his visit to Las Cruces N.M., the weekend previous to his official visit to Hawaii.

"What happed was the coaches (at New Mexico State) told him it was okay if he just wanted to give them a soft commitment," McCain said. "So he said OK."

Amadi, who also had offers from Montana and Sacramento State, was also receiving interest from Arizona State as of Thursday. ASU is recruiting Amadi as a cornerback but Hawaii will allow him to play his preferred position of receiver.

"He said he had a great time in Hawaii and that's where he wants to go," McCain said. "He really enjoyed the coaches and they said he'd have a good chance to start as a freshman."

Will Lester/Staff Photographer
St. Lucy's UCLA-bound senior Emily Donohoe (background) scored 10 goals to lead the CIF-SS Division 3's top-ranked Regents to an 18-8 win over No. 7 Ayala in a Sierra League match Thursday at Ayala High School.

Ayala water polo coach Paul Marceau aptly rephrased the question: "I'm trying to figure out what she doesn't do well."

She is St. Lucy's senior Emily Donohoe.

What she did Thursday evening was pound the back of the Ayala net with 10 goals to lead St. Lucy's to a 18-8 victory.

The 2010 CIF-SS Division 3 Player of the Year, who has signed a letter of intent with UCLA, has propelled St. Lucy's (14-3, 3-0) to the No. 1 ranking this season. It doesn't appear the Regents will lose that spot anytime soon. Ayala (18-2, 2-1) which boasts a spectacular record and is accordingly ranked seventh in Division 3, was just a bump in the road for streaking St. Lucy's.

The Upland football team is nearing a contract to host a game with Baker County (Fla.) in Week 0 of next season, according to Upland head coach Tim Salter.

Salter was contacted about the potential matchup by Baker County coach Ryan Sulkowski, who led his team to a 7-3 mark in his first year coaching the school outside of Jacksonville. Upland, which is a year removed from a CIF-SS Central Division championship, went 8-4 last season and lost in the quarterfinals to eventual Inland Division champ Corona Centennial. Baker County will feature 6-foot-5 quarterback Thomas Sirk and highly recruited wide receiver/safety Kendrick Singleton.

"(Sulkowski) said they are absolutely football crazy there and there is a lot of support for them to come," Salter said. "We were looking to play someone from out of state and you always hear about high school football in Florida."

San Dimas offensive tackle Allen Brown committed to Fresno State last weekend during his official visit to Fresno. The 6-foot-4, 272-pound senior also had scholarship offers from UNLV, Colorado State, Montana State and San Jose State. Brown, a first-team All-Valley offensive lineman, helped San Dimas to 407 yards per game. He won a CIF title with the Saints in 2010 and helped the team to the semifinals this season.

Claremont defensive tackle Brandon Tuliaupupu committed to Washington State Sunday night, according to Claremont head coach Mike Collins, choosing the Cougars over scholarship offers from Kansas, Wyoming, New Mexico, UTEP and San Jose State. The 6-foot-3, 295-pound senior had 63 tackles and four sacks in helping Claremont to a second-place finish in the Sierra League this season. Rivals.com rates the three-star player the No. 52 defensive tackle in the country and the No. 98 players in California.

A mass of shaving cream wasn't the only thing Matt Dunn had to wipe off his face Friday night. There was probably a smile under there somewhere after the Damien boys basketball coach led his team to a 59-50 victory, the first victory at Chino Hills in the history of Damien's program.

Damien has won six playoff games in the past two years alone but hadn't beaten Sierra League rival Chino Hills in the teams' last six meetings.

"It means a lot because they're a great program and I have a great deal of respect for them," Dunn said. "We've been really close here in the fourth quarter but we've never found a way to win until tonight."

Damien 6-foot-7 junior Chris Reyes scored a game-high 19 points but it was his supporting cast that closed out the 15th victory in 16 games for the No. 4 team in CIF-SS Division 3A.

Just last weekend, Etiwanda running back Marcus Mason was hoping to impress enough in an all-star game to convince New Mexico State to finally offer him a scholarship. On Thursday he suddenly had a Pac-10 offer on the table. After receiving Mason's highlight tape from Etiwanda coach Steve Bryce, Washington State issued Mason his first scholarship offer this afternoon.

The Masons will host a home visit for Washington State Monday before taking a recruiting trip to Pullman, Wash. next weekend. Mason, who rushed for 1,623 yards and 15 touchdowns in his lone full season on the offensive side of the ball, received serious interest from only FCS schools Sacramento State and Weber State in addition to New Mexico State prior to Thursday.

"About a week and a half ago I sent out his game tape with his transcripts and all his information," Bryce said. "Since then, a lot of different schools have called on him. He played so well and got so many yards in this one year and now he's finally getting the attention he deserves."

After his first and only year of high school football, Chino wide receiver/safety Quinton Pedroza verbally committed to Arizona State Saturday after a late flurry of scholarship offers. The 6-foot-3, 195-pound senior, who previously focused his efforts on baseball, received the offer from Utah two days after committing to Arizona State.

"I'm gonna have to look into both (schools) a little further," Pedroza said. "This whole thing is a blessing. I wasn't too sure it would go this way after one season but it's been a shock. It's all still surreal."

Though he prefers receiver, it hasn't been determined if Pedroza will play offense or defense in college after a senior season consisting of 54 receptions for 1,078 yards and 19 total touchdowns in addition to 67 tackles and four interceptions as a free safety. The decision was initially between Utah State and Arizona State, but after committing to the Sun Devils on Saturday, Utah offered him on Tuesday.

Here is the first in a series of weekly rankings of the area basketball teams. I will rank the top 5 boys and girls teams each week, provide an upcoming game to watch and a top performer from the previous week.

BOYS
1. Etiwanda
2. Damien
3. Chino Hills
4. Los Osos
5. Eisenhower

Top Performer: Byron Wesley, Etiwanda
The senior forward bound for USC had 29 points and 12 rebounds for the Eagles in a 77-64 win over Rancho Cucamonga in the Baseline League opener on Friday.
Game to watch: Damien at Chino Hills (6:30 p.m., Friday)
In a key Sierra League clash, Damien (13-1), the No. 4 team in Division 3A, takes on Chino Hills (13-3), the No. 10 team in Division 1AA.

Upland place kicker Jake Van Ginkel verbally committed to Boise State Wednesday morning after the Broncos offered him his first scholarship Tuesday evening. Van Ginkel, who kicked a career-long field goal of 58 yards as an Upland freshman, connected on 15 of 20 field goals this season with a long of 50 yards.

He will step into some high profile shoes, seeing as Boise State senior kicker Kyle Brotzman missed two chip-shot field goals that cost the Broncos their only loss of the 2010 season, a 34-31 overtime defeat to Nevada.

"They needed a better kicker," Van Ginkel said. "They told me I'll be the guy next year."

Though Van Ginkel has displayed great accuracy and incredible range since he arrived at Upland -- his strong leg also translated to kickoffs as 47 of his 65 went for touchbacks this season -- he was grateful to finally receive not only a scholarship offer, but one from a program that has finished in the Associated Press top 10 three of the last five seasons.

"It's a big weight off my shoulders," Van Ginkel said. "Being a kicker, we're the last ones to get recruited so there's a lot of waiting and a lot of guessing. I thought about it over night but I think I already knew because I had been thinking about for weeks."

Considering last year he beat the most advanced stage of colorectal cancer after being given a few years to live, Dave Smith may be the perfect person to coach the 2010-11 Los Osos High School boys basketball team. Having graduated 50 points a game in Kendall Williams, Khalil Kelly and Chinedu Amajoyi, what did Smith believe were the Baseline League's expectations for his team this season?

"To roll over," Smith said, "and die."

Los Osos is alive and kicking after a Tuesday night's 68-63 defeat of Upland, the team most expected to challenge three-time outright league champion Etiwanda for the title. Barry Cheaney scored 19 points for Los Osos (11-5, 1-1) and Omar Ajanovic in added 18 points.

After trailing the entire second half, Upland (12-4, 1-1) pulled within a point on Anthony Fitzpatrick's pair of free throws with 16 seconds to play but Los Osos' senior Michael Walker made two pressure-packed free throws a second later to restore the Grizzlies' lead to three.
Upland point guard Myles Pearson, who scored 14 points, including five straight prior to Fitzpatrick's free throws, missed an open look at the potential game-tying 3-pointer with 10 seconds to play to seal the Highlanders' fate.

The several-year long courtship of Devon Blackmon came to an end Wednesday night on ESPN when the Summit High School senior receiver announced his verbal commitment to Oregon during the Under Armour All-American game. After Blackmon, a 6-foot-1, 185-pound four-star recruit, hauled in a 58-yard pass for the first touchdown of the all-star game in St. Petersburg, Fla., he pulled on a green Oregon cap during a sideline interview, choosing the Ducks over USC and UCLA.

"When I went there for my trip it felt like a family," Blackmon told ESPN. "I knew (Oregon receivers coach) Scott Frost would take care of me."

Blackmon, who received too many scholarship offers to count beginning with a blazing summer on the camp circuit after his sophomore year, was also considering Florida, Alabama, Cal and Miami entering his final high school season. The only official recruiting trip for Rivals.com's No. 6 athlete in the country was a Nov. 5 visit to Eugene, Ore.