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BOYS BASKETBALL
Player of the Year: Cameron Levise, Ontario Christian
Coach of the Year: Michael Allen, Arrowhead Christian

First Team
Daylan Lawrence, So., Ontario Christian
Cameron Levise, Sr., Ontario Christian
Kevin Ross, Sr., Ontario Christian
Brandon Zuidema, Sr., Ontario Christian
Demetrius Overstreet, Jr., Aquinas
Joseph Rushing, So., Aquinas

Most of the winter sports' league races have been decided, but there are a few with unfinished business heading into the final two days of the regular season.

After the Claremont girls soccer team's 2-0 victory over Ayala on Tuesday broke a tie for first place between the two, the Wolfpack needs to defeat West Covina South Hills tonight to secure an outright Sierra League championship.

The Ontario Christian boys basketball team will face Aquinas in a de facto Ambassador League championship game tonight in San Bernardino a year after the Knights broke a first-place tie with Aquinas with a win in the penultimate game of last year's regular season.

The Hacienda League girls soccer race took a turn on Tuesday when Diamond Bar's win over Bonita pulled the Brahmas into a first-place tie. Bonita needs a win over a struggling Rowland team to earn its share of the league title while Diamond Bar's road to at least a share of the league championship requires it to defeat a Los Altos team that won their first meeting, 3-2, on Jan. 23.

After a one-year hiatus, the Stevens family is back in charge of the football team at Ontario Christian High School. Chris Stevens, the Knights' head coach from 2005 to 2008, was promoted from offensive coordinator to head coach on Thursday following last week's departure of Scott Hurst, who led Ontario Christian to an Ambassador League championship in his lone season in charge.

Hurst took over for Chris' father Laing Stevens, who coached the Knights for two seasons following the end of his son's tenure in 2008 due to the birth of Chris' triplets. Hurst's departure was a mutual decision, according to Ontario Christian athletic director David Parkes, in part due to the great distance Hurst had to travel from his home to Ontario Christian. Stevens, who was the Knights' offensive coordinator the last two seasons, wasn't expecting the move but is happy to be back as the head coach.

Longtime Garey baseball coach Monse Estrada was hired to be the head coach at Western Christian on Jan. 17. Estrada spent the first 39 years of his coaching career at Garey before being asked to leave after last season. Estrada takes over a Western Christian program that won three consecutive league titles prior to last season's sixth-place finish in the Ambassador League.

"I think we're pretty well in the top of the league," Estrada said. "These kids go hard for two and a half hours of practice. They're dedicated. That's all you can ask for."

Estrada brings plenty of success and an abundance of experience to Western Christian. He had opportunities to be an assistant coach but wanted to hold out for a head coaching job.

"With his philosophy and ours, it was yes, yes, yes all the way down the checklist," Western Christian athletic director Nick Karavedas said. "He has the knowledge of how to build a program but the patience and maturity to help us through a bit of a rebuilding phase."

Ontario Christian boys soccer coach Len Fakkema won his 300th career game on Tuesday, an 8-0 victory over Aquinas. This is Fakkema's 11th year at Ontario Christian, where he has earned 164 of his wins. He began his soccer coaching career in 1993 by starting the program at Lynden Christian in Lynden, Wash.

Fakkema said he only informed his team captains of the approaching milestone, but the captains shared the news with the rest of the team after win No. 299 on Friday.

"I didn't think about it until the beginning of the season and figured I'd better total it up because this could be the year," Fakkema said. "It's quite an accomplishment."

Offensive Player of the Year: Tyler Stewart, Sierra Canyon, 12, QB.
Defensive Player of the Year: Brian Tucker, Sierra Canyon, 11 LB
Coach of the Year: Jon Ellinghouse, Sierra Canyon

OFFENSE
Running back:
Xavier Menifield, Sierra Canyon, 11
Ryan Davis, Paraclete, 12
Brandon Gonzalez, Bishop Diego, 12
Jacob Taylor, Rim of the World, 11
Mike Salas, Ontario Christian, 12.
Quarterback:
Nolan Tisdale, Bishop Diego, 12.

Player of the Year - Offense: Michael Salas, Sr., Ontario Christian
Player of the Year - Defense: Caleb McClure, Sr., Ontario Christian
Coach of the Year: Scott Hurst - Ontario Christian

FIRST TEAM
Craig Bruinsma, Jr., Ontario Christian
Christian Dirksen, Jr., Ontario Christian
Caleb McClure, Sr., Ontario Christian
Michael Salas, Sr., Ontario Christian
T.J. Spykstra, Jr., Ontario Christian
Josh Tampio, Jr., Ontario Christian
Mark Urtz, Sr., Ontario Christian
Richard Anhaueser, Sr., Aquinas
Romero Flores, Jr., Aquinas
Burrell Handy, Sr., Aquinas
Frank Klementich, Sr., Aquinas
Drew Ybarra, Sr., Aquinas

Player of the Year: Carly DeHoog, Jr., Ontario Christian
Coach of the Year: Paige Molina, Ontario Christian

FIRST TEAM
Carly DeHoog Jr. Ontario Christian
Nancy Obi Jr. Ontario Christian
Elizabeth Prestia Sr. Ontario Christian
Samantha Sutley Jr. Ontario Christian

Small school football doesn't present coaches with many options. Ontario Christian's Scott Hurst uses all of his.

There are 27 players on the roster. None play offense and defense.

"When you have a guy play both ways there is someone behind him who may be a little bit of a drop- off," Hurst said. "But if you let one guy play each position, he really takes ownership of it. And you don't have to worry about the fatigue."

Whatever Hurst is doing in his first season at Ontario Christian, a school with an enrollment of 510 students, it's working.

The name of the league wasn't the only unfamiliar thing last season for the Ontario Christian and Aquinas high school football teams. After the schools played each other for a league championship six consecutive years, Ontario Christian was on the outside looking in at the new-look Ambassador League title race last season.

Aquinas, however, ended the season in a position it knows all too well. Coming off its fourth consecutive league title, the Falcons (4-1) enter league play tonight with the best record of any league team.

Five games into what it hopes will be a return to league title contention, an Ontario Christian team coming off a third-place finish that left it out of the playoffs last season is has shown plenty of signs under first-year head coach Scott Hurst that it is ready to return to familiarity.

"I believe we've played the toughest schedule of any team in the league through five games," Hurst said. "But I still think Aquinas is the team to beat. Until somebody knocks them off, they're the champions."

Player of the Year: Michael Fagan, Linfield Christian
Pitcher of the Year: Trevor Oaks, Woodcrest Christian
Coach of the Year: Glen Prater, Woodcrest Christian

First team
Mickey Chupek, Jr., Woodcrest Christian
John Davis, Jr., Woodcrest Christian
Caleb Dirks, Sr., Woodcrest Christian
Edwin Gibbs, Jr., Woodcrest Christian
Trevor Oaks, Sr., Woodcrest Christian
Parker Strebel, Jr., Woodcrest Christian
Clint Hibma, Sr., Ontario Christian
Jordyn McMath, Jr., Ontario Christian
Alex Bush, Jr., Linfield Christian
Zach Cope, Jr., Linfield Christian
Michael Fagan, Sr., Linfield Christian
Sean Egan, Sr., Arrowhead Christian
Christien Pena, Sr., Arrowhead Christian
Brock Dudley, Sr., Calvary Murrieta
Jonathan Ruiz, Sr., Aquinas
Mark McMahon, Sr., Western Christian

Player of the Year: Danielle Vega, Jr., Infielder, Aquinas
Pitcher of the Year: Cecily Ruiz, Fr., Aquinas
Coach of the Year: Chris Ybarra, Aquinas

First team
Chelsea Casas, Jr., Aquinas
Heaven Murguia, So., Aquinas
Cecily Ruiz, Fr., Aquinas
Corrina Smith, Jr., Aquinas
Jessica Valenzuela, So., Aquinas
Danielle Vega, Jr., Aquinas
Kayla Hatch, Jr., Calvary Murrieta
Julia Howell, Sr., Calvary Murrieta
Loryn Nichols, Jr., Calvary Murrieta
Mackenzie Hammar, Fr., Woodcrest Christian
Brooke Uribe, Jr., Woodcrest Christian
Mackenzie Magro, Jr., Arrowhead Christian
Sarah Stromwall, Sr., Arrowhead Christian
Jasmine Lara, Sr., Western Christian
Breezy Bernard, Sr., Linfield Christian
Taylor Lott, Sr., Ontario Christian

Western Christian hired Kevin Oberlander as its new head football coach Wednesday after Scotty Kirkpatrick stepped down following the 2010 season. Oberlander has served as quarterback coach and assistant offensive coordinator the last three years for a La Habra Whittier Christian program that reached the CIF-SS Mid-Valley finals last season and the semifinals in 2009.

Western Christian compiled a 4-16 record the past two seasons under Kirkpatrick, who stepped down to spend more time with his family. Whittier Christian's record over the past two years is a combined 21-6.

Oberlander is a native of Atwater and played at Trinity University, an NAIA school outside of Chicago, where he coached after a stint playing arena football in Omaha, Neb. Oberlander's wife graduated from Western Christian in 2002.

"For a young coach, he brings a lot of experience from the college level to his most recent experience at Whittier Christian High School." Western Christian athletic director Nick Karavedas said. "Coach Oberlander understands that building a quality football program begins with building quality young men. We're excited about what he brings and for the future of Western Christian football."

Ontario Christian High School football coach Laing Stevens doesn't think he'll have a difficult time keeping his team from feeling overconfident the final two games of the season. Starting the year with six losses in seven games can have that effect.

A year after reaching the CIF-SS East Valley Division championship game Ontario Christian began the 2010 season 1-6 before winning its first Ambassador League game Friday, a 36-7 defeat of Western Christian.

"We had a dry spell and we won a game but I don't think there's any reason for us to get cocky," Stevens said. "We played a hard schedule this year but that wasn't a 1-6 schedule. There's probably not a team we played other than Whittier Christian that we couldn't play with."

Compiling statistics as the season went along last year, Mike Mendoza and Christian Solis made themselves impossible to ignore. Then a sophomore and junior, respectively, at Western Christian, the quarterback-receiver duo kept topping the statistical charts we compile each week at the Daily Bulletin. When it was all said and done in 2009, Mendoza threw for 1,600 yards and Solis, who missed the final three games with an injury, had 35 receptions for 612 yards and five touchdowns.

Once these two had my attention last year, Western Christian entered Christian League play, which was not kind to their statistics. Coach Scotty Kirkpatrick is hoping that will change this year, though the new Ambassador League - which includes the former Christian League - is tougher with the addition of CIF champion Linfield Christian. If the Lancers are to enter the playoff picture after a 1-9 season last year, it will likely be on the strength of their skill players.

Ontario Christian lost five of its first six games last season, cycled through three offenses (and three QBs), scrambled to fill out a lineup thanks to a multitude of injuries and still the Knights reached the CIF-SS East Valley championship game. No matter the circumstances, it's hard to count out OCHS.

It's easy to count the Knights in this year. Despite returning just seven starters, head coach Laing Stevens thinks this team is faster, stronger, deeper and more athletic than the squad that lost the championship game by just six points to a St. Margaret's team Aquinas coach Nick Matheny labeled "one of the best small school football programs in California."