Recently in Baseline League Category

Upland High School junior defensive end Joe Mathis received scholarship offers from Oregon State and Washington State on Wednesday, according to Upland assistant coach Mike Esquivel. Also on Wednesday, rivals.com released its top 100 recruits for the class of 2013 and the 6-foot-4, 250-pound Mathis was the only player from the Inland Valley to make the list.

Mathis has seven scholarship offers, according to rivals.com: Colorado, Indiana, Oregon State, San Diego State, UCLA, Washington and Washington State. Mathis committed to Washington on Oct. 25, but de-committed in early January.

Through it's 360 days away, the Rancho Cucamonga High School football team is getting an early jump on next National Signing Day. Junior defensive backs Chris Hawkins and Tahaan Goodman have already compiled 16 scholarship offers between them.

Hawkins, an all-CIF cornerback last season, has offers from Nebraska, Stanford, UCLA, Boise State, Cal, San Diego State, Northwestern, Washington and Washington State. Goodman, a 6-foot-2, 185-pound safety, has offers from Nebraska, Boise State, South Florida, UCLA, Cal, San Diego State and Washington State.

Hawkins, a 6-0, 170-pound cornerback, had two interceptions and 32 tackles while Goodman had 45 tackles for a defense that allowed 16.3 points per game, the lowest in a Baseline League that advanced two teams to the CIF-SS Inland Division semifinals.

Upland High School four-star receiver Kenny Lawler chose Cal, albeit with a slight hesitation, when the senior announced his collegiate intentions live on Fox Sports West on national signing day. Upland teammate Christian Powell, rated the No. 3 fullback in the nation by scout.com, switched his commitment from UCLA to Colorado on Monday night and signed with the Buffaloes this morning. Upland offensive lineman Kenyatta Johnson picked up a late offer from Texas Southern and signed with the FCS school on Wednesday.

Lawler, who narrowed a list of 17 scholarship offers to finalists Cal, Oregon State and Washington State, was committed to Arizona State prior to the Sun Devils coaching change after the season. It has been a rollercoaster ride ever since.

"Some days I felt like I was with one school then I'd get a call from another coach and they can tell you some stuff that really gets in your head," Lawler said. "This whole process is crazy. It can be stressful, it can make you happy, it's just kind of all over the place."

All that was needed was the Etiwanda High School girls basketball team to simply dig its heels in and play good old fashioned defense. As soon as the Eagles called off their full-court press after a quarter, it ran away with a 55-37 victory over Rancho Cucamonga in the Baseline League rivals' first league meeting this season. Rancho Cucamonga (8-9, 3-2) broke the press to the tune of an 18-9 lead 20 seconds into the second quarter. Etiwanda (16-3, 5-0) outscored the Cougars, 48-21, the rest of the way.

"We just played solid half-court defense as soon as we pulled out of the press," Etiwanda coach Anders Anderson said. "We went to our man-to-man defense and slowed them down."

After Rancho Cucamonga doubled its number of points, Etiwanda stormed back to tie the game less than three minutes into the second quarter. The Eagles held Rancho Cucamonga without a field goal for a seven-minute, 45-second stretch bridging the second and third quarters during which it went on a 16-2 run to take a 40-27 lead.

Thomas Leach was approved Tuesday by the school board to become Etiwanda's new head football coach. After head coaching stints for two and five seasons, respectively at Diamond Ranch and Chaparral, Leach will take over for Steve Bryce, who resigned following last season.

"He seems like the type of guy that if we lose a game, it's not going to be because he got outcoached," Etiwanda athletic director David Masucci said. "He puts in the time and he cares a great deal about what he does. He's a players' coach, the type that gets his players to run through walls for him."

Leach posted a 47-19 record in five seasons at Chaparral, winning a CIF-SS Inland Division championship in 2009. He was most recently an assistant coach for Norco after departing Chaparral following the 2010 season.

Offensive Player of the Year: Su'a Cravens, Vista Murrieta
Defensive Player of the Year: Jeremy Castro, Vista Murrieta
Coach of the Year: Coley Candaele, Vista Murrieta

OFFENSE
Running back:
Romello Goodman, Corona Centennial
Donta Abron, Upland
Craig Lee, Redlands
Joseph Ajeigbe, Norco
Kurt Scoby, Charter Oak
Quarterback:
Hayden Gavett, Centennial
Travis Santiago, Charter Oak.

Will Lester/Staff Photographer
Upland's Christian Powell carries in the Highlanders' 39-18 loss to Vista Murrieta in the CIF-SS Inland Division semifinals.

Upland High School fullback Christian Powell verbally committed to UCLA today, choosing his latest offer over that of Colorado, according to the Upland coaching staff. Powell said he was on the verge of committing to Colorado, to which two of his Upland teammates have verbally pledged, until the Bruins' new coaching staff offered him on Jan 4. Powell expressed the desire to remain close to home and once he felt comfortable with his role as in the new-look UCLA offense, he was ready to commit.

Powell had eight scholarship offers from which to choose: UCLA, Colorado, Texas A&M, Nebraska, Washington, Arkansas State, San Jose State and UC Davis. USC got involved this week, but Powell wasn't interested. Most of the suitors offered the 5-foot-11, 250-pound senior as a fullback, but Arkansas State and USC were interested in him as a defensive tackle. Playing defensive end for Upland last season, Powell collected 90 tackles and 15 sacks.

Upland defensive back Marques Mosley and running back Donta Abron have already committed to Colorado. Abron was especially hopeful Powell would choose Colorado after the fullback helped pave the way for his 1,754 yards and 33 touchdowns. Powell showed some running ability himself, plowing his way to 400 yards and seven touchdowns on just 40 carries.

Thomas Leach, previously the head football coach at Temecula Chaparral and Diamond Ranch, will be recommended for board approval on Tuesday as Etiwanda High School's new head football coach, according to the Chaffey Joint Union High School district board agenda. If approved, Leach will replace Steve Bryce, who resigned following last season, his seventh season at the helm for Etiwanda.

Leach coached Temecula Chaparral for five seasons before departing after the 2010 season. He was an assistant coach for Norco last year. Prior to accepting the head coaching position at Chaparral, he was the Diamond Ranch head coach in 2004 and 2005 following a stint as an assistant at Huntington Beach Edison. Etiwanda athletic director David Masucci declined to comment prior to Leach's board approval.

Two Upland football players have made verbal commitments to Colorado but two more, who happen to be two of the Inland Valley's highest profile recruits, are yet to make their intentions known as National Signing Day approaches.

Highlanders fullback Christian Powell was set to join running back Donta Abron and defensive back Marques Mosley at Colorado until the new coaching staff at UCLA made him a scholarship offer Jan. 4. Powell, who said he will make a decision between his eight offers this week, returned from an official visit to UCLA last weekend impressed by the Bruins.

"I was about to commit to Colorado," Powell said. "I liked (UCLA) a lot. I had a good visit. I don't know man but I think I'm leaning toward (UCLA)."

Upland receiver Kenny Lawler, who decommitted from Arizona State Nov. 28, will visit Oregon State this weekend but may not make a decision on his future until until close Signing Day on Feb. 1. The four-star recruit has narrowed his list to Oregon State, Oklahoma State, Washington State and UCLA.

When the Rancho Cucamonga boys basketball team takes on the Trinity Grammar School from Sydney, Austrailia on Wednesday, fans will gain free admittance by bringing an unwrapped toy to the game for donation.

The Trinity Grammar School basketball team has been touring the U.S. since Dec. 2 and its stop at Rancho Cucamonga Wednesday will be the last before returning home. Rancho Cucamonga, which enters the game with a 7-3 record, suffered two of its losses in the Inland Empire Classic last week. The Cougars will hope to rebound against Trinity Grammar School on Wednesday.

MVP: Alex Brehaut- Los Osos- 12 -Libero

FIRST TEAM
Brittany Yaxley- Glendora- 12
Angie Myna- Etiwanda- 12
Danielle Hunt- Upland- 12
Brooke Barber- Upland- 12
Lauren Nicholson- Upland- 12
Mallkia O'Brien- Alta Loma 12
Ashten Smith-Goeden- Los Osos- 10
Jenna Siddique- Los Osos- 12
Tarissa Mellin- Rancho Cucamonga- 11

The Rancho Cucamonga boys basketball team isn't just going national, but international in welcoming a team from Australia on Wednesday. Trinity Grammar School from Sydney will make a stop at Rancho Cucamonga during their tour of the United States than began Dec. 2.

The two teams will play each other on the freshman, junior varsity and varsity levels. Trinity Grammar School has been sanctioned such that the game will count as a regular season

"I gather that the school is a very athletic school," Rancho Cucamonga coach Bill Burke said. "They're bringing about 40 kids and travelling with 60 people, coaches included. And they tour about every other year. We're expecting them to be good."

Offensive MVP: Donta Abron, Upland, RB, 12
Defensive MVP: Viliami Latu, Rancho Cucamonga, LB, 11

FIRST TEAM
Offense
Quarterback
Larry Cutbirth, Etiwanda, 12
Dimitri Morales, Rancho Cucamonga, 12
Nate Romine, Upland, 11

Running Back
Donavon Holmes, Glendora, RB, 12
Christian Powell, Upland, FB, 12

Wide Receiver
Ralphael Barr, Etiwanda, 12
Jordan Mathis, Etiwanda, 12
Jermel Walker, Rancho Cucamonga, 11
J.T. Huggins, Rancho Cucamonga, 12
Kenny Lawler, Upland, 12

Upland's football season may be over but the team isn't lacking for action. In the last week, one player has committed, one has de-committed and two others have received scholsrship offers.

Fresh off a 1,750-yard, 33-touchdown senior season, running back Donta Abron verbally committed to Colorado on Sunday, according to Upland head coach Tim Salter, after returning from a recruiting trip to Boulder, Colo., to visit the campus along with teammates Christian Powell and Marques Mosley. All three were offered scholarships by Colorado, but it was Abron who made a pledge, choosing the Buffaloes over offers from Idaho, New Mexico, San Diego State, San Jose State and New Mexico State. Colorado offensive coordinator and running backs coach Eric Bieniemy had no small part in luring Abron to Boulder.

After seven seasons as the Etiwanda High School head football coach and "31 straight years on a football team," Steve Bryce will resign effective at semester's end on Dec. 21.

Bryce has been on the Etiwanda sideline in some capacity for the last 15 seasons but with his first child due in January, Bryce and his wife decided it best for him to step down. He will continue to teach anatomy and physiology at Etiwanda.

"It's going to be tough," Bryce said. "It was difficult telling the players because I didn't want them to think I was abandoning them. I'll still be here for them but I wanted them to understand that I was putting my family first for the first time ever."

Will Lester/Staff Photographer
Upland quarterback Nate Romine (left) threw for 216 yards but the Highlanders lost to Vista Murrieta in the semifinals.

It took 13 games this season, but the Upland High School football team finally run into somebody better.

Second-seeded Vista Murrieta pulled away from the third-seeded Highlanders in the second half for a 39-18 win in the CIF-SS Inland Division semifinals Friday night.
The Southwestern League champions will return to the CIF title game in hopes of winning a rematch with top-seeded Corona Centennial.

Vista Murrieta (8-5) outscored Upland (12-1) by 18 in the second half as Aaron Piecukonis, who rushed for 114 of his 143 yards in the final two quarters, finished what his brother started in the first half. Aaron Piecukonis led consecutive touchdown drives to begin the second half after his brother Cody Piecukonis gave the Broncos (8-5) a 14-0 lead in the first eight minutes of the game with a touchdown reception and a punt return for a score.

"The bottom line is they just beat us," Upland coach Tim Salter said. "They out-hit us, they out-executed us and they out-played us."

In a bid for its second consecutive CIF-SS Inland Division championship, No. 1 seed Corona Centennial pays a visit to Rancho Cucamonga, which didn't exit the playoffs until double overtime of the semifinals last season.

The juggernaut: Corona Centennial is the football program by which all others in the Inland Empire are measured. The Huskies have the numbers to prove it every season and this one is no different.

Centennial, whose only loss was a season-opening two-point defeat by Ventura St. Bonaventure, is averaging 46.8 points per game and 489 yards per game. The Big VIII League champions, who list 116 players on their roster, haven't scored less than 45 points since a 28-20 win over Santa Ana Mater Dei in the second week of the season.

"We respect the heck out of them," Rancho Cucamonga coach Nick Baiz said. "But we're not going to bow down and hope to keep it close. We want to beat them. I don't think you can come into the semifinals in awe of your opponent."

The Baseline League has experienced an intraleague CIF championship game twice in the last three years. Of course, both of those occurrences were in a Central Division devoid of Corona Centennial and Vista Murrieta, among others.

This season, Baseline League champion Upland and second-place Rancho Cucamonga, whose only loss this season came to Upland, find themselves one win away from playing each other for a title in the Inland Division.

Third-seeded Upland, which demolished Sierra League champion Charter Oak, 51-13, in the quarterfinals, faces off with No. 2 seed Vista Murrieta on Friday. Rancho Cucamonga, which took Vista Murrieta to double overtime in last year's semifinal, faces top-seeded Corona Centennial in the other semifinal following a 9-6 defeat of fourth-seeded Redlands East Valley.

Will Lester/Staff Photographer

Nick Baiz was assuredly not the only one praying.

Trailing by five points with 6.6 seconds remaining in a CIF-SS Inland Division first-round playoff game, the Rancho Cucamonga High School football coach had his request answered when Marcus Bratton hauled in a Hail Mary to breathe life back into the Cougars season with a 39-38 win over Chino Hills on Friday night.

Rancho Cucamonga (10-1) drove 70 yards in the final 26 seconds, punctuating the game-winning drive when Bratton hauled in the 38-yard jump ball a yard inside the back of the end zone to complete an 11-point comeback in the final five minutes.

"All I saw was the ball hit my hands," Bratton said. "I looked up, tried to spot it. I just squeezed it. It's indescribable."

These two teams reached the semifinals in the CIF-SS Inland Division last season, but haven't played since a first-round playoff game in 2005. This pair of second-place teams is sporting plenty of playoff experience that could carry the winner of tonight's game a long way.

Recent success: Both of these teams won their leagues last season before marching to the semifinals of a competitive Inland Division where they lost to the top two seeds. Chino Hills played top-seeded Corona Centennial its closest game to date in a 42-23 loss while Rancho Cucamonga went down in double-overtime to second-seeded Vista Murrieta.

"It's not like we're just happy to be in the playoffs," Rancho Cucamonga coach Nick Baiz said. "We expect to win some games. We've been here before and they have too."

The battle for sole possession of first place in the Baseline League pits Upland (8-0, 3-0), the No. 3 team in the CIF-SS Inland Division, against Los Osos (6-2, 3-0).

Game of the Year: These two teams played the game of the year last season when Upland twice came back from two-touchdown deficits to win, 41-38, on a late field goal. The victory awarded Upland second place and dropped Los Osos out of the playoffs for the first time the school's first varsity season in 2003.

Los Osos won at least a share of the Baseline League title four of the last five years before finishing fourth last season. The Grizzlies lost two-touchdown leads on both Upland and Etiwanda last season and lost to league champion Rancho Cucamonga by one in overtime.

There is plenty of mid-season recruiting action in the Baseline League, which had its second player of the week make a verbal commitment to a Pac-12 school. On Thursday it was Los Osos offensive tackle Dylan La Frenz committing to Arizona State, according to Los Osos head coach Tom Martinez. The 6-foot-3, 285-pound senior also had offers from Arizona and Florida International.

On Friday, Upland defensive end/fullback Christian Powell received an offer from Washington, to whom Upland teammate Joe Mathis committed on Wednesday. Powell now has three offers, including Nebraska and Arkansas State, but has not made a commitment. Nebraska offered the 5-11, 250-pound senior on Oct. 15 as a fullback. Arkansas State offered him as a defensive end, where he has collected 55 tackles and nine sacks this season. Washington is interested in him playing both positions. Powell is also receiving interest from Texas A&M.

Upland junior defensive end Joe Mathis received a scholarship offer from Washington Monday night and immediately issued a verbal commitment to the Huskies, according to the Upland coaching staff. The 6-foot-4, 240-pound Mathis, who also had an offer from Indiana, has 43 tackles and four sacks on the season for an undefeated Upland team ranked No. 3 in the CIF-SS Inland Division.

It has been a good couple of weeks for the Highlanders football team, who defeated defending Baseline League champion Rancho Cucamonga on Friday to preserve their perfect record. Last week it was Christian Powell, who plays defensive end opposite Mathis, who received a scholarship offer from Nebraska.

According to a press release issued Monday by the Murrieta Valley Unified School District, the undefeated Vista Murrieta football team will have to forfeit five wins this season, two of which came at the expense of Los Osos and Etiwanda. According to patch.com a player who transferred from Georgia as a sophomore in 2009 was discovered to have been in his ninth semester of high school.

Vista Murrieta, the No. 2 seed in the Inland Division last season, was 7-0 at the time of the discovery, 2-0 in the Southwestern League. It will give Los Osos and Etiwanda one more victory each but Vista Murrieta will not have to forfeit either of its league wins. The violation was discovered when the student was being aided with a college application. The name of the player in question has not been released, but according to the press release he was unaware a ninth semester effected his athletic eligibility.

"This student's former school supplied incorrect data. Neither the student nor our school violated any CIF Rule," Vista Murrieta Athletic Director Ray Moore told students and parents Monday, according to patch.com. "In fact, we followed all the rules and regulations."

Thomas R. Cordova/Staff Photographer

Whether it's Friday night or 2011 in question, the same blanket statement applies to the Upland High School football team. It can't be stopped.

The latest triumph for a Highlanders team ranked fourth in the state was a 31-17 victory over defending Baseline League champion Rancho Cucamonga, which had won the last four meetings between the premier Inland Valley programs.

The Highlanders (7-0, 2-0), ranked No. 3 in the CIF-SS Inland Division, two spots ahead of the Cougars, punted just twice Friday night in a battle of undefeated teams that featured a Rancho Cucamonga defense that had allowed 43 points this season entering the game. Upland rolled up 381 yards of offense, scored touchdowns on its first two possessions and scored three of the final four times it had the ball.

"They've got an offense that does a lot of tricky things, shifts and different things to throw you off," Rancho Cucamonga coach Nick Baiz said. "We were hoping they would line up and try to smash us from the beginning, like they did at the end of the game."

The Daily Bulletin's top two teams and two of the top five in the CIF-SS Inland Division meet tonight when No. 1 Upland (6-0) hosts No. 2 Rancho Cucamonga (6-0) in a titanic Baseline League contest. Upland is ranked fourth in the state, according to calpreps.com, and Rancho Cucamonga 25th in the state.

Drive for five: Most have been waiting all season for the game between the highest rated teams in the area's most potent league, but Upland has been waiting three years. The Highlanders have lost their last four meetings to Rancho Cucamonga, which has won the Baseline League two of the last three years. Upland even lost its matchup with the Cougars in 2009, the year the Highlanders went on to win the CIF-SS Central Division championship.

The last two meetings have been decided by a combined total of seven points buts it's the prior two meetings that have left the worst taste in Upland's mouth. Rancho Cucamonga defeated Upland twice in 2008, once for the league title and once for the CIF title.

"I'd say this is pretty big in that they've gotten the better of us the last four times," Upland coach Tim Salter said. "We've played right with them the last two years but we haven't sealed the deal on anything. I'd like to finish one."

Upland's Christian Powell, who has already received one offer to play defensive end in college, received his first as a fullback on Saturday. The 5-foot-11, 250-pound senior had an offer from Arkansas State but Nebraska has given him his first chance to play offense in college.

Powell, a preseason first-team All-Valley defensive end, already has a team-leading nine sacks and 50 tackles through six games after collecting 63 tackles and 7.5 sacks last season. Upland head coach Tim Salter called Powell the best fullback in the area... apparently Nebraska agrees.

Upland (5-0), ranked third in the CIF-SS Inland Division, wastes no time getting in the thick of things upon entering Baseline League play. Tonight the Highlanders face No. 9 Etiwanda (3-2) before a titanic meeting next week with No. 5 Rancho Cucamonga, the defending league champion.

Zero-and-zero: In a league with a nonleague slate chock full of titanic matchups, Upland's performance this far stands above the rest. The Highlanders polished off its preseason with a 54-27 win over a ranked Norco team before topping themselves with a 38-23 victory over a previously undefeated Los Angeles Loyola team that is a championship contender in the only division in Southern California arguably more difficult than the Inland Division.

Etiwanda narrowly lost to that same Norco team and the Eagles gave No. 2 Vista Murrieta more than they bargained for in a game Etiwanda lost on a last-second field goal.

The Baseline League isn't just playing for a league title this season.

It's never lacked drama, but the prevailing opinion last season was the dramatics would end in league.

Based on last season's impressive playoff performance in its return to the CIF-SS Inland Division and this season's nonleague success against division teams, competition within the Baseline League will be more meaningful to the rest of Southern California than it has in some time.

Two teams enter league play undefeated and a third is ranked in the Inland Division top 10. This in a division in which the league managed a single collective playoff victory the last two seasons it was a member, 2006 and 2007.

Defending champion Rancho Cucamonga (5-0), which wasn't eliminated from the playoffs last season until double overtime in the semifinals, doesn't appear to have dropped off this season having allowed a total of 26 points against a respectable nonleague slate.

Rancho Cucamonga softball player Katee Aguirre verbally committed to defending College World Series champion Arizona State during her official visit to the campus Sept. 24, according to Rancho Cucamonga coach Mike Lindensmith.

The senior catcher, a three-time first-team all-Baseline League selection who stands 6-foot-3, had a scholarship offer from Western Kentucky but when Arizona State offered during her visit to Tempe, Ariz., it was an easy decision.

"That's where she wanted to go all along," Lindensmith said. "She doesn't quite get the recognition in our league because we haven't been doing as well lately, but we've always known what type of kid she is."

One of the best nonleague games of the season pits Los Angeles Loyola (4-0), the seventh-ranked team in the CIF-SS Pac-5 Division, against an Upland (4-0) team ranked third in the Inland Division.

Rematch: Loyola emerged a 30-13 winner when these two teams met last year and Upland coach Tim Salter is convinced Loyola is better than it was last year. Of course, Upland is clearly improved from the team that finished second in the Baseline League last year and exited the playoffs in the quarterfinals.

Loyola lost to Newport Harbor and Bellflower St. John Bosco last year. Already this season the Cubs have shutout Newport Harbor and won a 28-14 game over St. John Bosco, the No. 8 team in the Pac-5 Division.

Now the Alta Loma High School football team can act like it's been here before.
Following its first win in two years and 21 games, a 38-0 victory over Montclair on Sept. 9, Alta Loma head coach Joe Szczepanski noted that his players were a little unsure of how to react. Go crazy? Take it in stride?

It was understandably odd that following two winless seasons the Braves ended the losing streak with such little drama that by the end of the blowout the celebratory vibe had somewhat subsided.

Friday night the Braves (2-2) did it again and this time they knew exactly how to react. Alta Loma handily defeated Ontario, 37-12, and will attempt to push its record above .500 when it takes on Granite Hills Friday at Chaffey High School.

"We had a few goals coming into the season and now we've won a game," Szczepanski said. "We won another one to show it's not a fluke. Now we want to go after a winning record. I told the players we got this monkey off our back and now we have to move forward."

The Etiwanda High School football team dropped below .500 Friday night, but that may be the only bad thing that's happened in its first three games. The Eagles came up short against another Inland Division titan, a 42-36 loss to Norco at Colony High School, but nobody had anything negative to say about either team.

"They're a semifinal team in our division," Norco coach Todd Gerhart said of Etiwanda. "I just hope they're not on our side of the bracket. They gave Vista Murrieta two touchdowns last week, a blocked punt and a fumble, and still barely lost."

Etiwanda (1-2) opened the season by blowing out a Summit team ranked No. 1 in the Eastern Division, followed with a 31-28 loss to Vista Murrieta on a last-second field goal and led Norco 30-28 at the half before coming up short in a dramatic game against a team that has won multiple CIF-SS Inland Division titles the last five years.

These schools will clash for the fourth consecutive season as Serrano looks to avenge three straight losses to the Highlanders. Upland, ranked third in the CIF-SS Inland Division after a 2-0 start, again looks formidable. As usual Serrano (2-0) is fielding a championship-caliber team as the Diamondbacks are ranked No. 4 in the Eastern Division.

Testing the discipline: Though Serrano would prefer to see as little of it as possible, the most compelling matchup of tonight's game figures to be Upland's talented offense opposite Serrano's disciplined defense.

The Highlanders feature one of the best receivers in California in Kenny Lawler, who has 10 receptions for 211 yards in two games. Dual-threat junior quarterback Nate Romine has completed 72 percent of his passes for 307 yards and four touchdowns without an interception.

Alta Loma's new baseball coach, Tim Burton, was approved by the school board Tuesday night and officially took over the program this week after Ted Persell, who coached the Braves for the last eight seasons, resigned in May.

Burton's coaching experience has been primarily in the collegiate ranks with stints at USC, Riverside Community College and, most recently, Cal Poly Pomona, where he has spent a total of six years as an assistant. He hopes to step into the deep Baseline League and maintain a quality program at Alta Loma.

"I think there's a good enough mix of returning players and newcomers that we'll be competitive here," Burton, 37, said. "This is a rich league we're in, but I'm excited about what we've got."

There was no lockout that prevented high school football players from readying themselves for the 2011 season that opened for many Friday night. As their coaches attested to after the game, the Summit and Etiwanda football teams weren't exactly in midseason form, but it made for plenty of fireworks as Etiwanda took home a 49-36 win over Summit, the top- ranked team in the CIF-SS Eastern Division.

The victory was about the only thing Etiwanda coach Steve Bryce was pleased with.

"We made every mistake in the book," Bryce said, "but I'll take this win over a very talented team. Summit is loaded with talent and they're a good football team, especially in their division, but this is not the effort we wanted."

Joe Laski, the head baseball coach for seven years at Gabrielino High School, has been hired to take over the baseball program at Rancho Cucamonga. Laski, 33, was an assistant coach last year at Baldwin Park following seven seasons at Gabrielino, the last four of which ended in Mission League championships. He was approved by the school board on Tuesday to replace Chris Amaya, who mysteriously resigned in May following his fifth year as the Cougars head baseball coach and the team's fourth consecutive postseason appearance.

"My perception is that this program has been a good program where players have gone on and played in college and the team has been competitive," Laski said. "When you ask people about Rancho Cucamonga, they say it's a good program. I want people to say it's great. I want this program to standout."

Rancho Cucamonga won two wild card games combined in the last four seasons, each of which ended in the first round of the playoffs. The Cougars finished third in the Baseline League three consecutive seasons before a fourth-place finish last year. Etiwanda, the third place team from the Baseline League last season, reached the CIF-SS Division 2 championship game.

After the departure of Brice Sunderland, who served as the Etiwanda High School athletic director the last 14 years, the school didn't have to look far for a replacement. As of July 1, Etiwanda softball coach David Masucci expanded his duties to include athletic director. A science teacher for 10 years and the softball coach since 2002, Masucci was all to glad to add to his responsibilities when he was hired as the athletic director.

"I'm attracted to all the sporting events anyway but this job just gives me a chance to really be involved," Masucci said. "Now I'm just getting paid to do what I love."

One of the last remaining of the old guard, Etiwanda athletic director Brice Sunderland has resigned in order to accept a position at Eastvale Roosevelt High School as an athletic director and assistant principal. Sunderland, one of the longest tenured athletic directors in the Inland Valley, was at Etiwanda for 16 years and held the athletic director position for the last 14.

"I got my administration credential in February and there was an opening at Roosevelt to not only be an athletic director but an assistant principal," Sunderland said. "There were over 80 candidates and I was fortunate enough to get it. I just couldn't pass it up."

Last week the University of Idaho offered Upland High School running back Donta Abron his first scholarship, according to a press release. The rising senior, who rushed for 1,132 yards and 12 touchdowns on 149 carries last season, was offered by Idado secondary coach Patrick Libey.

"I spoke with Coach Libey and it was like a dream come true for me when coach told me University of Idaho is offering me," Abron said. "I put a lot of hard work in and it's great to see it pay off. I'm excited to see what Idaho is all about."

Upland teammate Kenny Lawler continues to add to his growing list of scholarship offers, Oregon State being the latest to offer the 6-foot-3, 175-pound senior-to-be. Lawler now has offers from Arizona State, to which he issued a soft verbal commitment in February, Nebraska, Arizona, UCLA, Washington, Oregon State, SMU and Northern Arizona.

MVP: Brennan Salgado, Glendora, 12, C

First team
Garrett Dean, Alta Loma, 10, C
Jake Gallaway, Etiwanda, 12, SS
Jason Broussard, Etiwanda, 12, P
Nick Cooksey, Glendora, 12, 2B
John Alexander, Glendora, 12, 1B
Sean Beckman, Glendora, 12, P
Josh Luevanos, Glendora, 12, CF
Andrew Vasquez, Los Osos, 12, P
Cody Dill, Los Osos, 12, P
Taylor Grace, Rancho Cucamonga, 11, 2B
James Zamarripa, Rancho Cucamonga, 12, OF
Daniel Robertson, Upland, 11, 3B
Konner Butler, Upland, 12, IF
Dustin Frailey, Alta Loma, 11, CF
Marcos Flores, Alta Loma, 12, SS

MVP: Melissa Taukeiaho Etiwanda 11 P/3B

First team
Devin Dean, Alta Loma, 12, P
Emilee Valadez, Etiwanda, 12, OF
Delaney Spaulding, Etiwanda, 10, SS
Kelsey Barak, Etiwanda, 12, 2B
Taylor Langdon, Glendora, 11, P
Tori Hernandez, Los Osos, 12, SS
Bri Meyer, Los Osos, 12, 1B
Krista Mann, Los Osos, 10, SS
Katee Aguirre, Rancho Cucamonga, 11, C
Justine McLean, Rancho Cucamonga, 11, CF
Caitlyn King, Rancho Cucamonga, 12, SS
Madison Hernandez, Upland, 11, C
Amanda Criscione, Upland, 12, 3B

Rancho Cucamonga High School wide receiver Donovan Harden has signed with Illinois State, an FCS school in Normal, Ill. Helping the Cougars to the CIF-SS Inland Division semifinals last season, the 6-foot, 165-pound Harden had 60 receptions for 1,135 yards and 15 touchdowns. Harden had scholarship offers from Sacramento State, New Mexico and Eastern Washington in additoin to invitations to walk on at USC and Washington State, according to his father, Jeffrey Harden.

It took five playoff games, but the Etiwanda High School baseball team finally ran into someone cooler under pressure. Namely, Mission Viejo pitcher Willie Kuhl.

The senior pitcher threw a complete game and limited the Etiwanda offense to one hit over the final five innings as Mission Viejo claimed the CIF-SS Division 2 championship with a 6-2 victory Thursday night at Dodger Stadium.

After winning the final two games of the regular season to pull out of last place in the Baseline League, Etiwanda battled its way from the wild-card round through the postseason, winning the four games previous to the title game by two runs or less. But the magical playoff march finally came to an end.

"It was unbelievable," Etiwanda first-year coach Don Furnald said. "I knew we had a team that would battle and that's what we did all the way to the last pitch. I told the guys after the game that what they've done, they don't even realize it yet. These last three of four weeks they put Etiwanda baseball on the map."

It may not be fair to say that the Etiwanda High School softball team's final-inning comeback fell a run short. A few feet short is probably a more-accurate measure.

After mustering six runs in the final inning of Wednesday's second- round playoff game against Orange El Modena, the tying run was thrown out at the plate, and the second-place team from the Century League took down the CIF-SS Division 1 No. 2 seed, 12-11.

El Modena (20-7), which finished second in league to D1 No. 1 seed Esperanza, answered Etiwanda's game-tying, three-run fifth inning with six runs in the bottom of the frame. Entering the seventh inning, Etiwanda (23-4) trailed 12-5, but it wasn't until Jenna Isbel's bases- loaded double resulted in a close play at the plate that the Eagles' furious rally was finally halted.

Ted Persell resigned as Alta Loma High School's head baseball coach after eight seasons with the Braves and 12 total years as a head coach. Persell, who will continue as a special education teacher at Alta Loma, expressed the need to take a break from the long hours but said he anticipated a return to coaching.

"Coaching is year round with the fall, summer, sixth period and the weekends," Persell said. "There's just a point in your career where you get tired. I think it's time for me to be a little selfish. Maybe I'll like this break but maybe I won't."

Persell coached for four seasons at El Monte Mountain View before taking over the Alta Loma program eight seasons ago. The Cal State Fullerton graduate, who was a member of the 1995 College World Series championship team, not only is interested in returning to coach in high school but perhaps at a higher level.

Reached by phone Wednesday afternoon, Rancho Cucamonga principal Kern Oduro stated that Cougars sixth-year baseball coach Chris Amaya has resigned. There is some confusion as to whether Amaya resigned due to fact that his contract was not going to be renewed. Following the Cougars' wild card playoff loss to Yucaipa on Tuesday, Amaya confirmed he will not be back as coach of the baseball team but couldn't comment on why he is leaving.

"He basically resigned," Oduro said. "I can't comment on it any more than that right now. It's tough for our team but we've got to move forward."

Amaya was clearly emotional following his last game as head coach, as was the rest of the Rancho Cucamonga baseball team, which shared a group hug on the field following a 3-0 loss to Yucaipa that eliminated it from the postseason on Tuesday. Rancho Cucamonga will fly the opening for a baseball coach within the Chaffey Joint Union School district.

Rancho Cucamonga baseball coach Chris Amaya coached his final game at the school on Tuesday just four days after Alta Loma's Ted Persell resigned. Following Rancho Cucamonga's 3-0 wild-card playoff loss to Yucaipa Tuesday, Amaya confirmed he was done after six years as the Cougars head coach but couldn't comment on the nature of his departure. The Daily Bulletin has confirmed that his contract was not renewed. Persell confirmed in an email to the Daily Bulletin that he had resigned and desired a break from coaching.

Amaya and Persell represent the second and third Baseline League baseball coaches who were employed at the beginning of the season but no longer hold their positions. Los Osos Dominick Copas was fired April 22 after a profanity-laced voice mail he left for a player several months ago was discovered. Etiwanda head baseball coach Shane Moses resigned following last season, the first of four Baseline League baseball coaches out of a job in less than a year.

Arby Fields is still unsure where he went wrong at Northwestern but the Los Osos High School graduate is hoping everything will go right at LSU. After three semesters at Northwestern and one at Cypress Junior College, the two-sport star from Rancho Cucamonga has transferred to LSU where he will focus on baseball and potentially not set foot on a football field.

Eight months ago Fields was coming off a fantastic freshman baseball season -- the starting center fielder hit .292 with 27 RBIs -- and entered football season as the starting running back for the Wildcats.

There were a couple of fumbles and a nagging shoulder injury, but Fields is unsure to this day why he fell out of favor at Northwestern. The team's leading rusher as a freshman had just six carries over the final eight games of his sophomore season.

"To be honest, I never got a straight answer," Fields said. "I really didn't know what it was. I didn't leave on a bad note. I wasn't forced out or anything but the coaches and I weren't on the same page. I decided that if I was going to achieve my goals in life I needed to make a change."

Los Osos offensive lineman Dylan La Frentz has been offered by Arizona, according to a text message from Los Osos head coach Tom Martinez. The 6-foot-3, 285-pound junior also has an offer from Florida International.

Los Osos High School is literally at the top of the mountain - within the Baseline League, that is - but the Grizzlies track team can finally claim the same.

It was an arduous road to the top of the league considering the feats of a historically dominant Rancho Cucamonga team but the Los Osos boys and girls track teams went undefeated in league this season and accordingly won the most events at the Baseline League finals on Friday.

Los Osos' 12 gold medals edged Rancho Cucamonga's 10. The Cougars may not be league champions, but they will certainly be a force to be reckoned with in the CIF-Southern Section.

Rancho Cucamonga High School class of 2007, Vincent Brown, was selected by the San Diego Chargers with the 82nd overall pick of the NFL draft on Friday. The 5-foot-11, 184-pound receiver out of San Diego State doesn't have to go far after the Chargers made him their fourth pick of the draft with the 18th selection of the third round. Brown had 69 receptions for 1,352 yards and 10 touchdowns as a senior at SDSU.

Thursday is was UCLA that offered Upland junior receiver Kenny Lawler his fifth scholarship. Friday Arizona made it six, according to the Upland coaching staff. The 6-foot-3 175-pounder now has offers from Arizona State, to which he issued a soft verbal commitment in February, Washington, Nebraska, SMU, UCLA and Arizona.

"Two-game swing" took on a literal meaning Friday afternoon in Glendora.

Just when it looked like the Los Osos High School baseball team was on its way to tying Glendora for first place in the Baseline League, the Tartans' Nick Cooksey lifted a game-winning three-run home run over the left-field fence in the bottom of the seventh inning to give Glendora a 5-4 win and drop the Grizzlies two games back.

After a Los Osos team that had won three consecutive league games broke a tie in the top of the seventh with Daniel Meza's two-out, two-run double, Glendora's hold on first place appeared all but gone.

"That looked like a dagger," Glendora coach Dan Henley said. "It felt, I don't want to say insurmountable, but two runs has been a lot for us lately. Cooksey has been hitting all year for us, so it wasn't surprising that he came through."

The scholarship offers are beginning to pile up for Upland junior receiver Kenny Lawler, who's latest suitor is UCLA, which issued an offer on Thursday. The 6-foot-3, 175-pounder ranked the No. 70 receiver in the country by scout.com, issued a soft verbal commitment to Arizona State in February but is open to other offers. Lawler, who had 42 receptions for 882 yards and nine touchdowns last season, has offers from Nebraska, Washington, Arizona State, UCLA and SMU.

The ingredients for a perfect storm were in place and it indeed rained down on the Rancho Cucamonga softball field Tuesday afternoon. In a timely rematch with Rancho Cucamonga a week after losing its first game of the season to the Cougars, Etiwanda hit eight home runs, including four in a row in the second inning, to win 18-0. Junior pitcher

Missy Taukeiaho and sophomore shortstop Delaney Spaulding each hit three home runs in what Etiwanda coach Dave Masucci labeled the greatest display of team power since he arrived at Etiwanda seven years ago.

"We were looking forward to this game," said Spaulding. "We were practicing all week for this and we wanted to get some revenge."

The Alta Loma High School baseball team didn't need much help from its bats on Friday. The Braves shifted the burden to their running shoes, which carried them to a scrappy 5-2 win over Etiwanda. Its third league victory pulled Alta Loma (9-4, 3-2) into a tie with the Eagles (10-4, 3-2) for second place in the Baseline League behind the newest member of the league, defending CIF champion Glendora.

Alta Loma managed just five hits to Etiwanda's seven, but some aggressive base running and patience at the plate awarded the Braves enough base runners to manufacture plenty of offense.

"It was a typical scrappy Alta Loma team," Etiwanda coach Don Furnald said. "We didn't hit the ball well but what did they have, three or four hits? They did all the little things well and in this league everybody is so close it's going to be the team that makes the fewest mistakes that wins."

Upland wide receiver Kenneth Lawler has received three scholarship offers in the last two weeks, according to Upland head football coach Tim Salter. The 6-foot-3, 175-pound junior was most recently offered by Washington Friday after receiving offers from Nebraska and SMU in the two previous weeks.

Lawler, who made 42 receptions for 882 yards and nine touchdowns his junior season, issued a soft verbal commitment in February to his first suitor, Arizona State, which offered him in December. Lawler said he is still open to other offers.

"I think this stage of the recruiting procecss is very exciting," Lawler said via text message. "I just hae to think about all these different colleges cause I can only attend one."

Lawler may have committed to Arizona State in part because his father is friends with the Sun Devils's recruiting coordinator, according to Salter.

"It's just a soft commitment," Salter said. "His father is good friends with the recruiting coordinator at Arizona State because they used to coach together but he's still fielding offers."

Eleven games into the season, the Etiwanda softball is playing like it is on a mission to avenge a first-round playoff loss that ended a 2010 season that was otherwise stellar.
The Eagles, who are currently 11-0, shot up to No. 4 in the nation in the espnrise.com rankings after not being ranked in the top 50 last week and are No. 9 on maxpreps.com.

Etiwanda is ranked No. 2 in CIF-SS Division 1 behind only Temecula Valley, the team responsible for knocking the top-seeded Eagles out of the playoffs last season. Last year, Temecula Valley entered the postseason as the fourth-place team from the Southwestern League whereas Etiwanda was a No. 1 seed and defending CIF champion. Temecula Valley proved its 3-2 playoff win over Etiwanda was no fluke as it advanced all the way to the championship game before losing to the team that finished second in the Baseline league to Etiwanda, Upland.

So far this season Etiwanda has had an impressive showing in the revered Faster to 1st tournament with shutout victories over two nationally ranked opponents. The four-time defending Baseline League champion Eagles opened league play with a 6-0 win over Glendora and will take on defending CIF champ Upland today.

It'll be an all-Inland Valley affair for the championship game of the Jurupa Valley Tournament in softball on Saturday night as Etiwanda will face Chino. Game time is 7:30 p.m. at Big League Dreams in Mira Loma.
On Thursday, Etiwanda (6-0) routed Corona Santiago 13-4 in a semifinal game that was limited to four innings because of the time limit.
Alyssa Calderon was 4-for-4 with a home run and four RBIs, while Missy Taukieaho went 2-for-2 with a home run, a triple and three RBIs for Etiwanda. Taukieaho (3-0) also got the win as a pitcher, allowing four runs on five hits.
Etiwanda led 2-1 after an inning, but the Eagles erupted for seven runs in the top of the second to take control.

In a game too late for publication in Friday's paper, Los Osos' baseball team downed Damien 7-1 in the semifinals of the Dick's Sporting Goods Tournament at Bonita High School on Thursday night.
Los Osos (4-0) will face Baseline League rival Alta Loma in the championship game on Saturday night at 7 p.m. at Bonita.
Three Los Osos pitchers (Andrew Vasquez, Tyler Rowe and Stephen Lyne) combined to strike out 15 batters, while at the plate, Blake James was 2-for-5 with a double and a run, Jared Mitchell was 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI and Isaiah Delsi was 2-for-2 with a double and two runs.

Los Osos basketball coach David Smith has organized the second Hoops for Hope event set for March 12 at Los Osos that will feature basketball teams from five local fire departments playing for charity.

After raising over $17,000 in February of last year that was donated to San Antonio Hospital and City of Hope Cancer Center, the fund-raising event for cancer research is hoping to receive $20,000 in donations this year, according to Smith, a survivor of stage four colorectal cancer.

The basketball tournament between fire departments from Chino, Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga and Upland was inspired by the Los Osos basketball coach and the late Chip Smith, an Ontario Fire Department Captain whom Smith met while undergoing cancer treatment last year.

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."

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.

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."

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."

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.

It was not a huge surprise that Cajon defeated Etiwanda on Friday in the championship game of the Ayala Best of the West Tournament.
After all, Cajon (16-0) is undefeated for a reason. How they did it was another matter.
Trailing 18-4 in the first quarter and 34-17 in the second, the Cowgirls figured out Etiwanda's press and rallied, eventually taking a 63-60 victory at Ayala High School.
"We wanted to finish this year undefeated," Cajon coach Mark Lehman said on New Year's Eve. "Now we want to go undefeated next year."
After Etiwanda (11-2) closed to within 63-60 on a Jada Blackwell (15 points) 3-pointer with about 20 seconds to play, Etiwanda had two more possessions. One resulted in a turnover, the other in a desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer that missed everything.
Shannon Moore was impressive in the rally for Cajon, scoring 10 of her team-high 14 points in the second half. Kori Walker had 10 of her 12 in the second half, Angelica Guardado scored 12 and Sophia Bhasin scored all 10 of her points in the second half.
Etiwanda led 52-49 on a basket by Met Onogomuho (game-high 16 points) with 4:54 to play, but a 14-5 run by the Cowgirls gave them the upper hand.
Etiwanda's efforts were hurt at the point guard position. Rachel Williams got in early foul trouble and was not as effective as usual. The other point guard, senior Angelique Bailey, suffered a partially torn meniscus in the first game of the tournament and is expected to miss another week.

MVP: Jasmine Eatmon, Los Osos, Sr.

First team
Camille Brown, Alta Loma, Sr.
Destiney Mebane, Etiwanda, Sr.
Arielle McCullough, Etiwanda, Sr.
Brittany Yaxley, Glendora, Jr.
Catrina Warren, Los Osos, Sr.
Caris Myles, Los Osos, Sr.
Kecia Ambers, Rancho Cucamonga, Sr.
Jordan Ortega, Rancho Cucamonga, Sr.
Kyla White, Upland, Sr.
Brooke Barber, Upland, Jr.

MVP: Sean Evans, Los Osos, Sr.

First team
Graham Jameson, Alta Loma, Sr.
Jordan Ashley, Etiwanda, Jr.
Nic Bell, Los Osos, So.
Dominic Vicinio, Los Osos, Sr.
Matt Wong, Los Osos, Sr.
Bryan Ellison, Rancho Cucamonga, Sr.
Matt Vega, Rancho Cucamonga, Jr.
Derek McCauley, Upland, Sr.
Jonathan Jarvis, Upland, Sr.
Chris Peterson, Upland, Sr.

Offensive MVP: Sateki Finau, Sr., RB, Rancho Cucamonga
Defensive MVP: Tevita Kauvaka, Sr., LB, Rancho Cucamonga

FIRST TEAM
Offense
Edward Torruella, Sr., WR, Etiwanda
Larry Cutbirth, Jr., QB, Etiwanda
Marcus Mason, Sr., RB, Etiwanda
William Regis, Sr., OL, Glendora
Cody Rogina, Sr., RB, Los Osos
Paul Pitts, Sr., WR, Los Osos
Dylan La Frenz, Jr., OL, Los Osos
Dimitri Morales, Jr., QB, Rancho Cucamonga
Donovan Harden, Sr., WR, Rancho Cucamonga
J.T. Huggins, Jr., WR, Rancho Cucamonga
Sekona Fonua, Sr., OL, Rancho Cucamonga
Cameren Turner, Jr., OL, Rancho Cucamonga
Donta Abron, Jr., RB, Upland
Justin Nunes, Sr., QB, Upland
Kenny Lawler, Jr., WR, Upland
Kenyatta Johnson, Jr., OL, Upland
Jake Van Ginkel, Sr., K/P, Upland

Etiwanda's boys basketball team won a tournament in the season's opening week. The Eagles defeated Corona Centennial 68-64 to win the Pasadena Tournament on Saturday night.
Senior forward Byron Wesley was named the tournament MVP, while senior guard Jordan Daniels and senior forward Tyler Lacour also made the all-tournament team.
Etiwanda beat Valley Torah, Lake Balboa Birmingham, Pasadena and Centennial en route to the title.

The seeds have held true to form as No. 3 seed Rancho Cucamonga has advanced to Saturday's CIF-SS Inland Division semifinals to face a second-seeded Vista Murrieta team looking to make a second consecutive appearance in the CIF championship game.

Championship aspirations: There is plenty of playoff experience in this game as Rancho Cucamonga is two years removed from a CIF-SS Central Division championship while Vista Murrieta reached the Inland Division title game last season only to lose a tight game to Southwestern League foe Chaparral.

Baseline League champ Rancho Cucamonga went undefeated en route to a 2008 CIF championship before losing to Los Osos in the semifinals last season. The Cougars graduated their quarterback, running back and most of their defense from last season but a young 2010 squad has been up to the challenge at every turn this season.

Will Lester/Staff Photographer
Ifo Ekpre-Olomu (above, middle) had 106 yards rushing, a rushing touchdown, a receiving touchdown and an interception in Chino Hills' 45-21 quarterfinal win over Etiwanda. Chino Hills will face Corona Centennial next week in the semifinals.

As Derek Bub walked off an empty football field at Chaffey High School, the Chino Hills head football coach's postgame celebratory yell broke a long silence. Friday night's CIF-SS Inland Division second-round game had been over for a while. After a 45-21 win over Etiwanda in the second round, fourth-seeded Chino Hills has scored 115 points in two playoff games.

A season after reaching the Central Division semifinals, the Huskies (10-2) will host No. 1 seed Corona Centennial in next week's semifinals.

"It feels good," Bub said. "We moved up a division, and a lot of people didn't think we could play in this division, but the kids stuck to it and got it done."

I'm here in Fresno for the CIF State Cross Country Championships, and it's cold. It'll be down close to freezing tonight, and the high tomorrow is only expected to get to the low 50s. At least rain isn't expected to move into the area until late afternoon, after the final race.
Check back here on this blog during the morning and early afternoon Saturday for updates on Inland Valley competitors: Ayala's girls team, Bonita's Marissa Scott, Claremont's boys team, Colony's Xochitl Navarrete and Nick Valenzuela, Rancho Cucamonga's boys team and Webb's Bailey Stockdale.

The races begin at 8:30 a.m., but the first race with an Inland Valley runner is Race 3 at 9:30 a.m., the girls Division 3, with Marissa Scott
--Pete Marshall

After meeting in the CIF-SS Central Division quarterfinals last season, Chino Hills and Etiwanda find themselves fighting for a berth in the semifinals again this year, only tonight's meeting between the two is in the more competitive Inland Division. Chino Hills emerged a 35-14 winner in last season's quarterfinal but lost a close one to eventual champ Upland in the semifinals.

Steeper road: While Etiwanda was a co-champion of the vaunted Baseline League last season, the Eagles didn't exactly take a similar path to the quarterfinals in 2010. Had Upland not claimed a comeback victory over Los Osos in the regular season finale, Etiwanda would have been relying on a coin flip to grant it access to the postseason.

For those who wonder if they run cross country in the rain, the answer is definitely yes.
The CIF-SS Finals were held as scheduled, but on the rain course at Mt. San Antonio College on Saturday.

Three Inland Valley teams qualified for state by finishing in the top seven in their race: Rancho Cucamonga boys in Division 1, Claremont boys in Division 2 and Ayala girls in Division 2.
In addition, Colony's Xochitl Navarrete (girls Division 2) and Nick Valenzuela (boys Division 2), Bonita's Marissa Scott (girls Division 3) and Webb's Bailey Stockdale (boys Division 5) all qualified for the state meet as individuals, which is next Saturday at Woodward Park in Fresno.

Will Lester/Staff Photographer
Rancho Cucamonga's Donovan Harden had four receptions for 80 yards and two TDs despite a 76-yard TD that was called back.

Of its six combined playoff wins in the CIF-SS Central Division the last two years, Rancho Cucamonga never won bigger than it did Friday night. In its first game back in the revered Inland Division, the Baseline League champion Cougars rolled over Murrieta Valley, 37-13, in their playoff opener.

Rancho Cucamonga head coach Nick Baiz didn't believe the 24-point margin of victory had anything to do with his team drawing a sub-par first-round opponent in the Southwestern League's third-place team.

"That's a good football team," Baiz said. "Just last week they lost to the defending CIF champions (Temecula Chaparral) by seven."

First round
Corona Centennial over Yucaipa
Chaparral over Upland
Redlands East Valley over Etiwanda
Chino Hills over Corona
Rancho Cucamonga over Murrieta Valley
Corona Roosevelt over Claremont
Norco over Redlands
Vista Murrieta over Charter Oak

Quarterfinals
Corona Centennial over Chaparral
Chino Hills over Redlands East Valley
Corona Roosevelt over Rancho Cucamonga
Norco over Vista Murrieta

Fourth-seeded Los Osos had the difficult job of trying to knock off top-seeded Simi Valley Royal in its Division 4 semifinal. The Grizzlies fell behind early and rallied a couple of times, but Royal pulled away in the fourth for a 17-12 victory at Woollett Aquatics Center.

The Baseline League, which produced four playoff teams each of the last two seasons, won't have that luxury given its move from the CIF-SS Central Division to an Inland Division void of wild-card berths.

Rancho Cucamonga, the No. 3 team in the division, is undefeated in league with only a Thursday game against Glendora between it and a second outright Baseline League title in three years. Upland and Etiwanda will claim the final two playoff spots with victories this week over Los Osos and Alta Loma, respectively. If Los Osos can knock off defending CIF champion Upland Friday, all bets are off.

A Los Osos win on Friday would create a three-way tie for second to be broken by a coin flip. Los Osos has four losses on the season but a win over Upland is certainly a reasonable possibility.

If you love cross country -- and I'm sure there are many of you who do - Mt. San Antonio College is the place to be the next two Saturdays, Nov. 13 and 20.
The CIF-SS released the heat sheets for the CIF Prelims Nov. 13. In all, there will be 33 races, beginning at 7:45 a.m. and the last one beginning at 4:05 p.m. There will be an Inland Valley team or individual competing in 25 of 33 races. It was also announced Saturday that the Webb and Western Christian boys teams were picked as at-large entries for Division 5.

Here are some races to keep an eye on:
Race 18, Girls Division 2, 11:35 a.m.
Although it's Ayala with the much stronger team, it's notable that the Bulldogs will be running against Chino Valley district rival Don Lugo.
Race 21, Girls Division 3, 1:22 p.m.
Bonita, a young and up-and-coming team, will be facing the top team in San Bernardino County, Granite Hills.
Race 26, Boys Division 1, 2:33 p.m.
This one has four Inland Valley teams (Chaffey, Diamond Bar, Rancho Cucamonga, Upland) plus another individual (Christian Navarro of Los Osos). Rancho Cucamonga is the class of this group.
Race 31, Girls Division 1, 3:38 p.m.
Baseline League champion Rancho Cucamonga is in this race, as is Baseline third-place team Los Osos. Redlands, the Citrus Belt League champion, will be one of the teams battling with Rancho Cucamonga for a spot in the finals.
Race 33, Girls Division 1, 4:05 p.m.
Similar to Race 18. Chino and Chino Hills, two teams from the Chino Valley district who are not in the same league, will be facing each other in this race.

As good as Claremont's boys cross country team was, the Wolfpack was blocked from a league title by powerful Rancho Cucamonga.
Now in the Sierra League, the Wolfpack won its much-awaited league title on Tuesday at Mt. SAC. But maybe they didn't need to change leagues.

Both the Baseline and Sierra Leagues ran league finals at Mt. SAC and both on Tuesday. Rancho Cucamonga coach Terry Tierney and Claremont coach Rob Lander were joking they should bet a dinner on which team had the better team time. Turns out, Lander should've taken Tierney up on the bet. Claremont's team time of 80 minutes, 47 seconds was 12 seconds better than Rancho's 80:59. Had Claremont runners been in Rancho's race or vice versa, Claremont would've edged out Rancho in team score as well.

That performance Tuesday helped Claremont move past Rancho Cucamonga into the much-coveted No. 1 spot in the Inland Valley boys cross country rankings.
The teams will not meet in CIF; Claremont is in Division 2, while Rancho Cucamonga is in Division 1.

The last two CIF-SS Central Division champions are the only remaining teams undefeated in the Baseline League, so much is on the line when CIF-SS Inland Division No. 3 Rancho Cucamonga (6-1, 2-0) takes on No. 7 Upland (5-2, 2-0) tonight at Los Osos High School.

Champions gala: Rancho Cucamonga went undefeated on its way to the 2008 CIF-SS Central Division title. Upland rode one of the best defensive units in the recent history of the Inland Valley to the 2009 CIF title.
Thus, there will be plenty of rings flashing under the Friday night lights but both of these teams are missing many of the players instrumental in bringing home those championships.

"The winner of this game is 3-0 and that's about it," Rancho Cucamonga coach Nick Baiz said. "That's all this game means."

The Los Osos High School football team has graduated 80 seniors combined in the last two seasons, several of which are playing on Saturdays. Their quarterback of two seasons ago, for example, started for UCLA Thursday night.

But without Richard Brehaut last season the Grizzlies earned a share of their fourth Baseline League title in the last five years and marched to the first CIF championship game appearance in school history. Having lost 38 more seniors last year from the most decorated team in Los Osos eight-year history, the Grizzlies don't appear to have dropped of much, if at all.

Los Osos is 4-3 with two of its three losses coming in overtime and all three to teams ranked in the top 10 of the CIF-SS Inland Division.

"We've made too many mistakes and I chalk that up to inexperience," Los Osos coach Tom Martinez said. "We're two overtime wins away from a much better record but I think the kids know what we're capable of."

Glendora entered the Baseline League this season with the proper requirements, which is to say they have a college-committed Division I quarterback. San Diego State-bound Chad Jeffries and the Tartans may be a year or two late meeting that qualification, but if the nonleague performance of the league's six teams is any indication the level of play still is up to par.

UCLA's Richard Brehaut and Stanford's Josh Nunes are two years removed from quarterbacking Los Osos and Upland, respectively, while Rancho Cucamonga graduate Greg Watson is a freshman at Fresno State and Etiwanda's Angel Santiago a freshman at Army.

Without their marquee quarterbacks, it's safe to say their programs are doing just fine.

Rancho Cucamonga High School's football team has lost just three of its last 32 games. The Cougars lost all but a couple of members of the defense that allowed less than 14 points per game on the way to the 2008 CIF-SS Central Division title. They came back and won 10 games in 2009, losing twice by three points and missing their second consecutive appearance in a title game by a touchdown.

Gone are the quarterback, running back and two leading receivers from last year's team. As Rancho Cucamonga's 4-0 record would seem to indicate, though, there hasn't been any drop-off yet.

"We've had good lower levels since I've been here," Cougars fifth-year head coach Nick Baiz said. "We feel like we've done a good job developing players. We've gotten a chance to really work on that the last few years once we got settled here."

The third- and fourth-ranked teams in the Inland Division clash tonight in what could be a playoff preview in the new-look CIF-SS Inland Division. Upland (3-0), at No. 3, is defending Central Division champion and No. 4 Norco (2-0) is a perennial contender.

Spreading the love: No longer is Norco's offense three yards and a cloud of dust, although it rarely was limited to three yards. The longtime power running game isn't exactly gone but the Cougars do their running out of a different formation.

With freshman Coltin Gerhart - the youngest son of head coach Todd Gerhart - at quarterback, Norco decided to shift from the double-wing/I formation to a spread offense. The primary weapon in the offense, however, continues to be a running back. This season that is 5-foot-10, 192-pound senior Kelsey Young, who is verbally committed to Stanford.

Entering this week's game with perennial Inland Empire power Norco, the Etiwanda High School football team is winless two games into the season. Looking a little deeper than the number in the win column, the Eagles may have already demonstrated their program is in better shape than expected after losing the largest football senior class in school history.

It wasn't determined until the final seconds of the game, but Etiwanda dropped its season opener 42-35 to a Summit team that appears very much on the rise. Last week the outcome was less in doubt in a 49-27 loss to a Vista Murrieta team that finished a touchdown short of the 2009 CIF-SS Inland Division championship. For an Etiwanda team replacing six starters on each side of the ball, including three-year starting quarterback Angel Santiago who accounted for 9,500 yards and 65 touchdowns during his tenure, there have been plenty of positives thus far.

"We're not at all disappointed with where we are," Etiwanda coach Steve Bryce said. "We play this schedule because we want to expose our weaknesses so we can fix them. We could have scheduled some teams we could have beat 60 or 70 to nothing but what good is that going to do us?"

The Los Osos High School football team's season began about 22 minutes after Colony's on Friday night. Once the Grizzlies' season got rolling, it couldn't be stopped. Late in the first half, Kalaukoa Labonta returned an interception 54 yards for a touchdown to give Los Osos the lead for good in a 20-7 victory over the Grizzlies' former offensive coordinator Matt Bechtel in his first game as Colony's head coach.

Until the 2:18 mark of the second quarter Colony had outgained Los Osos 149 yards to 56, numbers reflected in the game's momentum as the Titans marched 42 yards after taking over on their own 1-yard line. Everything changed on the sixth play of the drive when a wide receiver screen pass from quarterback Dominick Barnett, who rushed for 137 yards and a first-quarter touchdown, slipped through the fingers of Chaz Nelson and into the waiting arms of Labonta.

"We knew that was one of the plays (Bechtel) liked to run, so our defensive coordinator had a little something for him," Los Osos coach Tom Martinez said. "That play turned the whole game around."

Both of these teams have plenty to prove, but that is hardly the most interesting dynamic of a season opener that pits new Colony head coach Matt Bechtel, the Los Osos offensive coordinator for seven years, against his former team and coaching staff.

It's not practice anymore: Matt Bechtel and Kevin Price have done battle on the Los Osos practice field "probably a million times in seven years," but tonight the chess match has a much different feel. Los Osos is coming off the school's first appearance in a CIF championship game -- the Grizzlies lost 19-7 to Upland on Dec. 11 -- but returns just seven starters. Colony, which retained only two starters from last season, is eager to kick off the Bechtel era and prove there won't be a drop-off from the successful teams in Colony's recent history.

Tim Salter wasn't as prophetic as usual when it came to predicting the Baseline League last season. But Upland's head football coach would happily trade his prediction for a ring any day. As usual, Salter professed that the team with the best defense would win a Baseline League that has now indisputably established itself as the best in the Inland Valley.

Upland, as it turned out, not only had the best defense in the league but in all of the CIF-SS Central Division. The Highlanders, however, finished fourth in their own league, earning an at-large berth in the playoffs thanks to a second-half comeback in the final game of the regular season. Upland, of course, proceeded to march through the CIF playoffs to a Central Division championship.

"Upland had one of the best defenses I've ever seen in high school football," 12th year Chaffey head coach Chris Brown said. "And I've seen a lot."

With just three starters back from that vaunted defense, Upland may revert to its offensive ways of 2008, when four college football players manned the skill positions. The star may not be the quarterback this time, rather, running back Donta Abron, who transferred from Alta Loma after gaining 1,350 yards as a sophomore. There may be more than one quarterback to contribute this season, according to Salter, as Justin Nunes returns along with up and coming sophomore Nate Romine.

Rancho Cucamonga graduated its own three-year starting quarterback after last season when the dynamic Greg Watson departed for Fresno State, but a defense that reminds him of the one that lifted the Cougars to the CIF-SS Central Division title in 2008 combined with a new dynamic quarterback will keep Nick Baiz's team squarely in the mix.

Aside from junior quarterback Dimitri Morales - I have never laid eyes on the 6-foot-2 dual-threat QB but by the end of our conversation Baiz had me itching to see him play - the Rancho Cucamonga offensive line averages a whopping 305 pounds a member in front of running back Sateki Finau, who rushed for 1,000 yards as a sophomore before serving primarily as a fullback and defensive player last season.

"He's not just a good athlete playing running back," said Baiz. "He can play running back."

If the Rancho Cucamonga defense at all resembles the one that allowed just 13.9 points per game two years ago on the way to a CIF title, I'd feel good about my chances if I were the Cougars. Offensively, they were a running team last season anyway, which is something they're entirely capable of this year regardless of Morales' rate of development. With Upland having won CIF and Los Osos and Etiwanda sharing the Baseline League title, it's easy to forget Rancho lost just three games last year by a combined 13 points and was two wins away from back-to-back CIF titles.

Attempting to replace 6,500 yards and 65 touchdowns will be no easy task for Etiwanda. Thankfully for the rest of the Baseline League, it took quarterback Angel Santiago three years to compile those numbers. Thankfully for Etiwanda, it is just one of four teams in the league with a new quarterback.

Etiwanda coach Steve Bryce is banking on first-year starter Larry Cutbirth, a 6-5 junior, to be heavily supported by a defense he thinks could be the best in the league this year. The Etiwanda defense was headlined last year by then sophomore linebacker Chandler Scott, who led the Baseline League in tackles at the end of the 2009 regular season but he is out for the season with two torn ligaments in his knee.

"We feel like we can be a little bit like Upland was last year," Bryce said. "Our defense is going to keep us in some games. That's what happened in passing league this summer. But we lost 34 seniors - the biggest graduating class we've ever had - so we might experience growing pains for a little bit."

Los Osos and Upland did it last year, but if Etiwanda can succeed after the loss if its largest graduating football class of the Bryce era, it will go a long way toward proving the status of its program.

Last year Los Osos had to endure the loss of QB Richard Brehaut (UCLA) and RB Arby Fields (Northwestern). All the 2009 Grizzlies did was end up in the school's first CIF championship. This year they're replacing 15 starters, but this is proving to be a solid program that isn't going to drop of much no matter who it loses.

When quarterback Kori Grant, who transferred from Colony prior to last year, started as a sophomore at Colony, then coach Anthony Rice said of him: "all he does is win."

He's only 5-foot-8 but he's extremely dangerous in the running game and from what I hear throws the ball very well. Grant will be running the zone-read a lot, according to Los Osos head coach Tom Martinez, in similar fashion to Brehaut. Grant will have a big receiver in the San Diego State committed Paul Pitts, who is 6-1, 190. And Cody Rogina, who rushed for 943 yards and 11 TDs last year, returns at running back. The major question, as it seems to be more often than not at Los Osos, is line play.

Current UCLA sophomore, former Los Osos quarterback RIchard Brehaut talks with the L.A. Daily News' John Gold after the UCLA Fall scrimmage about the state of the Bruins, some of his new weapons and how he is light years ahead of where he was last year at this time. He sounds like a pretty confident guy to me.

Imagine going 0-10. Then imagine losing your best two players. Such is the case for Alta Loma High School, which is facing a steeper climb this season in a Baseline League that may have gotten more difficult with the addition of Glendora.

After not just going winless but allowing 47.6 points per game in league play opposite a scoring average of 13.8, Alta Loma's leading rusher and leading tackler both transferred to league foe and defending CIF champion Upland. In his second year as Alta Loma's head coach things are certainly not any easier for Jose Fuentes.

"Anytime a kid leaves a program its hard to absorb but (Abron and Powell) were our starting backfield," Fuentes said. "They were young last year so it's tough to know how good they could have been or would have been. We're just trying to rebuild a program here. (If players move), that's out of our control.

"We know this league is tough and every game will be tough. We just want to improve from last year and be fundamentally sound."

It came down to the Aug. 16, 9 p.m. deadline but former Upland High School pitcher Scott Frazier has elected to play baseball at Pepperdine for the next three years instead of signing with the Philadelphia Phillies, who selected him in the fifth round of the MLB draft in June.

The 6-foot-7 right-hander was expected to be drafted as early as late in the first round before sliding to the 171st overall selection. Accordingly, the Phillies likely would have needed to pay him more handsomely than a fifth-round pick. Frazier, the 2010 Inland Valley Player of the Year, was undecided as of Monday afternoon but ultimately thought he could improve his draft status - while receiving a top-flight education - by playing the mandated three years at a Division I school before re-entering the MLB draft.

"I decided (Pepperdine) would be the best thing for my future right now," Frazier said. "I'm still eligible to enter the draft in three years but I'm just excited for the next three years right now."

Frazier, whose fastball topped out at 96 mph last season, went 6-2 with a 1.16 ERA and 87 strikeouts in 54 innings his senior season.

Don Furnald, who was hired as Etiwanda's head baseball coach Thursday, spoke today about trying to spark an Etiwanda program that has one winning season in its last six and hasn't made the playoffs since Brice Sunderland become the athletic director in 1997.

"The biggest expectation is to change the culture of the program," Furnald said. "We're trying to bring in a whole new program. It's not like since I've been an assistant I'm going to come in and run the same program."

Furnald, 30, doesn't think the Eagles are far from being a playoff team.

"It feels like we're right on the brink," he said. "We want to be right in the mix in the Baseline League and that's where we were last year. We're trying to increase the positivity of Etiwanda baseball. We're trying to build a tradition. We haven't had that in a while and we're trying to start that now."

After serving as an assistant for four years, Don Furnald was hired Thursday as Etiwanda High School's head baseball coach, according to Etiwanda athletic director Brice Sunderland. Furnald, a Rancho Cucamonga High School graduate, replaces Shane Moses, who resigned in June likely due to a contentious relationship with the Etiwanda administration. Moses, who posted one winning season in his last six with the Eagles, temporarily resigned in April before returning after a two-game absence to finish out his final season.

"We are excited to see a longtime member of the Chaffey District family take over our baseball program," Sunderland said. "Coach Furnald knows the game, he knows our kids, and I am very confident that he will establish a new tradition here with the Eagles."

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.

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.

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."

Multiple media outlets are reporting that Glendora senior-to-be Chad Jeffries has verbally committed to San Diego State. The 6-foot-2, 177-pound quarterback could be the latest headliner at his position to come out of the Baseline League, following in the footsteps of Los Osos' Richard Brehaut (UCLA) and Upland's Josh Nunes (Stanford) in 2009 and Rancho Cucamonga's Greg Watson (Fresno State) and Etiwanda's Angel Santiago (Army) in 2010. Jeffries is rivals.com's seventh-rated pro-style quarterback in the country and the 40th-ranked player in California.

Glendora will play its first season in the Baseline League this year after spending the last eight years in the Sierra League. Jeffries, the MVP of the Nike Camp at USC this summer, figures to have a large impact in a Baseline League that retained five of its members and replaced the departed Claremont with Glendora, which has won or shared the Sierra League title each of the last three seasons.

Jeffries chose San Diego State over scholarship offers from Utah, Oregon State and UTEP. He told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune he's "pretty sure about this commitment."

Nobody seems to know why Etiwanda High School graduate Maurice Edu's apparent game-winning goal in Friday's U.S. World Cup match against Slovenia was waived off. A foul was called in the 85th minute of an eventual 2-2 tie as he knocked Redlands native Landon Donovan's free kick into the back of the net but referee Koman Coulibalu negated the score due to a foul he wouldn't reveal to the U.S. players, later reported to have been a violation by U.S. captain Carlos Bocanegra of Alta Loma.

"I'm a little gutted to be honest," Donovan, who scored the first goal of the second-half comeback, told the New York Daily News. "I don't know how they stole that last goal from us. I'm not sure what the call was. He (the referee) wouldn't tell us what the call was."

If there was a foul on the play, the Americans, namely Michael Bradley, looked to be the victim. Edu, who won an NCAA championship at Maryland, was the No. 1 pick in the 2007 MLS draft but currently plays in Glasgow, Scotland for Rangers, who paid a 2.6-million pound transfer fee for him. Friday marked the first action in a World Cup match for the 24-year-old Edu, who is keeping a World Cup diary.

Upland High School's Scott Frazier, a 6-foot-7 power pitcher drafted in the 5th round by the Philadelphia Phillies on June 8, said he likely won't decide until August whether to sign with the team or play baseball at Pepperdine. The 171st selection of the 2010 MLB draft, who is being advised by the Creative Arts Agency, hasn't yet met with a Phillies representative to begin negotiating a signing bonus.

"We have an idea of what we're looking for but we're not 100 percent set on a number," said Frazier. "It's going to be a tough decision either way."

After a stellar summer and an even better senior season in which his fastball velocity jumped from 92 or 93 mph to 96, the right-hander was expected to be selected in the first or second round. If the Phillies are going to sign Frazier, they may have to pay him more than 5th-round money.

"If I don't go pro I'll be able to get an education and get some good experience," Frazier said. "The coaches at Pepperdine are very good and of course the coaches in the minor leagues are very good and it's their job to develop players and get them to the big leagues as soon as possible. So whatever happens, we'll figure out what's best for me."

Etiwanda offensive tackle Jamal Prater was offered a scholarship by Oregon on Wednesday, the third offer collected by the senior-to-be, according to Etiwanda coach Steve Bryce. In February, Washington State made the 6-foot-5, 295-pound offensive lineman his first offer before San Diego State offered him last month. The three-star tackle is rated the 46th-best at his position in the country by rivals.com.

After slipping to the 22nd round where the Detroit Tigers selected him in the MLB draft on Tuesday, Los Osos catcher Jake Hernandez decided he would rather utilize his scholarship to USC. Considered one of the best defensive catchers in the draft, the senior made it known he was leaning toward playing college baseball for three years, the likely reason a prospect of his talent went in the 22nd round.

"I'll go to college and see what happens in three years," Hernandez said. "I was telling people I was going to go to college (before the draft). USC's not too bad. I think I'll have a little fun there."

Hernandez, who verbally committed to USC his freshman year before signing in February, batted .446 with four home runs and 29 RBIs his senior season.

After pleading no contest to a felony and a misdemeanor in March for allegedly having sex with two underage female classmates, Claremont High School senior Tyler Singleton was sentenced to 180 days in jail. The former standout running back convicted of statutory rape was also placed on probation for five years and ordered to undergo counseling and stay away from the victims in the case.

Singleton, 18, is not required to register as a sex offender as a result of his conviction following February incidents that prompted two girls, one 14 and one 17, to come forward with accusations against him. Read the story in its entirety at dailybulletin.com.

These quotes and details didn't make it into my MLB draft day 2 story. Thanks to colleague T.J. Berka for the info and quotes.

Miller High pitcher Cesar Aguilar was drafted in the 14th round by St. Louis on Tuesday.

"It feels good to be drafted. I've been looking forward to this for a long time," he said.
"I didn't really know when I'd be drafted, so I wasn't that worried about it. I figured I would be drafted, but I wasn't sure when."

"I've been dreaming of this since I was a little kid. Every time I went to a major league game or a minor league game, I imagined playing on the field."

He plans on signing Thursday and will leave Friday. He received a $60,000 signing bonus.

"It's not bad for an 18-year old kid in high school. I'll just save it, There's really nothing I need to buy right now," he said.

Though Upland fireball-pitcher Scott Frazier was projected to go as high as the first round of the MLB draft, the 6-foot-7 senior didn't let Tuesday's fifth-round selection deter him from being optimistic about beginning his professional career as soon as possible.

In between bombing batting-practice home runs over the wall at the Epicenter during practice for the Inland Valley High School All-Star game on Tuesday, Frazier said he was eager to begin the next step in the process after the Philadelphia Phillies selected him with the 171st overall pick.

"We'll sit down with my advisor (from the Creative Arts Agency in Los Angeles) and the scout from the Phillies and see if we can get a deal done," Frazier said. As for his being selected lower than expected..."You try not to listen to everyone because nobody knows what's going to happen until the first player gets taken. I'm excited. It' been a long emotional year and I'm just happy to have been drafted."

BASEBALL
MVP: Tim Helton, Upland, 12, C

1st Team
Marcos Flores, Alta Loma, 11, 3B/P
Austin Keenan, Alta Loma, 12, SS
Kyle Jackson, Claremont, 11, 2B
Jonny Traber, Etiwanda, 12, 3B
Mikey Ramirez, Etiwanda, 12, P/OF
Spencer Thorton, Los Osos, 11, CF
Anthony Fernandez, Los Osos, 12, 2B
Jake Hernandez, Los Osos, 12, C
James Zamarripa, Rancho Cucamonga, 11, CF
Austin Reed, Rancho Cucamonga, 12, P
Frankie Christian, Upland, 12, OF
Scott Frazier, Upland, 12, P
Ryan Goodman, Upland, 12, IF

What was left for Whitney Jones to accomplish, she likely checked off the list Saturday afternoon.

The Upland High School pitcher completed her fourth consecutive playoff game without allowing an earned run, went 2 for 4 with three RBIs, hit a home run and even stole home to lead the Highlanders to a 10-2 win over Temecula Valley in the CIF-SS Division 2 championship game at Deanna Manning Stadium.

"It feels amazing," said Jones, who'll play for Washington next season. "To end it this way, there just couldn't be anything better."

Upland's first CIF championship since 1997 made it the second consecutive titlist from the Baseline League. The Highlanders (21-9-1) finished second in the Baseline to defending CIF champ and No. 1 seed Etiwanda, which was knocked off in the first round by the same Temecula Valley team that advanced all the way to the final.

Given that all matches must begin 0-0, the score was the only edge the Claremont High School boys tennis team entered Wednesday's CIF-SS Division 3 championship match without.

On the collective mind of opponent Placentia Valencia was the sound defeat it absorbed from Claremont in last year's CIF title match. Only this year Claremont entered as a No. 1 seed that hadn't lost a match all season. Once the score turned in Claremont's favor courtesy of a 4-2 edge after the first round, everything was in motion for the Wolfpack's eventual 12-6 win that gave the it a 19-0 record and a second consecutive CIF championship.

"(Valencia) had more pressure on them because of last year and they just wanted it really badly," Claremont coach Tom Spinosa said. "If you want it that badly you can't relax."

Tickets for Friday's Etiwanda High School alumni basketball game are $8 for adults, $5 for children and $3 for current Etiwanda students. Varsity boys basketball alumni will receive free admission and pre-sale tickets are only available for current Etiwanda students. All other tickets for the third edition of the Etiwanda alumni game will be sold at the door.

The current Etiwanda varsity will take on a team of alumni that includes Etiwanda class of 2005 Darren Collison of the New Orleans Hornets and Jeff Pendergraph of the Portland Trailblazers, each fresh off their rookie seasons in the NBA. The alumni team will consist of graduates ranging from the class of 2000-2009.

The game will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the Etiwanda gym but the doors will open at 5:30. For more information, e-mail game organizer Gary Clark, Etiwanda class of 2002, at gmclark84@yahoo.com.

The alumni roster is as follows:

Three-time state champion hurdler Kori Carter may be more fun off the track than she is good on it. This was not lost on Staff Writer J.P. Hoornstra, who encountered the eccentric Claremont High School senior while she dominated the Baseline League track meet on Friday.

Enjoy this post on J.P's blog.

For reasons that remain unknown, longtime Etiwanda High School baseball coach Shane Moses resigned his position prior to the Eagles' game with Claremont on April 22, one of two games he missed before returning to his post a week ago. Moses declined to comment on why he resigned or returned to Etiwanda.

"Every program has its issues," Moses said. "We choose not to air our dirty laundry."

Etiwanda athletic director Brice Sunderland did not return multiple messages seeking comment.

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

Track teams from the Inland Valley have produced some of the top times in the state, including three girls' 1600-meter relay teams in California's top 10. Etiwanda's time of 3:52.63 is third while Colony sits in fifth and Los Osos in eighth. Los Osos and Etiwanda are seventh and eighth, respectively, in the 400-meter relay.

Of the boys, Los Osos' Jaylan Mabry has run the second-best 200 meters (21.51 seconds) and the fourth-best 100 meters (10.83) in the state. The Los Osos boys' time of 1:29.43 in the 800-meter relay is good for fourth in the state and their 400-meter relay mark of 42.07 is eighth.

Here is a link to the state's top times updated through Monday.

Aaron Hale of Upland has high-jumped 6-feet, 8-inches, the third highest in the state and Rancho Cucamonga's Laijon White ran the 400 meters in 48.82, good for fifth. Claremont's Kori Carter, the defending state champion in both hurdling events, has the second best time in the 300 hurdles (43.94) and fifth-best in the 100 hurdles (14.18). Etiwanda's Vanessa Jones has the fifth-best time (55.68) in the 400 meters.

Tyler Singleton pleaded no contest on Tuesday to charges of statutory rape, part of a plea bargain that carries a jail sentence of six months to a year. Claremont's three-year starting running back will be sentenced on May 5 for allegedly having sex with 14- and 15-year old girls in January.

Here is a link to the story on DailyBulletin.com.

Chino softball, fresh of a CIF semifinal appearance last year, is going for its first tournament championship in its three years under coach Mike Smith on Saturday in the Jurupa Valley Tournament, played at Big League Dreams in Mira Loma.
Chino downed Los Osos in the semifinals Thursday, while Corona Santiago outlasted Upland 1-0 in nine innings.
Upland and Los Osos played Friday in a Baseline League game (won by Upland 4-0) and will play again Saturday for third place at 4:30 p.m.
Chino will face off against Corona Santiago at 6:30 p.m. in the championship game. Smith said he knows Santiago coach John Perez very well and many of the Santiago players play for Smith's travel team. It should be interesting.

It's probably safe to say the stakes were just lowered for the Baseline League. With the football playoff realignment landing it back in the stacked Inland Division beginning next season, the Baseline League likely won't be fighting amongst itself for CIF championships anymore. I'm not sure we need anymore evidence than the league's ONE collective post season victory while it was in the Inland Division from 2006-2007.

If the Baseline League has truly improved during the two years it ruled the Central Division, its members can hope to garner more respect from those football powers farther south along Hwy 15 (something it couldn't do locked in the Central Division with largely inferior leagues). But as far as championships go, the Baseline League shouldn't get its hopes up.

Its dominance in the Central Division was truly remarkable, while it lasted.

DIVISION 3
Player of the Year
Emily Donohoe, Jr., St. Lucy's

Coach of the Year
Ty Hudson, Corona Santiago

first team
Celena Photopulos, Sr., Corona Santiago
Megan Rowland, So., Corona Santiago
Julia Kirkland, So., Corona Santiago
Jillian Yocum, Jr., Riverside Poly
Sarah Lizotte, Sr., Riverside Poly
Cambria Shockley, So., St. Lucy's
Dallon Courter, Sr., St. Lucy's

Inland Division (no at-large entries)
Baseline
Big VIII (4 entries)
Citrus Belt
Sierra
Southwestern
Notes: The Baseline League essentially had four entries for the two seasons it was in the Inland Division, claiming the lone at-large berth each year. Last year the at-large team, Upland, won the entire division. In an Inland Division where it produced one collective playoff victory in its last two seasons there, life is going to be different for a Baseline League that produced six of the last eight semifinalists in the Central Division.

Central Division (no at-large entries)
Mt. Baldy (4 entries)
Desert Valley
Inland Valley (4 entries)
San Andreas (4 entries)
Notes: Colony won this division two years in a row before the arrival of the Baseline and Sierra Leagues two seasons ago. New coach Matt Bechtel, formerly Los Osos High's offensive coordinator, likely won't be disappointed he doesn't have to face his old league foes in the playoffs.

If the Etiwanda High School boys basketball team can lose eight of its top nine players and come within three points of defeating the top-ranked team in the state for the CIF championship, imagine what it can do when it returns five of its top seven players next season.

Granted, the Eagles got a boost, to put it lightly, when Byron Wesley moved into their school zone prior to this year. The 6-foot-5 junior committed to USC may have been the best player in San Bernardino County this season. Coming back from the team that nearly topped Mater Dei and lost a heart-breaking CIF State semifinal by three to Long Beach Poly on Thursday are three starters and the first two players off the bench.

One of those returning starters alongside Wesley is point guard Jordan Daniels, who if he were five inches taller would be raking in the scholarship offers. The lightning quick 5-foot-9 junior may play some college basketball yet the way he is progressing. He is a pass-first point guard who has great range and is a defensive whiz. The other returning starter is junior post man Tyler La Cour, who seemed to find his stride near the end of the season.

Perhaps moving into the starting lineup will be 6-foot-3 guards Evan Jenkins and/or Troy Fiawoo, both of whom have adopted Etiwanda's devotion to defense. Fiawoo is a capable 3-point shooter and Jenkins is a hard-nosed player capable of getting to the rim with regularity, the combination of which may make the Eagles more dangerous next year without losing anything defsnsively. Replacing seniors Zach Smith and Aaron Crockett will be no small task, seeing as both played vital roles as starters this season. Crockett was a fierce rebounder and capable of scoring in bunches with his smooth jumper, though his number wasn't called often on the offensive end. Smith was plain and simply the Eagles' defensive stopper, a role essential to this team built around defense.

BOYS SOCCER
Coach of the Year:
Gerard Solarzano, Los Osos; Antonio Garcia-Bautista, Rancho Cucamonga
MVP
Lee Nishanian, Los Osos, Sr., MF

first team
Jacob Davies Alta Loma, Sr., D
Cameron Sonzena, Alta Loma, Jr., D
Ryan Conner, Claremont, Sr., D
Tim Christenson, Claremont, Sr., F
Leo Rendon, Etiwanda, Sr., F
Andrew Rios Flores, Etiwanda, Sr., MF
Corey Shostetter, Los Osos, Sr., F
Kameron Dunn, Los Osos, Sr., F
Dane Johnson, Los Osos, Jr., D

BOYS BASKETBALL
Co-MVPs:
Byron Wesley, Etiwanda, Jr.; John Gilliam, Upland, Jr.

first team
J.J. O'Brien, Alta Loma, Sr.
Donovan Poole, Alta Loma, Sr.
Jordan Daniels, Etiwanda, Jr.
Kendall Williams, Los Osos, Sr.
Khail Kelley, Los Osos, Sr.
Justin Long, Rancho Cucamonga, Sr.
Chris Powell, Upland, Sr.

The charges against Claremont High School senior running back Tyler Singleton were brought in court on Wednesday for two incidents involving 14- and 15-year old female classmates. Singleton, 18, was charged with two counts of statutory rape - one a felony and one a misdemeanor - that combined carry a potential prison sentence of three and a half years.

The Wolfpack's three-year starting running back, however, wasn't charged with forceful rape, which the 14-year-old alleged victim said happened last month at Cahuilla Park. Singleton admitted to having sex with her but said it was consensual. Here is a link to the story on DailyBulletin.com.

Etiwanda boys basketball coach Dave Kleckner left the Honda Center dejected after Saturday night's loss to Mater Dei in the Division 1AA championship game, but it only got worse once he arrived home.

Watching the Fox Sports Prime Ticket replay of the 68-65 loss to the top-ranked team in the state later Saturday night, Kleckner and the Etiwanda assistant coaches saw a slow-motion replay as Etiwanda's Evan Jenkins attempted a game-tying 3-pointer at the buzzer. The junior was obviously raked across the arms by Mater Dei's Eli Stalzer, but no foul was called.

"I didn't think it was that obvious and that bad of a call at the time," Kleckner said. "But it looked like much more of a foul on the replay."

Saturday night, however, wasn't the most upset the Etiwanda coach has felt exiting the Honda Center.

The hoops for hope charity basketball event in February put on by Los Osos High School has raised nearly $19,000 to be donated to City of Hope and San Antonio Community Hospital for cancer reasearch.

Inspired by Los Osos boys basketball coach David Smith, who was deemed cancer free after a second surgery on Feb. 25, and Ontario fire fighter Chip Smith, whom David Smith met as they underwent cancer treatment together, the Ontario, Chino, Upland and Rancho Cucamongs fire departments played a basketball tournament at Los Osos Feb. 20 to raise money.

The question looming after the Etiwanda boys basketball team's 68-65 loss to Mater Dei in the CIF-SS Division 1AA championship on Saturday: Was Evan Jenkins fouled as he was stripped attempting the game-tying 3-pointer at the buzzer? The clip below leaves nothing to mystery... take a look.

Staff Writer Adrian Cruz uncovered this video clip

Etiwanda went the length of the court with 5.2 seconds left and got a look at a potentially game-tying 3-pointer, but Evan Jenkins was stripped as he went up for the shot. The Etiwanda bench erupted thinking it was a foul, but nothing was called as the clock ran out on Mater Dei's 68-65 win in the Division 1AA championship game.

If Etiwanda's Tyler La Cour isn't the coolest customer on the court, Mater Dei's Gary Franklin must be. The Etiwanda post man just calmly drained a baby hook while double teamed on the left block for La Cour's 15th and 16th points. Before you could blink, Franklin converted a three-point play at the other end to give Mater Dei a 66-63 lead with 2:31 to play in the game.

Byron Wesley is taking matters into his own hands. The USC-bound Etiwanda junior scored two of the last three times down the court to pull Etiwanda within a point before the teams traded offensive rebound put-backs to cut Mater Dei's lead to 62-61 with 3:40 to play.

Mater Dei went on a much-needed 8-0 run late in the third quarter to take a 53-49 lead with 49 seconds to play. The top-seeded Monarchs lead is 55-51 entering the fourth quarter. Tyler Lamb heated up again for Mater Dei, scoring the first four points of the 8-0 run that began with two minutes remaining in the third quarter. Lamb now has 19 points on 9-of-17 shooting. His backcourt mate, Franklin, had a big quarter to up his total to 16 points on 5-of-9 shooting.

These two heavyweights traded blows to begin a third quarter Etiwanda entered with a one-point lead. With 2:41 remaining in the third, Etiwanda leads 47-45 after am Eli Stalzer 3-pointer closed the gap for Mater Dei.

Gary Franklin hit a pair of jumpers for Mater Dei and Stalzer has come off the bench to drain a couple of pivotal 3-pointers. Etiwanda has gotten contributions from several players, including point guard Jordan Daniels, who has four points and an assist in the quarter.

Etiwanda ripped off an 11-2 run to end the half and ignite the crowd at the Honda Center and take a 30-29 lead into the locker room. Eagles junior Tyler La Cour scored 9 points in the second quarter to lead the effort, including a surprising 3-pointer from the top of the key that sparked Etiwanda to life when it trailed 22-15. Wesley assisted La Cour for a bucket before hitting a pull-up 3-pointer of his own with 1:34 to play that pulled Etiwanda within three.

Some halftime numbers:
Mater Dei - Tyler Lamb, 11 points on 5-of-10 shooting.
Etiwanda - Byron Wesley, 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting.

Shooting percentage: Mater Dei - 37% (11 for 30); Etiwanda 42% (13 for 31)

Tyler Lamb scored five straight points - he has 11 on 5-of-8 shooting - to give the top-seeded Monarchs a 22-15 lead with 6:11 remaining before the half. The UCLA-bound senior is scoring from inside and outside. Meanwhile, Byron Wesley, Etiwanda's leading scorer is having trouble shaking his defender, Arizona State-bound Keala King.

Sixth-seeded Etiwanda appeared a little shaky early, but Byron Wesley's lay-up as he was fouled with 4:01 left in the first quarter sparked a 7-3 Etiwanda run. Mater Dei's three were a trio of free throws by Cal-bound point guard Gary Franklin, who was fouled shooting a 3-pointer.

Etiwanda junior Troy Fiawoo came off the bench to hit a 3-pointer after which Jordan Daniels dropped a nice assist to Aaron Crockett to make the score 12-9 with 1:15 left in the first.

After Mater Dei's Tyler Lamb, a senior guard headed to UCLA, buried a silky jumper to start the game, Mater Dei reeled off four straight fast break points to take a 6-2 lead. Katin Reinhardt added a transition 3-pointer for a 9-2 lead with 5:14 left in the first quarter.

Etiwanda's leading scorer Byron Wesley made a nice driving floater on the Eagles' second possession of the game. On their first, Mater Dei's Keala King bit on a Tyler La Cour pump fake and jumped OVER the Etiwanda post man.

When Etiwanda took the court to begin warming up for the CIF-SS Division 1AA boys basketball championship game against Mater Dei, the top-ranked team in the state, the Eagles were a little cramped on their side of the court as Fox Sports Prime Ticket was filming a promotional bit with Mater Dei's star players that spilled over mid-court.

It was a perfect illustration of the dichotomy between these two teams - a nationally ranked Mater Dei powerhouse (USA Today has them 11th in the country), and an Etiwanda team that was seeded sixth in its own division. Mater Dei averages 88 points per game and won its semifinal by 36 (yes, 36) points. Etiwanda plays a gritty defensive style that is certainly not sexy, but this program went to a CIF final in 2008 and lost a competitive game to Mater Dei in last season's semifinals.

We're about to tip off at the Honda Center in the final game of the night. This game appears a mismatch in a lot of ways, but I'm expecting a close contest similar to when these two met last year.

Of the 4 Inland Valley wrestlers competing at state, two have made it to the second day.
Colony senior 160-pounder Cody Dixon and Rialto heavyweight Giordan Porter, are both hoping to become their schools' first-ever state placers.
Dixon will wrestle No. 7-ranked Ian Roy of Poway to stay alive Saturday morning. Dixon lost to the No. 3-ranked wrestler and defeated No. 4
Porter lost his third-round match in double overtime, and remained alive in consolation, winning his last match 1-0 on a late escape.
Tim Maldonado (119) of Los Osos and Brian Ryu of Diamond Bar (heavyweight) did not make it to Day 2.

For those of you who won't be able to make the trip to the Honda Center in Amaheim for Saturday's CIF-SS basketball championships, I'll be live blogging from the Eisenhower and Etiwanda games.

No. 1 seed Eisenhower takes on second-seeded Pasadena at 12:30 p.m. in the Division 2A final. Sixth-seeded Etiwanda will face No. 1 seed Mater Dei, the top-ranked team in the state and USA Today's No. 11 team in the country, in the Division 1AA final at 6:30 p.m.

Here's how the Inland Valley wrestlers fared so far through two championship rounds at the CIF State championships in Bakersfield on Friday. Two losses on the first day and you're eliminated. Some wrestlers didn't have to wrestle until the second round.

Tim Maldonado, Los Osos (119)
won 11-6, lost 12-4

Cody Dixon, Colony (160)
lost to No. 3-ranked Bryce Hammond, 15-1

Giordan Porter, Rialto (heavyweight)
won via pin in 1:46

Brian Ryu, Diamond Bar (heavyweight)
defaulted first match due to injury (it appeared to be an ankle). not sure if he'll continue. He'll have a few hours before his next match.

The Etiwanda boys basketball team vaulted from unranked to ninth in the state's highest division after outsing Long Beach Poly from the CIF-SS playoffs. Here are the CalHiSports.com rankings though the Feb. 27 games (with last week's rank in parenthesis)... for more check out all the divisional rankings on CalHiSports.com which include defending state champ Eisenhower and Summit in D2, and La Verne Lutheran in D5.

Division I
1. (1) Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 28-1
2. (2) Westchester (Los Angeles) 26-3
3. (4) Newark Memorial (Newark) 26-3
4. (5) Taft (Woodland Hills) 24-4
5. (3) Poly (Long Beach) 26-4
6. (6) Leuzinger (Lawndale) 23-6
7. (8) De La Salle (Concord) 25-2
8. (10) San Ramon Valley (Danville) 25-2
9. (NR) Etiwanda (Rancho Cucamonga) 23-8
10. (7) Loyola (Los Angeles) 26-3
11. (13) Castro Valley 23-5
12. (15) Serra (San Mateo) 23-5
13. (12) Crenshaw (Los Angeles) 21-4
14. (NR) Santa Monica 24-6
15. (NR) Sheldon (Sacramento) 23-5

Click the link below to see CalHiSports.com's girls Division 1 state rankings (hint: Etiwanda fans, you'll be interested in these, too)...

Here is a link to a scout.com story about Upland High School freshman quarterback Nate Romine, who worked out with UCLA's Richard Brehaut and Brehaut's offensive coordinator at Los Osos, Matt Bechtel, the current Colony head coach.

Romine has a busy summer ahead, during which he'll take part in several prestegious quarterback camps before taking a few unofficial visits to some big-name Pac-10 schools including USC, UCLA, Oregon, Cal and Arizona.

The question is, how busy will Romine be when the season starts in the fall? We may have a great battle brewing for the starting quarterback job with the incumbent Justin Nunes, who battled injuries last season but ended the year as the signal caller for the CIF champions.

Two local baseball players made Baseball America's top 100 high school players in the class of 2010.

Los Osos catcher Jake Hernandez, who signed with USC on Feb. 3, is No. 77. Hernandez, who had been verbally committed to the Trojans since his freshman year, batted .365 with five home runs and 21 RBI last season.

Upland's 6-foot-6 pitcher Scott Frazier is Baseball America's 98th-ranked prospect. The right-hander is committed to Pepperdine.

After Kendall Williams and UCLA mutually agreed to end the Los Osos point guard's two-year commitment this summer, Williams has found a new college basketball destination. The 6-foot-3 senior verbally committed to New Mexico on Monday after considering offers from Clemson and Florida. Other schools who showed late interest were Georgetown, Iowa and Colorado.

"I feels good to be re-locked up," Williams said. "I think (de-committing from UCLA) was behind me the week after it happened. It was actually pretty fun to play this season not committed to anyone. Luckily some schools were interested in me and I ended up in an even better situation for me."

Williams was famously the second-ever sophomore to which Duke issued a scholarship offer after Florida coach Billy Donovan set off a recruiting frenzy by offering Williams at a 2007 summer camp to which the rising sophomore wasn't even fornmally invited.

When David Smith received a call from his doctor on May 26, "He basically told me, 'You're gonna die.'"

Ten months later, the Los Osos High School boys basketball coach is cancer free. Smith underwent his second surgery on Thursday, this to combat any cancerous tumors in his liver. The remaining seven to nine tumors that had spread from his colon - where the cancer originated - were all calcified, according to Smith's wife Mary Jane, who sent this text message Thursday night.

"Another mircle. Cancer could not be found. All tumors were calcified."

After seven years as the offensive coordinator at Los Osos High School, Matt Bechtel was hired as the head football coach at Colony High School on Monday, pending board approval that can come no sooner than March 2. Bechtel, 35, begins his first stint as a head coach with plenty of hopes for a Colony program that won CIF championships in 2006 and 2007.

"If you look at the success at Colony and the potential there, it's the type of program that can be a force not just in the area but in the entire Inland Empire," Bechtel said. "I don't think winning will so much be the challenge here as it will be to adjust to a new coaching staff and a new philosophy."

Bechtel has spent nearly his entire coaching career in the Inland Empire, beginning with a year as an assistant at Cajon in 1996 before spending 1997-2002 as the quarterbacks coach at Upland. He was hired in 2002 to be the offensive coordinator at Los Osos, where he remained save the 2008 season during which he was the Chaffey College offensive coordinator.

Bechtel was the head coach-in-waiting at Los Osos behind Tom Martinez, the Grizzlies' inaugural head coach.

"My phone was blowing up all day with people asking me why I would leave if I was the next guy at Los Osos," Bechtel said. "It was a tough decision - I've had other opportunities since I've been at Los Osos - but I felt like this was the perfect fit with my philosophy. Tom (Martinez) is a young man. He's got plenty of years left and I didn't want to be the one to push him out."

Etiwanda junior offensive tackle Jamal Prater was offered a scholarship by Washington State on Monday, according to Etiwanda head football coach Steve Bryce. This could be the first of many offers for the 6-foot-5, 295-pound right tackle seeing as every Pac-10 school except Arizona has already been in contact with him.

In fact, Washington State has been interested since assistant coach Malik Roberson, at Etiwanda to finalize the commitment of Eagles senior receiver Bobby Ratliff in November, couldn't help but notice Prater in the weight room.

"Coach Roberson just happened to be talking to Bobby over in the area where the offensive linemen were working out," Bryce said. "And Jamal was doing plyometric jumps onto a 38-inch box and I saw coach Roberson do a double take when this 6-5, 285-pound kid was jumping up onto these boxes like they were nothing."

Roberson immediately asked for some game film of Prater and called Bryce the next day in search of his transcripts. Prater's 3.4 grade-point average will only increase his options.

Los Osos High School is hosting a charity basketball event on Saturday to raise money for cancer. Inspired by Los Osos boys baskeball coach David Smith, who is battling colon cancer, and Ontario Fire Department captain Chip Smith, whom David Smith met while both were undergoing cancer treatment, three basketball games will be played in an effort to raise money for cancer research at City of Hope and San Antonio Community Hospital. The basketball games, however, won't feature high schoolers.

Saturday's Baseline League Wrestling Finals Results
Top 3 advance to CIF-SS Inland Division individual tournament at Fountain Valley HS, 4th place is alternate.
103: 1. Derek Avalos (Alta Loma), 2. Justin Padilla (Los Osos) 3. Omar Rivera (Etiwanda) 4. Trevor Zbinden (Rancho Cucamonga), 112. Michael Rodriquez (AL), 2. Spencer Glasheen (Upland), 3. Andrew Avila (Etiwanda), 4. Alex Miller (LO), 119: Tim Maldonado (LO), 2. Justin Silva (AL), 3. Marvin Cano (U), 4. Evan Romero (E), 125: 1. Andrew Decker (U), 2. Taylor King (AL), 3. Danny Cardenas (E), 4. Anthony Banke (LO), 130: 1. Eli Mack, (AL), 2. Kyle Voce (LO), 3. Travis Chapman (U), 4. Paul Gallant (E), 135: 1. Jacob Leon, (AL), 2. Evan Coss (E), 3. Sasan Amini (LO), 4. Tim Tran (RC), 140: 1. Joseph Rodriquez, (AL), 2. Albert Hernandez (U), 3. Dylan Handlen (LO), 4. David Velasquez (E), 145. Jaykob Miller (E), 2. Javier Hernadez (AL), 3. Jonathan Ivy (Claremont), 4. Javier Aguilar, 152: 1. Larry Cutbirth (E), 2. Elijah Anderson (AL), 3. Brandon Cruz (U), 4. Brennan Biewener (Cl),160: 1. Jon Solano (LO), 2. Antonio Rivera (E), 3. Kyle Maloney (U), 4. Jordan Toki, (AL), 171: 1. Ian Poling (U), 2. Andrew Giles (AL), 3. Ramon Carlos (E), 4. Chris Hughes (RC), 189: JJ Everard (E), 2. Adrian Giles (AL), 3. Anthony Martinez (LO), 4. Nick Auzenre, (RC), 215. Ameer Mohameed (U), 2. Egypt Littlejohn (E), 3. River Harris (RC), 4. Ryan Mansfield (LO), Hvy: 1. Bret Cote (LO), 2. Javier Gonzalez (U), 3. Austin Miley (E), 4. Kevin Valle (AL).
Alta Loma and Etiwanda Qualified 11 kids for CIF. Upland had 10, Los Osos had 8, Rancho Cucamonga and Claremont had 1 each

Claremont High School senior running back Tyler Singleton, 18, was arrested Thursday on suspicion of raping a 14-year-old female classmate. The three-year starter on the football team, a two-time All-Baseline League selection, was released from custody Friday after posting $100,000 bail. Here is a link to the story.

• Having not received his Fresno State sweatshirt by Wednesday's signing ceremony, Los Osos High School cornerback Sean Alston borrowed a Bulldogs sweatshirt from a fellow Fresno signee who conveniently attend a school less than a mile from his. Greg Watson, quarterback of rival Rancho Cucamonga, invited Alston to his house to pick up a sweatshirt..."Once enemies," Alston said, "now teammates." The sweatshirt may not have been the coolest peice of Fresno State paraphernalia on Alston's person Wednesday. The Los Osos senior was wearing a cotton replica of an old school facemask-less Fresno State footbal helmet... if those things don't catch on soon, I'll be shocked.
• Richard Bell, the father of Colony cornerback Jered Bell, made a deal before his son signed with Colorado on Wednesday. A wing back at Nebraska from 1985-90, Richard agreed to brand himself a Colorado fan for as long as Jered wears the black and gold. "As soon as he graduates," Richard said, "I'm back to Nebraska."
• Colony running back Jamil Austin, who after a 2,000-yard season signed with Portland State of the FCS (formerly Division I-AA), was offered an official visit to Washington State by the coaching staff a week before national signing day. He refused, staunchly unwilling to go back on his verbal commitment to Portland State, displaying an attitude that has all but disappeared in the back-stabbing mayhem that has become college recruiting.

Tossing around a few candidates for the recently vacated Colony High School head coaching position...

Matt Bechtel: As some of the comments have mentioned, Los Osos High School's offensive coordinator seems the hottest assistant coach in the Inland Valley. If he's not playing the role of Texas' Will Mushcmap to Los Osos head coach Tom Martinez's Mack Brown, Colony might be a good fit for a young up and coming coach like Bechtel. After a year at Chaffey College, the effect Bechtel had in his return to Los Osos last season was obvious. Having graduated three-year starting quarterback Richard Brehaut to UCLA and do-everything running back Arby Fields to Northwestern, Los Osos surged to the CIF championship game in no small part because of Bechtel.

Eric Martinez: The Upland defensive coordinator has not only been to four consecutive CIF-SS Central Division champioinship games (emerging on the winning side of three of them), he has gone twice as Colony's defensive coordinator. After winning titles with the Titans in 2006 and 2007, he coordinated the Upland defense that carried the Highlanders to the 2009 CIF title. His ties to Colony coupled with his uncanny run of success seem to make him an obvious candidate.

John Kuslieka: The former Alta Loma head coach whose name staff writer Pete Marshall brought up is famaliar with the area. In eight years at Alta Loma before resigning last season, Kuslieka compiled a 36-37-1 record, the last seven seasons of which were in the ultra-competitive Baseline League. Kuslieka seems to have the right mix of a hard-line attitude and motivational approach that might work well at Colony.

National signing day was a long time coming for Jake Hernandez, who has been verbally committed to play baseball at USC for nearly as long as he has been attending Los Osos High School.

Despite finally following through on the verbal commitment the catcher made as a freshman by inking his name on a letter of intent Wednesday, in an ironic twist the senior may not play at USC, depending on where he is selected in the June Major League Baseball first-year player draft.

That didn't make signing his name on Wednesday any less sweet.

"USC has always been my dream school," Hernandez said. "It was an unbelievable feeling to actually sign and make it real."

Kori Carter validated Stanford's interest with three state championships. And counting.

On Wednesday the Claremont High School hurdler gave Stanford her stamp of validation by signing a national letter of intent to join the Cardinal. The senior, whose decision came down to scholarship offers from Stanford and USC, is looking forward to more than just track when she arrives in Palo Alto.

"It really wasn't a tough decision," Carter said. "Yeah I had others recruiting me but Stanford can develop me academically and athletically. So, I kind of got the best of both worlds."

Carter, the two-time defending 300-meter intermediate hurdling state champion and defending 100-meter high hurdling state champ, will run both events in college. She passed Stanford's rigirous acceptance process last summer, shortly after which she verbally committed to the school that has shown interest in her since she was a freshman.

"Track is such a big part of my life, one of my biggest passions," Carter said. "For it to get me to college is amazing."

Chaffey High School running back Ronald Douglas, whose 2,671 yards, were the third-most in the state when his season ended in the quarterfinals of the CIF playoffs, has verbally committed to Sacramento State of the FCS, formerly Division I-AA. The 5-foot-11, 185-pound senior, who averaged eight yards a carry and scored 24 TDs this season, also had scholarship offers from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and San Jose State.

Gary Berwick, a three-year starter at center for Rancho Cucamonga High School, has verbally committed to the University of San Digeo, also of the FCS. The 6-foot, 235-pounder was the quarterback of the offensive line that helped lead the Cougars to an undefeated 2008 season and the CIF-SS Central Division championship.

Spoke with Rancho Cucamonga quarterback Greg Watson today after the senior's verbal commitment to Fresno State on Saturday... the Bulldogs, who traditionally run a pro-style offense, informed Watson they will install a spread offense package for him as early as next season.

The other three quarterbacks that will be on next season's Fresno State roster - starter and rising senior Ryan Colburn (2,400 yards, 19 TD, 11 int), a rising sophomore and another incoming freshman - are all pro-style quarterbacks.

"(Head) coach (Pat) Hill is going to teach me how to play quarterback in a pro-style offense but they're going to put in a spread offense for me as a freshman," Watson said.

Whether Watson will be available to run that offense next season depends on how much he can learn between now and then.

"If I can learn enough by the first game, I can play and not redshirt," Watson said. "So, as of right now it's up to my brain. I can't wait to get up there and soak it all up like a sponge."

Apparently Rancho Cucamonga High School quarterback Greg Watson's trip to Fresno State this weekend went well. The senior verbally committed to the Bulldogs today, according to Rancho Cucamonga head coach Nick Baiz.

Fresno State was recruiting the 6-foot, 180-pounder as a quarterback as opposed to Oregon, which offered Watson as a defensive back last winter before pulling the offer shortly thereafter upon receiving commitment from another DB.

Per this earlier blog entry, former Alta Loma High School running back Donta Abron has officially enrolled at Upland, confirmed by Upland assistant coach Mike Esquivel.

The 5-foot-8, 175-pound tailback, only a sophomore, rushed for 1,356 yards and seven touchdowns for a winless Alta Loma team last season. The second-team All-Inland Valley selection will join a backfield that graduated 57 percent of the rushing yardage from its 2009 CIF championship team. Upland head coach Tim Salter labeled Abron one of the best backs in the Baseline League.

This move probably hurts an Alta Loma program coming off an 0-10 season more than it helps Upland. Abron accounted for 80 percent of Alta Loma's rushing yardage and 55 percent of its total offense last season. Upland brings back starting running back Walkeem McDonald (72-452, 2 TDs) and leading rusher Cole Champman (86-513, 3 TDs), though they were two of many in the running back rotation as juniors. A year after going with the platoon approach to the rushing attack, it'll be interesting to see how much of the load Salter will allow Abron to carry.

Upland High School All-CIF cornerback Corey Sims verbally committed to Sacramento State of the FCS, formerly Division I-AA, on Monday, according to Upland assistant coach Mike Esquivel. Sims led the Highlanders with five interceptions and six pass break-ups on a defense that carried Upland to a CIF championship allowing less than 11 points per game.

The 5-foot-11, 182-pound speedster was the top vote-getter among All-CIF-SS Central Division defensive backs. He made 40 tackles and played a fair amount of running back for Upland, averaging over 10 yards per carry. Sims ran for 245 yards and four TDs as a senior and caught three passes for 74 yards.

When Redlands East Valley quarterback Tyler Shreve committed to Utah earlier this week, he cancelled his visit to Fresno State scheduled for this weekend. The next quarterback on Fresno State's list, according to director of the SGV/IE Scouting Service James Escarcega, is Rancho Cucamonga dual-threat quarterback Greg Watson.

Watson will visit Fresno State this weekend.... and they are recruiting the 6-foot, 180-pound senior who runs a 4.55-second 40, as a quarterback, according to Rancho Cucamonga head coach Nick Baiz. Oregon offered Watson as a defensive back last winter, but the offer was eventually pulled when Oregon received a verbal commitment from another DB while Watson held out for an offer to play quarterback. The 2008 CIF-SS Central Division MVP may soon have his wish granted.

I think Watson has the tools to play quarterback at the Division-I level, particularly in a spread offense. He's got the arm, the mobility, the speed... the only thing he's lacking is a couple of inches and he's only 16 years old, so he could easily hit another growth spurt.

"In every recruit's mind, when you hear of a coaching change the first thing that comes to mind is de-commitment," said Rancho Cucamonga High School tight end Randall Telfer, who has been verbally committed to USC since April 2. "But I committed to USC, not Pete Carroll."

In other words, the 6-foot-4, 230-pound senior will honor his verbal commitment to the Trojans despite the departure of coach Pete Carroll to Seattle and arrival of Lane Kiffin from a brief stay at Tennessee. In fact, around this time last year, Kiffin was trying to lure Telfer to Tennessee.

During that 48-hour period after Carroll left for the NFL, Telfer admittedly didn't feel terribly comfortable.

"We talked about some other options if they hired someone he wasn't comfortable with," Rancho Cucamonga head coach Nick Baiz said. "But it really never had time to progress."

Kiffin's hire plus the new coach's decision to retain the coach that recruited Telfer, tight ends coach Brennen Carroll (Pete's son), erased most of the doubt. A few conversations with fellow USC committed players who intended to honor their pledges erased the rest.

"It would be difficult to just up and leave right now," Telfer said. "I've been with USC a long time and no matter what's happening with the football program, it's always going to be a good school."

The 5-foot-10, 185-pound senior received offers from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to play cornerback and Division I-AA Idaho State to play wide receiver. With the option to remain a quarterback at a Division-I program, Santiago said the decision was not a difficult one.

"I know that I'm not your protypical 6-2, 6-3 quarterback," he said. "But I knew somebody that runs the spread or the triple option would give me a shot."

When prospective colleges call to inquire about Etiwanda High School's 5-foot-10 quarterback, Eagles head coach Steve Bryce makes sure to slip the name Jeremiah Masoli into each conversation.

"Same height," Bryce said. "Of course Masoli is 220 pounds and Angel is about 185."

Despite the weight disparity between the Oregon QB and his own, Santiago's efforts have landed him scholarship offers from Army, Idaho State and Cal Poly SLO with an offer from Northwestern potentially coming soon. Idaho State, in the process of a conversion to the same spread offense in which Santiago piled up 9,500 yards and 65 TDs as a three-year starter at Etiwanda, wants him to play quarterback. Army is offering him as an athlete.

I haven't spoken to Santiago lately but I can't imagine him passing up an offer to play quarterback in college. I was afraid he wouldn't get a single offer to play QB and if scouts were afraid of offering him at a positon they'd never seen him play, that could have left a great, great high school player out in the cold. Now Santiago is not only going to play college football, but he has options.

Here are the boys basketball matchups for the Martin Luther King one-day event at Los Osos High School. Tickets are $6 for adults and $3 for students.

8 a.m. - Ontario vs. San Dimas
9:30 a.m. - Bishop Amat vs. Charter Oak
11 a.m. - Serrano vs. Claremont
12:30 p.m. - Diamond Bar vs. Rancho Cucamonga
2 p.m. - Chino Hills vs. Los Alamitos
3:30 p.m. - Glendora vs. Garey
5 p.m. - Twentynine Palms vs. Alta Loma
6:30 p.m. - Santa Monica vs. Etiwanda
8 p.m. - Los Osos vs. Ayala

CIF-SS CENTRAL DIVISION
Co-offensive players of the year: Angel Santiago, QB, Etiwanda, Sr.; Jamil Austin, RB Colony, Sr.
Defensive player of the year: Tim Helton, LB, Upland, Sr.
Coach of the year: Tim Salter, Upland

OFFENSE
Quarterback
Greg Watson, Rancho Cucamonga, Sr., 6-0 190
Chad Jefferies, Glendora, Jr., 6-3 180
Ryan Verdugo, Chino Hills, Sr., 6-1 195

Running back
Derrick Malone, Colton, Sr., 6-3 205
Tyler Ervin, Colton, Jr., 6-0 175
Cody Rogina, Los Osos, Jr., 5-10 185
Michael Boyd, Rancho Cucamonga, Sr., 5-10 180

DIVISION I-AA
1. Mater Dei
2. Long Beach Poly
3. Corona Centennial
4. Upland
5. Rancho Verde
6. Etiwanda
7. Thousand Oaks
8. Montebello
9. Oxnard
10. Los Alamitos
11. Los Osos
12. Redlands
13. Jordan
14. Lakewood
15. Ventura
16. Vista Murrieta

Thomas Cordova/Staff Photographer

The Baseline League boys basketball race has been fairly uncomplicated the past two seasons - thanks to Etiwanda High School. Since Feb. 2, 2007, the back-to-back outright league champs have lost one league game.

Leading up to league play this year, that simplicity seemed to have graduated along with eight of the top nine players who led Etiwanda to the semifinals in the largest division of the CIF-Southern Section last season. The Eagles were a pedestrian 8-6 entering Tuesday's league opener against Alta Loma (the same Alta Loma team that beat them by 10 on Dec. 17 in the quarterfinals of the Inland Empire Invitational tournament it eventually won).

Having lost four of its past seven games before Tuesday, league foes had to be wondering if Etiwanda finally was vulnerable this year.

"I think people on the outside thought so, but the coaches in this league knew we lost to some pretty good teams," Etiwanda head coach Dave Kleckner said. "Nobody's going to take Etiwanda for granted. Four of our losses came to teams that were probably in the top 20 in the state."

In my recent interview with Upland's Tim Salter for the football Coach of the Year story, I wasn't asking all the questions. Fresh off a CIF championship, the Upland coach, who is one of the most engaging in the Inland Valley, had a question for me.

"Why weren't we in your preseason Top 10?"

A valid question, to say the least, given that the Highlanders lost two games by a total of five points this season on the way to a CIF title. Ironically, with one spot left in my preseason Top 10, I was debating between two teams: Upland and Los Osos - the two that eventually squared off in the CIF-SS Central Division championship game. I gave the spot to Los Osos, which seemed to have lost slightly less from its star-studded 2008 team.

Recalling my preseason efforts, or lack thereof, I thought I'd do final rankings based on all that transpired in the 2009 season. Not just a Top 10 but a slotting of every team in the Daily Bulletin coverage area...

Upland High School is graduating 15 starters from the team that claimed the CIF-SS Central Division championship but the Highlanders may be adding a significant piece to their football team next season. Rumors are circling that Alta Loma sophomore Donta Abron, a second-team All-Inland Valley running back who rushed for 1,356 yards last season, may soon transfer Upland.

Upland head coach Tim Salter confirmed that Abron had not yet enrolled, but if he is going to it will likely be when Upland's second semester begins in three weeks.

"It sounds like he's going to register but I don't know because I haven't talked to him," Upland coach Tim Salter said. "So as of now it's a no."

Alta Loma head coach Jose Fuentes, who's team went 0-10 in 2009 (making Abron's 1,451 total yards and 7 TDs that much more impressive given his status as the primary target of every defense) said he was unaware of any plans for Abron to transfer but knew his sophomore running back was absent from school on Monday.

Abron would undoubtedly be a welcome addition to an Upland team graduating 57 percent of the rushing attack that was the driving force of its offense. The Highlanders are graduating three from a platoon of running backs that ran five players deep. The two returning are junior starter Walkeem McDonald (72-452, 2 TDs) and leading rusher Cole Champman (86-513, 3 TDs), also a junior.

"(Abron) was one of the best backs in the league," Salter said. "He ran hard, especially for a sophomore. He played well against just about everybody in our league."

It was Dec. 21, the Monday before Christmas, when I was doing some shopping at the Costco in San Dimas.
I came around the corner and I heard a familiar voice. It was Upland football coach Tim Salter with his wife Tricia, doing some Xmas shopping for some frames to show off CIF Championship photos.
But Tim was on his cell phone at the time, talking to who else? It was none other than colleague Clay Fowler, the one who primarily posts on this blog and Clay was talking to Tim about all-Inland Valley football. Tim was also wearing an Upland polo shirt, fresh from a coach of the year photo shoot by a Bulletin photographer done at Upland High School.
Not wanting to appear rude, I talked with Tricia for a few minutes and waited until Tim was off the phone to say hello and chat for a few minutes about what else? Football.
I think wives of high school football coaches (especially head coaches) deserve an award for patience and understanding. Had I been in Tricia's position, I probably would have thought, 'can't we ever get away from football?" But she's been married to Tim too long that I'm sure situations like what happened that Monday don't surprise her any more.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR:
Anthony Brown, Senior running back/defensive back, Kaiser High School
The USC-bound Brown missed two games this season but still compiled 1,681 yards and 18 touchdowns on 198 carries in leading the Cats to their ninth consecutive Sunkist League championship and the semifinals of the CIF-SS Eastern Division. Brown, who is talented enough on both sides of the ball that USC hasn't yet determined what position he'll play in college, had 55 tackles and an interception as a cornerback.

COACH OF THE YEAR:
Tim Salter, Upland High School
A season after graduating four players with a collective total of circa 50 scholarship offers, Salter led Upland to its first CIF championship since 2000. With members of an offense that averaged more than 35 points per game gone to Stanford, Northwestern and Arizona State, Salter rode a defense that held opponents under 11 points per game to his third CIF championship at Upland.

San Dimas' Bill Zernickow finished a close second after guiding the Saints to their first ever CIF championship this season. After taking Diamond Ranch from its second consecutive 1-6 start to a second consecutive CIF championship game appearance, Roddy Layton was under consideration along with Los Osos' Tom Martinez, who led the Grizzlies to the school's first-ever CIF championship game after losing 38 seniors.

Will Lester/Staff Photographer
Upland head coach Tim Salter celebrates the Highlanders' 19-7 win over Los Osos in the CIF-SS Central Division championship game on Dec. 11.

With re-leaguing taking effect next school year, here are the 2010 leagues:

Baseline League:
Alta Loma
Etiwanda
Glendora
Los Osos
Rancho Cucamonga
Upland

Citrus Belt League:
Eisenhower
Fontana
Miller
Redlands
Redlands East Valley
Yucaipa

With two quarters left in its regular season on Nov. 13, the Upland High School football team found itself trailing Claremont in a game that would determine fourth place in the Baseline League, a position that didn't even offer an automatic playoff berth.

Six weeks, four playoff victories and a CIF championship later, Upland coach Tim Salter surmised that 2- and 3-point losses may have cost the Highlanders a trip to one of the state-championship bowl games played last Saturday. Though its defensive style made for plenty of close contests during a 12-2 season, Upland's losses to Etiwanda (18-16) and Rancho Cucamonga (34-31) ended up being its only blemishes of the season.

"I think if we don't lose those two games," Salter said, "We play in the bowl game."

In addition to Baseline League defensive MVP Tony Washington, Los Osos landed a league-high 10 players on the first team. Upland, which tied with Rancho Cucamonga with seven first-team members, matched Los Osos with five on the defensive first team.

After throwing for 2,459 yards with 18 TDs and 10 interceptions in addition to rushing for 916 yards and 17 TDs, Etiwanda quarterback Angel Santiago was named the league's offensive MVP. Etiwanda landed five on the first team, including Santiago's favorite target, reciever Bobby Ratliff.

Webb senior Chris Sazo was named Division 6 player of the year on Monday and Tom MacKinlay, coach of Webb's 2008 CIF championship team, earned coach of the year honors. Two of Sazo's teammates - Chandler Talleur and Matt Abrams - were named first team all-CIF.

CIF-SS Division 5 finalist Los Osos landed three players on the first team: Sean Evans, Tyler Abbott and Dominic Vicino. On the Division 3 first team are Damien's David Purington and Eric Osterberg following the Spartans run to the semifinals.

The Compton Dominguez and Etiwanda High School basketball teams navigated the 32-team 2008 CIF playoff bracket to the semifinals but managed to miss matching up with each other.

A win each in today's first round and the two Southern California powers will meet in the second round of the Inland Empire Classic. And neither Compton Dominguez nor Etiwanda is the best in the 32-team tournament that kicks off today, according to Rancho Cucamonga coach Bill Burke, one of the four organizers of the tournament. That distinction doesn't even go to defending state champion Eisenhower, rather Corona Centennial, which has already defeated Etiwanda this season.

"This is the best field we've ever had," Burke said of the 10-year-old tournament. "We have to play better competition if we're going to play well in the Baseline League. I think a lot of teams realize that and that's why they want to come to this tournament and play the best competition around."

Last year, Upland trotted out four players with Division I college scholarship offers, ran up more than 35 points per game behind now Stanford QB Josh Nunes and generally wowed anybody in sight. This year's version of the Highlanders featured a faceless offensive unit with a philosophy resembling something like three yards and a cloud of turf pellets.

Yet it is Josh's younger brother Justin Nunes (above, right) who woke up this morning the quarterback of a CIF champion after a 19-7 win over Los Osos Friday night while Upland's four horsemen will have to settle for being college football players. Those of you familiar with espn.com's Bill Simmons are aware of the Ewing theory, spawned from the 1998-99 Knicks reaching the NBA finals without an injured Patrick Ewing and applicable to any team's success following the departure of marquee players. An Upland team that didn't even make the Daily Bulletin's preseason top 10 due to the substantial losses to graduation won the title this year that last year's team was supposed to win.

Of course, last year's team was an offensive juggernaut. This year's team won with defense, which is exactly why the offense seemed so drab. Once head coach Tim Salter scored enough points to get a lead, the objective of the offense was to run out the clock.

A closer look at the matchups in the CIF-SS Central Division championship game between Baseline League co-champion Los Osos (9-4) and Upland (11-2), the fourth-place team from the Baseline League.

OFFENSIVE LINE: Advantage Los Osos
This unit may be the largest advantage held by Los Osos at any position. The left side of the line in particular, tackle Nick Martin, a 6-foot-5, 285-pound senior with a scholarship offer from UNLV, and 6-4, 275-pound guard B.J. Sonboli, will be a difficult matchup for an Upland defense that is lacking the size of Los Osos. The Grizzlies average nearly 250 pounds per member up front but a fast Upland defense will test their athleticism. Los Osos' game plan figures to involve an abundance of the power running game, but pushing the Upland defense down the field will not be an easy task.

QUARTERBACK: Advantage Los Osos
Los Osos offensive coordinator Matt Bechtel says first-year starting QB Blake Loncar would be as big a college prospect as three-year starter Richard Brehaut (UCLA) was had he even had one more year of experience. The 6-foot-4 senior can make all the throws and seems to have improved with each game. The pocket passer's only weakness is a lack of mobility. Upland junior Justin Nunes, who missed seven games this season due to injury, has basically been asked not to lose games. The first-year starter and younger brother of Stanford QB Josh Nunes, who led Upland to the championship game last year, has passed for 120 yards per game with six interceptions and three TDs.

Defense in any sport is more difficult to grade than offense for the simple fact that statistics usually don't to justice to defense like they do offense. This is no different with the Upland High School football team's defensive unit but what's amazing about Upland's defense is that even its numbers are awesome.

However, if you saw the Highlanders play last week in a 13-7 win over a Chino Hills team that came in averaging 28 points per game, you know even their numbers don't do justice to their dominance. From start to finish this season (well, near-finish. Upland has one game remaining, that being the CIF-SS Central Division championship game against Los Osos on Friday) what Upland's defense has done may be the most impressive of any single unit - offense, defense, special teams - in the Central Division.

Here are some of those stats:

• The Highlanders are allowing 11 points per game


• Only once this season have they given up more than 20 points


• During a four-game stretch, they allowed a total of 13 points


• In three playoff games, they have surrendered a total of 30 points


• Midway through the fourth quarter on Friday, they had allowed Chino Hills 74 total yards, zero points and forced seven three-and-outs

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It's .500 record certainly appears a reflection of the fact that it graduated all five starters and eight of its top nine players, but the Etiwanda boys basketball team may be overachieving.

The Eagles, who reached the CIF semifinals and finals, respectively, the last two seasons, may be in line to make another deep playoff run despite a 2-2 record four games into the season. One of the losses came in overtime to defending state champion Eisenhower. The other was a two-point loss -- courtesy of a pair of free throws awarded on a questionable last-second call -- to Corona Centennial, the No. 4 team in the Los Angeles Times preseason rankings.

"We just don't have any game experience," Etiwanda coach Dave Kleckner said. "Other than (junior forward Byron Wesley), nobody else has really competed on the varsity level."

Kendall Williams, the Los Osos High School senior point guard who de-committed from UCLA this summer - it was a mutual decision according to Williams and UCLA coach Ben Howland - is currently considering three offers: Marquette, Baylor and Long Beach State. This according to Los Osos baskeball coach Dave Smith, who said Williams decided to wait until the late signing period (April 14) to make his decision.

Williams committed to UCLA prior to his sophomore season at Los Osos but it's interesting how things have changed. After a phenomenal showing at a University of Florida camp the summer after his freshman year, fresh of back-to-back national titles, Florida coach Billy Donovan set off a recruiting frenzy by offering Williams. Prior to his sophomore season, Williams had a short list of Duke, UCLA, Washington, Arizona and Florida.

I don't think the 6-foot-3 Williams has filled out like the college scouts thought he would, but when he does he's going to make some coach very happy. He's as competitive as they come and a phenomenal all-around talent.

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The significance was obvious in a raucous post-game celebration Saturday night at Chaffey College, but the importance to Los Osos High School of reaching the CIF-SS Central Division final showed itself most evidently about 13 minutes and 28 seconds earlier.

Defending CIF champion Rancho Cucamonga had just completed a 93-yard drive with a haymaker of a 61-yard touchdown pass from reigning Central Division MVP Greg Watson to freakishly talented USC-bound tight end Randall Telfer. It was the Cougars' second touchdown in the last seven minutes and dropped Los Osos into a 21-14 hole with the rain picking up and the first CIF final appearance in school history slipping away.

Unphased, Los Osos twice pieced together drives to win the game, sandwiching a Rancho three-and-out in between. Whether is was a fourth-down conversion or a 59-yard kickoff return, it was apparent Los Osos wanted this game the most. As Rancho Cucamonga admitted of the three-point regular-season loss to Los Osos that snapped its 21-game unbeaten streak, it's difficult to maintain the level of hunger required to win a CIF title. The Cougars were plenty motivated against their crosstown rivals who had already beaten them but the Grizzlies' motivation to reach their first-ever CIF football final couldn't be trumped.

Oh yeah, Los Osos had some other motivation too. In a fast-growing rivalry between schools separated by a mile, the Grizzlies wanted the last word this season.

"I've got four words," Los Osos quarterback Blake Loncar said. "Their season is over."

"They look like a team on a mission. When I looked at them on film, we're really going to have to bring our 'A' game."

On the Chino Hills defense:
"They look like they have pretty good size and they get a lot of hats to the ball like we do. Whenever they make a tackle, it's a gang tackle."

On Chino Hills WR/RB Ifo Ekpre-Olomu:
"You can't keep him from getting the ball. They've got so many ways to get it to him that you can't take him out of the game. And even if you can bottle him up on offense, you've got to contend with him on punt and kickoff returns.
"They seem to find a new way each week to get him the ball."

"Upland is used to being here. This is a new thing for Chino Hills. But this isn't the first big game we've played in."

On the Upland defense:
"That's one of the most athletic defenses I've ever seen. And they've got a lot of those same athletes playing on their offense.
"With Upland's defense being as good as it is, I would hope for a low-scoring game."

On Chino Hills WR/RB Ifo Ekpre-Olomu:
"He is a good football player and we like to, as the playoffs continue, find as many ways as we can to get the ball to him. Being a defensive guy, I know if you can stop one player like him it gives you a better chance to win, so I know they're going to try and stop (Ekpre-Olomu)."

Rancho Cucamonga quarterback Greg Watson didn't mince words when addressing his team's Saturday semifinal playoff game with crosstown rival Los Osos. In fact, he only needed a few of them.

"Four words," Watson said. "We're going to win."

Saturday's CIF-SS Central Division semifinal is just the latest chapter in a rivalry that has grown into one of the area's best in essentially the last two years. Los Osos is only eight years old and Rancho's program took a downward turn circa 2006 just as Los Osos was coming into its own. For the past two years, however, both have been at the top of their game: Rancho won a CIF championship last season and Los Osos took the Baseline League title from the defending champs this year. What seems to have taken this rivalry to another level is Los Osos' 31-28 win this season during which it warmed up in its away jerseys before changing into home jerseys prior to a Rancho home game - Los Osos provides the home field for the two schools separated by one mile - that seems to have taken the rivalry to another level.

"They disrespected us," Watson said.

Los Osos, however, believes it's the one receiving the least respect.

Reigning CIF-SS Central Division MVP Greg Watson will likely not be 100 percent when his Rancho Cucamonga High School football team takes on Glendora in Friday's first round of the playoffs, but the quarterback of the defending CIF champs will play, according to Cougars head coach Nick Baiz.

"He's fine," Baiz said. "He's good to go."

Watson suffered a leg injury when he was dragged down from behind with eight minutes left in Rancho Cucamonga's eventual 27-24 overtime loss to Etiwanda last Thursday, after which he didn't return to the game. I saw the play in question and it was clear that Watson's legs buckled awkwardly as he was horse-collared. He limped off the field and spent a good portion of the rest of the game on the trainers table before watching the rest of the game from the sidelines.

Baiz preferred not to elaborate beyond calling it a leg injury. "Let's just leave it at that," he said. "I'd tell you but I don't want to tell 1,000 people."

FIRST ROUND
No. 1 Colton over Don Lugo
Rancho Cucamonga over Glendora
Chaffey over Hemet West Valley
No. 4 Los Osos over Arroyo Valley
Chino Hills over No. 3 Wildomar Elsinore
Etiwanda over Cajon
Damien over Upland
No. 2 Colony over Menifee Paloma Valley

QUARTERFINALS
No. 1 Colton over Rancho Cucamonga
No. 4 Los Osos over Chaffey
Etiwanda over Chino Hills
No. 2 Colony over Damien

SEMIFINALS
No. 1 Colton over No. 4 Los Osos
Etiwanda over No. 2 Colony

FINALS
Etiwanda over No. 1 Colton

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Glendora 34, Ayala 20
After this Thursday night loss knocked them into fourth place in the Sierra League, Ayala's only avenue to the playoffs is the Central Division's one at-large bid, for which it will have stiff competition. The Bulldogs' only hope is for Claremont to knock off Upland in the Baseline League's fourth-place game tonight, giving Ayala and Claremont identical 6-4 records and an equal shot at the bid. If Upland wins, it will have an 8-2 record and easily be the at-large team.

Etiwanda 27, Rancho Cucamonga 24 (OT)
Folloiwing a Rancho Cucamonga field goal on its overtime possession, Etiwanda QB Angel Santiago hit Gary Ayala with a 25-yard touchdown pass on the Eagles first play of OT to earn the Eagles at least a share of the Baseline League title. All Los Osos needs for a co-league championship and the No. 1 seed in the league is a win tonight over winless Alta Loma.

Don Lugo 42, Garey 28
The Conquistadores won the third-place game in the Mt. Baldy League thanks to 291 yards and four touchdowns from running back Steven Bethley. Don Lugo claimed the last playoff spot in the league behind Colony, who clinched the league title with a 39-13 win over Montclair Thursday and second-place Chaffey which beat Ontario, 42-21.

Other Thursday night scores:
Summit 35, Riverside Patriot 12
Summit snaps losing streak, clinches final playoff spot in the Sunkist League.
Miller 52, Eisenhower 12
Win or lose, Miller was locked into third place in the Citrus Belt League.
Pomona 33, Ganesha 12
After costly loss to Covina last week, Pomona finishes in 4th in the Valle Vista League.

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With one week left in the regular season, the outcome of this league appears fairly simple...unless, of course, winless Alta Loma upsets Los Osos on Friday. Before we get into the mind-bending scenarios that would create, I'll cover the more likely outcomes.

If Los Osos beats Alta Loma, it will share a league title with the winner of Thursday's Rancho Cucamonga-Etiwanda winner but Los Osos will be the No. 1 playoff seed thanks to wins over both Rancho and Etiwanda. Under this circumstance, the three automatic playoff berths will go to Los Osos, Rancho and Etiwanda, leaving Upland and Claremont to play the fourth-place game on Friday.

Despite being for fourth place, the Claremont-Upland game is vital because the winner could get the CIF-SS Central Division's lone at-large playoff berth.

Tony Washington chose Oregon of his 12 scholarship offers, issuing a verbal commitment to the Ducks on Sunday, according to Los Osos head coach Tom Martinez. The 6-5, 225-pound defendive end was scheduled to visit Oregon State Nov. 14, but decided to go ahead and narrow his top four - Oregon, Arizona, UTEP and Oregon State - to one.

The 49th-ranked weakside defensive end in the country, according to rivals.com, has 4.5 sacks and 51 tackles, eight for loss, this season. His other scholarship offers included Arizona State, Hawaii, Nevada, Colorado State, San Diego State, New Mexico State and Idaho.

Washington, who runs a 4.7-second 40 and has a 40-inch vertical, gained about 25 pounds in the offseason but it is apparent he has a frame that can hold considerable more weight. He is 225 pounds but still looks like a skinny kid.

Here is a story I wrote last week about Washington, who is coping with the sudden death of his father eight days before this season began.

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There are only two remaining teams undefeated in the Baseline League and they'll both be on the same field Friday night when the top-ranked squad in the CIF-SS Central Division, Upland (7-0, 2-0) hosts No. 7 Etiwanda (5-2, 2-0).

CHAMPIONSHIP IMPLICATIONS
"This game," Etiwanda coach Steve Bryce said, "is a lot bigger than it looked last week."

When defending CIF and Baseline League champion Rancho Cucamonga went down a week ago, Etiwanda-Upland became a battle for the inside track to win a league title.

"Whoever wins this game controls their own destiny," Upland coach Tim Salter said. "Whoever loses is going to need some help. So, in terms of winning a league championship, you want to come out of this one a winner."

Much is being made of the Los Osos High School football team wearing its home jerseys in a potentially season-making 31-28 win over defending CIF champ Rancho Cucamonga on Friday. The game was played at Los Osos, which serves as the home field for both teams but Rancho Cucamonga happened to be the home team on Friday.

Los Osos coach Tom Martinez didn't say the move was done an effort to get under the champs' skin, but he didn't have to.

During the week leading up to the game Martinez consulted the blue book, which stated the visiting team was required to wear "light" jerseys, not "white." Los Osos' powder blue home uniforms were close enough, in his estimation.

"I thought it would help us be a little more intense," Martinez said.

I personally don't see anything wrong with a little gamesmanship; I think the high school level doesn't have enough of it. Rancho Cucamonga and Los Osos, which are a mile apart, don't like each other from the coaching staffs on down to the freshmen. Things like this are innocent enough but help fuel a rivalry that has quickly grown into one of the area's best, impressive considering Los Osos has only been in existence for seven years.

As for the football implications, saying this win saved Los Osos' season may not be an understatement.

Baseline League play begins tomorrow. Here is my guess at how it will end:

Rancho Cucamonga: 4-1
Upland: 4-1
Etiwanda: 4-1
Los Osos: 2-3
Claremont: 1-4
Alta Loma: 0-5

An outright champion in this league is a rarity. To find an example, one has to look as far back as... well, last season. This begs the question: How in the WORLD did Rancho Cucamonga go unscathed despite the presence of an eventual CIF finalist (Upland), a semifinalist (Los Osos), and a team (Etiwanda) that lost a one-point playoff game to the other semifinalist?!? I mean, the guy quarterbacking Los Osos last season played against Oregon on Saturday!

Rancho Cucamonga quarterback Greg Watson threw for 371 yards and five touchdowns in a 48-28 win over Temecula Valley on Friday. The reigning CIF-SS Central Division MVP completed 17 of 34 passes with no interceptions to keep the defending CIF champs undefeated. The senior more than doubled his previous season high in passing yardage.

Runner-up: Angel Santiago, Etiwanda, quarterback
Another Baseline League quarterback lit it up Friday night but Santiago's 410 total yards weren't enough as the Eagles fell 27-26 to defending Southeast Division champ Charter Oak. The senior completed 14-of-32 passes for 260 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. He also rushed for 150 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries before Charter Oak's fourth-down 45-yard game-winning touchdown pass with 28 seconds to play.

2nd runner-up: Montigo Alford, Summit, running back
The junior set school records with 247 rushing yards and five total touchdowns in Summit's 42-20 win over Sultana on Friday. Alford carried just 14 times for four touchdowns and caught two passes for 28 yards and another TD.

Leave a comment. Ask a question. Or e-mail me at clay.fowler@inlandnewspapers.com

For three and-a-half games on Thursday night, I felt sorry for the Rancho Cucamonga High School volleyball team. The Cougars fought their guts out, but running uphill each and every game would eventually wear them out, right?

Turns out it only made them stronger. Once Rancho Cucamonga finally seized the momentum, it surged ahead in the one game where an early lead is the most essential - the one to 15 instead of 25. Rancho coasted downhill to a 15-8 Game 5 win to steal the match from a Los Osos team that swept it in the final of Los Osos' own tournament a few weeks ago. The game scores were 19-25, 25-20, 19-25, 25-20, 15-8.

Los Osos leads' in the first four games: 17-11, 15-10, 16-11, 15-10. The Cougars recovered to win two of those, including the pivotal Game 4 by winning 15 of the last 20 points. After not taking a lead until 19-18 in both Game 2 and Game 4, Rancho won the first five points of Game 5 in surging to an 8-3 lead.

Alta Loma senior J.J. O'Brien committed to Utah on Sept. 16 after visiting the campus in Salt Lake City, Utah the first weekend of September.

The versatile 6-foot-6, 205-pound small forward, a first-team all-Inland Valley player a year ago, narrowed his eight scholarship offers to a final three of Utah, Creighton and San Diego State.

"(Utah) just had a way better family feel than anywhere else," O'Brien said. "I decided to go ahead and commit before the season because a lot of people told me I couldn't get any more attention than I did this summer."

Rancho Cucamonga High School grad Terrell Thomas entered the NFL season buried on the New York Giants' depth chart. It's funny how much things can change in a month.

Four games into the season, Thomas, a second-year cornerback out of USC, has started four games for the league's No. 1 defense whose top ranking against the pass hardly does it justice considering the gap between second place.

The Giants are allowing 115 pass yards per game. Philadelphia? 156, Denver 162, etc. Here is the list. Granted, the Giants' schedule hasn't exactly been stacked thus far with Washington, Dallas, Tampa Bay and Kansas City.

Not only did Giants starting cornerback Aaron Ross hurt his hamstring before the season openrer, so did his back up Kevin Dockery, the same Dockery whose injury allowed Thomas to claim a primary role in the Giants' nickel defense as a rookie last season. If the numbers are any indication, the 24-year-old from Alta Loma isn't much of a drop-off, if any.

"You're obviously getting a better feel for the game overall because you're in on every play," Thomas told the Newark Star-Ledger last week. "I feel like I've got a lot of work to do. Your job is never secure in the NFL. It's a high-performance business, and you know every week they're looking to replace you."

It took Claremont High School running back Tyler Singleton just eight carries to roll up 184 yards and two touchdowns in a 52-14 win over Ontario on Friday that helped Claremont (3-1) surpass its win total of the last two seasons combined. Last year's leading rusher in the Baseline League has 450 yards on the ground to pull within seven yards of second-place behind Alta Loma's Donta Abron. Rancho Cucamonga's Michael Boyd leads the league with 576 rushing yards.

RUNNER-UP: Pomona running back Taj Teague ran for 257 yards on just 16 carries in the Red Devils' 18-7 win over Gabrielino on Friday. The senior scored on 90- and 71-yard touchdown runs.

2ND RUNNER-UP: Ayala's Michael Trujillo touched the ball four times and finished with four touchdowns in the Bulldogs' 44-7 route of South El Monte on Friday. The senior running back had two carries for 39 yards and a pair of receptions for 52 yards.

Leave a comment. Ask a question. Or e-mail me at clay.fowler@inlandnewspapers.com

"We haven't been down 14 points in a year and a half. You can't find out how your team is going to respond to a situation like that until they're in it."

- Rancho Cucamonga head football coach Nick Baiz after his team's 35-25 win over defending CIF champion and CIF-SS Southeastern Division No. 1 Charter Oak on Friday. Rancho Cucamonga, the defending CIF-SS Central Division champ, erased a 14-0 deficit by scoring 28 of the next 31 points.

• I think Rancho Cucamonga High School's Greg Watson inspired me to believe he could play quarterback in college more last year than he is this year. The primary reason for that doesn't have much to do with Watson himself. Rancho Cucamonga is truly a running team this season; plus the Cougars graduated their two track-star receivers (No, seriously... Charles Saseun is at Cal on a track scholarship and Irshad Stoden is playing football at UNLV), in the process losing much of the opportunity to utilize Watson's most obvious passing strength, the deep ball. The reigning CIF-SS Central Division MVP hasn't had enough opportunity to find a passing rhythm, averaging five less attempts per game this season than he did last year. He is throwing for less than 150 yards per game whereas he averaged 189 last season. The good news is Watson's team appears it will have him on a big stage again this year but if he is to secure a Division I scholarship to play quarterback (in a quality program) some things are going to have to change.
• I think Kaiser cemented the fact it has successfully made the transition from legendary coach Dick Bruich to his longtime defensive coordinator Phil Zelaya with a 20-0 win over Cajon on Friday. The Cats' defense may not have produced a more impressive performance under Bruich than holding a Cajon team, then-ranked No. 2 in the Central Division, 50 points below its average. Yes, Cajon was averaging 50 points. Granted, Kaiser appears to have as much talent this season than it has had in recent memory (USC-bound RB Anthony Brown, touted LB Josh Shirley, etc.), but its hard to say Zelaya isn't maximizing it. It doesn't get any easier for Kaiser, who has Colony and Colton next on the docket before delving into an improved Sunkist League.
• I think I'm more than a little surprised Pomona is ranked No. 3 in the CIF-SS Mid-Valley Division. I realize the Red Devils are 3-0 but I think Pomona coach John Brown would agree that doesn't tell the entire story. Brown, in fact, was nothing less than disgusted with his team after a sloppy 14-0 victory over Alhambra Keppel on Thursday. Pomona's three opponents thus far have ratings on calpreps.com of -6.4, -13.2 and -24.2. Pomona's rating is 3.9 while the top-rated team in the Valle Vista League, San Dimas, is 16.6. Of course, San Dimas was voted into the No. 4 spot in the Mid-Valley Division behind you know who. The good news for Pomona is five of their final seven opponents have negative ratings on calpreps.com, including three Valle Vista League teams.

There were copious game-changing plays during Rancho Cucamonga's 35-25 victory over Covina Charter Oak on Friday in a battle of defending CIF champions. Here are the five most important in descending order:

1.
Chayz Holt's field goal block and Sateki Finau's ensuing game-tying 68-yard return for a touchdown as time expired on the first half was the game's most pivotal moment.

While there were still two quarters to play, Rancho Cucamonga had been thoroughly outplayed to that point and faced a potential 17-7 halftime deficit had Charter Oak kicker Robert Poage, who demonstrated he had the leg for the 46-yard boot, made the attempt with 5 seconds left in the second quarter.

Instead, Finau corralled the ball off a high bounce and made a key cut inside of the few Charter Oak players between him in the end zone, allowing a wall of Rancho Cucamonga blockers to escort him to the touchdown that made the score 14-14.

Charter Oak coach Lou Farrar joked that he used to refer to nonleague games as practice games. With the Fox Prime Ticket cameras encircling the field tonight, Farrar allowed "they don't feel like practice games anymore."

When defending CIF champions Rancho Cucamonga (3-0) and Covina Charter Oak (3-0) clash tonight, it could have state-championship implications. Though neither of these teams, who tied 14-14 last season on the way to identical 13-0-1 records, is proclaiming it'll march to consecutive CIF titles, the significance of tonight isn't lost on either side.

"It may be just another nonleague game but it feels more like a CIF championship game," Rancho Cucamonga coach Nick Baiz said. "I don't know if it's because its on TV or its two defending CIF champions, but it feels big."

Etiwanda High School receiver Bobby Ratliff verbally committed to Washington State Tuesday night, according to Etiwanda head coach Steve Bryce. The 6-foot-2, 180-pound receiver also had scholarship offers from Fresno State, Nevada and New Mexico.

Oregon and UCLA showed interest, the Bruins going so far as to invite Ratliff for an official visit, but the senior opted for the school that had been pursuing him for more than a calendar year.

"UCLA was one he was really interested in," Bryce said. "But he didn't want to wait after he talked with his dad and myself and we told him these other teams haven't offered you because they've got their 'A' list and their 'B' list and they're waiting to see what's going to happen with their 'A' list."

Bryce first turned Washington State onto Ratliff when it was recruiting former Etiwanda and current Cal receiver Marvin Jones two years ago. WSU has been in heavy persuit since before Ratliff's junior season (45 receptions, 617 yards, 5 TDs) until he broke Jones' single-game school record five days ago with 14 catches for 147 yards.

"He visited (Washington State) two weeks ago," Bryce said. "And it looks like he'll have an opportunity to play there pretty early."

• I think Etiwanda QB Angel Santiago is ready to lead his team to contention for a Baseline League/CIF title (they're comparable accomplishments in the Central Division). Though this is his third year as a starter, I wasn't drinking the Kool-aid until I saw Santiago play Friday in a 37-27 loss to a Norco team anybody in the Central Division would have a tough time with. His numbers the past two seasons have been great but whenever I saw Santiago play, I was less than impressed. This year, not so much. He's got more zip on his passes, he's quicker to make decisions running and throwing and he's a better leader. Norco coach Todd Gerhart readily admitted nobody is going to stop Santiago for four quarters.
• I think Pomona has a realistic shot at the playoffs this season. The Red Devils liked to talk about the playoffs last year but really weren't terribly close to beating any of the three playoff teams in the Valle Vista League - their average margin of defeat to San Dimas, Northview and Covina was 17.7 points. Pomona has more visible talent this season than I can remember in my three years here. San Dimas will probably win the league but last year's champ, Northview, is having a rough season, to put it lightly. Pomona has a fightin' chance with Covina and Baldwin Park for those final two postseason berths.
• I think if Rancho Cucamonga beats Charter Oak in a battle of defending CIF champs, it could have the first real shot at a bowl game since California started the state-championship format. The odds are against Rancho running the table in the Baseline League with Etiwanda improved and Upland and Los Osos still strong. But they did it last year. Now they've got the star power to gain consideration for a bowl game. A win over a Charter Oak team that could win a second straight CIF title coupled with a second consecutive CIF championship for Rancho... there's a long way to go but for the first time the Inland Valley has a chance to land a team in a state championship game.

The Claremont High School boys cross country team ascended to the top ranking in CIF-SS Division II this week. It's ranked fourth in the entire state, according to dyestatcal.com. While its CIF ranking hit the ceiling, coach Rob Lander expects the Wolfpack's state ranking to climb after it was the first D2 team across the finish line in a strong field at the Woodbridge invitational over the weekend.

CIF-SS DIVISION II RANKINGS
1. Claremont
2. Camarillo
3. Westlake
4. Foothill
5. Thousand Oaks
6. Anaheim Canyon
7. Saugus
8. Redondo Union
9. Loyola
10. Ayala

Fresh off the first CIF championship in school history, the Los Osos boys water polo team is set to embark on a run for another.

Coach Eric Cypher, who led the girls water polo team to the second CIF title in Los Osos history in the spring, chalks up the Grizzlies' No. 1 ranking in the CIF-SS Division V preseason poll to last season's accomplishments.

"That," Cypher said, "is just a courtesy ranking."

Los Osos High School grad Richard Brehaut may not be the only one to play quarterback for UCLA on Saturday in relief of injured starter Kevin Prince. Coach Rick Neuheisel told the L.A. Daily News he wouldn't be surprised to see both the true freshman and senior Kevin Craft play against Kansas State.

Neuheisel still hasn't announced who will start but Brehaut took the majority of the snaps with the first team in practice on Tuesday. In this L.A. Times story Brehaut is talking like somebody who thinks (or maybe even knows) he's going to start.

L.A. Daily News columist Jill Painter thinks Brehaut should start. In fact, save a few judicious Neuheisel quotes, I haven't read anything with an ounce of support for Craft, who threw a school-record 20 interceptions opposite 7 touchdowns last year.

Claremont High School junior receiver Tanner Kuramata caught 10 passes for 173 yards Friday night, including a 55-yard touchdown to set the tone in Claremont's 31-28 win over Bonita. Entering its season opener, Claremont had a combined two wins during its last two seasons while Bonita has made the playoffs three years running.

Runner up: Colony High School cornerback Jered Bell, who had two interceptions, including one that set up the game-winning drive in Colony's 25-20 win on Friday over the top-ranked team in the CIF-SS Southeast Division, Diamond Ranch.

Of course, he hasn't yet said the UCLA starting quarterback job is Los Osos High School graduate Richard Brehaut's on Saturday but coach Rick Nenheisel wouldn't say the job is Kevin Prince's when he returns from a broken jaw in 3 to 4 weeks.

"Certainly I don't like the notion of a guy losing his job because he gets hurt," Neuheisel told the L.A. Times in this story. "But you always make the decisions that are best for the team at the time you need to make them."

While Prince, a red-shirt freshman, led UCLA to a 2-0 start, including a monumental win at Tennessee, I think Neuheisel believes he isn't so far ahead of Brehaut in his development that the true freshman from Los Osos can't catch up with a few starts. With each quarterback retaining four years of elegibility, this is likely just the first chapter of this story.

With UCLA starting quarterback Kevin Prince out 3 to 4 weeks thanks to a broken jaw suffered in the final minutes of Saturday's 19-15 win over Tennessee, Richard Brehaut, who graduated from Los Osos High School in May, is expected to start against Kansas State, according to sources in this L.A. Times story.

UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel hasn't yet announced whether Brehaut or senior Kevin Craft will get the nod. Craft threw a school-record 20 interceptions as a fill-in starter last year.

Brehaut left Los Osos early to enroll at UCLA in time for spring practice, during which Prince, a red-shirt freshman, won the battle for the starting job. Everything I read cited Brehaut's unfamiliarity with the offense as the overwhelming reason he was relegated to a back-up role. And the race didn't exactly seem like Prince won in a run-away.

Since these two QBs are both freshmen, it will be interesting to see how their parallel career's play out. Is Brehaut ready to steal the job after Prince led UCLA to its most impressive road win in years? That's a tall task, to be sure. Having watched Brehaut plenty in high school, he doesn't seem like a practice player. While he has all the measurables (arm strength, accuracy, mobility) his best attribute is play-making ablilty, particularly under pressure - something that reveals itself most plainly in game situations. This may be his first opportunity to show it... who knows when he'll get another one.

• I think Los Osos HS is glad to have offensive coordinator Matt Bechtel back after he spent a year at Chaffey College. The Grizzlies' short-passing scheme was nicely tailored for QB Blake Loncar in his first start, a 31-12 win over Colony Thursday. The play calling was exemplary too, capped by a wide-receiver pass for the game-clinching TD.
• I think Rancho Cucamonga tight end Randall Telfer looks like a different person after adding 20 pounds over the summer. The 6-foot-4, 230-pound USC-bound senior defied logic by getting bigger and faster (via speed training). He only caught two shovel passes in Rancho's 27-14 win over Damien Friday but he glided through the defense for a 33-yard TD with one of them. He's going to have a monster year.
• I think Colony is a better team than the squad that went 5-6 last season. The Titans have a talented defense and a good enough running game. Their 31-12 loss to Los Osos on Thursday was closer than the score indicated. It was 14-6 in the 4th quarter and 17-6 with 6:30 left in the game before Los Osos scored two long TDs. Colony plays a brutal nonleague schedule but it'll contend for a Mt. Baldy League title and have a better showing in the playoffs this season.

Those who glanced at the score - Rancho Cucamonga 27, Damien 14 - were assuredly not struck with apprehension.

Those in attendance for Rancho Cucamonga High School's first game since winning the CIF-SS Central DIvision championship, may have thought otherwise.

I was at the game but I'm with the first group. Despite some concerning developments in their first game, the Cougars have everything in place to compete for a CIF title again.

Speaking of the concerns...34 seconds before the fourth quarter, the Cougars were a holding call away from trailing a Damien team that went 3-7 last season. With two minutes left in the first half, reigning Central Division offensive MVP Greg Watson was 0-for-4 with one more completion to Damien than his own team.

There are good reasons for these (a resurgent Damien team, for one).

Justin Nunes would have a lot on his plate even if he weren't the younger brother of the quarterback that led Upland High School to the CIF championship game last season.

Before older brother Josh joined the Stanford football team in August, he digested Upland's offense for three years as a starter. The Highlanders are trying to keep it simple for their new QB.

"It's difficult to re-tool after having the same quarterback for three years," Upland head coach Tim Salter said. "There are so many things you can do when you're working with the same guy for that long. We're just asking (Justin Nunes) to run the offense and not turn the ball over."

Nunes, a 6-2, 195-pound junior, is undoubtedly the most important replacement but Upland is filling plenty of major holes, including that of departed RB Davion Fleming, who took his 1,700 all-purpose yards with him to Northwestern.

"Anytime you lose your quarterback, running back and two Division-I DBs, people are going to say 'How are you going to do it again?'" Salter said.

Angel Santiago is entering his third year as Etiwanda High School's starting quarterback. He has already accounted for nearly 6,000 yards and 50 touchdowns in his career.

Now he's going to show what he can really do?!?

"We're expecting a breakout season from him," Etiwanda coach Steve Bryce said. "Our expectations are really high not just throwing the ball but running the ball too."

Santiago passed for 2,449 yards and 19 TDs last season. In 313 pass attempts he was intercepted just seven times (a completion percentage of 59 wasn't too shabby either). And that's just throwing the ball...

The defending CIF champs are flat-out scary.

A Rancho Cucamonga High School offense that averaged 30 points per game returns perhaps the best QB-WR combination in the country in reigning CIF-SS Central Division offensive MVP Greg Watson and USC-committed tight end/receiver Randall Telfer.

But that's not all. The Cougars' top two running backs return. As do three starting offensive linemen.

And Watson, who accounted for over 3,500 yards and 30 TDs last season, has a new reason to do even better.

It was announced Tuesday that a matchup between defending CIF-SS champions will be televised at 7:30 p.m. by PRIME TICKET on Sept. 25 when Rancho Cucamonga visits Covina Charter Oak to settle a score.

A meeting between these two eventual undefeated CIF champions ended in a less than satisfying 14-14 tie in Week 3 of last year. That, it just so happened, turned out to be the lone blemish on each team's schedule the rest of the season.

Who could have imagined what a colossal game the rematch would turn out to be?

Greg Watson, quarterback of the reigning CIF champions, has picked up his first scholarship offer, according to Rancho Cucamonga High School coach Nick Baiz.

Oregon offered the junior on the condition that he play defensive back, something Watson apparently isn't averse to.

"He'll play anything, anytime, anywhere," Baiz said. "He just wants to play."

Watson, who is generously listed at 6-feet, is extremely athletic but seemingly possesses all the skills to play quarterback in college. The only drawback seems to be his height.

It will be interesting to see how the junior's outlook on what position he'll play in college evolves as more offers inevitably come rolling in.

Etiwanda High School defensive end Ibe Nduka was offered a scholarship by Fresno State on Monday and accepted on the spot, according to Etiwanda coach Steve Bryce.

Nduka's teammate, running back Vince Minor, committed to the University of New Mexico on Thursday, a week after he received the scholarship offer

The 5-foot-11, 215-pound Nduka took a trip to San Diego State last weekend but was not offered by the Aztecs. The first-team All-Inland Valley selection was scheduled to visit Fresno State this coming weekend. Nduka collected 12.5 sacks and 102 tackles this season on his way to earning Baseline League co-MVP honors.

Minor, who had 1,473 combined rushing and receiving yards and 17 touchdowns as a senior, had an offer from San Diego State before Aztecs' coach Chuck Long was fired in late November. Toby Neinas, the same assistant coach that rectuited Minor at SDSU, was hired at New Mexico.

"(Minor) was worried because San Diego State was his only offer," Bryce said. "But he had such a great rapport with his the coach, Nienas."

Minor, who will play running back at New Mecixo, was an all-Baseline League cornerback as a junior before the coaching staff restricted his playing time on defense as a senior.

It wasn't planned - a slate of this magnitude is practically something you can't make up - but the Etiwanda boys basketball team's nonleague schedule ended up reading something like a state tournament bracket.

Weschester, Compton Dominguez, Taft - these are the No. 2, No. 5 and No. 7 teams in the STATE, according to Calhisports.com. Etiwanda (No. 8 in Calhisports state rankings) has faced all of them.

The three teams represent each of the Eagles' three losses through 15 games this seaon. But the three losses came by a combined total of nine points.

"Westchester, well they just beat us," Etiwanda coach Dave Kleckner said before the Eagles' 41-point blowout of Rancho Cucamonga Thursday night. "But the other two, we were right in those games, just couldn't finish them."

The CIF-SS Central Division champion Rancho Cucamonga football team is looking for a sponsor for it's Feb. 27 banquet.

Interested parties please e-mail Sherry Berwick at Sherry1271@aol.com

Football season isn't over yet for a couple of area quarterbacks.

Los Osos High School's Richard Brehaut and Upland's Josh Nunes will play in the Under Armour All-America Game Sunday night in Orlando, Fla. The all-star game featuring some of the top high school juniors and seniors in the country will air on ESPN at 5 p.m.

Here is a link to the player profiles.

The Baseline League cleaned house at the All-CIF football meeting Wednesday, claiming 19 of the 40 first-team selections.

To nobody's surpirse, Rancho Cucamonga's nine were the most from any single team. The Central Division champion Cougars also produced both the offensive and defensive MVPs.

Offensive MVP: Greg Watson, Jr., QB
Defensive MVP: Daniel Fonua, Sr., LB

Offensive MVP - Greg Watson, QB, Jr., Rancho Cucamonga

Defensive co-MVP - Ibeakalem Nduka, DE, Sr., Etiwanda
Defensive co-MVP - Jesse Gonzales, LB, Sr., Los Osos
Defensive co-MVP - Daniel Fonua, LB, Sr., Rancho Cucamonga

We all know the Baseline League isn't Inland Division championship material. One collective playoff win in three years is a trend, not a coincidence.

But with three teams in the semifinals its first year in the less competitive Central Division, a Baseline League that used to disappear come playoff time has been vindicated.

There is a lot of glamour that tarnishes the Baseline in some people's eyes, a lot of hype that gives them more reason to dismiss it upon failure. But there is a reason two of the league's quarterbacks will be playing in the Pac-10 next year - they're good - and they're showing it right now. (Get used to it, at least one of next year's glamourous Baseline QB's is Pac-10 caliber)

The Sierra League is solid to be sure. And the Mt. Baldy League deserved credit for producing the Central Division champion the last two years, although it would have been interesting to see Colony navigate a bracket including the Baseline and Sierra Leagues.

Having narrowly finished second in their leagues - Chino Hills by a one-point loss plus an unfavorable coin flip and Los Osos by an overtime loss to Rancho Cucamonga - the Huskies (10-1) and No. 2 seed Los Osos (9-2) find themselves in a high-profile quarterfinal meeting in the CIF-SS Central Division playoffs. If circumstances were slightly different, Los Osos and UCLA-bound QB Richard Brehaut (above) wouldn't be meeting a one-loss league champion this early in the playoffs.

Beginning with the game-winning 86-yard drive he led off the bench as a sophomore, Los Osos quarterback Richard Brehaut has shown an affinity for delivering in the clutch.

Friday night was no different. Brehaut completed his final seven pass attempts for 113 yards and two touchdowns in Los Osos' 41-28 win over then No. 1 Upland.

Los Osos High School running back Arby Fields has pocketed seven scholarship offers so far - Nevada, Northwestern, UNLV, Duke, Washington State, Colorado State and Idaho State - but the charismatic senior isn't in a rush to end the recruiting process.

He's hoping to have a decision in the next two to three weeks, but not before he takes official visits to Arizona State (who is interested but hasn't made an offer) Northwestern and Washington State.

"Most people say the process is so stressful," Fields said. "But I think it's fun. I just want to see what more is out there."

Stress clearly isn't an overwhelming presence in Fields' life, no better demonstrated than when the back broke the offensive huddle at the end of Thursday's practice by leading the group in a little Montell Jordan 'This is how we do it.'

Los Osos High School quarterback Richard Brehaut won't get the chance to come down with senior-itis.

UCLA football coach Rick Neuheisel asked the senior to cut short his final year of high school in order to enroll early at UCLA and participate in spring football practice, something Brehaut wasn't about to refuse, particularly considering UCLA's uncertain quarterback situation. Brehaut, the 11th-ranked QB in the nation on scout.com, verbally committed to the Bruins this summer.

So, is it preemptive to consider Brehaut a contender to start at quarterback for UCLA next season?

"I think he's got a good chance, to be honest," Los Osos coach Tom Martinez said.

Someone from this league is going to win the CIF title.

The flip side of that coin? A CIF-champion caliber squad will MISS the playoffs. There are esentially five playoff teams in the Baseline League vying for three spots.

Don't take my word for it, voters have five Baseline League teams ranked in the CIF-SS Central Division top 10. That's ONE league occupying half the rankings.

There have been two notable quarterback changes since the beginning of the high school season.

Two-time defending CIF-SS Central Division champ Colony inserted sophomore Kori Grant into the lineup after an 0-3 start. Coach Anthony Rice didn't have to wait long for results. The Titans (2-3) have won their last two.

Claremont made a change for an entirely different reason. After their sophomore starter, 6-foot-4, rocket-armed Daniel Kessler, completed 20 of 22 passes in his debut - Claremont's first win in 12 games - he broke his arm in the first quarter of the second game of the season.

Nobody is surprised the Upland High School football team's offense has averaged 38 points per game during its 3-0 start. The coach of their last vistim, Serrano's Ray Maholchic joked that he might want to get some autographs before the game.

But four players in their huddle with a collective total of 40-plus Division-I scholarship offers isn't going to win the Highlanders a Baseline League title, let alone a CIF championship.

Not my words, Upland head coach Tim Salter's.

The day Upland High School cornerback Osahon Irabor was set to announce which of the 14 scholarship offers he would accept, UCLA, of whom he's been a fan since childhood, swooped in with an offer.

Startled by the late offer, Irabor took a few days to mull it over but ultimately went with his original plan and committed to Arizona State on July 11. Apparently the verbal pledge to ASU hasn't deterred UCLA.

"(Head) coach (Rick) Neuheisel and coach (defensive coordinator Dewayne) Walker, they haven't given up," Irabor said. "They keep calling me but I'm pretty solid with Arizona State."

Former Etiwanda High School receiver Marvin Jones has been rotating between Cal's first and second teams in practice, according to Etiwanda football coach Steve Bryce.

When the Golden Bears host Michigan State in their season opener on Saturday, expect to see the 6-foot-2, 189-pound freshman get some decent playing time.

He won't be wearing No. 80, however. His number was switched to No.1, which used to adorn the jersey of DeSean Jackson, the receiver who racked up the third-most yards from scrimmage in school history during his three-year career at Cal before joining the Philadelphia Eagles.

Quipped Bryce: "I hope that doesn't go to his head."

I was playing basketball at the 24 Hour Fitness in Rancho Cucamonga last night when I noticed a familiar looking player waiting to get in the game. The young, frail looking guy was sporting an unofficial Etiwanda High School basketball T-shirt (the one the team wore in warm-ups for the CIF-SS championship game last season; it says "NO SCHNACKS," which I'm still trying to entirely figure out).

The guy couldn't have been out of high school long, but I couldn't place him on either of the Etiwanda teams I've covered since arriving in Southern California two years ago. I figured he might have been an obscure bench player that slipped from my consciousness - until I saw him play.

It was the hair that threw me off. Darren Collison just didn't look the same sporting a jheri-curl flat top, for lack of a much, much better term. But there was no confusing the UCLA point guard's game.

Los Osos High School's Richard Brehaut is one of 12 quarterbacks invited to the exclusive Elite 11 quarterback camp July 21-24 in Mission Viejo. The rising senior committed to UCLA survived an exhustive selection process that included film review and interviews. He and 11 others were selected from a field of over 1,000 candidates from around the country.

Some Elite 11 alumni include Vince Young, Matt Leinart, JaMarcus Russell, Derek Anderson and John David Booty. Past counselers, some of whom are expected to attend this year's camp, include Drew Brees, Carson Palmer, Ben Roethlisberger, Jay Cutler, Matt Schaub and Aaron Rodgers. The current counselers include Chase Daniel (Missouri); Colt McCoy (Texas); Mark Sanchez (USC); Matt Stafford (Georgia); Curtis Painter (Purdue) and Bobby Reid (Texas Southern).

Etiwanda High School graduate Maurice Edu was named to the 18-man U.S. Olympic soccer team on Thursday. The 22-year-old, whom Toronto F.C. selected with the top pick in the 2007 MLS draft, will make the trip to Beijing along with Freddy Adu and Co.

The 2007 MLS rookie of the year attended Maryland for three years before forgoing his final year of eligibility to enter the MLS draft. A 6-foot, 170-pound midfielder, Edu has experience with the national team, having played in various friendlies and in World Cup qualifying, which is currently underway.

Upland High School senior-to-be Osahan Irabor, a 5-foot-11, 183-pound cornerback, verbally committed to Arizona State on Friday despite an unexpected offer from longtime favorite UCLA three days earlier.

Had UCLA offered sooner - the Sun Devils offered him in December - Irabor admitted he may have been swayed by the Bruins. UCLA's offer appearing a direct result of losing commitments from two defensive backs didn't help the Bruins' case either.

"It could've been a different story if (UCLA) had been involved earlier," Irabor said Friday night. "They were looking at other DB's too, which was not the situation at ASU. They were interested in me from the beginning. With UCLA, it was just too little too late."

UCLA was Irabor's 15th scholarship offer. He narrowed the field to three on Saturday - ASU, Arizona and Nebreska - and was set to announce his decision Wednesday before UCLA abruptly entered the mix.

No, they won't be making the long swim across the North Atlantic - or taking a plane for that matter - but here is an update on this story I wrote about two local swimmers who went to the Olympic trials in Omaha last week.

Claremont High School 15-year-old freshman Noelle Tarazona finished 35th in the 200 butterfly and 55th in the 400 individual medley (Only the top two finishers in each event make the Olympic team). Her coach at the Claremont Club, John Ries, said Tarazona has the potential to be a major player at the 2012 trials.

In her second appearance at the Olympic trials, Upland 21-year-old Courtney Eads, a junior-to-be at Nevada, competed in four events. Her finishes are as follows...100 butterfly: 63rd. 200 butterfly: 63rd. 200 IM: 104th. 400 IM: 74th.

The day before Upland High School cornerback Osahon Irabor was to announce which of the 14 scholarship offers he'd accept, the 15th stopped him in his tracks.

Less than a week after he narrowed his potential destinations to theree - Arizona, Arizona State and Nebraska - UCLA offered the 5-foot-11, 183 pound senior-to-be Tuesday night.

"I was ready to make an announcement the following day but I am going to hold on for a few days to consider UCLA's offer and really sit down with my family and think this completely through," Irabor said in an e-mail. "I was totally caught by surprise and to have a chance to play in the Rose Bowl would be something special. The next few days will be tough for me, and I'm going to research and think this through completely. It will be hard to sleep in the next 48 hours."

Upland High School quarterback Josh Nunes chose the University of Tennessee from 30-plus scholarship offers, issuing a verbal commitment to the Vols on Tuesday night.

One of the most heralded football recruits in the Inland Empire, Nunes, who will begin his senior season in the fall, has been collecting scholarship offers since he was a sophomore. The final eight schools under consideration were: Tennessee, Florida, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Arizona State, BYU, Stanford and Harvard.

The 6-foot-4, 211-pound quarterback is the 10th-ranked pro style quarterback in the nation on rivals.com and the No. 181 overall recruit.

Upland High School junior quarterback Josh Nunes narrowed his list of potential colleges to eight on Tuesday.

Of the 20 scholarship offers the 6-foot-4, 211-pound Nunes received these are still under consideration: Florida, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Tennessee, Arizona State, BYU, Stanford and Harvard.

Nunes original plan was to cut the list to five on May 27 and make a final decision shortly thereafter. He altered his plan to include eight schools and allowed that the time frame may be on a sliding scale too.

"If I am unable to make my final decision soon, I plan on taking my five official visits to assist me in making my decision," Nunes said in a statement. "I look forward to doing more research on the schools I've narrowed it down to and continuing the process."

Los Osos High School quarterback Richard Brehaut verbally committed to UCLA Saturday night, minutes after receiving a scholarship offer from the Bruins.

The 6-foot-3 205-pound junior held a private workout for UCLA offensive coordinator Norm Chow on Thursday at Los Osos and secured the offer Saturday with a strong showing in front of Chow and UCLA head coach Rick Neuheisel at the Steve Clarkson Super Seven quarterback camp in Santa Barbara.

"UCLA has been my dream school since I was a kid," Brehaut said. "This is unbelievable. It's a dream come true. Everything about UCLA is perfect for me."

The UCLA coaching staff assured Brehaut he'll be the only quarterback from the class of 2009 offered a scholarship by the school, a distinction he was competing for with Upland High School junior quarterback Josh Nunes.

Isaac Galloway might be a mere signature away from becoming an 18-year-old millionaire in two weeks.

Or the Los Osos High School senior may decide to live in a San Diego State dorm room on a stipend for the next three years.

It depends on where the centerfielder is selected in the Major League Baseball first-year player draft on June 5.

"My first choice is to go pro," Galloway said Wednesday. "But if I'm not treated fairly in the draft then I'm prepared to go to school."

Galloway said he won't pass judgement on what he considers fair until he is selected. The 6-foot-3, 190-pounder has heard rumors "from people around" that he'll be a top-five overall pick, not a small feat considering the draft consists of 50 rounds with 30 picks each.

Those rumors Galloway heard may not be unsubstantiated; A mock draft on MLBDraftSite.com has Galloway going fourth to the Baltimore Orioles organization. It has been brought to my attention that BaseballAmerica.com is likely a more reliable resource. It has Galloway rated its 36th best draft prospect.

Upland High School quarterback Josh Nunes, a junior who has received 15 scholarship offers, will whittle the list of potential colleges to five on May 27th, he said in an e-mail Wednesday.

Nunes will issue a verbal commitment to one of the five shortly after May 27th.

The offers for the 6-foot-4, 211-pound quarterback in chronological order: Arizona, Hawaii, Colorado, Stanford, San Diego State, Utah, Cal, Arizona State, BYU, Boise State, New Mexico, Louisville, SMU, Nebraska.

I followed Baseline League boys basketball more closely than any other league in any other winter sport, thus, I feel knowledgeable enough to comment on the selections. Take a look:

BOYS BASKETBALL
MVP
Erick Ellis Etiwanda 12 G
1st Team
J.J. O'Brien Alta Loma 10 G
Chris Confair Claremont 12 G
Rome Draper Etiwanda 11 G
Kendall Williams Los Osos 10 G
Nick Bennett Rancho 12 G
Rashad Bowie Rancho 12 G
Kevin Bradshaw Upland 12 F
Danny Redmon Upland 12 G

Los Osos High School's Richard Brehaut and Upland's Josh Nunes were both offered scholarships by San Diego State during the past week, according to Upland assistant coach Mike Esquivel.

Both members of the class of 2009 have been starting quarterbacks at their respective schools since they were sophomores.

SDSU is Brehaut's first offer. Nunes also has offers from Stanford, Arizona, Hawaii and Colorado.

Tuesday night I saw the best high school basketball player I've ever seen.
So did Etiwanda coach Dave Kleckner.
Los Angeles Fairfax center Renardo Sidney showed why he is widely considered the top junior center prospect in the country in a 66-54 win over Etiwanda in the second round of the CIF Division I state tournament.
The 6-foot-10, 235-pounder was absolutely unguardable.

The Etiwanda boys basketball team was robbed of a CIF title Saturday night.
The officials made the wrong call when they whistled Eagles guard Erick Ellis for traveling with 16 seconds left in the CIF-SS Division I-A championship game against top-seeded Riverside King.
With his second-seeded Eagles up two points, Ellis was taken to the ground after he grabbed what should have been the game-sealing rebound. The whistle blew before he even had time to travel, all the more reason I was sure the call was on King. And the way Ellis was playing - he scored 15 of his team-high 21 points after the third quarter - I wouldn't have bet against him making those free throws.

Upland quarterback Josh Nunes - who, as of Wednesday, is a year from being able to sign a letter of intent - received the third scholarship offer of his young career. Now on the list with last year's offers from Hawaii and Arizona is Colorado.

The 6-foot-4, 205-pound junior was offered by Colorado head coach Dan Hawkins via phone Wednesday morning. UCLA is a school Nunes is interested in and "would love to hear an offer from," according to Upland assistant coach Mike Esquivel.

Etiwanda High School's Christian Barker is "95 percent sure" he'll sign a national letter of intent with the University of Nevada on Feb. 6, national signing day.

After the 6-foot-4, 310-pound offensive tackle took his official recruiting trip to Reno, Nev., last weekend, he is considering cancelling a trip to Oregon State scheduled for the first weekend in February, he said Wednesday.

Upland High School guard Danny Redmon would probably be the most exciting basketball player I've seen this year - if the only two times I'd seen him hadn't both been opposite Etiwanda.

Etiwanda High School's 6-foot-4, 310-pound tackle Christian Barker has narrowed his potential college choices to three: Oregon State, Nevada and Utah State.

He visited Utah State last weekend, will take a trip to Nevada this weekend and Oregon State the first weekend in February.

His first scholarship offer came two weeks ago from Utah State. Nevada offered the next day. Oregon State has not made an offer.

"It felt good to get that first offer; I was starting to think it was never going to happen," Barker said. "I saw people around me who I thought I was better than getting offers."

To add a little perspective on the Baseline League (and potentially save me some embarrassment), entering the final week of the regular season last year, five of the six teams were still in contention for three playoff spots.
It doesn't get much closer than that, but that won't stop the Baseline from trying to tighten up the race this season.

Daily Bullletin columnist David Allen was recently leafing through the Wall Street Journal when he noticed a story datelined "Upland, Calif." If that wasn't strange enough, it was a sports story.
Upland High School freshman place kicker Jake Van Ginkel isn't even first at his position on the Highlanders' depth chart. But the heavily viewed YouTube video (below) of him kicking a 60-yard field goal was enough to warrant Journal reporter Russell Adams flying in from New York for the Upland freshman team's season opener Sept. 6.

I must have caught Marvin Jones on a bad day. I certainly caught Etiwanda on one.
My much-anticipated first viewing of the all-everything Etiwanda receiver in the Eagles 31-13 loss Thursday night left me feeling a little empty. It left Etiwanda coach Steve Bryce in far worse condition.