Mt. Baldy League: February 2012 Archives

Colony High School's Samaje Grant and Dontel James were issued scholarship offers from Arizona last weekend, less than three weeks after teammate Bryan Harper signed with the Wildcats. Grant was offered as a kick returner and slot receiver while James is being recruited as both a running back and linebacker, according to Colony head football coach Matt Bechtel. Grant is expected to receive an offer from UCLA at the Bruins' junior day on Sunday and Washington State is also close to offering.

James finished the year with 333 rushing yards and five touchdowns. Grant had 32 receptions for 381 yards and two touchdowns catching passes from Harper, who was recruited as an athlete but may play quarterback in Rich Rodriguez's spread-option offense at Arizona.

Leonard Hudson has been fired after three seasons as Garey High School's head football coach, the last of which was an 0-9 campaign during which the average margin of defeat was more than 30 points. The subpar 2011 season came one year after Hudson led the Vikings to the playoffs for the first time in 10 years courtesy of a 5-6 overall mark and a fourth-place finish in the Mt. Baldy League.

Hudson made public comments during the 2011 season that he wasn't pleased with the level of support for the football team from the administration, but he was judicious in his departure.

"They said they had their direction and I had my direction and they wanted to go in their direction more," Hudson said. "It was totally unexpected and I don't know where this came from. But there were some personal issues between me and the administration."

No team in the Mt. Baldy League can claim to have been there before. Well, at least not in the last seven years.

The Colony High School boys basketball team didn't secure its seventh consecutive league championship until the regular season finale Thursday night but the Titans played like they had been there before, pulling away in the fourth quarter for a 69-55 victory over Montclair.

Junior Kennieth Barnes led the Titans (19-8, 11-1) with 19 points and 15 rebounds, but it was the seniors who took over down the stretch. Senior guard Miles Poullard scored five of his 12 points during a 17-3 fourth-quarter run, including a 3-pointer to give Colony a 62-53 lead with 2:43 to play. Senior small forward Marcus Magett scored four of his seven points during the decisive run that began with Colony trailing by two nearly two minutes into the final quarter.

Yesterday neither Bryan Harper nor Robert Wagner were even sure they were going to sign national letters of intent today. But both of the Colony High School football prospects' recruiting roller coasters came to rest on national signing day as Harper, a three-star athlete, signed with Arizona and Wagner, a three-star linebacker, signed with New Mexico State, according to Colony athletic director Jaime Sandoval.

Harper, who was committed to Washington prior to the December departure of defensive backs coach Demetrice Martin, among others, chose Arizona over offers from Oregon and UCLA, where Martin was hired. Arizona offered Harper prior to the firing of Mike Stoops and the new coaching staff was the final school to enter the sweepstakes. Primarily recruited as a cornerback, Arizona is entertaining the idea of Harper playing quarterback as he did part-time at Colony.

Wagner lost both of his Pac-12 offers due to coaching changes at Arizona State and Arizona, his top choice. The 6-foot-2, 225-pound linebacker, who had eight offers prior to the coaching changes, was offered by New Mexico State on Tuesday but as of this morning wasn't sure he would sign with anyone. Wagner's running mate, linebacker Eddie Martinez, will be close by after signing with Division II Western New Mexico.