Yucca Valley looking to take next step

Tim Cannavo was an assistant coach at Yucca Valley in 1996 when the Trojans won their last CIF title. He almost broke that streak last year, as Yucca Valley took out Ambassador League champion Aquinas and Mountain Valley League champion Rubidoux on the way to the CIF-SS East Valley Division semifinals.

24 seniors depart last year’s team, but Cannavo believes that his remaining lettermen can build on what Yucca Valley accomplished a year ago.

“I remember the 1997 season after we won the 1996 championship,” Cannavo said. “We lost a lot but there was that desire to continue what we had done the previous year and it helped us reach the semifinals. All summer long we’ve been telling kids to start at the same level they finished last year.”

Despite its small size and the large number of seniors that departed, Yucca isn’t lacking returning talent. The offensive backfield and the line headline the 2011 Trojans, as their top two running backs and their interior linemen return from last year.
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Experienced REV ready to roll

Confidence has never been a problem for Redlands East Valley coach Kurt Bruich, who is entering his 10th season as head coach of the Wildcats. But that confidence is running over after two straight league titles, the second from which he returns 15 starters.

“After back-to-back league titles, the road to the Citrus Belt League title runs through us,” Bruich said. “I don’t care if you print that. If you want the title, you have to come through us and we are ready to defend it.”

While winning the CBL in undefeated fashion with a roster full of juniors and sophomores is a point of pride for REV, not everything last season was kosher. The Wildcats were eliminated in the first round of the Inland Division playoffs, as Etiwanda strolled into the University of Redlands and defeated the Wildcats. That’s something that’s been a point of emphasis throughout the offseason.

“We are going to finish the way we want to finish this year,” Bruich said. “Last year we didn’t control the finish and we stopped playing way before we wanted to. We are not going to let that happen this year.”
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Colton getting ready for title defense

Except for an unnecessarily dramatic renewal of head coach Rick Bray’s contract for this upcoming year, the last nine months have been bliss for the Colton High School football team, as the Yellowjackets won their first CIF-SS title since 1978 and have been on cloud nine riding the wave of congratulatory back slaps ever since.

But Bray knows that all the accolades that his team has gotten won’t help it this year. And he knows that a 2010 CIF title puts a big target on his team in 2011, even if he is trying to get creative in deflecting that target.

“The way we see it, Cajon High School should have the target because they were the San Andreas League champs last year,” Bray said. “They have a title that we want. But we do know that teams are going to be shooting for us this year.”

Colton loses several star components from last year’s squad, as all-CIF players Rodney Hardrick, Tyler Ervin, Devan Hussey and John Taylor are currently on college campuses. But the cupboard is hardly empty at Colton, as the Yellowjackets return starters on both lines and a talented secondary.
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Alvarado advances at Olympic Trials

San Bernardino middleweight boxer Edgar Alvarado improved to 2-1 in the double-elimination U.S. Olympic Trials in Mobile, Ala. Tuesday with a 26-24 victory over D’Mitrius Ballard. Alvarado, a graduate of Arroyo Valley High School, will face Luis Arias, the No. 1 ranked boxer coming in, at 4 p.m. today. Alvarado and Arias have split their previous two matches, with Arias defeating Alvarado 20-16 Sunday.

To get to today’s match, which is a semifinal in the Challenger bracket, Alvarado defeated Demarius Russell 17-14 Monday before his victory over Ballard, who was the United States’ representative at the most recent Pan Am games. Russell was the National Police Athletic League champion, so Alvarado is doing some work.

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