The picture above from staff photographer Gabe Acosta, that includes Rialto’s Birttany Neely (right) and Moreno Valley Rancho Verde’s Tierra Fuqua shows a bit of the physical nature of Friday’s Best of the Best All-Star Girls Basketball Game on Friday at Rialto High, a game won by the North, 71-59.
Redlands East Valley’s Ryan England drives in the winning run on this play, a squeeze bunt with no outs in the bottom of the eighth inning in a 4-3 victory over Yucaipa at the County Clash on Saturday at San Manuel Stadium.
It was one of several key bunts on the day for the first County Clash of the year. But more on that later.
CIF-SS Division 6 champion Citrus Valley was not surprisingly, the dominant team in Division 6 as the all CIF-SS girls soccer teams were released. Junior forward Loren Landrus was the player of the year and other Citrus Valley all-CIF players are: juniors Taylor De Jongh, Breann Demers, and Ariel Vinson. Citrus Valley is the only San Bernardino County girls soccer team with more than two all-CIF players. Granite Hills (Division 3) and University Prep (Division 7) were the only other teams that had two players honored. Here is the complete list:
DIVISION 1
Player of the Year: Abbi Williams, Sr. Defense – Chaminade
Coach of the Year: Mike Evans – Chaminade
2012-13 All-Sunkist League boys soccer
MVP: Omar Montes, Fontana
First Team
Juan C. Carbajal, Fontana
Anthony Flores, Fontana
Hector Alba, Fontana
Rafael Suares, Fontana
Paulo Fonseca, Fontana
Humberto Smith, Summit
George Garcia, Summit
Alberto Carranza, Summit
Roberto Saul Sandoval, Summit
Alexis Nolasco, Bloomington
William Chi, Bloomington
Juan Ramirez, Bloomington
Carlos Cardenas, Bloomington
Eduardo Rodela, Colton
Luis Lopez, Colton
Rey Coscuera, Colton
Alexis Morgan, Kaiser
Adrian Magana, Kaiser
Joseph Fernandez, Grand Terrace
I knew Mesa Grande Academy’s marquee athletic team for some time has been their girls basketball team. But unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to cover the Cardinals. In fact, I had covered a Mesa Grande softball game and written a Mesa Grande cross country feature before my first Mesa Grande girls basketball team.
I came away from my first Mesa Grande girls basketball game, Wednesday’s 45-24 win over San Diego Ocean View Christian in the State Division V first round, as very impressed.
Mesa Grande has an extremely talented ball handler in Michaela Garcia. They don’t have a ton of size. But they do have other players who are pretty decent at handling the ball, and most importantly, they have players who play great team defense and rebound. On offense, they tend to be very patient but have players who can finish around the basket.
I have no idea if 5th-seeded Mesa Grande (28-3, winners of 21 straight) can beat its next opponent, No. 4 Sun Valley Village Christian, a road game on Saturday night. Just from talking to coach Bob Walker in recent years, I had respect for how he runs his program, but after watching the Cardinals on Wednesday, I have respect for how they play the game.
Video above is of Bloomington’s Derrick Jones winning a state title.
They were both 1 vs. 2 matchups, and according to the rankings, they were both upsets.
No. 2-ranked Derrick Jones of Bloomington, a junior, pinned No. 1 senior Sean Medley of Wasco in 47 seconds to win the 220-pound state title on Saturday in Bakersfield. It was the first-ever matchup between the two. Jones said he wanted to win the “Champion of Champions” award, as voted on by other state champions. But that award went to Isaiah Martinez of Lemoore, the 160-pound champion.
It marked the third straight year San Bernardino County produced a state champion.
Before that, No. 2 Peter Santos of Oakmont, a senior, edged out No. 1 junior Corey Griego of Sultana 4-3 to win the 170-pound title. It was the third meeting of the year between them, with the first two being split. They had also met “five or six times” total, including preseason tournaments.
Griego’s teammate, 182-pounder Matt Williams, took fifth in his weight class.
The other two wrestlers from the county who made it to Day 2, Chino Hills’ Garrick Gurney and Los Osos’ Jon Solano, lost their first matches and were eliminated.
San Bernardino County brought 17 wrestlers to the CIF State Championships.
Here’s a look at how they did:
Advancing to the semifinals:
No. 1 Corey Griego, Sultana (170) went 3-0 with one win in overtime and held on for another by one point at the end. Both opponents were ranked in the top 10. Will face No. 8 Bryce Martin of Bakersfield in the semifinals.
No. 2 Derrick Jones, Bloomington (220) went 4-0 with one 8-0 decision and three pins. Will face No. 3 Jordan Sepeda of Natomas in the semifinals.
Still alive: but needing to win their first match Saturday to clinch a top eight spot:
Here is a glance at the 17 San Bernardino County wrestlers competing at state. Rankings are from TheCaliforniaWrestler.com. I will be reporting live from Bakersfield at the State Championships. I will have updates on this blog, and also on twitter.com/PeteMarshallLaw
Toughest draw: Matt Williams, Sultana (182) and Kenny Clark, Carter (285).
Williams, ranked No. 7 has an easy first-round match, but then would face the No. 3 ranked wrestler in the second round and likely the No. 8 wrestler in the third round just to get to the quarterfinals. That’s a loaded section. Clark, also ranked No. 7, should have an easy second round match, but would face No. 1 Nick Nevills of Clovis in the third round.
Best first match: Corey Griego, Sultana (170)
Someone was going to be unhappy when Griego defaulted and took 6th at CIF-SS Masters. That person is Jonathon Costa of Escalon. Costa, ranked 10th, will face No. 1-ranked Griego.
Best chance to place for someone ranked outside of top 8: Garrick Gurney, Chino Hills (170).
Gurney, ranked 13th, doesn’t have to face anyone higher than No. 12 en route to the quarterfinals.
Continue reading
2012-13 all-San Andreas League girls water polo team
MVP: Daisy Hudson, Sr., Citrus Valley
First Team
Christina Gama, Jr., Arroyo Valley
Jessica Garcia, Sr., Pacific
Stephany Hermosillo, Sr., San Gorgonio
Grace Hollingsworth, Jr., San Gorgonio
Holly Hudson, So., Citrus Valley
Christian Sanford, Jr., Citrus Valley
Hannah Tamimi, Sr., Citrus Valley
