As part of the basketball regular signing period that began this week, Rialto High standout center Denae “Mary” Williams has signed a letter of intent to play basketball for University of San Francisco.

“Mary gives us an outstanding presence in the paint,” USF coach Jennifer Azzi said on the school’s web site. “She averaged 18 rebounds per game! Her strength and rebounding ability will make her an incredible force in the West Coast Conference. I am absolutely thrilled that she has chosen USF.”

I spoke with Rialto coach Michael Anderson on Friday night and he said that there were several schools recruiting her hard in the final weeks.

“I have a lot of schools who are mad at me because they thought they had her,” Anderson said. “UNLV thought they had her, Colorado State thought they had her …”

Williams averaged 23.6 points and 18.3 rebounds for the Knights.

Great performance by Rialto in beating Cajon, 27-25 on a Javone Morgan touchdown pass to Tyler Telphy with 25.7 seconds to play.

So much happened in the game that my complete story isn’t running in the paper. Here is the complete story.

By Pete Marshall Staff Writer
RIALTO — Rialto football teams in recent years would have succumbed to Cajon after an 81-yard touchdown on the second play in the game.
If not then, the Knights likely would have wilted after Cajon took the lead in the second quarter or the third. And if they hadn’t been done in by that point, surely Cajon’s go-ahead touchdown with 5:15 to play would have done in the Knights.
But this is a different Rialto team.
Rialto kept responding and sophomore Javone Morgan lofted a 12-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Telphy on fourth down with 25.7 seconds to play as the Knights stunned Cajon 27-25 in a San Andreas League showdown at Rialto High.
Area fans will have to take notice of the Knights (6-1, 4-0) after pinning the first loss of the season on the Cowboys (6-1, 3-1).
“This is a big win for us,” Rialto coach Gavin Pachot said. “But we’ve still got San Gorgonio and Carter coming up.”
After Cajon took a 25-20 lead on Kendrick Gaines’ 43-yard touchdown pass from Edwin Martinez with 5:15 to play, Morgan directed the game-winning drive.
He also threw to Telphy for the go-ahead score.
“Our quarterback made that play. It was supposed to go to the other side and he brought it back to the other side,” Pachot said. “That’s a sophomore who’s growing up right before us.”
It was the only catch of the game for Telphy, but not the only big play. Telphy led the Knights with 13 carries for 150 yards and two rushing touchdowns.
“He’s a home-run threat,” Pachot said. “And we made a commitment to get him the ball more.”
Coaches frequently talk about the importance of special teams, but seldom is special teams a difference-maker like it was on Friday.
Rialto kicker Jonathan Pena made field goals of 31 and 38 yards (the latter on the final play of the first half), but he also put every kickoff into the end zone for a touchback.
“I know those guys, No. 7 (Jordan Howard) and No. 24 (Damontae Kazee) want to get their hands on the ball,” Pachot said of Cajon’s kick returners. “So those kickoffs were big.”
Cajon’s special teams were not as good.
Kazee had a huge game offensively for Cajon, with 109 yards receiving and a touchdown and 88 yards rushing and a touchdown, but he’s also the team’s long snapper.
He had two errant long snaps, the first on Cajon’s first extra point (immediately after his 81-yard touchdown run) and the Cowboys failed on the conversion.
The second went over punter Leo Sanchez’s head and a subsequent scramble and errant punt gave Rialto the ball on the Cajon 11.
On the next play, Telphy scored his first touchdown to give Rialto a 10-6 lead in the first quarter.
Cajon answered with another touchdown in the second, a Deontrae Kazee 2-yard run, and Cajon coach Kim Battin elected to go for two in the second quarter and failed, leaving Cajon ahead, 12-10.
“We started chasing points early and probably shouldn’t have done that,” Battin said.
Rialto’s first two-minute drill came at the end of the first half, as the Knights drove down, with Morgan’s 18-yard scramble setting up Pena’s 38-yard field goal that gave Rialto a 13-12 lead at the half.
Damontae Kazee turned a short pass into a 65-yard touchdown after sidestepping one defender and jumping over another to give Cajon a 19-13 lead with 1:58 to play in the third.
But on the very next play, Telphy answered with a 69-yard run and Rialto regained the lead 20-19.
Rialto’s next two drives ended with Morgan interceptions, including one by Damontae Kazee. The second interception (by Michael Sandoval) led to Gaines turning a short pass and racing up the middle for a 43-yard touchdown and a 25-20 lead with 5:15 to play. The two-point conversion failed, leaving the door open for Rialto.
Martinez completed 20 of 32 passes for 257 yards and no interceptions for Cajon.
“That was a great football game between two good football teams,” Battin said. “Those are two teams that showed a lot of heart. But they’ve still got some tough games left. I’ve said all along I didn’t think the league champion would go undefeated.”
pete.marshall@inlandnewspapers.com
909-483-9364

Gavin Pachot didn’t get the Rialto job under ideal circumstances last year, as he was named the interim coach of the Knights last June after Don Markham resigned under allegations of player misconduct. But after a 5-5 record and a full offseason, things at Rialto not only are normal, but feeling pretty good.

“Spirits are pretty high,” Pachot said. “Having an entire offseason to work with these kids makes a huge difference. I’ve had them since January and we’ve gotten a lot of good work done. We made some strides last year but we have a way to go.”

The biggest thing the Knights are working toward in a quest for their first playoff berth since 2001 is closing the deal at home. While the Knights made tremendous strides in going from three wins combined from 2007-2009 to five last year, Pachot believes that squandering their home-field advantage was a big reason why their playoff drought continues.

“For whatever reason we didn’t play well in front of our home fans,” Pachot said. “I’m not sure if we were nervous or trying to hard, but we went 1-4 on our own field. That’s something we need to fix because it’s important to take advantage of being at home.”
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For the second time in as many meetings with Buena, Janae Sharpe made a buzzer-beater to give RIalto the victory. This time, Rialto’s 44-42 win vaulted the Knights into the Division II state championship game.
Sharpe’s basket with 8.5 seconds to go tied the score 42-42. Then Denae Williams took a charge with 2.8 seconds to go. Sharpe then caught a long inbounds pass and hit a runner from the free throw line as time expired.
Rialto is headed to the state finals for the first time in school history. They will play on Friday at 6 p.m. at Arco Arena in Sacramento

The brackets for the next step of California’s February/March Madness were released today by the CIF-State offices. Leading the way is Division 2AA girls champion Rialto, who got the top seed in the Southern California part of the Division II girls bracket and a first-round bye, pushing its first game of the state playoffs back to Thursday.

Here are the Southern California regions that involve county teams. All first-round games will be played Tuesday at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted.

GIRLS
Division I
Fairfax at No. 1 Mater Dei, 6 p.m.
Santa Monica at Carson
San Diego at Troy
Narbonne at No. 4 Edison
Washington Prep at No. 3 Canyon Springs
Woodbridge at Hanford
Rancho Cucamonga at La Costa Canyon, 6 p.m.
Clovis East at Brea Olinda

Division II
No. 1 Rialto, bye
Canyon Country Canyon at Monache
Mt. Carmel at Inglewood, 6 p.m.
Yosemite at No. 4 Harvard-Westlake, 6 p.m.
Southeast at No. 3 Anaheim Canyon
Indio at Westview
Mark Keppel at Palisades Charter
No. 2 Buena, bye

Division V
No. 1 View Park Prep, bye
Chadwick at Rolling Hills Prep
Rio Hondo Prep at Horizon, 6 p.m.
Tri-City Christian at No. 4 St. Bernard
Redlands Adventist at No. 3 Central Valley Christian
Vincent Memorial at Pasadena Poly
Christian Life at Mesa Grande Academy
Kings Christian at No. 2 Santa Clara

BOYS
Division I
Palisades Charter at No. 1 Long Beach Poly
Etiwanda at Bullard
Torrey Pines at Loyola
Aliso Niguel at No. 4 Mater Dei, 7:30 p.m.
Clovis West at No. 3 Taft
Washington Prep at La Costa Canyon, 7:30 p.m.
Capistrano Valley at Westchester
Redlands East Valley at No. 2 Corona Centennial

Division II
No. 1 Lincoln, bye
Compton at Clovis North
Tulare at Mayfair
University at No. 4 Gahr
Foothill at No. 3 Mission Viejo
Hoover at Peninsula
Summit at Narbonne, 7:30 p.m.
No. 2 Ventura, bye

Division V
No. 1 Sierra Canyon, bye
Bishop Diego at Fresno Christian
Foothills Christian vs. View Park Prep at RFK HS
Calvin Christian at No. 4 Valley Torah
The Rock Academy at No. 3 Montclair Prep
Arshag Dickranian at Horizon, 7:30 p.m.
St. Bernard at Redlands Adventist
Tranquility at No. 2 Flintridge Prep

Don Markham’s second stint as Rialto High School football coach ended before he coached a game, as the veteran coach resigned Thursday in the wake of an investigation by the Rialto Unified School District on allegations of misconduct by the coach.

Markham delivered the resignation to Rialto athletic director Dan Williams Thursday morning at the prompting of Williams and Rialto principal Andreas Luna. Markham, who has won 309 games and five CIF titles in an illustrious career, tried to rescind the resignation later in the day but was told that it was final.
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The drought of no state champions from San Bernardino County will extend to eight years.
The three semifinalists from the county, all lost Saturday morning here in Bakersfield.
third-ranked Matt Welch (Sultana, 112) lost to No. 1 Alex Cisneros of Selma 4-2 in the semifinals when he was unable to get a reversal in the final seconds.
Third-ranked Sean Silva (Barstow, 119) lost to second-ranked Bryan Grubbs of La Costa Canyon 5-2 in his match.
Fourth-ranked Chris Mecate (REV, 125) lost the toughest one of all, dropping a 3-1 decision in overtime to second-ranked Chris Martinez of Fresno Clovis West.
All three are in consolation, but can now finish no higher than third.
Welch’s teammate, heavyweight Manuel Mazariegos won his first match to clinch a spot among the top eight.
Oak Hills’ Robert Marchese (160) became the first state placer in the first year of the school’s existence, and is currently wrestling in consolation. Teammate Ray Delgado did not place.
Rialto’s Giordan Porter and Colony’s Cody Dixon, both hoping to become their schools’ first state placers, lost their first matches Saturday and were eliminated.