VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS: San Bernardino pulls out a 55-53 win over Moreno Valley

You’ll see in some of the highlights the frenetic pace, and that was how the game was. There were no easy trips up the floor, except in transition. The pace was especially crazy in the fourth quarter, when San Bernardino outscored Moreno Valley 20-15.

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San Bernardino High wrestling continues Mountain Valley League success

San Bernardino’s Isiah Ferrera was named the lower weight MVP of the Mountain Valley League and was one of the Cardinals’ four individual wrestlers to win a league title in their respective weight classes.
San Bernardino CardinalsMikey Ornelas (115 lbs), Aldo Barragan (120 lbs) and Alexander Mattison (195 lbs) were the others to win individual titles for the Cardinals.
The Cardinals coach Mark Clark was also named the league’s coach of the year.
Last week, the Cardinals won its first team league title in over 30 years and competed its first undefeated season in 50 years.
San Bernardino will compete in the CIF Duals on Feb. 7.

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San Bernardino High’s Alex Mattison succeeding at wrestling

Description of . The Sun All-Area football player Alexander Mattison, of San Bernardino High School, in studio at the Daily Bulletin in Ontario, CA, Wednesday, July 16, 2014. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher/Inland Valley Daily Bulletin)

One wrestler who had a successful tournament but didn’t win his weight class at Inland Empire TOC was San Bernardino High junior Alex Mattison, the all-Sun running back who is in his first season wrestling.
“I wanted to stay active, but I wanted to do something new,” Mattison said. “I played basketball last year.”
Mattison was seeded second and finished second in the 195-pound weight class on Saturday, a week after winning the Raymond Willemstein Invitational at Ontario High.
Mattison admits he has another reason for wrestling. Adding another sport to his resume, and hopefully one at which he can be successful, gives him a better chance of winning the Ken Hubbs Award as a senior, he reasons. Mattison also runs for the track and field team in the spring.

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Did San Bernardino football deserve to go to the playoffs?

San Bernardino High football coach Jeff Imbriani was pretty upset on Sunday (and probably still is today) that his team with a 7-3 record didn’t make the Eastern Division playoffs, while a 3-7 Apple Valley team did.

Did they deserve to go?

Well, based on the criteria that the CIF-SS uses, probably not.

Criteria utilized by the At-Large Selection Committee:
(a) Head-to-head competition of teams under consideration (4 points)
(b) Overall strength of the league from which the team is entered (1 point)
(c) Overall win-loss record (1 point)
(d) Strength against common opponents (1 point)
(e) Strength of schedule (2 points, using overall win-loss record of opponents)
(f) Free lance teams will be part of the pool for the filling of at-large berths

But should that be the criteria?
I would argue, no.
Schedule strength is essentially in there twice: with the strength of the league and strength of schedule.
How do you gauge strength of schedule? CIF-SS says it’s by win-loss record of opponents. But is that really accurate? With all due respect to Big Bear, playing an 8-2 Big Bear team is not the same as playing an 8-2 Upland team. But, teams would get the same credit in strength of schedule for playing either team.
And if you’re gauging win-loss record, is having a 7-3 vs. a 3-7 record only worth 1 point in evaluating teams? I’d argue that’s worth at least 2 points, if not more. If you’re evaluating an 8-2 team vs. a 1-9 team, is that really only worth 1 point in the discussion?
Here’s another one to consider: best team defeated. Not best team played, but best team defeated.
None of Apple Valley’s 3 wins came against a team with a winning record: the best teams being 4-6 Granite Hills and 4-6 Victor Valley, teams that didn’t make the playoffs.
As for San Bernardino, most of their opponents weren’t very good. But, the Cardinals gave Vista Del Lago its ONLY LOSS. Vista Del Lago won the Mountain Valley League and went 9-1. Shouldn’t a big part of the equation be who you’ve beaten not just who you’ve played?

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San Bernardino-Pacific football rivalry opens a new chapter

San Bernardino-Pacific, pitting the two oldest public schools in San Bernardino, is one of the longest-standing football rivalries in the Inland Empire. But it is changing this year.
Part of it was obvious. Both teams were leaving the San Andreas League, where they had battled for many years, to the Mountain Valley League, where they would play four Riverside County schools.
A change is that the league is much more competitive, so Pacific and SBHS are actually in the thick of the playoff hunt entering this game. Depending on how other games finish, San Bernardino could finish as high as 2nd, while Pacific could be as high as a tie for 3rd.
But there’s more to it. San Bernardino found an old trophy used for the game, and added recent scores to it and will present it to the winner of the game. The trophy is actually called the “Sun-Telegram Bowl”, and was apparently awarded by the predecessor of The Sun, the Sun-Telegram.  For the record, pacific leads the all-time series, 22-18
And on Thursday, the coaching staffs and about 40 players per team met at a pizza place about halfway between the two schools for a pregame luncheon.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” Pacific coach Mike Aragon said of the luncheon.. “But the players really get along, And I talked to coach (Jeff) Imbriani.. I told him to make sure that trophy is cleaned up before they give it to us on Friday.”

 

 

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Rooting for Sonnyboy Orfiano

As a sports writer, I generally don’t root. I need to stay unbiased and neutral.
I am just an observer of athletes, coaches and sporting events.

But, there are times in which I feel differently about a subject.
One of those is my latest feature on San Bernardino High senior quarterback Sonnyboy Orfiano. You can read the whole story here, along with other photos and videos: http://bit.ly/10RUpQZ.

Now, there’s a difference between rooting for someone to win a game, and rooting for someone in life. I would like to see Orfiano succeed in life. That could mean winning a few more football games, but really, it’s about more than that. It’s about him getting a break. I root for all athletes in the area to have success after high school, but many of the other athletes don’t need the breaks that Orfiano needs, or deserves.

Up until now, he’s made enough breaks of his own.

He was dealt a rough hand, from growing up in Stockton with little to no money in small living quarters to someone who made his own break, moving in with his brother in San Bernardino.

While things are better in San Bernardino, they’re still not easy. He’s worked hard to help his team to a 4-1 record, and has gotten interest from at least 1 school, Western New Mexico although he hasn’t committed anywhere.

As hard as he has worked, someone still has to offer him a scholarship. He can’t make anyone give him a scholarship. So getting a break would be getting a scholarship to play football, because otherwise, there’s a good chance he won’t be able to go to college and play football.

Sometimes, the biggest question in recruiting a player (especially one from outside the area), is going to stay there or if he’ll get homesick and return home.

To all those schools who might doubt whether Orfiano would stick, I can’t say definitively that he will. But consider this: he made the tough decision to leave his mother, grandmother and two younger brothers to move to San Bernardino (where he had no ties otherwise) to live with his brother.

He made a big leap of faith coming to San Bernardino and so far it’s worked out for him. Now he needs a school to take a leap of faith with him.

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San Andreas League winter all-league teams: basketball, soccer, girls water polo

SAN ANDREAS LEAGUE BOYS BASKETBALL

MVP: L.J. Harris, Sr., San Bernardino

FIRST TEAM
Anthony Banks, Sr., San Bernardino
Jaylen Bowman, Sr., Carter
Romeo Ferguson, Sr., Carter
Leonard Herrera, Sr., Pacific
De’Quan Spencer, Sr., San Gorgonio
SECOND TEAM
Jaywone Draper, Jr., San Bernardino
Reshawn Jackson, So., Rialto
Jalen Jenks, Sr., San Bernardino
Nate Meadors, Jr., San Gorgonio
Duante Williams, Jr., Arroyo Valley
HONORABLE MENTION
Eric Mliner, Fr., Arroyo Valley
Arthur Lincoln, So., Carter
Joey Torres, Jr., Pacific
Donald Nesby, So., Rialto
Aaron James, Jr., San Bernardino

GIRLS BASKETBALL

MVP: Jennifer Gonzalez, Sr., Carter

Continue reading “San Andreas League winter all-league teams: basketball, soccer, girls water polo” »

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Khleem Perkins picks Cal State San Bernardino

Recently graduated San Bernardino High multi-sport standout Khleem Perkins has committed to Cal State San Bernardino to play basketball. He is awaiting on clearance from the NCAA for one class he took, but SBHS coach Darin Graham believes that is a mere formality.

Perkins was an all-Sun player last season for the Cardinals, who were San Andreas League champions. The 6-foot-3 guard averaged 25.9 points, 6.6 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 3.0 steals. He was selected to play in the Ballislife All-American Game and in the San Bernardino County vs. Riverside County game.

“Cal State was on my mind the whole time,” Perkins said. “They have a great program. I’ve been watching them since I was little.”

Perkins got a lot of family to come to games in high school, and now they’ll get the chance to see him play in college, although that wasn’t a huge motivating factor.

“They all just wanted me to go to school and get an education. They didn’t care about the basketball, as long as there was school,” he said.

Perkins believes he will respond well to Cal State San Bernardino coach Jeff Oliver’s high-energy, tough-love approach.

“I got that before (from San Bernardino coach Darin Graham). More than four years. When I would go over there in seventh grade, he would get on me like I was in high school,” Perkins said. “I’m used to it.”

Perkins played the 1, 2 or 3 in high school, but expects to be a guard in college. But he also wants to learn as a freshman.

“I want to get used to the program. I don’t want to rush out there. I’m just working getting used to everybody,” he said.

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San Bernardino High’s Demetrius Overstreet finds a college home

Recently graduated San Bernardino High basketball player Demetrius Overstreet has figured out where he will play college basketball next year: Oregon State. As reported to me by SBHS coach Darin Graham, he won’t be on scholarship just yet, but Overstreet will receive one of the program’s walk-on spots with the team.

Last year, Overstreet, a 5-foot-11 guard, averaged 10.1 points, 4.7 assists and 1.5 steals for the San Andreas League champions.He scored in double figures in six of his final eight games last season.

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