Thursday’s prep football game previews

Thursday’s prep football games
Chaffey (1-0) vs. Riverside Patriot (0-0), at Rubidoux HS, 7 p.m.: The Tigers are led by senior RB Michael Dean who rushed for 320 yards and four touchdowns last week in a win over Lakeside. This will be the opener for Patriot which is coming off a 6-5 season with a first round playoff loss to Vista del Lago. Top players are QB John Holder, RB Miguel Alvarez and WR Samuel Cortez — all seniors.

Venice (1-0) at Upland (1-0), 7 p.m.: The Highlanders cruised past Palmdale Knight 49-6 in their opener. Junior standout Nathan Tilford saw minimal playing time in that game after injuring his back. Darreyon Jones rushed for 216 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries in his absence. Venice was a 28-21 winner over Granada Hills in its opener. Key players are QB Alex De La Cruz, OL Enrique Luna and WR-DB Pierce McLurkin.

: Bloomington (0-0) vs. Ontario (1-0) at Montclair HS, 7 p.m.: Like last year, Ontario opened the season with a win against Garey, then faced Bloomington, playing its first game. Bloomington won last year’s game 28-7 for the team’s only win. It’s different this year as Ontario coach John Kusleika is in his second season, while Bloomington coach Brian Kidd is in his first. Kidd, who plans on passing more this year, has only one starter player back at the same position they played last year, so limiting mistakes will be key. The Bruins will be focusing on slowing Ontario QB Cameron Poe, who ran for 190 yards and three touchdowns last week.

Eisenhower (0-1) at Newport Beach Newport Harbor (0-0), 7 p.m.: It was a rough start to the season for Eisenhower, which was routed by 52-14 by a Sultana team that went 2-8 last year. Coach Mike Clark had only seven players in that game who had ever played a varsity down before and only one who had started. Clark said he wasn’t pleased with the way “it got away” from them last week and the fatigue. They were hurt by injuries. LB/P Edgar Inchaurregui tore his ACL in pregame warm-ups and is lost for the season. WR/DB Lomario Howard missed the game with a groin strain, but Clark hopes to have him back this week.

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Eisenhower graduate Victor Butler holds Scholarship Awards Ceremony

 

Photo of Victor ButlerEisenhower graduate Victor Butler, who has played in the NFL since 2009, has been giving back to the area .
Saturday will be Victor Butler’s Third Annual Scholarship Awards Ceremony, with 12 graduating senior student-athletes to be honored.
Locals included are: Steven Hernandez, Tanya Garcia and Johnathan Kin Long Li of Summit, Yulissa Godinez, Ivette Frutos-Ortiz and Fred Scott of Eisenhower, Dominique Iverson-Kelley of Etiwanda, Brandon Bland of Carter and Christian Steele of Jurupa Hills.

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VIDEO: Eisenhower boys basketball coach Ray Jimmerson talks after season-ending loss

Eisenhower boys basketball coach Ray Jimmerson, above, talks after his team was eliminated in the second round of the Division 2AA playoffs. Eisenhower finished tied with Redlands for the Citrus Belt League title, but went as the league’s No. 2 entry because of the head-to-head tiebreaker.
Eisenhower defeated Whittier 64-60 in the first round before losing to Ayala 61-45 on Tuesday.

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How/why did Cajon girls basketball end up in Open Division?

Cajon girls basketball coach Mark Lehman was surprised when he found out his team was picked for the CIF-SS Open Division playoffs.
Should he have been?
Absolutely. Considering his team was ranked fifth in Division 1A entering the season’s final week, the Open Division took only one of the teams ranked ahead of Cajon in Division 1A, Riverside North.
Entering the week, 3 Division 1A teams were on the Open Division Watch List: Riverside North, Fullerton Troy and Cajon. North was ranked No. 1 in 1A, and got the 16 seed in the Open Division. Cajon was No. 5 in 1A, and got the 15 seed. Troy was ranked No. 3 and didn’t get in, and is the No. 2 seed in 1A.
I realize that Cajon had a big win, beating Eisenhower, which had given Cajon its only loss in the teams’ first meeting. Yet no one else above them in 1A lost during the final week. So, how is Cajon the No. 5 team in 1A according to that division’s pollsters entering the week, then essentially the No. 1 team (highest Open Division seed) just a week later?

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Citrus Belt League water polo, basketball provide 2 improbable finishes in 1 week

I cannot recall a week with two games as crazy as the ones I had this week.
First, there was Redlands East Valley’s 5-4, 5 overtime win over Yucaipa in girls water polo on Tuesday.
Then came Thursday, when Eisenhower girls basketball rallied from 9 points down in the final 9.3 seconds to force overtime, before falling to Cajon, 65-57.

I have never seen a 5 overtime game in water polo, and neither had anyone I talked to at the game. And scoring 9 points in the final 9.3 seconds to force overtime? It just doesn’t happen.

But what makes these games remarkable beyond that is that both games had Citrus Belt League titles at stake at the end of the season. In the first case, REV won the CBL title outright, its sixth straight title with the marathon win. In the latter, Cajon earned a share of the CBL title by knocking off Eisenhower. In each case, none of the four teams had lost to anyone else in league. And they were all ranked in CIF-SS.

Those were two games what show why I love high school sports. In both cases, great fan atmosphere, two closely matched teams and two games in which there was a big mental aspect. in the first case, REV fought through fatigue to finally win. In the second case, Cajon fought through the embarrassment of squandering a big lead and recovered to win in overtime.

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VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS: Eisenhower girls rally, but fall in OT to Cajon


You’ll see above one of the craziest comebacks in a short period of time, with Eisenhower trailing by 9 and tying it on two 3-pointers by Delilah Cerda, and then a steal and a layup by Allyah George as time expired. A foul was called, and the free throw tied the score and sent it to OT.
I have never seen 9 points in less than 10 seconds to send the game to OT. Of course, it was a combination of Ike’s great plays and Cajon making some poor decisions.
Ike didn’t have enough left in OT and Long Beach State-bound Aaryon Green suffered from leg cramps and Cajon took advantage.

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Further thoughts on Eisenhower beating Carter 28-7

With my computer crashing twice on deadline on Friday night, I wasn’t able to get everything all the details into my story about Eisenhower’s 28-7 win over Carter.

So, I thought I’d share some of them, as well as my observations.

The win enabled Ike to win the city of Rialto championship trophy for the first time in five years. Since its inception in 2005 (?), Carter has won it every year except 2008 and 2013, when Ike won it. Rialto has never won it.

I didn’t mention Carter suffered two key injuries early in the game. right tackle Lynell Smith (ankle) and wide receiver/safety Tamas Stewart (collarbone) both left in the first quarter and did not return. The severity of their injuries is not known, but Smith was eventually able to walk to the locker room and Stewart did not need to be taken off on a stretcher.

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Eisenhower names new football coach, baseball coach and athletic director

The summer of change at Eisenhower High School has continued, with the naming of a new athletic director, football coach and baseball coach.

Gilbert Pulido, who has been at the school coaching baseball for the last eight years, takes over as athletic director. He takes over for Steve Johnson, who was asked not to return as A.D. Johnson was shot in a park in San Bernardino in January and had already stepped down as boys basketball coach.

Pulido has been the head baseball coach at the last five years, going 3-22 last year in the rugged Citrus Belt League.

Even though Johnson served as both basketball coach and athletic director, as a novice athletic director, Pulido thought it best to resign as baseball coach.

So Angel Arratia, who had been Pulido’s assistant the last four years, takes over as head baseball coach.

Taking over as head football coach is Mike Clark, who was an assistant for Vinny Fazio, last season takes over for Fazio. Fazio left to coach at Murrieta Valley after there was no teaching job guaranteed for him.

Clark was the obvious choice. He has been an assistant coach from 2000-06 and again from 2009-12. He was the only one of Fazio’s assistants who was on-campus. With teaching jobs at a premium, he was the obvious choice. He was also running the summer program in Fazio’s absence. He will also be bringing along veteran coach Jeff Strycula, who was on Fazio’s staff. Strycula is a former head coach, but is not on campus.

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Johnson out as athletic director at Eisenhower, resigns as boys basketball coach

From Staff Writer Clay Fowler:

Decorated coach Steve Johnson will not return as Eisenhower High School’s athletic director or boys basketball coach this coming school year, according to Rialto Unified School District director of communications Syeda Jafri.

The former Sun Coach of the Year returned to his athletic director position briefly after recovering from gunshot wounds suffered Jan. 21 at an inner-city park in San Bernardino.

The 47-year-old Johnson was not asked to return as athletic director by newly appointed Eisenhower principal Scott Sparks. Johnson chose not to return as boys basketball coach for a program he turned into one of the area’s best over the last 19 years.

“Both the new Rialto and Eisenhower principals opened the athletic directors’ positions up going toward a different direction,” Jafri said. “Mr. Johnson chose not to return to coach basketball for next school year. The district has not opened the position yet.”

Sparks was not available for comment. Johnson did not respond to phone messages.

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