September 2011 Archives

Another big slate of nonleague games kicks off tonight all over the South Bay. What game are you looking forward to? Drop us a comment with your picks below and remember to check out www.dailybreeze.com tonight for live scoring updates. Also check out Tony's preview grid in today's paper.

The CIF Southern Section has released its Girls Volleyball rankings for the week and many South Bay programs are being rewarded for their impressive showings during nonleague play.

This week Tony, Dave and Matt discuss strong showings for Palos Verdes and West Torrance's football teams, a huge win for Hawthorne, a great bounceback for Peninsula and what to make of the up and down Pioneer League. Plus, when will Leuzinger FINALLY score points?! We'll also look ahead to an action packed week 4.

This week's CIF-SS football polls have been released before this weekend's big Week 4 slate of games and there are quite a few South Bay teams that made the cut.

An 18U South Bay club team, the Priority Baseball Outlaws, dropped its first three games of the Perfect Game/Evoshield National Championships in Scottsdale, Ariz., Friday and Saturday, but gained valuable experience and big exposure.
The Outlaws lost to the Arizona Valley Dogs, 4-0; MVP Baseball 12-9; and ABD Boxers 8-1. Here's a rundown of how the games went:

Game 1: Arizona Valley Dogs 4, Outlaws 0: Teddy Kerwin (sitting at mid-80s with his fastball) hurled a complete game, allowing only two earned runs, while only giving up four hits and striking out six against one of Arizona's top teams. Jack Canady and Vince Medina each went 2 for 3. In the first inning, the Outlaws had a chance to take control of the game with runners on first and second no outs, but Wolfie Tash lined into a double play.
"Teddy pitched great and kept their hitters guessing," Outlaws coach Mike Debelak said. "He just made two bad pitches. He has really dominated this summer and fall against some very good teams. We had plenty of opportunities to score, but we just didn't cash in."

Game 2: MVP Baseball 12, Outlaws 9: Matt Jarvis went 2 for 2 and Canady had a triple and three RBIs, but the Outlaws made five errors, which led to six unearned runs.
" We can't give teams 13 free base runners and expect to win," Debelak said. "No one can. We had no business losing this game."

Game 3: ABD Boxers 8, Outlaws 1: Canady dazzled scouts on the mound and at the plate. His fastball sat in the mid-80s and his off-speed pitches were effective. At the plate he went 2 for 3 with a double. Jarvis knocked in the only run. The game was tied at 1-1 in the fourth when a base running mistake ending the inning with two runners on.
Canady led off the next inning with a double that would have easily scored both runners the previous inning and given the Outlaws the lead. Instead, the Boxers took advantage and scored four runs, with the big blow being a three-run double by their third baseman.
"Many schools were in attendance and stuck around to see Canady pitch and hit," Debelak said. "His off-speed stuff was nasty and really made some good hitters look bad. This was another game where we were just a couple of pitches away from winning. We had beat the Boxers earlier this summer and had a lot of confidence going in, but for some reason we couldn't get the timely hits."
Despite the losses, the tournament has been great for the Outlaws.
"I am happy that our players are getting to play in front of a lot of college coaches," Outlaws coach Mike Debelak said. "The exposure here is awesome. We've had coaches from many different universities attend our games. As much as we want to win, the main goal was to expose our players to some college coaches. I'd much rather go 0-3 and have half my guys get college scholarships, than win the whole thing and have them get nothing."

This season marks the 40th anniversary of El Camino College's 1971 football state championship team, which was 11-1 and finished ranked No. 2 in the nation after beating Santa Rosa 48-14 in the state title game in Bakersfield. Inglewood's Doug Jena rushed for 126 yards and two touchdowns and All-American quarterback Coy Hall of West Torrance threw for 168 yards and two touchdowns in the state title triumph.
The 1971  Warriors will be honored at halftime of Saturday night's battle of undefeated teams, when El Camino (3-0) hosts cross-town rival Harbor.
The 1971 El Camino state title team is Lawndale's Willard Salmon, Rudy Metoyer, Mark Mahan, Dave Freeman and Danny Benarth, Serra's Chris DeWan and Bob Cosgrove, West Torrance's Coy Hall, Mark Davis and Lenny Wood, Inglewood's Doug Jena, Brad Waite, Zaven Yaralian, Richard Parks, Gordy Dumbeck and Bob Cole, Mira Costa's Greg Grouwinkle, Dave Boice, Bill Flaherty, Steve Boyd and John Taylor, North Torrance's Richard Belzman, Bill Hail, Larry Post and Kevin Millward, El Segundo's Bob Lowe, Tim Carter and Jim O'Bradovich, Hawthorne's Jim Chadwick, Larry Ferguson, Mike Effler, Bruce Tinker, Ed Crowell and Walt Justice, Torrance's Craig Timms and Paul Horn, Morningside's George Benekos, Dave Darden and Mike Campbell, Redondo's Dean Boston, Randall Daniel and Jerry Myatt, Aviation's Steve Laue, Mark Robinson, Mike Krauss and Pete Poumele, Daniel Murphy's Craig Lewis, Bishop Montgomery's Jim Keating, Dan Harrison and Mike McNeill, Lennox's Colin Bromley and Tim Buzbee, Miraleste's Bill Olsen, Rolling Hills' Jeff McGinn, St. Bernard's Steve Celotto and Grant's Bill Long. The head coach was Dr. Ken Swearingen.

We're one day away from Week 3 of the Prep Football Season and as such, we proudly present to you EPISODE 3 of the Daily Breeze Pure Preps Podcast!

It should be an exciting Week 2 of Prep Football tonight and we kick off with two afternoon games before getting into an action-packed night slate.

If you can't wait until Friday for your Prep Football fix, we have just uploaded Episode 2 of the Pure Preps Podcast with Tony Ciniglio, Dave Thorpe and myself.

In case you missed it, check out the Podcast from Week 1.

Angelo Gumbs (Torrance High) was hitless but played an error-free second base, as the Single-A Staten Island Yankees swept the Auburn Doubledays, 9-2 and 2-1 in the best-of-3 New York-Pennsylvania League championships, which concluded on Tuesday night.
Bryce Ortega  (Palos  Verdes High) was 1 for 4 with a double for Auburn in a losing cause on Tuesday.
Both players wrapped up solid seasons. Ortega batted .314 with 21 RBIs and 23 stolen bases and Gumbs batted .264 with three homers and 29 RBIs with 11 stolen bases for the Yankees.

The Fairfax State Preview Classic has announced the lineup for this year's big basketball showcase. It all goes down Jan. 28 at Fairfax High and Serra's boys and North Torrance's girls will both be in action.

The CIF-SS has released its 11-man football polls for Week 1 and while you can find the full poll here, we'll give you a brief rundown of where the South Bay schools rank:

For the second straight week, a former Serra star has been named Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week.

Former Torrance softball star Sarah Iwata has found a new home to hone her coaching skills.

An exciting Week 1 of Prep Football is in the books. Carson ran into a juggernaut Long Beach Poly team that looks like the loaded Poly squads of yesteryear while Serra and Mira Costa both bounced back with big wins. San Pedro earned win No. 500 and Narbonne edged out Palos Verdes in an exciting finish. Peninsula stunned North Torrance, which lost star running back Ryan McDaniel to a knee injury.

The New York-Pennsylvania League championship series matchup is set. On Friday night, the Bryce Ortega-led Auburn Doubledays defeated Vermont 7-2 in Game 3 of the best-of-3 semifinals. On Saturday night, Angelo Gumbs (Torrance High) and the Staten Island Yankees defeated Brooklyn 1-0 in Game 3 of its best-of-3 series.
The teams will meet in the three-game championship series starting Monday at Auburn.
Ortega (Palos Verdes High), playing shortstop for the Doubledays, was 2 for 4 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored in Game 3.
Gumbs, playing second base for Staten Island, was 0 for 2 with a walk in Game 3 for the Yankees.
To follow the championship series, visit http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/index.jsp?sid=l127.

Ladies and gentleman, the wait is over - prep football season is finally, officially, ready to start.

It's been a stellar first week for some of the South Bay's traditional volleyball powers.

In addition to all the content we bring you throughout the week in the newspaper, on DailyBreeze.com and here on the blog, we thought you all might enjoy a little something else to tide you over during the week between prep football games.

A few South Bay baseball players ended up in the New York-Pennsylvania League this summer, and a pair currently are still going in the playoffs.
The NYPL is a Single-A short-season league, which is where Palos Verdes High's Bryce Ortega, Torrance High's Angelo Gumbs and South Torrance High's Vance Albitz all landed.
Ortega, drafted this year in the 41st round by the Washington Nationals out of the University of Arizona, is batting .314 with 23 stolen bases and an OBP of .410 for the Auburn Doubledays, which dropped the first game of a three-game series against Vermont on Tuesday night. They were rained out tonight and will try to resume play on Thursday.
Gumbs, drafted in the second round last year by the New York Yankees out of  Torrance High, is batting .264 with three home runs and 29 RBIs with 11 stolen  bases and 32 runs  in 197 at-bats for Staten Island, which has had its playoff opener rained out two nights in a row. They will try again on Thursday.
Albitz signed with an independent minor league team, the Lincoln Saltdogs, out of UC  San Diego last year. He played most of this season with the Saltdogs, before being picked up by the NYPL's Batavia Muckdogs, an affiliate of the St. Louis  Cardinals. Albitz hit .283 and scored nine runs in 46 at-bats with the Muckdogs, who did not make the playoffs.

The CIF Southern Section released its preseason cross country polls Tuesday and Palos Verdes topped Division 3 for both boys and girls.

The CIF Southern Section released its weekly football polls on Tuesday in anticipation for Week 1 of the prep football season.

By now you've probably heard of the fantastic day that former Serra standout Robert Woods had for USC on Saturday. Woods proved why he's one of the greatest athletes in South Bay history by grabbing a USC-record 17 catches for 177 yards and three TD's in the Trojans' 19-17 win over Minnesota. 

Woods was just one of many ex-South Bay stars who shined on Saturday and go figure, more than a few of them were from Serra.

The other big headline grabber was ex-South Torrance and L.A. Harbor star John White, who picked off right where he left off last season for the Seahawks with 150 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries in Utah's 27-10 win over Montana State.

Click the jump to see how some other former South Bay standouts fared in Saturday's college football action (note: there will be one or two Serra players mentioned)...

Carson QB Kevin McMahon has been the talk of the town lately after taking his talents from South Torrance to Carson in an early-summer transfer that stunned the South Bay (see Tony Ciniglio's story on the move here).