The coaches finished voting, and no surprise, Northview and Bishop Amat are the top dogs in Division IV. South Hills starts high at No. 2 in Division III, but the big question is, where is Bonita folks? Why is everyone sleeping on the Cats?

DIVISION II
1. El Toro
2. Notre Dame/SO
3. Palos Verdes
4. Cypress
5. Redlands East Valley
6. Yucaipa
7. Crespi
8. Glendora
9. La Mirada
10. Paso Robles

DIVISION III
1. Paramount
2. South Hills
3. Elsinore
4. Quartz Hill
5. Paloma Valley
6. California
7. La Serna
8. Laguna Hills
9. Santa Margarita
10. Diamond Ranch

DIVISION IV
1. Northview
2. Bishop Amat
3. St Paul
4. Patriot
5. Sonora
6. San Dimas
7. Torrance
8. Don Lugo
9. Palm Desert
10. St Bonaventure

This from Mr. Pete Marshall at the Daily Bulletin
Rich Vasquez only departed last week as Damien’s baseball coach, but the Spartans already have his replacement: Al Leyva.
Leyva is the former Claremont High head coach from 2002-05, who most recently had been serving as the assistant coach and head recruiter for the University of La Verne.
“I feel very lucky to get the guy,” Damien athletic director Tom Carroll said. “I didn’t think he’d be available. We played against him at Claremont, so I knew him from there.”
Carroll said he was impressed with Leyva’s first day of practice on Wednesday. “It’s like he was on the ship the whole time,” Carroll said. “They didn’t miss a beat.”

I’m hearing that Duarte will hire either former La Puente coach Ray Hernandez or former Blair and Marshall coach Tip Sanders. An announcement could come as early as Monday.

I told you I had a feeling Damien felt like Diamond Ranch in football, nice to see the Spartans confident and moving on. In fact, check it out, we have seven teams in the quarterfinals, and most of them did it on the road.

Above: Kos Russell’s 3-pointer lifted Glendora in round one. Russell had another big night, scoring 23 points in the Tartans’ 68-65 win over San Bernardino. The Magic continues …

Friday’s second-round results
Division II-AA
Simi Valley 67, Rowland 53
Glendora 68, San Bernardino 65
Division II-A
Damien 49, La Habra 47
Division III-AA
Apple Valley 55, Charter Oak 54
Nogales 73. West Torrance 70
Santa Margarita 72, South HIlls 63
Division III-A
Diamond Ranch 41, Fullerton 38
Bonita 61, Garden Grove Pacifica 45
Division IV-AA
Serra 93, South El Monte 65
Northview 80, Citrus Hill 57
San Luis Obispo 43, Bishop Amat 40
Division IV-A
Cathedral 70, Workman 50
Division V-A
La Verne Lutheran 79, Bloomington Christian 51

Charter Oak loses heartbreaker: Seconds away from dancing to the next round, the Charter Oak High School boys basketball watched it slip away. Literally.
Clinging to a one-point lead with the clock winding down and the game on the line, Charter Oak got exactly what it wanted, forcing Apple Valley guard Absalom Smith to take a running off-balance shot with Chargers guard Eric Rogers draped all over him.
For a moment it appeared Rogers grabbed the rebound, but the 5-foot-11 Smith reached in and wrestled it away, then drew a foul with four seconds left.
Smith calmly sank both free throws to finish with a game-high 23 points, and the Chargers couldn’t get a shot off before time expired, watching painfully as Apple Valley celebrated a 55-54 victory in the second round of the CIF-Southern Section Division III–A playoffs on Friday.

Boy’s Soccer
Wednesday’s Second Round
Note: All games start at 3 p.m.
Division II
Troy at Damien
Division IV
North Torrance at La Puente
Sierra Vista at Crescenta Valley
Division V
Garden Grove Santiago at Baldwin Park
Division VI
Mountain View at Ontario Christian
Rosemead at Milken Community

Below: Win, and you won’t feel this way today

La Puente stuns Bishop Amat: There will be a boys soccer champion crowned in a couple weeks, but its hard to imagine a more exciting game and finish than La Puente High School’s 4-3 sudden-death overtime victory over Del Rey League champion Bishop Amat on Friday.
After the Lancers battled back from a 3-1 halftime deficit to finally tie it on Aaron Mireles’ header in the 68th minute, the Warriors rallied back to pull off the upset in overtime.
Leo Villagrana’s cross toward the back post was poked away by Lancers goalkeeper Christopher Mancilla, but sophomore David Ramirez cleaned it up, finishing in the 85th minute to send the Warriors (13-5-5) to the second round of the CIF-Southern Section Division IV playoffs. “I’ve always dreamed of something like this,” Ramirez said. “I was hoping it would get away (from the goalkeeper) and give me a chance, and to finish and beat a team like Bishop Amat, it’s a dream.”

CIF-SS Playoffs
Friday’s first round
Division II
Chino Hills 3, Canyon Springs 2
Arlington 0, Diamond Bar 0, Arlington advances, 4-2 on PK’s
Damien 1, Palmdale 0
Division III
Jurupa Valley 3, Rowland 2
Santa Maria 4, South Hills 2
Redlands 0, West Covina 0, Redlands wins 5-4 on PKs
Division IV
Sierra Vista 2, Laguna Hills 1
La Puente 4, Bishop Amat 3, sudden death
Inglewood 1, Wilson 0
Mayfair 1, Los Altos 0
University 3, Diamond Ranch 2, sudden death
Division V
Baldwin Park 1, Pioneer Valley 0
Division VI
Mountain View 5, Tahquitz 2
Arroyo 3, Dunn 2 (OT)
Rosemead 5, Beaumont 1
Division VII
La Verne Lutheran 7, Bermuda Dunes Desert Christian 0

Another great example of sportsmanship
“They may not remember our record 20 years from now, but they’ll remember what happened in that gym that night. –– Dave Rohlman, head coach.

On another thread one of you asked about the area’s top ten gyms. Joe Amat beat me to it and after reading his list, I really can’t complain.

Joe Amat’s top ten
10. Edgewood (Freddy, this ones for you. It’s on thee list if WSUSD woulda been smart enough to use that campus instead of WC)
9. Baldwin Park (there’s something about old elevated stands that I like-don’t know why)
8. Azusa (I swear…exactly the same as Glendora-just not as clean and without the history)
7. Charter Oak (haven’t been inside since the renovation, Better I’d hope? But can we finish the outside paint job?)
6. South Hills (now it at least doesn’t have a garage door for one whole wall
5. Covina (a lotta great players have been in that gym… floor is great, have we got new bleachers yet?)
4. Diamond Ranch (clean and new… but sterile with too much glass))
3. Glendora (when it’s full it is probably the best place to be in, two decks is awesome)
1.T Damien (1A & 1B – tough to choose, flip ’em if you want)
1.T Amat (some design flaws but the biggest thing wrong is the Activity Centers official name-that I’ll never utter)

Don’t try this at home….The NBA mascot actually tore his ACL falling through the hoop.