Azusa on the verge of history again; Scherf gets an email from Burch Drake, who coached there more than 30 years ago

By Fred J. Robledo, Staff Writer
Former Azusa High School football players have been hanging around lately. Aztecs coach Joe Scherf talks to them in church, has seen them around practice and recently got an email from former Aztecs coach Burch Drake, who coached at the school in the late 60’s and was part of the 1974 Aztecs team that reached the CIF-Southern Section Divisional quarterfinals when it was a 32-team playoff format. To continue, click thread

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Cross Country: State Finals in Fresno this weekend, Glendora looking for big showing

Once again, a local coach has stepped up and offered to help give insight to what’s going on in cross country. This comes from Glendora assistant coach Bob Ramsey

Said Ramsey: Cross Country racing in Southern California is mostly about how one runs on the famous 2.91 mile course at Mt.Sac in Walnut. Over the course of the season, XC athletes compete over a variety of distances, surfaces, terrains, but Mt.Sac is the standard. Between the two invitational meets, two league finals, CIF Prelims & Finals, almost every one of the 32 teams in the ESGV raced there at least once.
2009 was a very strong year, with 4 girls and 6 boys at or below last year’s best marks. So who came out on top? As expected, CIF Champs and #2 California ranked Glendora is heavily represented, with their five usual scorers ranking in the top 7, and they’re joined by individual State qualifier Fabian Velasco (Duarte). Among the girls, the three local individual State qualifiers, Lauren Justus (Glendora), Brittnie Munoz (Rosemead) and Marissa Scott (Bonita) lead the list.
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Girls Volleyball: It’s over; state championship dreams end for Los Altos, Bonita

The dream of CIF State championship glory ended for the Los Altos and Bonita high school girls volleyball teams. The Conquerors, fresh off a CIF-Southern Section Division 3AA title on Saturday, lost in four games in the Southern California Regional Division III first round to Valley Center of San Diego. The Bearcats, meanwhile, lost in three games to Division 3A champ Mayfield.

Here’s a quick recap:

Valley Center 3, Los Altos 1: The Conquerors, getting 14 kills from Meagan Macias and 11 from Jazmen Russell, couldn’t hold off the Jaguars, losing 18-25, 25-22, 25-21 and 25-17. The controlled the play in the first game, but melted under the service barrage of Valley Center, which forced to receive errors, which slowed Los Altos passing game. The Conquerors did hold leads in games 2 and 3, but couldn’t stop the Jaguar machine. Valley Center, getting 15 kills from Megan Glennie and 11 from Stephanie Becvar, jumped out to a 12-3 lead in the fourth game and cruised to the match victory.
Los Altos coach Jaime Ornelas: “I’m proud of my girls. They played their (behinds) off. We have (CIF-SS) rings. We might not have state rings, but we have CIF rings. Our record is amazing. Our girls are amazing. I’m proud of them.”

Mayfield 3, Bonita 0: The Bearcats battled the Cubs toe-to-toe, but eventually caved to Mayfield’s consistency, losing 26-24, 29-27 and 25-18.
Bonita coach Adriana Contreras: “Emotionally we were drained. We could not get into a rhythm at all. We were on an emotional roller coaster. It was a tough (match) to play after having to prepare all week for the title game.”

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Multi-tasking: Rio Ruiz, Jerry McClanahan and Jay Anderson’s best sports are baseball, but they’re doing it at the highest levels in football too

Bishop Amat coach Steve Hagerty said he encourages multiple-sport athletes, then I hear from so many parents who say coaches, “strongly suggest,” they concentrate on one particular sport if they want the best chances of playing time, or um, satisfying their coaches’ requests. Here is what Hagerty said about it.

“It’s good (playing multi-sports). We make it a point to make it happen at the school; we realize the kids are the ones that benefit from it all,” Hagerty said “That why we’re here in the first place. If we can share these athletes all the programs at our school benefit from it.”

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Will it be Monrovia-San Dimas in Mid-Valley Final? Paraclete-Valley Christian looks more like it


By Fred J. Robledo, Staff Writer
The top two-ranked teams in the CIF-Southern Section Mid-Valley Division might feel more like underdogs in the second round on Friday. Top-seeded Monrovia (11-0) is at defending champion Paraclete (7-4) a week after the Spirits dismantled La Puente in the first round, 45-0. Olympic League champion Cerritos Valley Christian (8-3), which beat Paraclete in the league finale, whipped La Ca ada 45-0 and will be at No. 2 San Dimas (10-1) on Friday at 7 p.m. With Whittier Christian’s 27-24 win over Mission Valley League champion Arroyo, the Olympic League went 3-0 in the first round.
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Football playoffs not as predictable as you think

Charter Oak coach Lou Farrar and South Hills’ Steve Bogan talk about Friday’s near disasters…

Anytime you overcome adversity successfully it builds depth and adds a component of confidence that you know how to find a way to win,” Bogan said. “When I was (a player) at Cal Lutheran, there was an expectation that you were going to win even when you were down, because that’s what you do. You can’t talk that into someone; that’s experience that builds on you.”Steve Bogan

By Fred J. Robledo
Bishop Amat’s last-minute 28-21 victory over Mater Dei in the CIF-Southern Section Pac-5 Division playoff opener was the game of the night Friday, but Charter Oak and South Hills, the top two teams in the Southeast Division, played perhaps the best games of survive and advance. Charter Oak hung on to defeat Muir 20-19 after nearly blowing a 20-0 lead in the fourth quarter and survived a do-or-die two-point conversion attempt by the 4-7 Mustangs.
South Hills raced to a 21-0 lead against Bonita (3-8), but needed Jamel Hart’s 15-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to squeeze out a 28-21 win after the Bearcats rallied to tie the score in the third quarter.
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CIF-SS Semifinal Home Games set after coin flips

The CIF-Southern Section held coin flips to determine semifinal home games. In the Mid-Valley Division, if Baldwin Park defeats Whittier Christian on the road Friday, they will be at home against the Paraclete-Monrovia winner.
If Azusa wins on the bottom half of the bracket, they would be at home against Cerritos Valley Christian or on the road against San Dimas.
San Dimas would only be on the road against San Marino.
In the Southeast Division, if Charter Oak beats West Covina, they will be at home in the semifinals against the California-Burbank winner.
If West Covina wins, they’re at home against California and on the road against Burbank.
On the bottom half of the Southeast, if South Hills beats Crescenta Valley on Friday, they will be on the road against Schurr, or at home against Diamond Ranch.
If Diamond Ranch beats Schurr, they would be home against Crescenta Valley.
If Bishop Amat defeats Lakewood and advances to the semifinals, they will be at home a week from Saturday against either Dana Hills or top-ranked and undefeated Edison.

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