February 2009 Archives

Aside from momentary early reactions, it appears Montebello's pick for head football coach, Pete Gonzalez, is welcomed by a large portion of the Oilers' faithful.
That's the way it should be.
And that's nice.

Pete Gonzalez, fired by St. Paul High School because the team making it to the CIF-SS semifinals his first season and winning a CIF championship in his second year wasn't good enough, has been named head coach at Montebello High School.
Gonzalez is said to be bringing most of his staff with him, sans offensive line coach Casey Morales, who remains at the school as its head baseball coach, and defensive coordinator Gilbert Jimenez, who is seeking employment elsewhere.
Gonzalez was one of 18 applicants for the Oilers' job, nine of whom were interviewed.

Coach Robert Miller said Monday that standout forward Skye Savini may miss Wednesday night's Division IV-A girls basketball playoff game due to aggravating a knee injury that has troubled her much of the season.
Although doctors had given Savini the OK to play in Saturday night's second-round game against Blair, Miller chose not to risk anything and did not use her. The Swordsmen won, 64-35, as junior forward Andrina Rendon scored 30 points, including 19 in the first half and 8-for-8 from the free throw line.

How about that Whittier girls water polo victory over Harvard/Westlake.
20-19, in three overtimes. Has to be the best game of the season.
More on that later. Unfortunately, the Cardinals' season ended Friday
with an 11-7 loss to Riverside Poly. ...

In other area results in the sport, La Habra reaches the CIF semifinal for the third consecutive year after defeating Upland, 6-4, in a Div. V quarterfinal today. The
Highlanders will play Arlington at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Woolett
Center in Irvine. ...

No word yet on La Serna-Corona Santiago D-III quarterfinal played today.
...

And Montebello will host Royal in A Div. II quarterfinal at 4 p.m. today at
Commerce Aquatorium. The Oilers won their opener, 15-5, over Mission
Viejo Thursday. ...

El Rancho running back Marcus Galan signs a letter of intent with the
University of Minnesota, Crookston during a ceremony at the school this
morning. Coach Rick Zepeda put some time and effort for a good cause in
this one. "When you're 2-8 (overall) and 0-5 (league), a lot of
recruiters don't come calling," Zepeda said. It sounds like a perfect
match for both signer and signee. ...

A tough, tough. tough loss for Whittier in their Division II-AA girls
basketball first-round playoff game Thursday. A battle throughout to
stay close and find a way to win it at the end, looked they would have
to settle for a tie and try to win it in overtime, and then lightning
struck in the form of Erin Ruiz's game winning shot from behind midcourt
at the regulation-time buzzer. ...

Marijon Ancich, the state's winningest high school football coach when he left St. Paul in 2005, is returning to St. Paul as its head coach, it was announced Monday.
Ancich's 344 victories set the record that was tied last fall by Concord De La Salle's Bob Ladouceur.
Ancich replaces Pete Gonzalez, who posted a 22-15 record with a CIF championship and a trip to the semifinals in three seasons.
This will be Ancich's third stint at St. Paul. He coached there from 1961-81 and 1993-2005. He spent nine seasons at Tustin High School during the break (1984-92) and a year at Northern Arizona.
The past three years, he was defensive coordinator at Cerritos College for two seasons, and helped his son, Villa Park HS co-head coach Dusan, this past season.
His record over nearly 50 seasons of high school football is 344-123-10.

.... but three teams will battle Friday for the league's other two automatic playoff spots.

For now, California (13-12, 6-3), which lost to Whittier by a point Wednesday night, is second.
Santa Fe (12-14, 5-4), which defeated Pioneer Wednesday night, is third.
La Serna (11-14, 4-5), a winner over El Rancho Wednesday night, is fourth.
California and Santa Fe play each other Friday night, and La Serna finishes the regular season against Pioneer.
A Santa Fe win over California would earn the Chiefs a tie for second and would end La Serna's chances for the third automatic playoff spot.
If California defeats Santa Fe and La Serna gets by Pioneer, Santa Fe and La Serna would be tied for third, and according to the DRL tie-breaker, La Serna would get the third spot.
"I think we have a chance to draw into the playoffs without the automatic berth," Santa Fe coach Matt Zamora said, "but I would rather do it the automatic way."
Wednesday night's victory was a big step in that direction.
Since Thursday is a furlough day, more on the scenario concerning the boys race on Friday morning.

Some interesting ideas are being expressed concerning who and why should receive the Del Rio League's Most Valuable Player Award.
Keep 'em coming, but consider this: an MVP is someone who, if subtracted from his team, would have the greatest impact on its success, or lack thereof. A Player of the Year is the individual whom, based upon his talent, you would select first if you were building a team.

Coach of the Year should be the individual who gets the most out of his players. This could be the individual whose team wins the championship even if he or she had the most talent with which to work, or perhaps someone whose roster lacked talent or experience and finished well back in the pack.

Any ideas about that one?

It's official:
La Habra's Ronnie Hillman signed with San Diego State, Randall Nygren signed with Southern Utah University (Cedar City) and Joe Casey signed with Hmbolt State University (Arcata).
Whittier Christian's Mark Edwards signed with Evangel University, a small but very successful NAIA Christian school in Springfield Mo.
And La Mirada striker Lauren Cope signed with New Mexico State.
Not a lot of signees, but high quality, all of them.

Letter of intent day is Wednesday. Here is the brief list of area athetes who are expected to sign with colleges:

La Habra: Ronnie Hillman, RB/Rcvr (San Diego State); Randall Nygren, DB/QB (Southern Utah); Joe Casey, LB (Humbolt State). Possible - Willie Mayoral, OL (undetermined).

Whittier Christian: Mark Edwards, FB/LB/TE (Evangel University, Mo.)

La Mirada: Lauren Cope, Midfielder (New Mexico State)

Probables (but not committed officially):
Cantwell Sacred Heart: Jeffrey Taylor, WR/DB (San Jose State, Washington State); Kimble Tillman, WR/DB (undetermined)