True to the playoff mantra, there was drama Friday on the Bonita High School baseball field.

It lasted one inning.

After the top seed in CIF-SS Division 3 allowed an uncharacteristic run in the first inning, Bonita quickly pulled away for an 18-1 victory over San Gorgonio in the first round of the playoffs.

It may have only been one run, but considering the circumstances, it qualified as dramatic.

Bonita pitcher Justin Garza, who has signed with Cal State Fullerton and is sure to be selected in the Major League Baseball draft in June after leading the Bearcats (27-2) through a dominant regular season, walked eight batters in 65 regular-season innings. He walked the first batter of Friday's game.

Rancho Cucamonga golfer Rico Hoey was low medalist at the CIF-SS Central individual regional qualifier on Monday by shooting a 69 at Mission Lakes Country Club in Desert Hot Springs. Hoey was one of 12 locals to qualify for next Monday's CIF-SS individual finals at Victoria Country Club. Hoey joined Damien's Brandon Tsujimoto, who qualified in the Southern Regional by shooting a 73 at Skylinks Golf Course in Long Beach.

Four players qualified from Diamond Bar, including Jefferson Kao and Sahith Theegala, who tied for fourth place by shooting 71 in the Central regional. Diamond Bar teammates Dean Sakata (74) and Brian Fong (75) also qualified.

Others who will move on are San Dimas' Tavit Garabedian (75), Diamond Ranch's Mike Alvarez (76), Los Osos' Rito Armenta (76), Bonita's Kevin Henley (76), Upland's Coit Monell (78) and the Ontario Christian duo of Bradley Fox (78) and Joshua Herman (78).

The 19th annual Inland Valley High School All-Star baseball game presented by the Daily Bulletin is scheduled for June 15 at the Epicenter. Seats are $5 and the first pitch will be at 6:30 p.m. after the gates open at 5:30. The game featuring the top seniors from the area will pit North against South with Interstate 10 providing the barrier between the two teams.

"I would like to thank both the City of Rancho Cucamonga and our administrative staff at the Daily Bulletin for making the game possible," game director and Daily Bulletin sports editor Louis Brewster said. "With resources being trimmed on both sides and the tough economic period, we are also grateful to the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes for their continued support of one of the best-attended games of its kind in Southern California."

Rancho Cucamonga is hosting a 12-team passing tournament on Saturday. While the host school may be the most touted program in the tournament after a second consecutive appearance in the CIF-SS Inland Division semifinals last season, the Cougars will have a two-time defending CIF champion to contend with in their own team pool. West Covina, which won the CIF-SS Southeastern Division championship game by a score of 84-21 over Whittier La Serna, will be in a pool with Rancho Cucamonga and Ganesha.

Chino Hills, which as of two weeks ago has a new quarterback in Colony transfer Matt Simko, is joined in a pool by Bishop Amat and San Juan Hills. Claremont, Diamond Bar and Ontario form an all-local pool and Ayala, Corona Santiago and Huntington Beach round out the field.

Following pool play, the top four teams will play semifinals at 11:30 a.m. with the winners meeting in the final at 12:20 p.m.

WILD CARD
Thursday's Games

DIVISION 1
A: Millikan (11-17) at Moorpark (15-12); B: Oxnard Pacifica (16-8) at Capistrano Valley (18-11); C; Riverside Poly (14-11 at Anaheim Canyon (15-12); D: Brea Olinda (14-13-1) JSerra (12-15); E: Corona (14-14) at Valencia (19-8); F: Huntington Beach (18-8) at Great Oak (17-10); G: Chaparral (13-13) at Edison (11-13); H: St. John Bosco (14-11) at El Modena (16-11); I: Hart (14-12) at Simi Valley (17-10); J: San Clemente (15-13) at Corona Santiago (16-10-1)

DIVSION 2
A: Burbank Burroughs (12-13) at Ventura (14-10); B: Placentia Valencia (16-13) at Yucaipa (18-9); C: Tustin (10-15) at La Sierra (16-9); D: Righetti (16-10) at Chino Hills (14-11); E: Loyola (19-9-1) at Trabuco Hills (13-13); F: Bellflower (17-13) at Redlands (22-5); G: Arlington (15-12) at Mira Costa (18-12); H: Burbank (13-9) at Claremont (11-10-2); I: Rancho Verde (12-15) at Kennedy (13-11); J: Pasadena (13-10) at Arroyo Grande (14-11); K: San Juan Hills (17-11) at Buena (19-7); L: Norwalk (12-14) at Upland (16-9); M: Paso Robles (15-11) at Chaminade (13-13); N: Damien (13-10-1) at La Mirada (14-15-1); O: Santa Barbara (15-10) at Arcadia (19-7); P: Santa Barbara (15-10) at Redondo Union (17-11).

WILD CARD
Tuesday's Games

DIVISION 1
A: Great Oak at Yucaipa; B: Foothill at Riverside Poly; C: Yorba Linda at Agoura; D: Hart at Upland; E: Roosevelt at Cypress; F: Fountain Valley at Rosary.

DIVISION 2
A: Arroyo Valley at West Covina; B: Norwalk at Chaffey; C: Rancho Verde at Rio Mesa; D: Long Beach Poly at Montclair; E: Rialto at Diamond Bar.

The Inland Valley produced many notable performances on Saturday at the Division 2 track and field prelims at Moorpark High School. The top nine in most events qualify for next Saturday's CIF-SS Finals.

Here is a list of Inland Valley qualifiers for the CIF-SS Division 2 finals:

PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Grant Jerrett, La Verne Lutheran, Sr.
The 6-foot-10 Arizona-bound center led Lutheran to a pair of state championships and one CIF title in his tenure. The Gatorade state Player of the Year and McDonald's All-American Game invitee averaged 22 points and 10 rebounds this season as the Trojans reached the CIF finals.

FIRST TEAM
G: Jordan McLaughlin, Etiwanda, So.
The first team all-CIF sophomore averaged a team-high 17.8 points for an Etiwanda team that went undefeated in the Baseline League, was seeded third and reached the semifinals of the CIF-SS Division 1AA playoffs before going to the second round of the CIF state tournament.

G: Myles Pearson, Upland, Sr.
The first team all-CIF point guard averaged 17.8 points and 4.2 assists for an Upland team that reached the CIF-SS Division 1AA semifinals. Pearson, who often guarded the opposition's best perimeter player, made 67 percent of his 3-pointers and 91.6 percent of his free throws.

F: Miles Poullard, Colony, Sr.
The Mt. Baldy League MVP averaged 19.2 points, 7.1 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.1 steals per game for the league champions. Poullard was selected first team all-CIF averaging 24.8 points during a run to the CIF-SS Division 2A semifinals, including a school-record 43 in the second round.

F: Marvelle Harris, Eisenhower, Sr.
The Citrus Belt League MVP and Division 1AA all-CIF selection averaged 25.6 points per game, including 30.6 per game during league play. The 6-foot-2 Fresno State-bound Harris also averaged 7.4 rebounds and 3.4 steals per game.

C: Chris Reyes, Damien, Sr.
The CIF-SS Division 3AAA co-Player of the Year averaged 16.7 points, 11.7 rebounds and 4.7 blocks per game for the Sierra League champions. The 6-7 Reyes, who helped Damien to a No. 1 playoff seed, will play at St. Mary's next season.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Jillian Alleyne, Summit, Sr.
The Oregon-bound 6-foot-3 center earned CIF-SS Division 1A Player of the Year honors after leading the SkyHawks to the first CIF championship in school history. The Sunkist League MVP led the league in four categories, averaging 14.5 points, 9.9 rebounds, 2.9 blocks and 2.7 assists per game as she led the SkyHawks to an undefeated run through league play.

FIRST TEAM
G: Nikki Wheatley, Bonita, So.
The sophomore point guard earned Hacienda League MVP honors by leading the Bearcats to a 27-win season, a league title and the CIF-SS Division 3AAA semifinals.

G: Taylor Brown, Chino, So.
The sophomore averaged 20.3 points per game and 2.7 steals per game in leading Chino to an undefeated run through the Mt. Baldy League to end thr five-year run of Colony as the league champion.

F: Chelsea Barnes, Diamond Ranch, Sr.
The first team all-CIF guard filled up the stat sheet with 18.6 points, 6.6 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.4 steals per game for a Diamond Ranch team that went 25-7 and reached the CIF-SS Division 3AA semifinals.

F: Ashtyn Anderson, Etiwanda, Sr.
The 5-foot-10 first team all-CIF forward averaged 12.5 points, 12 rebounds 2.9 steals and 2.8 assists per game in addition to shooting 71 percent from the free throw line for the Baseline League champion Eagles, who went 23-4 and reached the CIF-SS Division 1AA quarterfinals.

C: Denae Williams, Rialto, Sr.
The first team all-San Andreas League center averaed 23.1 points, 22.3 rebounds and 4.9 blocks per game for the league champions. A second team all-CIF selection, Williams has signed to play at the University of San Francisco next season.

Colony High School junior quarterback Matt Simko transferred to Chino Hills High School on Monday and had his eligibility approved by CIF Thursday per his family's residence change. The Mt. Baldy League offensive player of the year last season has joined Chino Hills spring practice and is competing for the starting quarterback job with Zach Chadwick, who also plays linebacker.

All indications from Chino Hills coach Derek Bub are that he would love to avoid playing Chadwick both ways and the 6-foot-3 Simko's arrival will likely make that an easy decision.

"I didn't have any idea this was happening before Friday," Bub said. "But he is going to help us a lot. He's a great drop back passer with a cannon for an arm. He's a 'yes sir, no sir' kid and all he's done is work hard."

With all-Inland Valley basketball running this week, it's time to release all-valley wrestling. Due to space/time/staffing constraints, we are only running a list of all-valley wrestling on the blog.
But here it is, all-valley wrestling for 2011-12 season.

Wrestler of the Year: Jacob Leon, Sr., Alta Loma (138)
Coach of the Year: Nick Nakamura, Chino Hills

On the day of the Mt. Baldy League championship two weeks later, Joe Marcos was afraid the Don Lugo High School baseball team's 16-3 pasting of Chino on April 25 may have done its league title hopes more harm than good.

"I told them right after the game," the Don Lugo coach said. "Don't expect this to happen when we play them again."

When they played again on Wednesday, it didn't happen again but Don Lugo showed plenty of mental fortitude in grinding out a 3-1 win over Chino in a winner-take-all showdown for the league championship.

Don Lugo senior Brett Early won the pitchers' duel with Chino's Michael Reina, allowing one run on seven hits in a complete game that included a combined total of 19 runners stranded between the teams.

"More is always better," as far as Tahaan Goodman is concerned. The Rancho Cucamonga four-star safety has already exceeded his expectations having pulled in 25 scholarship offers in the last few months. But the 6-foot-2, 185-pound junior is committed to remaining uncommitted. Though he has offers from LSU, Oklahoma, Florida, Nebraska, Boise State, USC and Oklahoma State, to name a few, his ears will remain open until he finishes his recruiting trips in the fall.

The two official visits cemented in his schedule are LSU and Hawaii. Goodman has already taken unofficial trips to USC, UCLA, Cal and Arizona State and plans to visit San Diego State this weekend.

"It's hard sometimes when you go to a school and it makes you want to commit right away," Goodman said. "But then I just think about all the schools I haven't seen yet. I've always said I want to see everything that I can before I make this decision."

Given its seven scholarship players, 19 consecutive wins and national ranking of No. 19 on espn.com, the Chino Hills High School softball team isn't short on intimidation. Accordingly, the Huskies affected Friday's showdown with St. Lucy's for the Sierra League championship before they even took the field.

St. Lucy's strategy to surprise the Huskies by starting its No. 2 pitcher didn't pan out as Chino Hills scored all of its runs in the first three innings of a 7-3 victory over the second-place Regents. With two regular-season games remaining, the No. 1 team in CIF-SS Division 3 has assured itself the top spot in league by fending off St. Lucy's (18-5, 5-2), the No. 3 team in Division 3 that could have earned a co-league title had it been able to avenge its April 18 11-2 loss to Chino Hills (24-3, 7-0).

Pitcher Danielle O'Toole, who has started in the circle for 13 of St. Lucy's 18 victories, didn't enter until the fourth inning and allowed no runs on four hits in the final three innings.

"In a game like this when you're trying to win a league championship, I was very surprised they didn't start (O'Toole)," Chino Hills coach Mike Southworth said. "We've hit her in the past, but things can change. For her not to start, there must have been a major reason."

When reached by phone last night, former Colony High School football coach Matt Bechtel said he resigned Tuesday with the intent to explore other coaching opportunities, perhaps in the college ranks. It came as a surprise to many when the coach stepped down after a successful two-year run at Colony that ended with a Mt. Baldy League championship and a trip to the CIF-SS Central Division semifinals in his second season as a head coach after seven years as the Los Osos High School offensive coordinator.

Echoing Colony athletic director Jaime Sandoval's comments on Tuesday evening, Bechtel referenced the desire to coach college football, but was clear that nothing specific is currently lined up.

"I need to do what's best for my family and what's best for me at this point in my life," Bechtel said. "I've been fortunate enough to have some opportunities presented to me virtually every season and there's some things that have struck my attention. I don't have anything for sure in the works, but I have a good feeling that things are going to develop."

Garey filled its vacancy for a new head football coach by hiring former Diamond Ranch offensive coordinator Al Brown on April 17. Brown, who spent five seasons at Diamond Ranch, takes over for Leonard Hudson, who was fired in February after a winless 2011 season.

"After 20 years of being an assistant, I thought it was the right time and the right place," Brown said. "I told the kids we only have to change one thing, and that's everything."

Garey made the playoff for the first time 10 years with a fourth-place finish in the Mt. Baldy League in 2010, but fell on hard times again last year. Brown is coming from another program in Pomona that has reached two CIF championship games during his tenure as offensive coordinator.

"I'm not going to come out and predict that we'll be league champs or CIF champs, but we will compete," Brown said. "When you're getting beat 48-6, there's just no fire there. I know we'll be fundamentally sound. I know we'll have a game plan and I know we'll be prepared."

Matt Bechtel resigned on Tuesday after two seasons as Colony High School's head football coach, according to Colony athletic director Jaime Sandoval. Bechtel went 18-6 in his first two seasons as a head coach, leading the Titans to a Mt. Baldy League championship last season before reaching the CIF-SS Central Division semifinals.

"I think some other opportunities have been out there for him, particularly in the last two or three months," Sandoval said. "I think it was a tough decision for him to leave considering he came in with such a vision for this program and the amount of work he put into it. But ultimately I think he needed to look at those other opportunities."

Bechtel did not immediately return a message Wednesday evening. Bechtel offered to coach the team through the end of spring football and Sandoval said he expects Bechtel to finish out the school year as a teacher at Colony before perhaps taking another job. Colony is already attempting to find a replacement for Bechtel, who came to Colony after seven seasons as the offensive coordinator at Los Osos High School. Bechtel has even offered to aid the new coach in an effort to ease the transition, according to Sandoval.

It was an appropriate place to claim a league championship for the Los Osos High School softball team, given the banners hanging behind it on the Etiwanda outfield fence. The Grizzlies swept the season series from the four-time defending Baseline League champion Eagles with a 3-2 victory Wednesday, their third over Etiwanda this season.

It's not as if a young Los Osos team dethroned the Eagles in a down year. All seven Etiwanda seniors have signed to play college softball and that doesn't include junior shortstop Delaney Spaulding, who is verbally committed to UCLA. Nevertheless, a Los Osos team with just two seniors on the roster scratched out the one-run victory by making Etiwanda (17-6, 8-4) pay for an error that aided all the Grizzlies' scoring in a three-run second inning.

The league championship is the first in school history for a Los Osos (19-4, 11-1) program surrounded by prominent programs.

Estefania Gallegos needed an unusual form of motivation, but the Carter swimmer landed a CIF-SS qualifying time nonetheless.

Carter swimming coach John Devries raced Gallegos against boys during the Lions' April 10 meet against Colton with the stipulation she couldn't earn points toward Carter's team score. The greater goal was accomplished as she posted an automatic qualifying time for CIF-SS preliminaries, finishing the 100 fly in 1:03 behind the winning time of 1:02. It's the only time all season she hasn't won any event in which she has competed.