High School Review : Orange Glen Basketball Coach Ernest Resigns

After four years, Dana Ernest, the Orange Glen High School varsity basketball coach, has resigned. Ernest, 35, will remain at the school as a world and United States history teacher.

“First, it was a family decision,” said Ernest, whose family includes his wife, Joyce, and daughters Jennifer, 7, Emily, 5, and Jessica, 1. “My family hasn’t been complaining, but I’ve felt more at ease since resigning. I’ve got three young daughters, and I want to be around them more.

“Also, I wasn’t getting as much satisfaction out of coaching as I had earlier. I don’t feel I’ve achieved what I wanted to achieve in four years.”

The Patriots were 0-12 in the Palomar League in 1987-88, 5-20 overall. One of the highlights of the season occurred in the opening round of the San Diego County playoffs, when Orange Glen gave Hilltop a scare before losing, 62-58. After three quarters, Orange Glen held a 41-32 lead.

Ernest coached freshman basketball at Orange Glen for two years, junior varsity for four years and varsity for four years.

“Obviously, one of my goals in the beginning was to win and improve Orange Glen’s program,” Ernest said. “Things have begun to turn the corner in the last four years, but that still doesn’t show up in the wins and losses. It’s been very frustrating.

“I’m going to miss it, I’m sure, when the ball starts being bounced next year. I’ll want to get back into it in the future, but not now, and not at the varsity level. I want to get away from the hectic pace of being a varsity coach. There’s a lot of pressure. It’s very nerve-racking.”

Bill Rutledge, Orange Glen athletic director, plans to start interviewing candidates for the coaching position on May 15, and he hopes to have someone hired by June 1.

It has been nearly two weeks since La Jolla scored 23 runs in one inning against Mar Vista in the Lions baseball tournament, but the game has not been forgotten.

“I’ve never seen anything like it, and you’ll never see it again,” said Dick Huddleston, La Jolla’s coach, of the March 26 game. “It was one of those crazy, crazy innings you just couldn’t shut off.”

Leading 2-0, the Vikings had 17 hits and scored 23 runs in the fourth inning. They sent 15 batters to the plate before an out was recorded. First baseman Brent Woodall and catcher Adam Lenain both went 3 for 3 in the inning. The final score was La Jolla 27, Mar Vista 1.

Obviously, La Jolla was overjoyed. But what was it like on the Mar Vista bench?

“It was just one of those things,” said Coach Alex Santana. “That’s how the kids felt. Nobody was upset or happy--it just happened. La Jolla was hitting the ball.

“I used three pitchers in the inning (Tim O’Neal, Josh Leslie and Mike Green), and all were sophomores. For Leslie and Green, it was their first varsity exposure--I had just brought them up from the junior varsity. But I’ll give La Jolla credit. They were hitting the ball and just kept on hitting the ball.”

La Jolla lists 16 players on its roster, but Huddleston didn’t send up a pinch-hitter during the inning. Despite the lopsided inning and score, though, Santana said he bears no grudge.

“You can’t ask your players not to hit,” Santana reasoned.

And Huddleston said he didn’t use any pinch-hitters because it was still early in the game.

“We had gotten two runs in the first, but they had shut us down on four hitters in the second and three hitters in the third,” Huddleston said.

How did La Jolla react during the 23-run barrage?

Said Huddleston: “The kids were starting to take out bets on the bench on who would make the last out of the inning.”

The 32-man roster for the South team in the 37th annual Shrine All-Star football game has been announced, and two San Diego athletes will be playing--Morse offensive lineman Lincoln Kennedy and Vista wide receiver Marc Jones. The game will be played Saturday night, July 23, in the Rose Bowl.

On March 26, the Patrick Henry track team traveled to the Pasadena Games, where it encountered a strong Hawthorne High (Los Angeles) team. Hawthorne’s freshman-sophomore mile relay team beat the Henry varsity.

The catch? With a time of 3 minutes 24.6 seconds, the Patrick Henry boys’ varsity mile relay team is the fastest in San Diego County so far this spring.

University City senior swimmer Allison Maxwell has made an oral commitment to attend Clemson University.

Maxwell, who has won the San Diego Section championships in the 200-yard individual medley and 100-yard butterfly, has qualified for the U.S. Olympic swimming trials in the 400-meter IM.