NOTEBOOK : Heavier Reilly Makes Boxing Finals Again

Pepe Reilly is proving, once again, that he can carry his weight in the boxing ring--even if that weight includes an extra 28 pounds.

Reilly, 19, reached the USA/American Boxing Federation national amateur championships Feb. 24-March 3 at Colorado Springs, Colo., by winning twice in the 147-pound division last weekend at the regional finals at Azusa.

Reilly, who lives in Glendale and attended Hoover High, reached the national finals in the 119-pound division last year.

“The transition has not been a problem because Pepe was always training to get down to 119 pounds,” said Fred Reilly, Pepe’s father and trainer. “He seems more comfortable physically fighting at 147.”

Pepe Reilly defeated Lance Dixon of San Diego and Salvador Gonzales of Las Vegas in three-round bouts to advance to the national championships.

Reilly must finish at least second in his division to qualify for the Pan American Games, Olympic Festival and World Championships.

Big win: The Glendale High girl’s basketball team clinched its first Pacific League championship with a 52-33 victory over Muir on Tuesday night at Muir.

Glendale improved to 17-5 overall and 9-0 in league play.

The championship is Glendale’s first since 1980, when the Dynamiters competed in the Foothill League.

Going out on top: Senior forward Brett Dennis had perhaps the best game of his Occidental basketball career last week against Claremont-Mudd before leaving the team for personal reasons.

Dennis, who was averaging 11.6 points and 7.1 rebounds, scored 19 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and handed out 10 assists as Occidental beat Claremont-Mudd--the No. 14 team in Division III--117-112.

The victory improved Occidental’s record to 12-8 overall, which surpasses last year’s victory total with the latter part of the season still to be played.

The Tigers are 5-2 in Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play, one game behind La Verne (6-1).

New beginning: The Cal State Northridge softball team played its first games as a member of NCAA Division I last weekend and gained a split with Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, thanks to the performance by former Crescenta Valley High standout Heather Lindstrom.

Lindstrom--one of three former Falcons playing at Northridge--pitched seven strong innings to earn a 2-1 victory.

Lindstrom, a junior, was 14-7 with a 1.46 earned-run average last season for the Matadors.

Against All Odds: Before the season, Crescenta Valley Coach John Goffredo was only 10 wins shy of 200 career victories and thought he might be able to reach the plateau before Pacific League play began.

Twenty-three games later, with one regular-season games remaining, Crescenta Valley is 8-15.

“I figured that I could get it this year,” Goffredo said. “I did some figuring and found out that we have averaged 18 wins for 28 years. It’s just been one of those years.”

Transfer time: Glendale College linebacker Lolesio Takapu will transfer to New Mexico State and defensive back Keith Franklin will transfer to South Carolina, Vaquero Coach John Cicuto said.

Takapu (6-foot-2, 238 pounds) was the Vaqueros defensive player of the year last season. He was also considering offers from Cal State Long Beach and Pacific.

Franklin (6-2, 220) chose South Carolina over Cal State Fullerton.

Title drive: The La Canada boy’s soccer team, second in the Southern Section 3-A Division playoffs last season, readied itself for the postseason by clinching the Rio Hondo League championship with a 2-0 victory over Temple City last Friday.

La Canada, ranked third in the 3-A, improved to 14-1-3 overall, 7-0-1 in league play.

Rick Siegler scored one goal and assisted on the other for the Spartans.

Staff writer Kirby Lee contributed to this notebook.