Sharing sideline smiles
While their players tried to finish plays the other team knew were
coming, boys basketball coaches Chris Sorce and Rich Boyce, former
Estancia High colleagues, finished one another’s sentences on the
sideline Monday night.
Boyce, in his third season at Edison after 13 years in the
Estancia program, the final four as head coach before taking over the
Chargers, concluded yet another homecoming week by coaching his team
to a 51-43 triumph in the third-place game of the Estancia Coast
Classic.
But Boyce and Sorce, who moved up from the sophomores to the
varsity when Boyce left, had about as much fun as two competitors can
have in the heat of battle.
“We were both making decoy calls, because we run the same stuff,”
Boyce said of the strategic aspect of the matchup. “Chris and I knew
what was happening, but the kids fell for it.”
At one point, Boyce and Sorce conferred about the length of a
timeout, both eventually agreeing a full timeout, not a 30-second
stoppage, was more appropriate.
And, when Boyce wanted to call a late timeout to shuffle in some
subs who had not played in a string of recent close games, he first
let Sorce know about the ploy, so as not to ruffle any feathers.
“I enjoy coaching against Chris, because we have a lot of fun on
the sideline,” said Boyce, whose Chargers defeated Sorce’s Eagles two
years ago in the Coast Classic semifinals. “Sometimes, you can get so
caught up in competing, you forget it’s supposed to fun. There’s not
too many coaches you can converse with during the game, but Chris is
one of them.”
Both coaches said they talk at least twice a week during the
season and both root for one another and seek out one another’s
scores in the morning newspaper.
“Every once in a while, when we break a team huddle, the kids will
say, one-two-three Edison, and I’ll catch myself saying Eagles,”
Boyce said. “And just this year, I picked up a bracket of a
tournament both teams were in and I looked at the Estancia draw
thinking it was mine.”
Estancia and Edison scrimmage one another in the preseason and
plan to continue that trend, though Boyce said he will miss the Coast
Classic next year, in favor of a tournament in Florida.
*
More than coaching against his good friend, Boyce said all the
familiar faces he encounters makes the Coast Classic, in its 18th
year, a special event for him.
“Everyone here is so nice and personable and they always wish me
well,” he said.
Boyce also said he enjoyed seeing the development of Estancia
senior starters Joey Lindquist, Zack Novak and Matt Cachola, who were
freshmen in his final season with the Eagles.
He also couldn’t resist passing some praise Sorce’s way.
“I hope people realize that Chris is getting a lot out of his
kids,” Boyce said.
*
Among the scores of volunteers who helped tournament director Ben
Novak run one of the Southland’s most cordial and efficient events --
and oh the culinary delight of that hospitality room -- there is
veteran public address announcer Steve Kreisle.
Kreisle, in his seventh year working boys basketball games at
Estancia, said his daughter, former Eagle tennis player Katie
Kreisle, hooked him up with the job, after he complained about a void
on the microphone.
Raised in Indiana, where he became another Hoosier hooked on
hoops, Kreisle said he still enjoys calling games -- about two a
night during the tournament -- and plans to continue in that role for
as long as Sorce remains the coach.
“I think we’ll go out together,” said Kreisle, whose understated
style is one more game announcers should emulate.
*
Those holding their breath for the hiring of a football coach at
Estancia may want to exhale. Tim Parsel, Estancia boys athletic
director, said procedural problems have delayed the mandatory 10-day
period in which the job is advertised within the district.
Parsel said he hopes to begin interviewing candidates in late
January.
Parsel also said he has had about a dozen inquiries about the
position, but is unsure how many of those will actually apply. He
said a teaching position will be offered with enough flexibility
(including openings in physical education) as not to limit
applicants.
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