Prep Rally: NFL Draft was a great day for former local high school football stars
Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. My name is Eric Sondheimer. There’s never been a time when the No. 1 and No. 2 choices in the NFL draft were quarterbacks from Southern California. It happened last week.
Draft history
It was a historic NFL draft for Southern California products, with Bryce Young (Mater Dei and Cathedral) going No. 1 to Carolina and CJ Stroud (Rancho Cucamonga) going No. 2 to Houston. The only other time the No. 1 and No. 2 picks were from California was 1969 when O.J. Simpson (San Francisco Galileo) went to Buffalo and George Kunz (Loyola) went to Atlanta. Here’s the story.
Young’s selection will be even more historic in that he stands just 5 feet 10 1/8 feet tall, allowing him to serve as an example that height is no barrier to becoming an elite quarterback. He grew up in Pasadena, where Jackie Robinson also broke barriers.
Former Chaminade receiver Michael Wilson was a third-round selection of Arizona. You could hear the emotion in his voice when he received the call. He had overcome injuries at Stanford to make a huge impression at the NFL Combine. The Chargers took Crenshaw High’s Daiyan Henley in the third round.
Former St. Francis safety Daniel Scott was a three-sport athlete in high school and captain of the football and basketball teams. He was taken in the fifth round by Indianapolis. Here’s a report on local athletes selected on the final day of the draft.
Football
The last time NFL quarterback Matt Moore started coaching in high school, he was at his alma mater, Hart, and it didn’t last long. He was called back out of retirement to help out the Kansas City Chiefs in 2019 when Patrick Mahomes was injured, winning a Super Bowl ring. Now he’s helping his former quarterback coach, Dean Herrington, at St. Francis as an assistant coach and if any NFL teams call, he said about returning, “Breaking news. No.”
Moore will help develop class of 2025 quarterback John Sanders along with Sanders’ brother, Shawn, a class of 2027 quarterback and kicker. The brothers commute from Mojave, driving 70 miles one way to La Cañada. Their father played center at Hart when the late Jim Bonds was the quarterback
The spring and summer seven on seven passing season began Saturday. Burbank held a tournament. Several teams hadn’t even begun spring workouts.
Sierra Canyon won the tournament in the debut of quarterback Wyatt Becker, who transferred from Sherman Oaks Notre Dame. Cole Crawford and Xavier Jordan had some big catches. Simi Valley was runner-up and that was impressive considering the Pioneers were breaking in mostly new players.
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Baseball
The Southern Section playoff pairings will be released Monday morning. It was a week of dramatic home runs to end the regular season.
There was Matthew Thomas of Cypress hitting a two-run, walk-off home run in the ninth inning to give Cypress a 2-1 win of Garden Grove Pacifica in the Empire League title decider. The two teams shared the title. That came after Pacifica won the early week game 4-2 behind Chad Gurnea.
Mater Dei’s Brody Connors delivered a grand slam that ignited the Monarchs to an 11-2 victory over Servite, clinching their first playoff berth since 2017.
Brandon Chang hit a three-run home run to wipe out a deficit and lift JSerra to a 5-3 win over Orange Lutheran, clinching a Division 1 playoff berth. “I told him it was the biggest at-bat in his JSerra career,” coach Brett Kay said before Chang came to the plate. And what did Chang say afterward? “You were right,” Kay said.
Nate Norman of Fullerton hit a walk-off home run to beat Bishop Amat 8-7.
Mayfair and Norwalk imposed punishment for a post-game brawl. Here’s the report.
Here’s the final regular season top 25 rankings from The Times.
In the City Section, Granada Hills is 12-0 in the West Valley League and has clinched at least a tie for the title with three games remaining. Miles Ortiz has been the Highlanders’ top players all season but Ethan Hawk is coming on strong at the plate and on the mound.
Palisades is 23-2 and is expected to be the No. 2 seed for the City Section Open Division playoffs behind the Highlanders. Birmingham is in position to be the No. 3 seed being in second place in the West Valley League. Birmingham and Granada Hills end league play on May 9 at Granada Hills.
Perfection in senior year
Tanner Mahon of Campbell Hall is having close to a perfect senior year, having allowed no earned runs in 53 innings this season. It’s even more remarkable because he didn’t pitch last season after suffering a severe knee injury.
“I’ve been lucky to live an awesome life, but that was without a doubt the hardest thing I had to go through,” Mahon said of the torn posterior cruciate ligament. “I had so many dreams and aspirations taken away in one second. I would do anything to wake up for 7 a.m. practices. It was really, really hard.”
Here’s the story on the comeback of the year.
All in the family
If you happen to be standing on first base against San Juan Capistrano JSerra in the Southern Section Division 1 playoffs, it’s the perfect time to ask 6-foot-6 first baseman Dominic Smaldino for a quick history lesson on his family’s baseball legacy.
Yes, he could talk for 30 minutes about his great-grandfather, Joe Stephenson, a scout for the Boston Red Sox for more than 50 years, or his grandfather, Jerry Stephenson, a scout for the Dodgers for more than 20 years who pitched in the 1967 “Impossible Dream” World Series.
Or you could ask his mother, Shannon, Jerry’s daughter, who has story after story to tell and is about the coolest mom a baseball player can have.
A profile on a family with a rich baseball history.
Softball
Playoff pairings were released Saturday, with Norco earning the No. 1 seed in Southern Section Division 1. Here’s the link to pairings.
The lack of a dominant pitcher means Division 1 could be wide open. It’s a 16-team bracket with eight wild-card games.
The home run derby between Ella Parker of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame and Anahi Arreola of Oaks Christian will continue in the playoffs. Arreola has 17 home runs. Parker has 13 home runs and more than 30 walks.
Tennis
Harvard-bound James MacDonald, the No. 2 seed from Irvine University, defeated top-seeded Corona del Mar junior Niels Hoffmann, 6-4, 6-2, in the singles final at Ojai. MacDonald is the third consecutive boys’ CIF singles champion at The Ojai – which has conducted its high school division championships since 1899 – from University, and University’s fourth singles champion at The Ojai over the last 10 years (joining Conrad Brown in 2022, Aditya Gupta in 2019 and Gage Brymer from 2011-13).
In the CIF doubles final, the second-seeded brother act of senior Avery Tallakson and freshman Brayden Tallakson became Woodbridge’s first doubles champions at The Ojai by defeating seniors Rex Harrison and Aden Dorros, of The Bishop’s School (La Jolla), 6-4, 6-2. Avery Tallakson is a University of New Mexico recruit, and younger brother Brayden won The Ojai’s Boys’ 14s singles championship last year.
University also won the Griggs Cup, awarded to the best performing high school over combined singles and doubles competition at The Ojai, for the third consecutive year.
Track
The Southern Section prelims take place this weekend, with the City Section holding its league finals.
At last week’s Southern Section league finals, a new star was unveiled. Freshman Jalen Carnes of Sierra Canyon won the 100 and 200 at the Mission League finals. Here’s the story.
Here are the sites for Saturday’s Southern Section prelims: Division 1 at Trabuco Hills, Division 2 at Ventura, Division 3 at Yorba Linda and Division 4 at Carpinteria. The divisional championships are May 13 at Moorpark with the Masters Meet May 20 at Moorpark. The state championships are May 26 and 27 at Buchanan High School in Clovis.
Chasing Sadie
With a few steps, the thumping of the runners trying to keep her glistening gold headband in sight faded away, and Sadie Engelhardt turned the 1,600-meter race at the Arcadia Invitational into nothing more than a workout.
The masses expected this, because most Engelhardt races become dances not with her fellow numbers but with the numbers of history. And as usual, peers and fans prodded the Ventura High sophomore April 7 at Arcadia: What time are you going to run?
It’s overwhelming. Heavy is the young head that wears the crown, but the expectations are wholeheartedly realistic. Engelhardt is a precious couple seconds away from Katelyn Tuohy’s 4:33 national high school record in the mile. It’s been inevitable, she feels, since she planted her flag at the peak of the Southern California girls’ track scene with a 4:35 as a freshman in April 2022.
Here’s a profile on Southern California’s next great distance runner.
Swimming
The Southern Section swimming prelims and championships will take place May 2-6 in Riverside.
The big story last week was Long Beach Poly ending Long Beach Wilson’s 49-year run as league champions.
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Notes . . .
After a leave of absence for more than a month during a district investigation, Brent Lavoie was reinstated as Long Beach Poly baseball coach last week. The team won the Moore League title during his absence. . . .
Chris Chaddick has been named football coach at San Gorgonio. . . .
Sophomore Otto Espinoza has committed to Ohio State for baseball. . . .
First baseman Julian Angulo of Warren has committed to Cal Poly Pomona. . . .
Lillie Vehling of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame has been selected the CIF scholar athlete of the year. . . .
San Pedro’s softball team has forfeited seven games because of an ineligible player. . . .
Junior running back Terrell Cooks of Sierra Canyon has committed to San Diego State. . . .
Sage Hill junior basketball standout Carter Bryant has committed to Arizona. . . .
The Southern Section is proposing to move forward with more playoff divisions decided by regular season results instead of placing teams before the season. A proposal could come in September. . . .
Jarrett Segura of Bishop Alemany has committed to Cal State Dominguez Hills for baseball. . . .
Zach Carter is the new boys’ basketball coach at Bellflower. . . .
Dante Ogbu of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame has committed to Westmont College basketball. . . .
Jake Hoss of San Clemente has committed to Long Beach State for water polo. . . .
Defensive coordinator Marcus Galan has been promoted to head football coach at San Gabriel. . . .
Fred Emmerson is the new football coach at Taft. He was an assistant at Kennedy. He inherits a new football field. . . .
Catcher Brock Wirthgen of Orange Lutheran has committed to Cal Baptist. . . .
Jacob Rosenfeld of El Camino Real has committed to Cal Lutheran baseball. . . .
The Southern Section lacrosse playoff pairings were released. Here’s the link. . . .
The Southern Section beach volleyball competition continues. Here’s the link. . . .
The boys’ volleyball playoffs continue this week. Here’s the link.
Guard Dylan Metoyer from Sierra Canyon has committed to Howard University.
From the archives: Carter Graham
Carter Graham has come a long ways since his senior season at Chaminade in 2020 was taken away when high school sports was halted by the pandemic. He was a three-time all-league player for the Eagles.
Starting in 2022, Graham became a Pac-12 standout for Stanford, making all-conference while batting .331 with a Pac-12 best 22 home runs and 79 RBIs. This season, he’s batting .281 with eight home runs.
Here’s a 2017 story during his freshman season showing off his potential at Chaminade.
Graham participated in a 2020 Times project interviewing seniors whose seasons had been interrupted by COVID-19. Here’s the profile.
Recommendations
From BaseballAmerica.com, a story on a new NCAA rule that will prevent college coaches from having contact with recruits until August of their junior year.
From the Los Angeles Times, a story on quarterbacks CJ Stroud and Bryce Young.
From the Los Angeles Times, a story on the Fletcher brothers of Cypress returning to MLB.
Tweets you might have missed
Until next time...
Have a question, comment or something you’d like to see in a future Prep Rally newsletter? Email me at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com, and follow me on Twitter at @latsondheimer.
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