Prep Rally: A high school football zero week recap
Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. My name is Eric Sondheimer. Zero Week in high school football produced some top individual performances but not a whole lot of upsets.
Football rewind
No. 1 Mater Dei and No. 3 Corona Centennial sure looked like top teams in their season opener. If Mater Dei is really the No. 1 team in the nation, Centennial can’t be too far behind after a 28-14 defeat.
“We’re right there,” Centennial coach Matt Logan told his team afterward.
In fact, the Huskies are likely to make the greater improvement over the course of the season because it was the first game for new quarterback Husan Longstreet, who faced an effective rush and was sacked eight times.
It’s still going to be tough to defeat the Monarchs. Their running game is very strong, their defense is outstanding and quarterback Elijah Brown can be counted on to deliver in the clutch.
Here’s a look back at the Mater Dei-Centennial game. And Centennial is supposed to be adding new LED lights to its field and a new video scoreboard before its next home game in September.
Here’s a link to top performances in Southern California.
Huntington Beach started a freshman at quarterback and won its opener. Here’s a report.
St. Bonaventure turned loose the Glover brothers, Kaden and Koen, in a win over Bishop Alemany. Here’s the report.
One of the most dramatic games involved Granada Hills tying Franklin 28-28. Franklin quarterback Eduardo Cuevas, who passed for 310 yards, completed a 35-yard touchdown pass to Benjamin Villareal with no time left. Then a two-point conversation by Jonathan Velazquez tied the score.
There were three terrific games Saturday. Sophomore running back Damanie Bell brook loose for a 25-yard touchdown in the second overtime to give Crespi a 55-49 win over Grace Brethren. He rushed for 219 yards and scored four touchdowns. Foothill came through with a goal-line stand to defeat Bishop Diego 31-28. Running back Aidan Hicks led Valencia to a 36-28 upset of Bishop Amat.
Among the few upsets was Santa Monica over Calabasas 28-21, with Carter Paysinger back coaching.
Big games this week include Sierra Canyon vs. Oaks Christian, Gardena Serra vs. Warren, Long Beach Poly vs. Bishop Gorman in Oregon, Birmingham at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame.
Here’s the link to Week 1 schedule.
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Top 25 rankings
Mater Dei is No. 1, St. John Bosco No. 2 and Corona Centennial No. 3 in The Times’ top 25 high school football rankings this week.
New schools cracking the top 25 include City Section favorite Birmingham and San Juan Hills.
Here are the top 25 rankings.
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Media deal
The CIF Southern Section has signed a new six-year deal with Play On! Sports and NFHS Network for linear television and streaming rights that will be a 13% increase over last year’s previous media deal, Southern Section spokesman Thom Simmons said.
The new deal will see the Southern Section and NFHS Network teaming to produce games that will be shown on Bally Sports SoCal.
Here’s the link to the report.
Saluting old-school values
Welcome to the era of immediate gratification. Being patient has gone the way of rotary telephones and typewriters. Parents don’t want their kids to wait their turn or sit on a bench so they endorse transferring. When that doesn’t work, they transfer again. Or go to a prep school for a fifth year of high school eligibility.
Wrong lessons are being taught. What happened to competing, working on getting better and trusting the determination to succeed? What happened to coaches focusing on ALL their players and not just the college prospects?
My passion this coming season will be to spotlight those old-school success stories of individuals taking the long-term approach, putting their head down, groaning in the weight room, grinding in the classroom and never giving up.
Here’s a look at some athletes and coaches doing it the right way.
Girls’ volleyball
Winning a championship takes talent — and the Mira Costa High girls’ volleyball team has that in spades. Just as important, though, is chemistry and the Mustangs are depending on that ingredient to capture their first Southern Section title in 16 years.
Even without setter and Wisconsin-bound senior Charlie Fuerbringer, who was 7,800 miles away in Croatia helping the USA girls’ U19 team win the FIVB World Championship, the Mustangs took first place for the eighth time at the Ann Kang Invitational in Hawaii, rallying to stun the No. 1 team in the nation, Cornerstone Christian of San Antonio in the final on Aug. 12.
“Between matches we were huddled around, we had like three laptops open and watched the end [of the world championships],” said coach Cam Green, a 1992 Mira Costa graduate. “On match point we were all cheering. Everyone was so excited for Charlie!”
Here’s a preview of the teams to watch in girls volleyball.
Taylor Yu, a Stanford commit, had 35 kills in her season debut for Temple City in a win over Flintridge Sacred Heart.
Taft won the City Champions Showcase Championship with a 25-18, 25-18 win over GALA in the final. The co-tournament MVPs from Taft were Claire Mussell and Francine Baltazar-Shine.
Redondo Union won the Lakewood tournament championship with a three-set sweep of La Cañada.
Flag football
Crenshaw and King/Drew played in an eight-minute scrimmage at SoFi Stadium on Saturday in girls seven on seven flag football at halftime of the Rams-Raiders game.
There was supposed to be a season opener on Monday when the Coliseum League had a series of games scheduled at Dymally and Washington Prep, but LAUSD has canceled classes because of the tropical storm Sunday, so games will be rescheduled.
There are 54 schools competing for the first City Section championship. There are 154 teams in the Southern Section, which won’t hold a championship.
El Segundo update
El Segundo plays its second game in the Little League World Series on Monday night in Williamsport, Pa. It will be a California vs. Texas matchup.
If El Segundo keeps winning, there will be games on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday this week.
Here’s an update on how the team is doing.
The Futures App
The founding team of The Futures App are former San Fernando Valley high school baseball players Jake Hirabayashi (Sherman Oaks Notre Dame), Colin Brophy (Notre Dame) and Ryan Braun (Granada Hills).
It’s a sports technology startup that helps baseball teams from youth to high school to college to pro organize, communicate and train.
The use of apps has become big in the sports industry.
Notes . . .
Campbell Hall girls’ volleyball player Mila Mijailovic has committed to Yale. . . .
Guard Kat Righeimer of Sage Hill has committed to Northwestern for women’s basketball. . . .
Steve Manqueros, who guided Carson to the City Section Open Division baseball final last season at Dodger Stadium, has resigned to become the head coach at Peninsula. . . .
Inglewood receiver Bain Eiseman has committed to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. . . .
Starting guard Ethan Johnson has left Chaminade for Sierra Canyon. . . .
Taft basketball standout Bishop Brooks has transferred to West Ranch. . . .
Donnell Meek is the new basketball coach at Paramount. He also coached at Morningside and Price . . .
Peninsula has named Mike Sestich boys’ basketball coach. He’s a former Mary Star coach. . . .
Former UCLA and Angels star Troy Glaus has been hired as the baseball coach at Buchanan High. . . .
Santa Paula baseball player Tyler Antwine has committed to Fresno State. . . .
Campbell Hall libero player Isabella Marrero has committed to American University. . . .
Harvard-Westlake kicker Josh Barnavon has committed to the admission process at UPenn.
From the archives: Steve Smith
On Aug. 31, Taft is scheduled to hold a Steve Smith Day celebration that will culminate in a halftime jersey retirement ceremony against Dymally. Former Taft coaches Troy Starr and Matt Kerstetter are expected to attend.
Smith will go down in history as one of the best athletes in City Section history. He was a terrific receiver for the Toreadors and a basketball player. He’d go on to star for USC’s football team and win a Super Bowl with the New York Giants.
Here’s a 2015 column on Smith.
Here’s a 2022 column on Smith and the Super Bowl.
Recommendations
From the Washington Post, a story on the growing number of torn ACL injuries involving women athletes.
From the Napa Valley Register, a story on a woman activities director taking over as head football coach after no one applied.
From Johncanzano.com, a story on the life of former Long Beach Poly and Oregon running back Herman Ho-Ching, who died in a drowning.
From GQ.com, a story on the longevity of former Long Beach Poly tight end Marcedes Lewis.
From the Los Angeles Times, a look at story lines for the 2023 prep football season.
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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