Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. My name is Eric Sondheimer. It’s state championship weekend in high school basketball. The regional finals are Tuesday.

State championships

Brayden Burries delivers third-quarter dunk for Roosevelt against Harvard-Westlake.

(Craig Weston)

Sacramento’s Golden 1 Center will be the site the state basketball championships Friday and Saturday. But hold off on booking flights or hotel reservations. First up are Tuesday’s Southern California regional finals to decide who gets to make the trip. There are rematches and that means surprises are possible.

In the Open Division rematches, Roosevelt will host Sherman Oaks Notre Dame in the boys final and Ontario Christian will host Etiwanda in the girls final.

Notre Dame put up a strong effort before losing in the section final. The stars of the team, Brayden Burries of Roosevelt and Tyran Stokes of Notre Dame, need help to get to Sacramento. Let’s see if Roosevelt’s Myles Walker, Issac Williamson and Dominic Copenhagen can outplay Notre Dame’s Lino Mark, Zachary White and Navorro Bowman.

In the girls regional final, Ontario Christian and Etiwanda play for a third time. Ontario Christian is 2-0 but the games can’t be more competitive.

Another rematch has Sierra Canyon taking on Redondo Union in Division I boys. Sierra Canyon won in overtime in the Southern Section playoffs. Redondo Union’s guards need to make some shots to win this time.

Chatsworth’s Alijah Arenas stayed for a third season and his reward is playing for a Division II regional final Tuesday against visiting Bakersfield Christian. The Clippers’ James Harden has shown up for his last two games.

Here’s the complete schedule for Tuesday’s regional finals.

Boys basketball

Roosevelt moved one win a way from playing for a state championship by knocking off two-time defending state champion Harvard-Westlake 71-59. Brayden Burries scored 29 points. Here’s the report.

Chatsworth avenged its loss to Westchester in the City Section Open Division championship game by beating the Comets in the regional semifinals 75-61. The Chancellors led by 20 points at halftime. Earlier in the week, Alijah Arenas scored 38 points in a win over Francis Parker.

It was the end of an era with the father of Harvard-Westlake’s Isaiah Carroll announcing his high school games. Here’s the report.

Girls basketball

Sierra Canyon came so close to disrupting the Open Division in girls basketball, losing in overtime to Ontario Christian, which scored the final seven points of regulation and the first 10 points of overtime to win 69-57. Kaleena Smith scored 29 points. Jerzy Robinson led Sierra Canyon with 27 points.

Etiwanda got past Mater Dei for a second time to earn a rematch against Ontario Christian.

Windward and Sage Hill advanced to the Division I regional final.

Baseball

Isaac Monterrubio of Birmingham hits a first-inning home run in 9-3 win over Granada Hills.

(Craig Weston)

Birmingham had a big week in terms of City Section baseball with wins over Sylmar and Granada Hills. Allen Olmos struck out 14 in win over Sylmar. Then the Patriots hit back to back home runs in the first inning in win over Granada Hills.

Sun Valley Poly picked up consecutive wins over Bell and Cleveland to help its potential playoff seeding int he City Section.

Quentin Young of Oaks Christian created excitement with a walk-off home run to beat Harvard-Westlake 5-3. He has six home runs this season.

Corona won its own tournament championship with a 10-1 win over La Mirada. Billy Carlson had a three-run home run and a two-run double. Ethin Bingaman was dominant on the mound.

Here’s this week’s top 25 rankings by The Times.

Softball

El Modena handed Norco its first defeat in the championship game of the Dave Kops tournament in Arizona.

Kaitlyn Galasso and Lucy Mitchell each finished with four hits in the 5-4 victory.

Orange Lutheran is off to an 8-1 start. Kai Minor has 12 hits.

Lacrosse

Grey Stevens of Oak Park (22) scored three goals against Harvard-Westlake.

(Sharon Levy)

Oak Park came away with a 12-5 win over Harvard-Westlake that featured five goals by Colton Winsick.

Kiki Fletch of Peninsula is one of the leading goal scorers for girls this season. She has the school’s career record with 218 goals.

Track

The Servite 4×100 relay ran 40.98 seconds, the fastest time by an Orange County team since the 1970s. Freshman Jorden Wells ran the first leg, followed by freshman Jaelen Hunter, freshman Kamil Pellovelo and sophomore anchor Robert Gardner. It’s quite a start for coach Brandon Thomas’ team.

Wells is also a top football player. Here’s the report.

Long Beach Poly’s 4×100 relay team turned in a time of 40.70. Moorpark’s Davis Benson, a sophomore, cleared 6-10 in the high jump. Murrieta Mesa’s William Bright ran 13.87 in the 110 hurdles.

It was a big week for top performances. Leo Francis of Santa Margarita set a school record in the long jump with a state-leading mark of 23-8.5.

Craig Walker of Carson established himself as the City Section favorite in the 100 meters with a time of 10.45 seconds.

Day one of the Redondo/Nike Track Festival produced some top marks. Here’s from PrepCalTrack.com.

Volleyball

Loyola pulled off the upset of the weekend, knocking off unbeaten Mira Costa to win the Best of the West tournament in San Diego.

Blake Fahlbusch was named tournament MVP. His brother plays for Mira Costa.

It adds excitement to the scheduled nonleague match between Loyola and Mira Costa on March 21 at Loyola. Getting a ticket will be the challenge.

Windward won the Venice tournament championship, defeating Chatsworth in the final

The Jack Stadlman story

Temecula Valley High School senior Jack Stadlman has a lot to smile about after running the 400m with a time of 45.69.

(Mark Boster/For The Times)

“The Jack Stadlman Story” could be coming to a theater near you. The screenplay is being written each time he breaks out of the blocks in the 400 meters. To see the time he’s running with so little experience or knowledge of what he’s doing is simply stunning.

“I believe what we’re doing will conclude with him being on the top of the podium at the state meet,” says his coach, Desmond Lee.

It’s a story about a teenage athlete who discovered his freakish talent almost by accident.

Here’s the story.

Morningside is closing

Display case in Morningside High gym. The school is closing on June 30. It opened in 1951.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

Much has changed in the community surrounding Morningside High. You can see the outlines of SoFi Stadium and Intuit Dome, newly built world-class sports complexes that didn’t exist when the Inglewood school opened in 1951.

Then there’s the dramatic dip in school enrollment. Once a high school with more than 2,000 students, the latest enrollment figure has 421 students, which isn’t enough to fill bleachers in the gymnasium.

The school district has made the decision to close Morningside at the end of June. Students from nearby Inglewood High will move into the space until that school finishes a rebuilding project.

Former UCLA coach Jim Harrick was once the school’s basketball coach. He discusses the memories of the glory days.

Notes . . .

Loyola junior offensive lineman Nathan Turk has committed to Harvard. . . .

Junior soccer player Emily Nunez from Santa Margarita has committed to St. Mary’s. . . .

Tyree Robinson is the new football coach at Rancho Christian. He was an assistant at San Diego Lincoln. . . .

Matt Gruskin, a Calabasas assistant, is the new basketball coach at Malibu. . . .

Jaselyne Campos is the new girls volleyball coach at Bishop Alemany. . . .

Narbonne quarterback Jaden O’Neal has transferred to Mustang High School in Oklahoma. He’s committed to Oklahoma. . . .

Memphis Burnett, a junior volleyball player at Santa Margarita, has committed to UC Irvine. . . .

Bai Kabba is the new football coach at West Covina. . . .

Standout defensive end Richard Wesley of Sierra Canyon announced he is reclassifying and moving from class of 2027 to class of 2026. . . .

Andrew Lachelt has resigned as football coach at Ontario Christian. . . .

JSerra and Corona Santiago won regional soccer titles. Here’s the report.

From the archives: Mike Moustakas

Mike Moustakas of the Angels hugs teammate Mickey Moniak after a three-run home run in 2023.

(Ryan Sun / Associated Press)

One of the best baseball players in City Section history announced his retirement last week. Mike Moustakas, who was a key player at Chatsworth High School during the Tom Meusborn coaching era, has stepped away from pro baseball after 13 seasons and three All-Star selections in the major leagues.

Here’s a column from Bill Plaschke from 2007 when Moustakas was setting home run records at Chatsworth.

Here’s a story from 2015 when Moustakas helped the Kansas City Royals reach and win the World Series.

Recommendations

From ProjectPlay.org, a story on the cost for playing youth sports passes $1,000 for families.

From The Lancer, a story about a high school football coach who suddenly left.

From Picketfencemedia.com, a story on the success of San Clemente surfers.

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