Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. I’m Eric Sondheimer. The high school football season begins this weekend with zero week games. Let’s review some of the top openers.
Big opening games
Thursday
Corona Centennial vs. Servite at Orange Coast College: It’s a challenging debut for first-year Servite coach Rick Garretson going against a Matt Logan offense that should be one of his best with quarterback Jaden Jefferson, running back Malaki Davis and receiver Quentin Hale. Servite has lots of speed and a trio of outstanding linebackers, plus new quarterback Gino Wang, so let’s see if the Friars can stay close. The pick: Corona Centennial.
Murrieta Valley at Rancho Cucamonga: These two top 25 teams exude toughness. Murrieta Valley is known for daring anyone to stop their running game. Rancho Cucamonga has had a year to get quarterback Trey Towns comfortable with the offense. The pick: Murrieta Valley.
Paraclete vs. St. Bonaventure at Ventura College: Former NFL defensive back Troy Hill, in his second year as head coach, had his first off season and the results should be good. The offense will be explosive behind improving junior quarterback Jaxson Carper and a group of speedy receivers. Angelus League favorite Paraclete has St. Francis transfer Shawn Sanders.
Friday
St. John Bosco at Las Vegas Bishop Gorman: This is a real national championship game. Whomever wins can finish unbeaten by season end. St. John Bosco’s experience on defense should be beneficial, but priority No. 1 is stopping running back Terrance Grant Jr., who has a huge offensive line to support him. Junior quarterback Koa Malau’ulu is in his third season as a starter. The receiving corp was hit hard by graduation but the offensive line should be much improved with the addition of Servite transfer Elisha Mueller. The pick: St. John Bosco.
Crenshaw at Palisades: Robert Garrett has left Crenshaw after 300 career victories. Interim coach Terrence Whitehead and his group of Garrett-trained assistants have worked hard to increase the roster level. There’s lots of athleticism at quarterback with Ethan Grant, a transfer from Los Angeles, and returnee Danniel Flowers. This is the first campus football game at Palisades since the Palisades Fire in January of 2025, so emotions will be high. The pick: Crenshaw.
Chaparral at Mission Viejo: Get ready for an entertaining TV opener in which both teams have a terrific group of receivers, so it will come down to who can protect their quarterback best. That’s where Mission Viejo has an advantage with probably the best offensive line since coach Chad Johnson arrived. The pick: Mission Viejo.
Loyola at Crean Lutheran: The Cubs go on the road to face a veteran team that has added lots of transfers, and the only question is how many will be eligible come game time. There are five Crean Lutheran players committed to Arizona. The pick: Crean Lutheran.
Gardena Serra vs. Palos Verdes at El Camino College: Get ready for Serra to pound the ball with its five returning offensive linemen and new running back AJ McBean. Palos Verdes has four-year starter Ryan Rakowski at quarterback to work his magic. Look for Serra’s speed advantage to be tough to stop. The pick: Serra.
Tustin at San Clemente: The Tritons won their game in Hawaii. Their defense faces a challenge from a Tustin team that has standout receiver Hayden Koo among a number of college prospect. But with Jaxson Rex leading the way, San Clemente figures to get some turnovers. The pick: San Clemente.
Here’s the complete zero week schedule.
All-City linebacker De’Andre Kirkpatrick of Crenshaw has grown to 6 feet 3, 220 pounds entering his senior season.
(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)
The Times’ nine-part series previewing some of Southern California’s best football players continues on Monday with a profile of Crenshaw linebacker De’Andre Kirkpatrick, who had to overcome the loss of his mother and father within weeks of each other. Here’s the profile.
If you missed any of the profiles, here’s the link.
Southern California teams traveled to Hawaii last week and came away 9-0. Chaminade, Villa Park, San Juan Hills, Viewpoint, Edison, Beaumont, San Clemente, Newport Harbor and Capistrano Valley all won their openers.
Chaminade receiver Andrew Cordero had two touchdown catches from sophomore quarterback Jeremy Mellalieu in a 38-9 win over Leilehua.
San Juan Hills beat Castle 67-0. Nikos Ioja rushed for 93 yards.
Bellflower showed off two promising freshmen receivers in a scrimmage: Ke’Ondre Smith and Ryan Clark. They could help with Austin Miller out with an injury.
JSerra quarterback Kate Meier reaches across the goal line for the winning touchdown an instant before her flag is pulled.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
Defending Southern Section Division 1 champion JSerra showed Saturday that it remains the team to beat in 2026 by winning the Chargers tournament Gold Division championship over Newport Harbor.
Sophomore quarterback Kate Meier and a terrific defense sparked the Lions to victory. JSerra defeated Orange Lutheran in the semifinals in a rematch of last year’s Division 1 final.
Right before its opening game of the season and its first game in school history, Sierra Canyon was able to get eligible quarterback Makena Cook, who transferred from Orange Lutheran. The Trailblazers played in the Chargers tournament and should be much stronger when the transfer sit-out period ends for those who did not change residences.
Here’s The Times’ top 10 Southern California rankings.
Girls volleyball
Coach Morgan Wijay of Harvard-Westlake has her team playing well to start the girls volleyball season.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
In a season-opening matchup between reigning state champions, Harvard-Westlake pushed Mater Dei to five sets before senior outside hitter Westley Matavao took control in the Monarchs’ 26-28, 25-18, 25-19, 17-25, 15-8 victory in Studio City. The UCLA commit had 16 kills, 19 digs and six aces while Cal-bound middle blocker Emma Kingston had 13 kills for Mater Dei, which has won the CIF Open Division state championship twice in the last three years.
Brooke Cotter and Ruby Sampson had 12 kills apiece and Princeton commit Sophia Cotter added 11 kills for Harvard-Westlake, which won the Division 1 state title last fall under first-year coach Morgan Wijay, who had spent the previous 10 seasons at Alemany and guided that program to section titles in 2021 and 2022. The Wolverines finished third in the Mission League last year after being swept twice by Sierra Canyon and Marymount and are projected to be third again.
Mater Dei is the heavy favorite to repeat as Trinity League champion having added five transfers — two of those from its own league.
Sierra Canyon won the prestigious Ann Kang tournament in Hawaii, beating one top team after another.
Here’s the girls’ volleyball preview from The Times.
Jake Bauers’ journey
Former Marina first baseman Jake Bauers has 21 home runs for the Milwaukee Brewers.
(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)
From not making the varsity at Marina High until his junior year to hitting 21 home runs this season for the Milwaukee Brewers to marrying the girl he met in 10th grade, Jake Bauers’ journey has been quite rewarding. He went four for four on Sunday at Dodger Stadium against the Dodgers.
Here’s a look after speaking with him last week at Petco Park.
Interesting nicknames
High schools sometimes come up with the strangest nicknames for their sports teams.
Now someone has come up with the 50 most interesting nicknames.
Here’s the report.
CIF media rights contract with PlayOn Sports and the NFHS Network.
(Los Angeles Times)
The CIF has reached agreement with PlayOn Sports, the owner of MaxPreps, the NFHS Network and GoFan, on a 10-year, $11.1 million broadcast rights deal.
Here’s the report.
Trouble at El Camino Real
El Camino Real players celebrate winning a 10th City Section baseball title at Dodger Stadium.
(Craig Weston)
As if replacing its executive director and assistant principal in charge of athletics wasn’t enough summer drama for El Camino Real, now the school has put on leave multiple coaches and launched an investigation over a dispute about first-aid cards and why they couldn’t be found in the Red Cross database.
Here’s the report.
Notes . . .
Multiple El Camino Real coaches have been placed on administrative leave because of a school investigation. The school has been in turmoil since the summer when the executive director and assistant principal in charge of athletics were both ousted. Here’s the report.…
Former Crespi pitcher Tim Leveque is the interim pitching coach for the Angels….
La Mirada Junior Little League won the World Series championship, beating Taipei 6-3 on a 10th-inning three-run home run from Jaylen Valdez, who is one of seven players on the team already enrolled as freshmen at La Mirada High….
Infielder Ian Nunez from La Mirada has committed to Cal State Northridge….
St. Bernard will be getting a new all-weather turf field in 2027….
Linebacker Ezekiel Su’a of Mater Dei has committed to Dartmouth….
Catcher Maddie Schepp from Torrance has committed to Fresno State softball….
Jaylee Moore of Etiwanda has committed to Hawaii for women’s basketball….
Arcadia will not use its longtime nickname Apaches this school year as it transitions to a different mascot after a new state law. It will use only Arcadia this year.
From the archives: Cody Fajardo
Former Servite quarterback Cody Fajardo has found a home in the Canadian Football League. He was MVP of the Grey Cup in 2023 in leading the Montreal Alouettes to the championship. He’s with the Edmonton Elks, his fifth team. This season, he’s completing 70% of his passes.
The 34-year-old helped Servite win the 2009 Southern Section Division 1 championship, then became starting quarterback at Nevada. He’s always been known for his ability to pass and run while showing toughness.
Here’s a story from 2009 on Fajardo’s magic as a high school quarterback.
Here’s a story from 2023 after he won the Grey Cup.
Recommendations
From MLB.com, a story on former Thousand Oaks shortstop Jacob Wilson setting a major league record with 111 consecutive games without making an error.
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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