Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. My name is Eric Sondheimer. The high school football season has ended. That means it’s time for quarterbacks and others to transfer and lots of coach resignations and firings. Let’s examine the yearly ritual.
Change is coming
Welcome to December, when high school football programs start undergoing changes, with players and coaches deciding to come and go. JSerra, St. Francis, Bishop Alemany, Oaks Christian and Bishop Montgomery are private schools that pretty much got rid of their head coaches and have openings. Long Beach Poly, the most well-known public school in California, is advertising for a new coach after firing its coach following a season in which games were forfeited because of multiple ineligible players.
The question these days is what do principals/school presidents want from their football program besides winning and how do they want the coaches to execute that vision without breaking CIF rules?
Everyone knows recruiting is illegal as far as offering inducements to attend a school. There are no athletic scholarships allowed (wink, wink it’s called financial aid), Boosters and schools can’t set up NIL deals for players. Schools and boosters aren’t allowed to provide housing or jobs for parents as part of a deal for the child to attend.
In fact, many of these scenarios have been happening in the hope of chasing championships.
Whether it’s a public or private school, the people in charge must decide how high their ambitions are and how close to passing the gray line will they permit. People are starting to get caught. More than 40 students this season were declared ineligible by the Southern Section for providing false information on transfer paperwork. The players and their parents didn’t come out looking good and schools were equally at fault for failing to do their due diligence.
It’s OK for athletic directors to say no on transfers that look suspicious, but who’s really going to say no to a top quarterback? There’s nothing wrong with switching schools as long as rules are followed. Taking shortcuts with fake addresses and having assistants scout and make contact through parents, players or social media doesn’t pass muster.
So all the schools changing coaches and trying to rebuild or avoid rebuilding through the transfer portal, beware. The tricks of the trade are being exposed. AI is helping uncover cheaters. Maybe administrators should start offering a vision to focus on building a program from within and developing your own players.
Anyway, prepare for transferring to commence. It’s has become a rite of passage in high school sports, just like the college transfer portal.
State championships
Trent Mosley of Santa Margarita holds the CIF state championship Open Division trophy after beating De La Salle.
(Craig Weston)
Santa Margarita was unbeatable in the postseason, so much that first-year coach Carson Palmer said he wished his team could keep playing after the Eagles’ 47-13 win over De La Salle in the CIF state championship Open Division final. Here’s the report.
It was a tough weekend for Southern Section teams not named Santa Margarita. Oxnard Pacifica lost to Fresno Central East 42-28 in the 1-A final. Here’s the report.
Rio Hondo Prep’s dream of a 16-0 season ended with a 35-10 loss to Sonora in the 2-A final. Here’s the report.
Barstow was the only other Southern Section team to win a state title.
Here’s the complete results.
Boys basketball
Rancho Verde players get excited during tournament game against Etiwanda.
(Nick Koza)
Lots of teams are headed to Las Vegas this week for the Tarkanian Classic while others are taking trips to Hawaii.
Continuing to make a move is unbeaten Etiwanda, which won the North Orange County tournament championship, beating Heritage Christian in the final. The real event was Etiwanda and coach Danny Ryan facing Rancho Verde and coach Braydon Bortolamedi in the semifinals. Both trained under former Etiwanda coach Dave Kleckner, so their teams were using identical warm-up routines and focusing on Kleckner’s philosophy, defense first. Etiwanda won 63-57.
Mater Dei picked up the 1,300th win in the career of coach Gary McKnight.
Jason Crowe Jr. of Inglewood gets emotional with his grandfather, Kenneth, and mother Irene, after setting career scoring record against Beverly Hills.
(Nick Koza)
Inglewood guard Jason Crowe Jr. set a state record for most points scored in a career. Here’s a report.
St. John Bosco won its own tournament championship behind MVP Christian Collins, who scored 30 points in a win over La Mirada. The Braves are 8-0.
Freshman Will Conroy of Village Christian scored 38 points in a win over Chatsworth.
Grant Shaw, the son of Oak Park coach Aaron Shaw, made a game-winning basket to beat Agoura. Here’s the report.
Here’s this week’s top 25 rankings by The Times.
Girls basketball
Jerzy Robinson, one of the top players in the state, made her season debut for Sierra Canyon last week after being sidelined with an injury.
Sage Hill, one of the top programs in the Southern Section, has replaced coach Kerwin Walters, sending shock waves through the coaching profession. It was first reported by the Orange County Register.
Running on the street
A car driven by a suspected driver under the influence slammed into and injured seven Anaheim High runners going out on a training session near campus last week.
It raised questions once again about high school athletes and others training on the streets of Southern California.
Soccer
Loyola knocked off Cathedral in a battle of downtown Los Angeles boys soccer programs. Here’s the report.
Amber Ramirez had two goals as Cleveland defeated Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 2-0 in a big girls soccer match.
Notes . . .
Vinnie Lopez is the new football coach at Anaheim Canyon. He has lots of head coaching experience, including at Garden Grove Pacifica. . . .
After eight years as football coach at Oaks Christian, Charlie Collins and the school have parted ways. It creates another private-school opening that includes JSerra, St. Francis, Bishop Alemany and Bishop Montgomery. . . .
Todd Butler has resigned after five seasons as football coach at West Torrance to become offensive coordinator at El Camino College. . . .
Michael Calahan has resigned after six seasons as football coach at Aliso Niguel. . . .
Arlin Slayton has resigned as football coach at Rosemead. . . .
Harvard-Westlake’s power-hitting Jake Kim has committed to UCLA. He’s from the class of 2027. . . .
Junior pitcher Aiden Rae of JSerra has committed to UCLA. . . .
La Salle girls basketball player Casey Higgins has committed to Cal State Los Angeles. . . .
The All-CIF girls volleyball teams were announced. Here’s the link. . . .
There will be an all-star football game on Saturday at Simi Valley High. Here’s the information.
Former Los Alamitos receiver Makai Lemon won the Biletnikoff Award as college football’s top receiver playing for USC.
From the archives: Jeff Kent
Former Dodger and Edison grad Jeff Kent was voted into the Hall of Fame by era committee.
(Stephen Dunn / Getty Images)
The newest member of baseball’s Hall of Fame is Jeff Kent, who graduated from Edison High in Huntington Beach in 1986, went to Cal, then played 17 years in the major leagues.
Here’s a story from 1986 in which Kent got dropped from Edison when he disagreed with a position change.
Here’s a story from 1992 when Kent addressed his Edison days.
Recommendations
From the Washington Post, a story on a 6-foot-11 high school basketball player who reclassified trying to speed up a potential NBA career.
From the Seattle Times, a story on a high school football player who led his team to a state championship but might have hurt his college chances by playing running back instead of linebacker in a selfless decision.
From the Washington Post, a story on how self promotion in high school sports has become part of the recruiting experience.
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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