In a town where you can make your own luck or can sink further into an abyss, Mater Dei High dug deep, wiped away memories from a loss last week and answered a gut-check call to come away with a 27-24 road victory over Bishop Gorman on Friday night. Coach Raul Lara brought up the word “resurrection” during a postgame huddle with his players.
The win surely resurrects Mater Dei’s season. It was doom and gloom one week ago when the Monarchs fell behind 28-0 to Corona Centennial, then rallied but lost 43-36. Seven turnovers left everyone wondering if the Monarchs were no longer a top team after being ranked No. 1 in the nation by several organizations.
Friday’s performance against an unbeaten Bishop Gorman team saw Mater Dei turn to two of its preseason All-Americans on offense, tight end Mark Bowman and receiver Chris Henry Jr. Bowman had touchdown catches of 29 and 36 yards. Henry had two touchdown catches, including the game-winner with 6:06 left from 37 yards.
Quarterback Ryan Hopkins, bouncing back from turnovers last week, kept firing away against a strong Bishop Gorman defense, getting the ball to his outstanding receivers and not letting penalties or an interception reduce his confidence.
“It’s facing adversity,” Hopkins said. “Last week was a tough one. This is a step forward. It’s next-play mentality.”
There were ominous black clouds passing above that let out a dose of rain more than three hours before kickoff, but the weather cleared and the Monarchs didn’t have to put up with the downpour and lightning delay that St. John Bosco endued in 2014 during a 34-31 loss to Bishop Gorman.
It was an entertaining first half that ended in a 14-14 tie. Both teams missed scoring opportunities. Mater Dei blocked a Bishop Gorman field-goal attempt that was returned by Aaryan Washington to the 13-yard line, then had to settle for a 30-yard field goal by Jerry Shifman. Bishop Gorman forced a fumble by Hopkins, and Prince Williams returned it for a touchdown that was nullified by defensive holding.
Mater Dei came this close to getting TD at end of first half. Chris Henry ruled out of bounds at 1 with five seconds left. Mater Dei settled for 23-yard field goal. Bishop Gorman 14. Mater Dei 14. Halftime. pic.twitter.com/77Yw1u2N81
Soon Hopkins connected with Henry on a 54-yard pass to the one-yard line in the final seconds. But a Mater Dei illegal procedure penalty and little time left the Monarchs to settle for a 23-yard field goal to tie the score.
Mater Dei (3-1) had zero penalties in the first quarter, a major improvement from previous games, but the Monarchs went back to making mistakes after that. There was an offsides on a fourth-and-short play. There was a five-yard penalty before kicking off the ball. Through all that, the Monarchs persevered.
“Great game,” Lara said. “Two great teams and great programs. We knew it was going to be a fight. I’m proud of my guys.”
Bishop Gorman quarterback Maika Eugenio was effective moving in the pocket to get the ball to his top receivers and passed for two touchdowns. Massiah Ming had receptions of 62 and 38 yards.
Mater Dei hasn’t lost more than one game in season since 2014, so the pressure was on.
“It’s finding that chemistry and continuing to grind,” Lara said. “I think all the games are going to be like this. Everyone is gunning for us.”
Bowman, the USC commit who reclassified from junior to senior to begin his college career next year, finally got the opportunity to show off his receiving skills. He came in with only seven catches in three games but was left open several times, and Hopkins made Bishop Gorman pay. Hopkins said Bowman has been making an equal impact with his blocking.
“He’s putting everything on the line every play,” Hopkins said.
One of the stars on defense for Mater Dei was linebacker Ezekiel Su’a. He had a sack and also deflected one of Eugenio’s passes in a key second-half play.
The Monarchs are off next week before opening Trinity League play against Orange Lutheran on Oct. 3. Bishop Gorman comes to Southern California next Saturday for another Trinity League matchup against Santa Margarita at Trabuco Hills.
This win means the mojo is back for the Monarchs. This was an improved performance that needs to be sustained for their regular-season finale against St. John Bosco on Halloween and possible matchup against unbeaten Sierra Canyon or a rematch with Centennial in the Southern Section Division 1 playoffs.
Viva Las Vegas. I’m here for Mater Dei at Bishop Gorman. There’s rain right now but should be better at 7 p.m. I’ll have reports throughout the night. pic.twitter.com/UfpI2oCsGj
Bishop Fitzgerald was a talented high school quarterback, but a few hurdles forced him to focus on playing safety.
USC coaches like recruitng former high school quarterbacks because they boast deeper understanding of how plays develop.
Fitzgerald, who is in his first season at USC, leads the nation in interceptions with three so far this season.
Bishop Fitzgerald stood inside the 5-yard line at Ross-Ade Stadium, watching the eyes of Purdue quarterback Ryan Browne, waiting for the right moment to pounce. It was a critical third down Saturday, midway through the fourth quarter,
during Big Ten road games.
Fortunately, Fitzgerald knew exactly where the play was headed. The USC senior safety recognized it from film clips he studied of Purdue’s red zone offense. He knew not to bite on the play action fake and that the receiver would, in a matter of seconds, cut across the center of the field on his route.
He also knew to be patient, to lure the quarterback into a false sense of security. So when Browne finally did fire his third-down pass over the middle, Fitzgerald was there at just the right moment to snag his second interception of the game.
“I fell back on my training,” Fitzgerald said of the pick, “and I made the play that came to me.”
Arguably no defensive back in college football has made as many plays through three games as Fitzgerald, who leads the nation with three interceptions during that span. Coaches have raved about his instincts and marveled at how quickly he has picked up USC’s defensive scheme.
His high school coach says that’s a testament to his training. Just maybe not the training you’d expect.
“He could have been a college quarterback — and a good one,” says Tony Keiling, Sr., who coached Fitzgerald as a quarterback in youth football and at Gar-Field High School in Woodbridge, Va.
“He could make every throw. He could understand defenses. He could roll out and run. He was dynamic.”
USC defensive back Bishop Fitzgerald carries the ball after intercepting a Missouri State pass intended for Dash Luke at the Coliseum on Aug. 30.
(Luke Hales / Getty Images)
Past experience as a passer isn’t entirely unique on USC’s roster. In fact, it’s become a coveted trait in recent years for coach Lincoln Riley.
“It’s something we’ve always paid attention to,” Riley said. “That’s kind of a feather in anyone’s cap that they’ve been able to run an offense, execute plays, understand and communicate to all 11. You know they’ve had to have some understanding of all 22 and what’s going on on the field to be able to play quarterback, no matter what offense you’re in. So it’s typically a good omen.”
DeCarlos Nicholson, who starts alongside Fitzgerald in USC’s secondary, was a Mississippi state champion quarterback in high school and for one season at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College before flipping to the defensive backfield. On the other side of the ball, freshman running back Harry Dalton III boasts the most career yards (11,282) and touchdowns (160) of any quarterback to ever come out of Richmond, Virginia.
Fitzgerald may not have been as prolific as that pair. But Keiling, who coached him at quarterback since youth football, is still convinced that Fitzgerald could have continued at the position, if not for the unfortunate timing of the pandemic.
When Fitzgerald took over as Gar-Field’s quarterback as a sophomore, the team was coming off an 0-10 season. By his senior year, Fitzgerald led the Indians to a district title, the school’s first since 1994. He played almost every snap in the process, starting both under center and at safety.
But it was his play at quarterback that willed Gar-Field past Freedom High to win the district in 2021. In a 14-9 win, Fitzgerald threw a go-ahead, 97-yard touchdown pass down the seam from the shadow of his own end zone and also ran for an electrifying 39-yard score to knock off Freedom, a team Gar-Field hadn’t beaten in almost a decade.
Fitzgerald was named district offensive player of the year soon after that performance. In any normal year, that would’ve led to attention on the recruiting trail. But because of the pandemic, high school football in Virginia hadn’t started until February and most colleges had already finalized their recruiting classes.
“It was all just bad timing,” Keiling said.
Fitzgerald was dynamic with the ball in his hands. He could throw across his body on a bootleg. But realistically, at 5-foot-10, Fitzgerald didn’t have ideal size for the position at the college level. Even he figured his future was at safety, where at least his instincts as a quarterback could still be put to use.
So he spent the next two seasons at Coffeyville Community College in Kansas focusing on the finer points of the safety position. It took him a while, he said, to feel comfortable.
“It was a whole switch of mentality and culture and footwork,” Fitzgerald said. “JUCO is … a dog-eat-dog world. So I think that kind of heightened everything and the sense or urgency to learn it.”
North Carolina State’s Bishop Fitzgerald breaks up a pass intended for North Carolina’s Jordan Shipp on Nov. 30, 2024, in Chapel Hill, N.C.
(Grant Halverson / Getty Images)
Fitzgerald had seven takeaways in his sophomore campaign at Coffeyville, then added five more over two seasons at North Carolina State.
At USC, Fitzgerald has had to learn a scheme under defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn that’s entirely different than the one he knew at NC State. But so far, it hasn’t seemed like much of a learning curve.
Fitzgerald credits Lynn for his quick acclimation, while Riley has likened the safety’s offseason arrival to adding “a veteran in the NFL” to the secondary. Through three games at USC, Fitzgerald has been the highest-graded safety in college football, according to Pro Football Focus.
“He has a feel for the game,” safety Christian Pierce said. “He’s always at the right place, right time.”
Finally, it seems the timing is right for Fitzgerald, too. Though his next step from here is still uncertain. Keiling said it’s not clear, with the legal turmoil around junior college eligibility, whether Fitzgerald could get a waiver for another season at USC after this one.
But considering how quickly he’s progressed at the position, there’s no telling how fast Fitzgerald’s NFL stock will rise.
“To be doing something completely different your entire career and come and learn this in one offseason is hard,” Lynn said.
The Southern Section announced on Friday that it has declared 19 transfer students at Bishop Montgomery athletically ineligible for two years following an investigation that determined they violated CIF bylaws when moving to the Catholic school in Torrance to play football.
The announcement comes after the school fired its coach, Ed Hodgkiss, canceled the rest of its season after playing one game and announced the resignation of President Patrick Lee following an investigation by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
The Southern Section released the following statement: “Based upon the investigation, self-reporting, and findings of Bishop Montgomery High School, along with CIF-Southern Section’s own independent review, the Southern Section has determined that multiple students transferred to Bishop Montgomery High School to play varsity football for the 2025-2026 school year in violation of CIF bylaws.
“Notification has been sent to Bishop Montgomery High School administrators and parents/guardians of the football transfer student-athletes. Those determinations [have been/will be] posted on the CIF-Southern Section website in conformance with Section practices. The CIF-Southern Section and its staff will not comment on individual student athletic eligibility.”
The Southern Section previously announced ineligibility for five players. After further investigation, there are 19 players listed as ineligible on the Southern Section transfer portal.
Some of those players were expected to try to transfer to other schools after Bishop Montgomery discontinued varsity football. They are listed as ineligible for two years. Those players can appeal to try to restore their eligibility.
For months in the spring and summer, Bishop Montgomery had been touting its transfers. The school scheduled powerhouse Mater Dei for a nonleague game even though its program was primarily Division 10 or 11 in past years. While transfers were checking in, none of the paperwork was submitted to the Southern Section until August. That’s when trouble began.
This year, the Southern Section has been using AI and possibly funds available through the state CIF to hire investigators to double-check transfers submitted by schools. Previously when a school approved a verified change of address, it was mostly automatically accepted. There have been other schools determined to have ineligible players, with Long Beach Millikan having to forfeit two games.
This comes after a booster to Narbonne, St. Bernard and Bishop Montgomery, Brett Steigh, received a letter from an attorney with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles telling him to “cease and desist” from helping any Catholic schools.
Steigh went on a podcast to say he paid parents to transfer their sons to Narbonne in 2024 and he also helped pay tuition of football players at St. Bernard in 2020. The football program was dropped there in 2021, 2022 and 2023 after the head coach resigned in the middle of an FBI and IRS investigation.
Ryan Salcedo scored his fifth touchdown of the night on a 79-yard run up the right sideline with 1:07 to play, lifting visiting Bishop Amat to a 42-38 victory in a wild shootout with Valencia, spoiling a night in which the Vikings got a 50-yard field goal from Matteo Petroski.
Valencia had a final chance to win the game, driving inside the Bishop Amat 15-yard line with nine seconds to play. But Viking quarterback Brady Bretthauer overthrew a wide-open Hudson Sanders in the end zone then had his third-down pass batted down as time expired.
Salcedo scored on an eight-run carry in the first half but went wild in the second, rushing for more than 170 yards and scoring on carries of 48, 11, 3 and 79 yards. Each touchdown either tied the score or put the Bishop Amat (2-1) ahead.
Bishop Amat’s only other touchdown came on Kanan Khansarinia’s 95-yard kickoff return just before halftime. But Khansarinia sustained an injury early in the third quarter and left the stadium on a crutches, a brace on his knee left.
Bretthauer passed for more than 300 yards and three touchdowns for Valencia (2-1), hitting Caleb Larson and Brian Bonner on touchdown strikes of 21 and 85 yards in the first half and Anthony Vernon on a 23-yard score with 67 seconds to play, giving the Vikings their final lead of the night. Bonner and Bretthauer also had rushing touchdowns,
On defense Elias Holloway had a big night with a fumble recovery and an interception for Valencia.
Each team attempted just one punt with Bishop Amat’s Mac Naughtin blocking Valencia’s try with less than four minutes to play, setting up the Lancers’ penultimate touchdown.
From Eric Sondheimer: Bishop Montgomery has forfeited the remainder of the 2025 football season and reported more rule violations amid statements by a booster about his past activities paying parents of transfer players, the school announced Tuesday night.
Mike Hall will be the interim football coach while the Archdiocese of Los Angeles investigates why five Bishop Montgomery transfer students were declared ineligible for two years by the Southern Section for violating CIF bylaw 202, which involves submitting false information. The school announced it reported additional violations of the CIF transfer policy within the football program and continues to investigate the football program.
“We recognize the gravity of this situation and we are deeply sorry for the lapse in oversight that resulted in violations of CIF-SS regulations,” a letter released Tuesday signed by Bishop Montgomery principal Michele Starkey and school president Patrick Lee read. “We are instituting corrective actions aimed at ensuring compliance and preventing such issues in the future.”
The decision was handed down a day after Brett Steigh, a 1992 Narbonne High graduate, booster, local businessman and gambler, said during an appearance on the “Fattal Factor” podcast that he paid parents to secure transfers for Narbonne and St. Bernard before currently “helping” Bishop Montgomery. Narbonne in Harbor City is part of the Los Angeles Unified School District, while the Archdiocese of Los Angeles operates St. Bernard in Playa del Rey and Bishop Montgomery in Torrance.
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DODGERS
From Jack Harris: Now is the time, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts believes, for his team’s intensity to rise.
And if the external pressures of a tight National League West race, postseason seeding implications and a looming World Series title defense in October don’t do it, then maybe, he hopes, increased internal battles for playing time will.
For a while on Tuesday night, in a series opener against the perpetually rebuilding Pittsburgh Pirates, the Dodgers showed fight. Clayton Kershaw gave up four runs in an ugly first inning, but the lineup clawed its way back to even the score — thanks, in part, to a 120-mph rocket of a home run from Shohei Ohtani in the third, his 46th of the season and 100th as a Dodger and a tying solo blast from Andy Pages in the fourth.
Kershaw, meanwhile, settled down to get through five innings without any more damage, retiring 13 of his final 15 batters to put the Dodgers in position for a come-from-behind win.
Instead…
Once more, the Dodgers fell to a team miles behind them in the standings, losing 9-7 at PNC Park to drop their 10th game out of the last 14 against opponents with losing records this season.
Mitch Farris pitched five effective innings to win his major league debut and Jo Adell hit a two-run homer that helped the Angels defeat the Kansas City Royals 5-1 on Tuesday night.
Adell finished with three hits and Oswald Peraza had an RBI double for the Angels, who scratched star slugger Mike Trout less than an hour before the game because of a skin infection.
George Raveling had an impact that stretched far beyond basketball, the sport which he last coached three decades ago at USC. He became a revered figure in the game, not for the number of wins he accumulated over his career, but for his role as a mentor to many.
Raveling, 88, died Monday after a battle with cancer, his family announced.
“There are no words to fully capture what George meant to his family, friends, colleagues, former players, and assistants — and to the world,” the family said in a statement. “He will be profoundly missed, yet his aura, energy, divine presence, and timeless wisdom live on in all those he touched and transformed.”
From Ben Bolch: Two days after a 33-point loss in which his team gave up 492 yards while missing a slew of tackles, DeShaun Foster indicated that he didn’t feel quite so bad about what might have felt like the end of days to UCLA fans streaming out of the Rose Bowl before the end of the third quarter.
What was the coach’s assessment after rewatching the game footage?
“That we were close,” an upbeat Foster said Monday evening of his team’s season-opening 43-10 setback against Utah.
Before reporters could follow up by asking “Close to what?” Foster went on to suggest that a number of corrections might help the Bruins (0-1) make the needed improvement before facing Nevada Las Vegas (2-0) on Saturday at Allegiant Stadium.
But the Rams’ kicker, punter/holder and long-snapper, respectively, have shown signs that they could have the collective staying power of former Rams stalwarts Greg Zuerlein, Johnny Hekker and Jake McQuaide.
From 2012 to 2019, Zuerlein kicked, Hekker punted (and occasionally passed) and McQuaide snapped for the Rams under former special teams coordinator John Fassel.
The current specialists can envision a similarly lengthy future together.
“We all work really well with each other,” said Evans, a third-year pro. “We all know exactly what each other’s do’s and don’ts are, what makes each other better.”
Anchored by kicker Cameron Dicker, punter JK Scott and long snapper Josh Harris, the Chargers’ specialists have been a bedrock of stability the past three seasons. That steadiness seemed in jeopardy when Scott’s contract expired this offseason.
Like a rock band losing its guitarist, it looked as though the group might have played its final tour together. But for Scott — whose bond with Dicker and Harris runs deeper than football — staying in L.A. felt like divine intervention.
“Truly, it was something me and my wife made a decision together from a place of prayer,” Scott said of re-signing. “We felt like we were supposed to be here. The relationships that we have here, we just felt like this was the right fit.”
From Kevin Baxter: Cindy Parlow Cone has a soft spot in her heart for World Cups, having played in two and won one. Fewer than a couple of hundred people in history can make that claim.
But next June, Cone, president of U.S. Soccer, will do something that has never been done before when she becomes the first female national federation head to preside over soccer’s biggest tournament.
“You will see a lot of me. Being the host country, we will be very visible,” Cone said of an event the U.S. will share with Mexico and Canada. “It’s FIFA’s show; they’re running the tournament. We will be largely focused on the impact of the World Cup and growing our game.”
The first time the World Cup was held in the U.S., it had quite an impact on growing the game since its legacy included the birth of a first-division league in MLS and a $60-million surplus that was invested in soccer development at the grassroots level.
1908 — Canadian world heavyweight boxing champion Tommy Burns KOs Australian Bill Lang in 6 rounds in Melbourne in a warmup fight for his famous title bout with Jack Johnson.
1921 — The U.S. defeats Japan in five straight matches to win the Davis Cup.
1932 — Ellsworth Vines wins the men’s singles title in the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association championships with a three-set victory over France’s Henri Cochet.
1944 — Frank Parker wins the men’s singles title with a four-set victory over Bill Talbert in the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association championships. Pauline Betz captures her third straight women’s title with 6-3, 8-6 victory over Margaret Osborne.
1945 — Frank Parker defends his U.S. Open title, defeating Bill Talbert 14-12, 6-1, 6-2 in the final of the first postwar U.S. Open.
1956 — Jockey John Longden surpasses Sir Gordon Richards’ then-record number of wins by riding Arrogate to victory in the Del Mar Handicap at Del Mar Racetrack to attain his 4,871st victory.
1974 — Future Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame guard Oscar Robertson retires; leaves NBA with 26,710 points, 9,887 assists & 7,804 rebounds in 1,040 games.
1975 — Martina Navratilova, 18, defeats Margaret Court, who is 33 and competing in her 11th and final U.S. Open, 6-2, 6-4 in the quarterfinals.
1977 — Ken Rosewall, two months shy of his 43rd birthday, is beaten by 24-year-old Jose Higueras, 6-4, 6-4. The in a best-of-three-set third-round match marks Rosewall’s final U.S. Open singles match.
1989 — Chris Evert defeats 15-year-old Monica Seles, 6-0, 6-2, for her 101st and final U.S. Open singles win.
1994 — Miami beats Georgia Southern 56-0, breaking an NCAA record with its 58th consecutive home victory. The Hurricanes surpass Alabama’s record of 57 wins in a row at home set from 1962-82.
2001 — Jockey John Velazquez becomes the first jockey to ride six winners on a single card at Saratoga Racecourse. Velazquez guides Starine to a 5¼-length victory in the Diana Handicap, a 1 1-8 mile turf race, for his sixth win.
2006 — Sparks center Lisa Leslie wins the WNBA’s Most Valuable Player award, joining Sheryl Swoopes as the league’s only three-time winners.
2016 — Serena Williams’ dominating third-round victory at the U.S. Open is notable for a milestone: 307 Grand Slam wins. Williams’ 6-2, 6-1 win over 47th-ranked Johanna Larsson of Sweden improves her major-tournament mark to 307-42, putting her one win up on Martina Navratilova among women and tying Roger Federer among all players in the Open era.
2017 — UCLA’s Josh Rosen fakes the spike and throws a 10-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Lasley with 43 seconds remaining and UCLA overcomes a 34-point deficit to stun Texas A&M 45-44. Rosen is 35 of 59 for 491 yards and throws four fourth-quarter touchdowns. UCLA scores on five straight possessions after trailing 44-10 with 4:08 to play in the third quarter.
2022 — 23-time Grand Slam tennis champion Serena Williams plays her final match at the US Open, losing 7-5, 6-7, 6-1 to Ajla Tomljanovic of Australia in a third round match in New York.
THIS DAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY
1917 — Philadelphia’s Grover Cleveland Alexander went the distance in both games of the Phillies’ 5-0 and 9-3 sweep of the Brooklyn Dodgers.
1947 — Bill McCahan pitched a no-hitter to give the Philadelphia Athletics a 3-0 win over the Washington Senators. One batter reached base for Washington, a two-base throwing error by first baseman Ferris Fain in the second inning.
1947 — The New York Yankees had 18 hits, all singles, in an 11-2 victory over Boston at Fenway Park. Tommy Henrich and Joe DiMaggio each had four hits.
1957 — Warren Spahn of the Milwaukee Braves pitched his 41st career shutout with an 8-0 victory over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Spahn’s shutout set a major league record for left-handers.
1970 — Billy Williams of the Chicago Cubs asked to be kept out of the lineup, ending his National League record of 1,117 consecutive games played. His record was broken in 1983 by Steve Garvey.
1976 — Milwaukee’s Mike Hegan hit for the cycle and drove in six runs to lead the Brewers to an 11-2 rout of Mark Fidrych and the Detroit Tigers.
1986 — Billy Hatcher’s homer in the top of the 18th inning gave the Houston Astros an 8-7 victory over the Chicago Cubs. The teams used a major league record 53 players in the game.
1990 — Bobby Thigpen set a major league record with his 47th save in a 4-2 Chicago White Sox victory over Kansas City. Thigpen broke the record set by Dave Righetti of the New York Yankees in 1986.
2000 — Kenny Lofton’s 1st-inning run ties a 1939 major league record set by the Yankees Red Rolfe for scoring in 18 consecutive games. The speedy Indians outfielder, besides hitting the game-winning homer in the 13th, also steals five bases tying Cleveland’s single-game record set by Alex Cole.
2001 — Bud Smith became the 16th rookie in modern history to throw a no-hitter and the second to do it to San Diego this season in St. Louis’ 4-0 win. Smith was making his 11th career start.
2007 — Pedro Martinez completed his comeback from major shoulder surgery and quickly went into the record books, becoming the 15th pitcher to strike out 3,000 batters in his career. The New York Mets right-hander needed only two strikeouts to reach the mark in a 10-4 win over Cincinnati.
2008 — Baseball’s first use of instant replay backed an on-field call of a home run for Alex Rodriguez during the ninth inning of the New York Yankees game against the Tampa Bay Rays. It took 2 minutes, 15 seconds to uphold the homer that gave the Yankees an 8-3 lead.
2011 — Milwaukee’s George Kottaras hit for the cycle to lead the Brewers to an 8-2 win over the Houston Astros.
2013 — Pinch-hitter Travis Snider homered in the ninth inning to lift Pittsburgh to a 4-3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers that clinched the Pirates’ first non-losing record in 21 seasons.
2017 — Jose Ramirez tied a major league record with five extra-base hits, including a pair of home runs that deflected off Detroit outfielders, and the Cleveland Indians routed the Tigers 11-1 for their 11th straight victory. Ramirez had three doubles in becoming the 13th player with five extra-base hits in a game.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
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Brett Steigh, a Narbonne High graduate, booster, local businessman and gambler, claims he violated City and Southern Section rules by paying parents of high school football players to help level the playing field.
Steigh said during a Monday night appearance on the “Fattal Factor” podcast that he paid parents to secure transfers for Narbonne and St. Bernard before currently “helping” Bishop Montgomery. Narbonne in Harbor City is part of the Los Angeles Unified School District, while the Archdiocese of Los Angeles operates St. Bernard in Playa del Rey and Bishop Montgomery in Torrance.
While name, image and likeness policies allow for payment of players, recruiting transfer athletes and paying their parents as much as $50,000 remains a violation of the California Interscholastic Federation’s undue influence rules.
“I ain’t doing nothing that others aren’t doing,” Steigh said, alleging Orange County private schools, including national powerhouse Mater Dei, paid to secure transfer players.
A Mater Dei spokesperson has not yet responded to a request for comment in response to the allegation.
Steigh said he recruited players in 2018 and 2024 to Narbonne without the knowledge of the head coaches while paying parents to move. Both times, Narbonne was sanctioned by the City Section for rule violations.
He said he met with St. Bernard President Carter Paysinger in 2020 and agreed to support that school after former Narbonne coach Manuel Douglas took over the program. Douglas told The Times on Tuesday the payments reached close to $1 million between funding tuition for incoming freshman football players and improvements at the school. Douglas said school administrators were aware of the contributions.
Steigh said he has now been “supporting” Bishop Montgomery with the knowledge of the school’s president, Patrick Lee.
Bishop Montgomery had five transfers declared ineligible by the Southern Section and has received more than 20 transfers in its football program entering this school year. The school fired its head coach, Ed Hodgkiss, on Saturday.
In a text message to The Times, Lee denied any connection to Steigh.
“What he said was an outright lie,” Lee said. “Neither the principal nor I ever met this man, spoke to him, emailed him, texted him — nothing.”
The City and Southern Section commissioners are aware of the statements Steigh made during the podcast, with one telling The Times they are reviewing them.
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles is investigating why five Bishop Montgomery transfer students were declared ineligible for two years by the Southern Section for violating CIF bylaw 202, which involves submitting false information. The archdiocese declined to address questions about Steigh’s allegations.
“The Archdiocese of Los Angeles does not discuss details of an ongoing investigation,” a spokesperson told The Times. “Once we have more information, we’ll share that with you.”
Bishop Montgomery canceled the game it was scheduled to play Friday against Leuzinger High, the second consecutive week the team forfeited a game after calling off a contest against Mater Dei last week. If Bishop Montgomery cancels the remainder of its football season, the players on the roster might be free to immediately transfer to other programs if they get a hardship waiver.
Steigh said he agreed to appear on reporter Tarek Fattal’s podcast because he felt it was wrong that Hodgkiss — the Bishop Montgomery football coach — was fired.
“Pat knew what the deal was and now he’s backing away. Not fair,” Steigh said, referring to the Bishop Montgomery president.
Hodgkiss told The Times he has been advised by legal counsel not to answer any questions.
A Bishop Montgomery parent wrote in a letter to The Times that an influx of football transfers joining the program was given preferential treatment.
“Returning players were demoted, excluded from trips or quit,” the parent wrote. “Archdiocesan Catholic values appear secondary to short-term athletic exposure. Despite my June outreach to the school, no reply ever came.”
In the spring, The Times asked new Bishop Montgomery Principal Michele Starkey if she was aware of any involvement by Steigh in Bishop Montgomery’s program. She said no.
When Steigh was asked during the podcast why he would risk players’ eligibility by getting involved at Bishop Montgomery, Steigh said he felt previous administrations he worked with didn’t have the backbone to succeed at recruiting players.
“They told us it wouldn’t be … sorry I shouldn’t say that,” Steigh said of Bishop Montgomery’s leadership. “They’re basically supporting to win right now.”
When pressed for more details, Steigh said, “I can’t comment on any players at Bishop Montgomery.”
He said he has now decided to retire from supporting high school football programs.
Steigh said he previously was a traditional booster at Narbonne, making donations to help pay for helmets, uniforms and a washing machine.
“In 2018, I decided to play the game that everyone else was playing,” Steigh said. “The head coach at the time did not want to do this. It was all on me. I lied to him. These players just showed up. Why? I wanted to compete with the private schools. I felt it was unfair public schools being left behind.”
Four coaches of Marine League schools forfeited games against Narbonne last season while demanding a City Section investigation into whether transfers were paid to play for the school.
“All these rumors through all these years, it’s all true,” Steigh said. “It was all me.”
The question of whether Bishop Montgomery’s football team goes forward with its season after firing its head coach on Saturday and forfeiting last week to Mater Dei remains uncertain.
The school fired head coach Ed Hodgkiss and did not announce a replacement. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles continues to conduct an investigation into why five transfer students were declared ineligible for two years by the Southern Section for violating CIF bylaw 202, which involves submitting false information.
Bishop Montgomery is scheduled to play Leuzinger on Friday, but Leuzinger coach Jason Miller said he canceled practice on Monday considering the holiday and uncertainty over whether the game would be played. Bishop Montgomery forfeited its game last week to Mater Dei after numerous players were suspended for leaving the sideline before the end of a game in Hawaii in which the Knights lost 34-27.
Adding another possible twist, if Bishop Montgomery were to cancel its season, players could seek a hardship waiver from the Southern Section to gain immediate athletic eligibility at another school without moving. When programs have been dropped in the past, that opens the way for hardship waivers. And Bishop Montgomery has lots of players other programs would welcome.
A decision on the program’s future is expected this week.
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Bishop Montgomery woes
Bishop Montgomery announced the firing of its football coach after weeks of turmoil that saw the program lose five transfer students to ineligibility, saw numerous players suspended for leaving the team bench during a loss in Hawaii and finally was forced to forfeit to Mater Dei because it did not have enough players to compete.
Valencia quarterback Brady Bretthauer has his team at 2-0.
(Craig Weston)
Valencia has come out with a 2-0 start behind its dynamic duo of quarterback Brady Bretthauer and running back Brian Bonner. Here’s a report from its victory over Chaminade.
Santa Margarita went to overtime to beat Corona Centennial and deliver a first victory for coach Carson Palmer. Here’s the report.
Loyola, despite losing more than a dozen players in the off season to transfers, upset Long Beach Millikan behind Stanford commit Max Meier, who had 10 tackles and two sacks.
Yorba Linda rallied for a win over Edison in a battle of top 25 teams. Here’s the report.
It was a rough opening game for Hamilton freshman quarterback Thaddeus Breaux. The Yankees lost to Gardena Serra 47-0. But Breaux showed off a strong arm and looked resilient, good qualities for the future. Hamilton plays Crenshaw on Friday. Here’s the report from the Serra loss.
Crenshaw is 2-0 but longtime coach Robert Garrett has not been on the sideline. Here’s a report.
Referee Charles Davis & Co. deserves the MVP award for Thursday, except next time he needs a police escort. Was referee at Hamilton for flag football game. Then was referee at L.A. High for afternoon 11-man game. Then was referee for Serra at Hamilton night game.
San Pedro and Carson rebounded from losses in their opening games to rout City Section opponents Kennedy and Dorsey.
University coach Bryan Robinson (left) and brother Jason Robinson, an assistant, with their father, 80-year-old EC Robinson, a former Locke and Uni coach.
(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)
The sons of former Locke and University coach EC Robinson have University at 2-0. Here’s the report.
Orange Lutheran (12-0) and JSerra (8-0) continue look like the top two teams in flag football and they will be meeting twice in league play with games on Sept. 30 and Oct. 9.
Redondo Union defeated San Pedro in the championship game to win the LA City Girls Flag Football Classic.
Agoura won the Malibu tournament championship. Kiyomi Kohno was named MVP.
It’s go tiime for Redondo Union in girls volleyball facing two huge tests this week. First up is a home match against 9-0 Marymount on Tuesday, followed by a road match against 7-1 Mater Dei.
Redondo Union is 13-1 and led by four-year starter Abby Zimmerman.
“Sea Hawks pull out a win vs. a TOUGH LB Poly team 25-20, 23-25, 25-11, 26-24 😎💪
Sea Hawks move to 9-1 on the year.
Next up, Thu 5:30 @ Bishop Montgomery
We had a SPECIAL guest before the match, All-American setter Kami Miner!! One of the ALL-TIME greats for Ruhs!!! pic.twitter.com/vJvgyB1BbF
Brandon McCoy gets fired up after a basket for St. John Bosco. He had 28 points in overtime win over Richmond Salesian.
(Nick Koza)
After rumors all summer that he would be transferring from St. John Bosco to Sierra Canyon, standout guard Brandon McCoy made it official, enrolling at the Chatsworth school last week. He didn’t attend St. John Bosco’s opening day of school last month, so it was only a question of the news becoming official. His arrival coincides with the arrival of JSerra transfer Brannon Martinsen at Sierra Canyon. The best player might be Maximo Adams, who’s being recruited by Duke and Kansas. It will make for a quite a Mission League season with Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, Harvard-Westlake and Crespi all having top players.
And don’t feel sorry for St. John Bosco, which picked up sophomore point guard Cam Anderson from Eastvale Roosevelt. . . .
Pauley Pavilion will be the site on Nov. 22 for a Mission League vs. Trinity League basketball challenge that features an 8:30 p.m. matchup of St. John Bosco vs. Harvard-Westlake. Santa Margarita will play Sherman Oaks Notre Dame at 7 p.m. and Sierra Canyon will face JSerra at 5:30 p.m as the featured matchups that begin at 9:30 a.m.. . . .
Cole Knupfer of St. John Bosco has committed to St. Mary’s for baseball. . . .
Sophomore 6-6 forward Evan Willis has transferred from Mater Dei to Crossroads. . . .
Tom Kelly is the new swim coach at Edison. He was at Crean Lutheran. . . .
Westlake pitcher Caden Atkinson has committed to UC San Diego. . . .
USA 18U baseball team headed to Japan. Anthony Murphy (Corona), James Clark (St. John Bosco), Jared Grindlinger (Huntington Beach), Jaden Jackson (St. John Bosco), Brody Schumaker (Santa Margarita) made the team.
Chaminade basketball coach Bryan Cantwell is such a big San Diego Padres fan that he listens to every game and his dogs are named Manny and Tatis. pic.twitter.com/3MWpZk0OMd
Loyola running back Tahj Owens on his way to scoring five touchdowns against Culver City in 2021.
(Brody Hannon)
Entering his senior season at Princeton, Tahj Owens is a former Loyola running back who’s become a key player at defensive back for Princeton. He started every game last season.
Do high school football players understand they are being filmed at all times during a game? Their actions and decisions will be publicized, for good or bad. That’s why it is so important to learn lessons from coaches about discipline. Yes, mistakes are made. It’s what you learn.
The feel good story is former Stanford walk-on WR Brycen Tremayne from Venice High (yes City Section) making Carolina Panthers 53-man roster. From 2020. https://t.co/5ObXY0IZ44
Soccer parents are not pleased at Newbury Park, Westlake and Thousand Oaks. The Conejo Valley Unified School District signed off on turf and stadium refurbishment starting Dec. 1, leaving 18 soccer teams without fields until February.
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There’s another Catholic school sports scandal under way, and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles apparently was the only one who didn’t see it coming.
On Saturday, Bishop Montgomery in Torrance announced football coach and co-athletic director Ed Hodgkiss was no longer employed by the school.
In other words, he was fired.
He’s apparently going to be the fall guy for five Bishop Montgomery transfer students being declared ineligible by the Southern Section, multiple Bishop Montgomery suspensions imposed after players left the bench with 24 seconds left in a loss in Hawaii and Bishop Montgomery having to forfeit to No. 1 Mater Dei on Friday because of lack of players.
People in the Southern California football community have been talking about Bishop Montgomery for months as they saw one transfer after another welcomed to the school. Southern Section officials waited for weeks to receive the transfers’ paperwork. Five players were declared in violation of CIF bylaw 202, which includes providing false information.
If a school trying to rapidly improve its football program with short cuts sounds familiar, it is.
In 2020, St. Bernard turned to former Narbonne coach Manuel Douglas, who won eight City titles. Douglas was forced out at Narbonne and didn’t coach in 2019 after a nine-month Los Angeles Unified School District investigation. Narbonne was banned from the 2019 playoffs and forced to forfeit its 2018 City title for use of an ineligible player.
Douglas later resigned in the spring of 2020 when he came under an FBI and IRS investigation over money received from a Narbonne booster to pay for a trip to Hawaii while coaching at Narbonne.
St. Bernard proceeded to drop its football program in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
This past week, a spokeswoman for the archdiocese wrote in an email in response to a request for an update about Bishop Montgomery, “The investigation is ongoing and there are no developments to share at this time. The school and the Department of Catholic Schools are in communication with the CIF Southern Section office as the investigation continues.”
Last spring, Bishop Montgomery’s new principal, Michele Starkey, was asked by The Times in a phone call, whose participants included new school president Patrick Lee, if she was aware of any involvement by the same Narbonne booster tied to Douglas’ resignation in Bishop Montgomery’s program. She said no.
The archdiocese should start its investigation right there. Players don’t start suddenly showing up from all over Southern California with no reason.
Lessons were not learned. Players from last year’s Bishop Montgomery team saw what was happening and transferred out. Maybe the Archdiocese should ask them what was happening.
A Bishop Montgomery parent wrote in a letter to The Times, “Returning players were demoted, excluded from trips or quit; Archdiocesan Catholic values appear secondary to short-term athletic exposure; despite my June outreach to the school, no reply ever came.”
Messages left for Hodgkiss and Lee on Saturday were not returned.
It’s another big mess for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles to clean up, and it was very much preventable if lessons from the past had been learned.
Ed Hodgkiss is no longer the football coach or co-athletic director at Bishop Montgomery. Principal Michele Starkey and president Patrick Lee made the announcement in a letter to parents on Saturday, writing Hodgkiss is “no longer employed at Bishop Montgomery.”
Bishop Montgomery and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles have been scrambling to deal with the fallout from weeks of turmoil in the football program.
It started with the Southern Section declaring five transfer students ineligible this season for violation of CIF bylaw 202, which is providing false information. Then the team had numerous players suspended after a first-game loss in Hawaii when they left the bench with 24 seconds left. That forced Bishop Montgomery to forfeit Friday’s game against Santa Ana Mater Dei because of a lack of players.
The Archdiocese announced it would conduct an investigation into the transfer issues.
Hodgkiss came to Bishop Montgomery in 2010 from the Los Angeles Avengers of the Arena Football League.
Bishop Montgomery changed principals and presidents last school year and appeared to move to a different sports philosophy, accepting numerous transfer students with the hope of elevating the football program to a higher level of competition. The school is scheduled to leave the Camino Real League after this season.
No new coach was announced. Messages left for Hodgkiss and Lee were not returned.
Bishop Montgomery told officials at Mater Dei on Monday that it will not be able to play its scheduled football game Friday at Santa Ana Stadium, thus forfeiting to the No. 1-ranked Monarchs.
Numerous Bishop Montgomery players are subject to possible one-game suspensions for leaving the bench with 24 seconds left on Saturday in Honolulu during a 24-17 loss to St. Louis, another Catholic school.
The Southern Section assigned its South Bay officials unit on Monday to review video to determine which Bishop Montgomery players had left the bench, which would be a violation of CIF rules.
It has been a rough start for Bishop Montgomery, which already had five players declared ineligible by the Southern Section after a violation of bylaw 202, which involves providing false information after transferring.
Mater Dei opened its season Saturday with a victory in Florida and will move to 2-0 on the season. Bishop Montgomery drops to 0-2.
When it comes to athletes who deserve to be welcomed on a red carpet walk each time they show up for classes, the name of John Michael Flint of Bishop Diego High comes to mind.
He’s 6 feet 2 and 180 pounds, was the league player of the year in volleyball, has a 38-inch vertical leap that allows him to dunk a basketball or kill a volleyball at the blink of an eye, and starts for the football team at receiver and safety. He’s also an A student and the backup quarterback.
“We’re talking to him about doing some kicking,” football coach Tom Crawford said. “He can pretty much do anything you ask. He’s the complete student-athlete.”
He’s going to be a captain for the football team and also helps out with campus ministry.
“He’s mature beyond most high school kids’ years in terms of decisions he makes and how he relates to coaches and peers,” Crawford said. “I just like him because he has a great, quiet confidence and poise about him.”
He’s expected to also play basketball this coming season after not playing last season.
So get ready for the year of John Michael Flint showing the way at Bishop Diego.
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].
The Southern Section has declared five football transfers to Bishop Montgomery ineligible for violating CIF rule 202, which is a bylaw about providing false information and comes with a penalty of up to two years of ineligibility.
Bishop Montgomery has been under scrutiny for months because of numerous transfer students, coaching changes and a decision to try to upgrade the program by scheduling powerhouses Mater Dei and Honolulu (Hawaii) Saint Louis.
The Southern Section could offer no response until paperwork was submitted by the school. Now those five players, plus potentially others, are facing the possibility of missing the 2025 and 2026 seasons.
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles replaced the president and principal of Bishop Montgomery last school year. New president Patrick Lee is a former St. John Bosco administrator.
A Southern California Roman Catholic bishop told his diocese of roughly one million parishioners this week that they can stay home on Sundays to avoid Mass while concerns about federal immigration sweeps still loom over the region.
Bishop Alberto Rojas of the Diocese of San Bernardino wrote in the decree Tuesday that many church-goers have shared “fears of attending mass due to potential immigration enforcement action” and that “such fear constitutes a grave inconvenience that may impede the spiritual good of the faithful.”
In lieu of Sunday service, Rojas encouraged his members to “maintain their spiritual communion” by praying the rosary or reading scripture and directed diocese ministers to offer support and compassion to the affected.
Since early June, countless Southern California families have been living in fear and gone underground amid an extraordinary federal immigration enforcement push by the Trump administration. Nearly 2,800 people have been caught up in the sweeps in the L.A. area alone, including U.S. citizens and hundreds of undocumented immigrants without any criminal record.
The threat of an immigration raid has rippled through all aspects of Southern California life, including church attendance, where some houses of worship say up to a third or half their congregants are no longer showing up in person.
“The accusation that ICE entered a church to make an arrest [is] FALSE,” wrote Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin in an email to The Times. “The illegal alien chose to pull into the church parking lot [and] officers then safely made the arrest.”
Days later, Rojas wrote a message to worshipers on Facebook.
He said that he respected and appreciated law enforcement’s role in keeping “communities safe from violent criminals,” but added that “authorities are now seizing brothers and sisters indiscriminately, without respect for their right to due process and their dignity as children of God.”
As for his latest edict allowing worshipers to forgo Mass, Rojas said it will remain in effect until further notice or until the circumstances “necessitating this decree are sufficiently resolved.”
Times staff writers Andrew Castillo, Rachel Uranga and Queenie Wong contributed to this report.
Pope Leo XIV holds a drawing during an audience with children and young people during the ‘Estate Ragazzi in Vaticano’ summer camp in Vatican City on Thursday. Photo by Vatican Media/EPA
July 5 (UPI) — French Archbishop Thibault Verny is the Vatican’s new president of its Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors after opposing child abuse within the Episcopal Conference.
Pope Leo XIV appointed Verny to succeed American Capuchin Cardinal Sean Patrick O’Malley, with whom Verny worked to promote a “culture of protection for vulnerable people,” Vatican News reported on Saturday.
Verny is the Archbishop of Chambery and the Bishop of Maurienne and Tarentaise in France.
As president of the commission to protect minors, Verny said he will continue working to protect minors against sexual abuse and raise awareness within the church.
“In France, my mission … allowed me to listen to the victims and accompany them on their journey,” Verny said. “It was a decisive experience.”
He also worked with law enforcement and other civil authorities to develop protocols for thwarting abuse within the church.
“It is a matter of raising awareness among the various sepiscopates, religious orders and congregations in different countries about listening to and accompanying victims in a specific way,” Verny said.
“We must continue to implement a mindset [and] a culture within the churches to spread the protection of minors and ensure that it becomes natural, both in the church and in family and also in society.”
His appointment comes as the Catholic Church works to address past wrongs and prevent future occurrences.
Pope Francis in September visited Timor-Leste, during which he called for protecting youth amid a clergy abuse scandal in the island nation.
He made the visit following the Vatican in 2022 disciplining Bishop Ximenes Belo, who had been accused of sexually abusing young boys during the 1980s and 1990s.
The accusation was one of many that have plagued the Catholic Church for many years.
In France, the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse published a 2,500-page report in 2021 after a three-year investigation.
