Wolves have made an approach to Middlesbrough about appointing Rob Edwards as their new head coach.
BBC Sport reported on Sunday that former Luton manager Edwards was among the leading contenders to replace Vitor Pereira, who was sacked following Wolves’ 10-game winless start to the Premier League season.
Wolves held talks with former boss Gary O’Neil, but the 42-year-old withdrew from the running on Monday.
Former Wolves player Edwards, also 42, has always been a strong candidate at Molineux and is emerging as the preferred choice.
It is understood the relegation-threatened club have made contact with Middlesbrough, who are third in the Championship, regarding their interest in appointing Edwards.
Whether that level of contact constitutes an official approach from Wolves to discuss the vacancy with Edwards is unclear, but the wheels are now in motion towards the Premier League side accelerating their plan to make an appointment.
It is understood Wolves would be required to pay significant compensation to Middlesbrough to secure Edwards, who only took over at the Riverside Stadium in June.
Wolves are bottom of the table with only two points after 10 games – eight points adrift of 17th-placed Burnley.
Dean Herrington said he has been let go as football coach at St. Francis after five seasons during which his teams won three league championships and made two Southern Section finals.
The team went 2-8 this season and failed to make the playoffs in a season in which there were numerous injuries at the quarterback position. St. Francis ended the regular season with a stunning 28-21 win over Cathedral.
Herrington also enjoyed success as head coach at Bishop Alemany and Paraclete. He said Wednesday night, “It was shocking but maybe a good parting of ways.” The school told him there were concerns about culture and morale issues.
Herrington should be quick to pick up offers from other high schools and junior colleges. He has been known for developing top quarterbacks.
He took over at St. Francis for his good friend and former Hart player, the late Jim Bonds.
Wales are playing a week later than other nations, with all last weekend’s games played outside World Rugby’s international window.
The window is a designated three-week period, which starts this weekend, where international matches take precedence over club fixtures and all players are made available.
The likes of Ireland, Scotland and England chose to stage matches a week before the window opened.
The extra games are organised to raise revenue for governing bodies with the success of the fixture depending on how many tickets are sold.
The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) has opted to play their extra match on the weekend after the window closes. They take on the Springboks on Saturday, 29 November when no other international matches are taking place.
The match in Cardiff clashes with league fixtures in the United Rugby Championship (URC) which will involve sides from Wales and South Africa.
Both Test teams are set to also be without players who play for clubs in England and France, while the Springboks also have players involved with sides in Japan.
Having arrived with Genoa 17th in the Italian top flight, Vieira won eight and drew nine of his 26 games last season to guide them to safety and a 13th-place finish.
However, his only two wins this campaign have come in the Coppa Italia, with six defeats in nine games – including five in the past six – in Serie A.
“The club would like to thank the coach and his staff for the dedication and professionalism they have shown throughout their work and wishes them all the best for their future careers,” Genoa’s statement read.
During his playing career, midfielder Vieira won three Premier League titles and four FA Cups at Arsenal, as well as silverware with AC Milan, Inter Milan and Manchester City.
He helped France win the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000.
Vieira retired in 2011 and became the manager of New York City in 2016.
He returned to Europe with Nice and led them to seventh in Ligue 1 in his first season but was sacked in December 2020.
Vieira became Crystal Palace manager in 2021 and guided them to the FA Cup semi-finals.
He was sacked in 2023 after a 12-game winless run, before joining RC Strasbourg as their first appointment following a takeover by BlueCo, the company which owns Chelsea. He left Strasbourg by mutual consent in July 2024.
SUNRISE, Fla. — Troy Terry and Mason McTavish scored in a shootout, and the Ducks beat the Florida Panthers 3-2 on Tuesday night.
Leo Carlsson had a goal and an assist, and Cutter Gauthier also scored to help the Ducks end a five-game trip with a victory in coach Joel Quenneville’s first game against his former team.
Quenneville, who coached the Panthers from 2019-21, returned to Sunrise for the first time since resigning as Florida’s coach after details of a sexual-assault scandal involving his 2010 Stanley Cup-winning Chicago Blackhawks squad were revealed in October 2021.
Quenneville was banned from the NHL for nearly three years for his handling of the situation before taking over the Ducks in May. He won three titles in 10 years with the Blackhawks and last coached for Florida on Oct. 27, 2021.
Carlsson buried a short-handed goal midway through the second period to extend his point streak to four games. He assisted on Gauthier’s power-play goal a couple of minutes later to give Carlsson a team-leading 11 points this season.
Lukas Dostal stopped 31 shots for the Ducks.
Anton Lundell and Sam Reinhart scored for the Panthers. Reinhart had the tying goal — his fifth of the season — with three about minutes left in regulation after the Panthers had trailed 2-0 midway through the third.
Daniil Tarasov made 15 saves.
The Panthers, whose depth has already been tested this season because of a rash of injuries, were without forwards Jonah Gadjovich (upper body) and Brad Marchand (personal reasons).
Louisiana State fired coach Brian Kelly during the fourth season of a 10-year contract worth about $100 million, athletic director Scott Woodward announced Sunday night.
The move comes on the heels of Saturday night’s 49-25 loss to No. 3 Texas A&M in Tiger Stadium — a second straight loss, and third in four games for LSU (5-3, 2-3 Southeastern Conference).
“When Coach Kelly arrived at LSU four years ago, we had high hopes that he would lead us to multiple SEC and national championships during his time in Baton Rouge,” Woodward said. “Ultimately, the success at the level that LSU demands simply did not materialize.”
Associate head coach Frank Wilson, who also serves as a running backs coach, has been tapped as the interim head coach for the remainder of the 2025 season.
Kelly was hired away from Notre Dame when his predecessor, Ed Orgeron, stepped down following the 2021 regular season.
He has gone 34-14 with the Tigers, even taking LSU to the 2022 SEC title game. But LSU did not qualify for the College Football Playoff in his first three seasons, and was virtually eliminated from contention with its loss to the Aggies.
The playoff was expanded from four to 12 teams for the 2024 season.
“I will not compromise in our pursuit of excellence and we will not lower our standards,” said Woodward, an LSU graduate who was hired to his current post in 2019, the same year the Tigers won their last national title under Orgeron.
Orgeron left after not posting a winning record during his final two seasons.
While Kelly did not coach LSU to a playoff berth, he oversaw quarterback Jayden Daniels’ development into a Heisman Trophy winner in 2023.
“I am confident in our ability to bring to Baton Rouge an outstanding leader, teacher and coach, who fits our culture and community and who embraces the excellence that we demand,” Woodward said.
LSU could have to pay Kelly tens of millions not to coach, but the precise figure was unclear on Sunday night.
“We will continue to negotiate his separation and will work toward a path that is better for both parties,” Woodward said.
A National Basketball Association player and coach are among dozens of people charged in two investigations centred on illegal sports betting and mafia-linked poker games, the FBI has announced.
Miami Heat player Terry Rozier was among six people arrested over alleged betting irregularities, including other players who may have faked injuries.
Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups is one of 31 people charged in a separate illegal poker game case involving former players and organised crime figures.
Rozier’s lawyer denied the allegations to CBS News, the BBC’s US news partner, saying: “Terry is not a gambler, but he is not afraid of a fight, and he looks forward to winning this fight.”
In a statement, the NBA said that Rozier and Billups are being placed on immediate leave, as the association is reviewing the federal indictments.
“We take these allegations with the utmost seriousness, and the integrity of our game remains our top priority,” the statement read.
US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Joseph Nocella Jr, said all defendants are innocent until proven guilty, but warned: “Your winning streak has ended. Your luck has run out.”
FBI Director Kash Patel called the arrests “extraordinary” and said there was a “coordinated takedown across 11 states”.
Prosecutors said the first case involved players and associates who allegedly used insider information to manipulate bets on major platforms.
Nocella called it “one of the most brazen sports corruption schemes since online sports betting became widely legalised”.
Seven NBA games between February 2023 and March 2024 have been identified as part of the case. Rozier is said to have been involved in one between the Charlotte Hornets and New Orleans Pelicans, when he was playing for the Hornets.
New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said that on 23 March 2023, Rozier allegedly let others close to him know that he planned to leave a game early with a supposed injury.
Using that information, conspirators allegedly placed bets that paid out tens of thousands of dollars in profits, she said.
During the game, Rozier played roughly nine minutes and scored just five points because of a sore right foot, according to the official NBA match report.
Before that game, he averaged 35 minutes of playing time and about 21 points per game.
“As the NBA season tips off, his career is already benched, not for injury but for integrity,” Tisch said.
Rozier’s lawyer James Trusty said in a statement that prosecutors “appear to be taking the word of spectacularly in-credible sources rather than relying on actual evidence of wrongdoing. Terry was cleared by the NBA and these prosecutors revived that non-case.”
Trusty said he had been representing Rozier for more than a year and said prosecutors characterised Rozier as a subject, not a target, until they informed him FBI agents were arresting the player on Thursday morning.
Former NBA player Damon Jones was also arrested.
Jones is said to have been involved in two of the identified games – when the Los Angeles Lakers met the Milwaukee Bucks in February 2023, and a January 2024 game between the Lakers and Oklahoma City Thunder.
The second case involves 31 defendants alleged to have participated in a scheme to rig illegal poker games and steal millions of dollars, backed by crime families.
The case involved 13 members and associates of the Bonanno, Genovese and Gambino crime families.
Nocella said the targeted victims were lured to play in games with former professional athletes, including Billups and Jones, in Las Vegas, Miami, Manhattan and the Hamptons.
Victims were “fleeced” out of tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars per game, he said.
He said defendants used “very sophisticated technology” like altered off-the-shelf shuffling machines that could read the cards. Some of the defendants used special contact lenses and eye glasses to read pre-marked cards, and an X-ray table that could read cards when they were face-down, he added.
Tisch said when people refused to pay, the organised crime families used threats and intimidation to get people to hand over the money.
The charges include robbery, extortion, wire fraud, bank fraud and illegal gambling.
The conspiracy cheated victims out of $7m (£5.2m), with one losing $1.8 million, officials said.
“This is only the tip of the iceberg,” Christopher Raia, the FBI assistant director of the New York field office, said, adding the FBI is working day and night to ensure members of mafia families “cannot continue to wreak havoc in our communities”.
Tandy has returned to Wales after leaving in 2018 at the end of a six-year stint as Ospreys head coach.
He took up a defence coach position with the Waratahs in Sydney before moving on to Scotland in 2019.
Tandy also spent a summer with the British and Irish Lions in 2021 as part of Warren Gatland’s backroom staff.
In July Tandy opted to return home to Wales and has already met up with some familiar faces in his new role, such as former Ospreys team-mate and current Dragons boss Filo Tiatia.
“I can only speak highly of Tandy, he’s a beautiful man,” said Tiatia, who played with the 45-year-old former flanker for five years.
“He’s a very uplifting coach, very caring, but also very demanding when he needs to be.
“He can only be good for Wales and I wish him all the best with all this success. He’s got four tough Tests, they will need support.”
Tiatia believes Tandy’s decision to move around to develop his coaching skills will stand him in good stead.
“He’s a big learner,” added Tiatia. “He’s done a lot in a short space of time. He wants to keep improving but also improve the people who he is around.
“You look at Steve’s journey as the Ospreys coach, he got moved on, there was an opportunity in Australia and he took himself out of his comfort zone.
“He moved to Scotland and embraced the challenge there also, where he did a great job as a defence coach.”
Rowley spent four years in charge of Leigh between 2012 and 2016 before spending two years as head coach of Toronto Wolfpack.
He initially joined Salford as a coaching consultant in 2019 and stepped up to the top job for the 2022 campaign.
His first three seasons in charge brought two play-off finishes but any hopes of building on those in 2025 were scuppered by a litany of off-field issues.
The Red Devils were beset by financial problems, which led to the vast majority of the senior playing squad leaving and Rowley being forced to pull together sides week to week.
Against that chaotic backdrop they managed three Super League wins and ended with two points deducted for failing to fulfil a fixture against Wakefield.
Before their final game of the season last month he admitted that he was “relieved to have reached the end of the year.”
“I’m pretty proud that I managed to get the team to the finish line,” Rowley told BBC Radio Manchester as he reflected on the 2025 season.
“That’s a bit sad really because you should never want the finish line to come in rugby league where the last game is the most important.
“Everybody at the club, certainly the staff, have been immense. I’m surrounded by good people. My staff have become my best friends and I think the moral compass of the staff at this club is unparalleled.”
High school basketball in Southern California will be without one of its finest coaches this season.
Stephen Singleton, who guided Eastvale Roosevelt to state and Southern Section Open Division championships last season, announced his retirement from coaching on Thursday after 10 years at Roosevelt and 25 years in the business. He will continue as a teacher.
Singleton intends to spend more time coaching his young son.
He also won a state Division I title in 2017 with Roosevelt and won a state Division II title coaching briefly at Dominguez in Compton in 2001.
With official basketball practice starting soon, Roosevelt intends to open the position to all candidates, but there’s two assistants who are teachers at the school that could possibly ease the transition if they are interested in the head coaching position.
Raducanu won 28 matches this year and reached the semi-finals in Washington, but her most impressive week was at the Miami Open in March.
The British number one reached the quarter-finals of the WTA 1000 event, beating eighth seed Emma Navarro on the way before losing in three sets to fourth-ranked Pegula.
She was coached by Mark Petchey from Miami until Wimbledon, with Roig taking over in time for the US Open.
The initial agreement with Rafael Nadal’s former coach was until the end of the season but the partnership will continue, with a training block pencilled in for the end of the year.
Raducanu told BBC Sport her three-day trial with Roig after Wimbledon was like a “black ops mission” as they tried to keep the meeting secret.
She came very close to beating world number one Aryna Sabalenka at their first tournament together in Cincinnati in August.
Roig was also with Raducanu in New York, where she reached the third round before being beaten by 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina.
After Contreras’ offensive coordinator, Carlos Trujillo, did his work on Friday night during his team’s 39-14 win over Hollywood, he was picked up by car and whisked off to Los Angeles International Airport to take a red-eye flight to Chicago so he could complete the 11th marathon of his life.
“I will never be crazy enough to do one,” Contreras head coach Manuel Guevara said.
Running 26.2 miles is pretty challenging, but Trujillo has found something he enjoys, and players admire his commitment.
“The entire varsity [team] wished him good luck,” Guevara said. “It teaches the kids that coaches challenge themselves in different ways.”
He’ll be back for practice on Tuesday as Contreras (4-3, 2-0) prepares for a key Central League game against Bernstein on Thursday night.
Trujillo, 43, said he started running marathons when he was head coach at North Hollywood. He has run marathons in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas and New York besides Chicago.
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].
Brian Callahan has the dubious distinction of being the first NFL coach to be fired this season.
The Tennessee Titans announced Monday they were parting ways with their second-year coach after starting the season at 1-5 with rookie quarterback Cam Ward, the top overall pick in April’s draft, under center. Callahan was 4-19 overall.
“While we are committed to a patient and strategic plan to build a sustainable, winning football program, we have not demonstrated sufficient growth,” Chad Brinker, Titans president of football operations, said in a statement. “Our players, fans, and community deserve a football team that achieves a standard we are not currently meeting, and we are committed to making the hard decisions necessary to reach and maintain that standard.”
Callahan, the son of former Oakland Raiders and Nebraska head coach Bill Callahan, was a backup quarterback at Concord De La Salle High School and served in the same role at UCLA from 2002 to 2005. The former walk-on earned a scholarship his senior year, when he became the Bruins’ holder on field goal and extra-point attempts.
Callahan entered the coaching ranks upon graduation, winning a Super Bowl as a Denver Broncos assistant coach in 2015. He went on to become quarterbacks coach for the Detroit Lions and Oakland Raiders, then offensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals in 2019.
A hot commodity for teams in search of a head coach in 2024, Callahan was among at least nine candidates interviewed by the Chargers (that job ultimately went to former Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh) and one of 10 candidates for the Titans job.
Callahan replaced former coach Mike Vrabel, who had been fired after six seasons with the Titans. This weekend, Vrabel will lead the 4-2 New England Patriots into Nashville to play his former team. It remains to be seen who will be on the Titans sideline as interim head coach.
CORVALLIS, Ore. — Oregon State fired coach Trent Bray on Sunday after the team fell to 0-7, its worst start to a season since 1991.
Robb Akey will be the interim head coach for the rest of the seson pending a national search for Bray’s successor, athletic director Scott Barnes said.
“I want to thank Coach Bray for the energy and determination he brought to the role. A former student-athlete, proud graduate, and dedicated mentor, Trent’s connection to Oregon State runs deep — he will always be a Beaver,” Barnes said. “This was a difficult decision, but the results on the field were not acceptable and after evaluating every aspect of the football program, I believe it is in the best interests of OSU football student-athletes, our fans and our university.”
The move came a day after backup quarterback Deshawn Purdie threw for 270 yards and four touchdowns in his first start for Wake Forest and the visiting Demon Deacons beat Oregon State 39-14 in front of a listless home crowd. The Beavers haven’t started this poorly since 1991, when they started 0-10.
After the game, Bray said he planned to keep showing up “until they tell me I can’t.”
“I’m frustrated. I’m disappointed. I look at myself, and I’ve got to fix it,” Bray said after the game. “It’s unacceptable to me where we’re at. That’s just how I look at it. What can I do? I’ve got to look at it. What can I do different to get these guys going?”
A week ago, Oregon State fired special teams coach Jamie Christian and Barnes said he and Bray were evaluating the program with an eye toward making immediate changes.
The buyout of Bray’s contract will be paid “exclusively using donor-generated funds,” the school said.
Akey is a veteran coach with experience in college and as an NFL assistant.
“It’s a sobering one, we knew Stormers were going to be a good side, and we needed to be at our very best to be able to compete. We weren’t that.
“That’s what happens when you’re up against the bigger teams, the best teams – if you’re not at maximum, it’s going to be a difficult night.”
Peel is concerned by an ever-growing injury list, with Tristan Davies and Max Douglas the latest casualties.
“The injury side of things is tough at the minute. We lost two locks again [against Stormers], the only two locks who were fit, so we’ll just have to see where we are when we travel to South Africa on Tuesday,” said Peel.
“I’m unclear at the minute as to the extent but Tristan has an HIA (head injury assessment) and Max Douglas looks like he’s hurt a rib. He’s in quite a bit of pain in the changing room.”
“It will be a tough couple of days for the medics I’m sure.”
Peel did not rule out more short-term signings, after bringing in lock Steve Cummins on loan from Dragons to cover the absences of Jake Ball, Sam Lousi, Jac Price and Will Evans.
Wearing size 17 shoes and standing 7-foot-3, Cherif Millogo is under the basket holding up his arms and touching the rim without leaving the ground. The rest of the “tiny” people in the St. Francis High gym are gawking in awe at his 7-9 wingspan.
That includes 6-8 head coach Todd Wolfson, who has twice won the basketball coaching lottery by having his second 7-footer show up out of nowhere. The first was 7-0 Belgium exchange student Gilles Dierickx when he was coaching at Chaminade in 2017.
This time, Wolfson received a phone call from an administrator at St. Francis in August.
“There’s a 7-3 kid wanting to come to St. Francis,” the administrator said.
“I thought he was lying,” Wolfson said.
Millogo didn’t play last season while attending the Cambridge Arts, Technology and Science Academy in Boston after tearing a knee ligament. He’s from the tiny West Africa country Burkina Faso. He was a soccer player until he had a growth spurt, participated in a basketball camp and was spotted playing in Togo, a country bordering Ghana. He ended up moving to Florida two years ago. He said he learned how to shoot a basketball watching YouTube videos of Kevin Durant.
St. Francis coach Todd Wolfson, who’s 6-foot-8, is no longer the tallest person in the gym. Cherif Millogo is 7-3 and a native of Burkina Faso.
(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)
He speaks French, English and two tribal languages. He has a 7-foot older brother and his father is 6-8. He turned 18 on Sept. 27, which means he has two years of high school eligibility left. His guardian is former UCLA and NBA player Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, who came here from Cameroon.
Millogo was instantly embraced around St. Francis because of his engaging, friendly personality. During a practice, while listening in a circle around Wolfson, he had his arms around a teammate as if they were lifelong friends.
“He’s made me a better person,” Wolfson said. “His values are amazing.”
Millogo said his parents taught him to be respectful and friendly.
“For me, it’s natural,” he said.
Sophomore guard Luke Paulus said players were as surprised as Wolfson to learn about Millogo’s arrival.
“No way,” he said when he heard about the rumors. “First day of school, I saw him. ‘Wow, that’s a big human being.’ He’s a fun guy.”
Millogo, who’s Muslim, said attending a Catholic school is good. “I’m learning about new religions,” he said.
He also can show off his soccer skills if asked by juggling a ball with his feet.
Millogo joins an already talent-filled Mission League with the No. 1 class of 2026 prospect, Tyran Stokes of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, and top five 2026 prospect, Brandon McCoy of Sierra Canyon.
Cherif Millogo towers over his new St. Francis High teammates.
(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)
Millogo was asked if he was aware of Stokes and McCoy.
“From social media,” he said.
See what having an Instagram account can do to promote a high school basketball program? He said he saw a social media post of St. Francis’ students cheering at a game.
To say there could be lots of alley-oop passes this season for St. Francis might be an understatement. Wolfson, who has used a matchup zone defense at times during his coaching days, is teasing how it might make a return with Millogo in the middle. And he’s already planning for some new out-of-bounds plays trying to take advantage of Millogo’s height.
Millogo looks like a sold free-throw shooter and shot-blocker. Then there’s dunking with ease. He had nine dunks last weekend in a fall league game in which he scored 32 points. The previous game, he had 24 points, including five dunks. He should be eligible immediately next month when the season officially begins based on the fact he didn’t play last season, but St. Francis has yet to submit his transfer paperwork.
One thing is certain: The St. Francis student section and many other fans are going to be entertained watching Millogo deliver dunk after dunk.
There were more than 17,000 high school sports transfers recorded last school year in California, and one of the most bizarre involved Chaminade offensive lineman Harout Agazaryan.
On a Monday in January, he checked out of Chaminade. On Tuesday, he began classes and football practice at Burbank High. By Tuesday afternoon, when his mother picked him up after football practice, he told her, “I don’t think it’s the right place for me.”
“You’re probably right,” she said. “How do you feel? Do you want to go back to Chaminade?”
“Yes,” he said.
On Wednesday morning at Starbucks, he met with Chaminade football coach David Machuca and asked to return.
By Thursday, he was back at Chaminade in the same classes. He felt awkward, but his teachers joked, “You missed me already?”
It took courage to ask for a second chance, and what a decision it has turned out to be. Five times this season, Agazaryan has been named a team captain by his coach. The 6-foot-3, 255-pound senior been a standout offensive tackle and defensive lineman.
“He’s been amazing,” Machuca said. “You talk about a kid that did a 360. He’s representing what I believe is important to being a captain — dedication, holding people accountable. He’s doing everything right.”
There’s so many lessons to be learned from Agazaryan’s experiences.
“The grass isn’t always greener where you go,” he said. “I discovered there’s not many places better than Chaminade.”
It was his parents who gave him the green light to transfer even though they wanted him to stay.
“Honestly, at the time, I had a lot of friends [at Burbank],” he said. “They were texting me every day. I wasn’t doing very good academically here. I thought I needed a restart.”
He quickly determined he was wrong. But would he have a chance to return to his old school?
One of the most important decisions he made was to have a conversation with Machuca before he left. So many times, students and their parents don’t even inform the coach they are leaving.
“I feel you have to leave on good terms because I know teammates that left last year that didn’t talk to coach Machuca at all,” he said. “I felt as a man, I had to talk to him.”
That earlier discussion made Machuca open to welcoming Agazaryan’s return as long as parameters were followed.
“I actually told him when he was leaving I’m really happy we’re at the point of having a conversation,” Machuca said.
The second chance has not been wasted.
“It’s been way better,” Agazaryan said. “I feel when I came back, my head switched. I was a way better person, better in the classroom, better on the field. I felt I was controlling my emotions more.”
Coaches have been complaining that it’s harder to coach players these days, because they know if someone takes something they say the wrong way, they immediately think about transferring to another school.
Agazaryan warns, “Don’t ever burn your bridges because you never know what will happen. Just because one thing bad happens doesn’t mean you should take your stuff off and leave. You have to build a relationship with everyone on the campus, then you’ll really be happy.”
You have to look long and hard for stability and continuity in this era of transfer mania, but Beaumont football coach Jeff Steinberg is proud to point out that 26 of his 27 players in the starting rotation have been at Beaumont since their freshman seasons. The only one that didn’t came as a sophomore.
That kind of loyalty and confidence in a program produces community pride and helps build community support every time Beaumont plays.
The team is 5-1 and is favored to win the Citrus Belt League and be a factor in the Southern Section Division 2 playoffs.
Linebacker Matt Casas is a tackling machine with 52 tackles. Beaumont owns wins over Cathedral and Chaminade. Its only loss was 21-14 to Vista Murrieta.
Imagine how many fans from the Beaumont area will show up to playoff games. Can you say sellout?
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].
Standing under four palm trees in the quad area of Calabasas High, Los Alamitos football players have their eyes trained on coach Ray Fenton’s face for more than five uninterrupted minutes.
Looking to see if anyone loses focus when a mother walks by and starts yelling at her daughter, the answer is incredibly no. The players keep listening and keep their eyes directed on Fenton.
It’s tough enough to make teenagers listen for 30 seconds to adults these days, but to see an entire football team not letting anyone or anything disturb their focus while their coach is speaking provides a hint why Los Alamitos is 7-0 and the surprise high school football team in Southern California this season.
“Everyone has their eye on coach,” offensive lineman Braiden McKenna said. “It’s all the little things that keep you disciplined. Wearing your mouthpiece, keeping your eyes on him.”
It’s not true that Los Alamitos doesn’t have any stars. They might not have been mentioned much in preseason hype lists, but players have performed at a high level so far.
Tight end Beckham Hofland, 6 foot 5 and 230 pounds, is a load to cover and also serves as a kicker. Running backs Kamden Tillis and Lenny Ibarra are versatile and reliable. Quarterback Colin Creason, who sat out last season while transferring from Long Beach Poly, keeps improving. The offensive line, led by the veteran McKenna, who plays center, is very good. Ibarra leads the defense with 66 tackles.
Coach Ray Fenton and his 7-0 Los Alamitos football team.
(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)
“It’s so much easier to want to win with someone you care about and they care about you,” McKenna said of the team chemistry.
Los Alamitos has had more talented teams in recent years aided by transfer students. This one is mostly home grown, and Fenton couldn’t be happier.
“They’re friends,” Fenton said. “They’ve grown up together. You play harder with guys you’re friends with. You don’t want to let them down. They’re Los Al kids. They take pride in the community.”
They won in Hawaii 34-31 on tying and game-winning field goals by Ibarra, who practiced kicking the ball between two palm trees at a park. They knocked off Gardena Serra 42-21. They beat a good Granite Hills team 49-42. Seven straight wins came over seven weeks, so now they are on a two-week break to prepare for the daunting task of facing three good Alpha League opponents — Edison at SoFi Stadium on Oct. 16, at San Clemente on Oct. 24 and a finale against Mission Viejo on Oct. 30 at Artesia.
They are serious contenders for a Southern Section Division 1 playoff berth even though some people still can’t figure out how they keep winning.
The answer is simple: they’re hungry. Never underestimate a team where one teammate after another supports each other no matter the challenges, no matter the obstacles, no matter the skepticism of others.
“This is throwback,” Fenton said. “It’s old school. Play for your local school, play for your community, play for your friends. The kids you played Pop Warner with are the kids you’re playing high school football with. It’s the way it was supposed to be.”
