Hot

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. I’m Eric Sondheimer. It’s the final week of regular-season high school basketball before playoff pairings are announced Saturday.

Who’s hot?

With basketball playoff pairings coming Saturday, there has been few changes at the top for boys or girls.

Sierra Canyon (21-1) and Redondo Union (24-3) have stayed No. 1 and No. 2 for weeks. Sierra Canyon still likely has two challenging games left in the Mission League tournament Monday and Wednesday, but both would be at home. Redondo Union faces rival Mira Costa for a second time Tuesday at Mira Costa.

Kaleena Smith of Ontario Christian.

(Nick Koza)

In girls, Ontario Christian (26-1) closes out the regular season on Tuesday at Rancho Christian. Sierra Canyon (24-2) has never lost in the Mission League and came away Saturday with a win over a very good Oak Park team. Etiwanda (26-2), the defending state champion, continues to be the danger for Ontario Christian and Sierra Canyon.

Rising teams in boys basketball: Village Christian had an 11-game winning streak snapped but remains dangerous. Corona del Mar (26-1) has a final game left against Newport Harbor and can be a top seed in Southern Section Division 1. Damien has been surging with a 26-4 record. Palisades (14-11) is on a six-game winning streak and the heavy favorite to win the City Section Open Division title. The Dolphins might might be a surprise team in state playoffs depending on what division they are placed.

Rising teams in girls basketball: Sage Hill (23-4), despite a coaching change in the middle of the season, will be an Open Division team and has Texas-bound Amalia Holquin in top form. Brentwood won the Gold Coast League title. Mater Dei, despite losing its best player to injury, has won the Trinity League title.

Boys basketball

Brentwood’s Ethan Hill.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

Brentwood (24-3) is tied for first place in the Gold Coast League with Crossroads going into the final week of the regular season.

Orange Lutheran pulled off the biggest upsets of the week, knocking off St. John Bosco. The Trinity League tournament begins Monday. Orange Lutheran coach Nate Klitzing, despite having little size on his team, has done a remarkable job getting his team close to a playoff spot.

The Mission League tournament continues Monday with Loyola at Sierra Canyon and Crespi at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame. The winners play Wednesday. All four teams have earned automatic playoff berths. Loyola first-year coach Cam Joyce got his team into the playoffs with a must-win against St. Francis on Saturday. Otherwise, the Cubs’ record would have been below .500.

Heritage Christian knocked off Village Christian 74-71 with two freshmen and three sophomores in the starting lineup.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

A young Heritage Christian team is getting dangerous and upset Village Christian. Here’s the report.

Cleveland is headed to the West Valley League championship. San Pedro hosts Narbonne on Friday to decide the Marine League championship.

The Toyota Arena in Ontario will host the Southern Section Open Division finals Feb. 27 or Feb. 28.

Ed Waters of Crenshaw earned his 300th coaching victory.

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

Girls basketball

Ventura upset Mater Dei on Saturday to add some interest in the Southern Section girls pairings.

Sierra Canyon is the new school for standout guard Hamiley Arenas, the sister of Alijah Arenas. She averaged 23.3 points for Sherman Oaks Notre Dame as a freshman. She hasn’t played for the Knights this season after a stress fracture injury and hasn’t been medically cleared to return. She attended Sierra Canyon in middle school.

The Trailblazers are 24-2 and routed Oak Park behind Jerzy Robinson, who scored 29 points.

Amalia Holguin of Sage Hill turned in a 64-point performance on senior night against Laguna Beach.

Birmingham (22-3) plays Granada Hills (18-7) on Monday at Granada Hills to decide the West Valley League championship.

Palisades played its first home basketball game since the Palisades fire in January of 2025. Here’s the report.

Here’s last week’s top 20 SoCal rankings.

Turnaround story

First-year coach DeAndre Cole (right) and guard Jaden McDonald have helped lead a turnaround at Compton Centennial.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

Compton Centennial has gone from 1-23 to 12-12 under first-year basketball coach DeAndre Cole.

The school that produced Arron Afflalo has quite a story to tell.

Here’s the report.

Baseball

When the baseball season begins next month, three of the top senior pitchers will come from the Bay League in Garrett Jacobs (left) of Mira Costa, Robby Zimmerman of Redondo Union and Kai Van Scoyoc of Palos Verdes.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

The Bay League held a media day last week, and it’s clear the league has three of the top senior pitchers for the coming season in Garrett Jacobs, Robby Zimmerman and Kai Van Scoyoc. Two are UCLA commits, the other a USC commit.

Here’s a report.

There will be few teams in Southern California with more pitchers who can throw with high velocity than Sherman Oaks Notre Dame. The Knights have two closers in sophomore Dru Wilson and senior Malakye Matsumoto, who throw in the 90s. The starting pitching is also pretty good with Beckett Berg, A.J. LaSorta, JuJu Diaz-Jones and Peter Jackson. Have no sympathy for the Knights if they have to play a doubleheader with their pitching depth.

Former Sherman Oaks Notre Dame pitcher Hunter Greene returned to his alma mater to present two scholarships to students. Here’s the report.

Notes. . . .

Palisades football coach Dylen Smith is the NFL Don Shula coach of the year.

(Steve Galluzzo)

Palisades football coach Dylen Smith has been named one of two high school football coaches of the year and winner of the NFL Don Shula High School Coaching Award. He guided the Dolphins to 10 consecutive wins in the wake of the Palisades fire. . . . .

There’s growing speculation that Orange Lutheran will announce that football coach Rod Sherman and the school are parting ways. He has been head coach since 2021 and his team eliminated top-seeded St. John Bosco in the Division 1 playoffs last season. Sherman said last week that he was still coach. School officials have declined comment. . . .

South East has an opening for football coach. The athletic director is seeking applicants at: drc0906@lausd.net.

Austin Montoya is the new football coach at St. Paul. He was head coach at Schurr last season. . . .

Dave Ramos is returning as football coach at Schurr. . . .

Oscar McBride is the new football coach at Bishop Montgomery. He’s a former head coach at Murrieta Mesa. He takes over a program that forfeited its season after numerous players were declared ineligible by the Southern Section. . . .

Tommy Chaffins has announced his retirement after 31 years as girls volleyball coach and boys volleyball coach at Redondo Union. . . .

Pedro Mattiazo, a water polo athlete at Santa Margarita, has committed to Long Beach State. . . .

The Southern Section has begun looking for a new location to house its office. It’s currently located in Los Alamitos. . . .

Here’s the Southern Section girls water polo pairings. . . .

Former Warren and Cathedral football coach Kevin Pearson has been hired as the offensive coordinator at Long Beach Poly. He has worked for some outstanding quarterbacks through the years, including Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young. . . .

Frankie Valdez is the new girls volleyball coach at Viewpoint. . . .

Mater Dei is seeded No. 1 for the Southern Section girls water polo playoffs. Here are the pairings. . . .

Aaron Castillo is the new flag football coach at Mater Dei. . . .

The high school football transfer portal continues to be busy. . . .

Former Franklin High baseball coach Rick Campbell has died. He took his team to three appearances at Dodger Stadium in City finals, winning twice. . . .

Birmingham won City Section wrestling dual meet championships for boys and girls on Saturday. . . .

One of the best freshman girls soccer players has been St. Genevieve’s Mia Rizo. Here’s the report. . . .

The Chen brothers, JT (left), a sophomore, and Ollie, a freshman, have helped Harvard-Westlake clinch the Mission League boys soccer title.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

Harvard-Westlake clinched its third Mission League soccer title in four years and Cathedral won the Del Rey League. Here’s the report. . . .

South East is looking like a City Section soccer title contender. Here’s the report.

From the archives: George Holani

Boise State RB George Holani runs into the secondary at the 2023 L.A. Bowl.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

Former St. John Bosco running back George Holani is going to the Super Bowl as a back-up running back for the Seattle Seahawks. He was a star for the Braves and at Boise State.

He had back-to-back years rushing for more than 1,000 yards for St. John Bosco before graduating in 2019.

Here’s a story detailing Holani’s background that he’s one of 10 siblings in his family.

Recommendations

From ESPN.com, a story on a survey asking youth coaches why they quit.

From the Washington Post, a story on a high school basketball coach in Maryland in his 39th season.

From the Los Angeles Times, a story on the positive reception high school coaches have for new UCLA football coach Bob Chesney.

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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NINETIES classic Cotton Eye Joe blasts out of the speakers as my kids Poppy, six, and Raffy, four, attempt their first ever ski tricks on the “Indian piste”, gliding past cartoon figures and over obstacles like they’ve been skiing for years.

In fact, it’s only their second day. 

And I’ve got Stacey Solomon to thank for this golden memory.

It’s been nine years since I last wore a pair of skis, but watching Stacey and her gang hitting the mountains in BBC1’s Stacey & Joe made me crave a family ski experience.

So we’re on a four-night break with Ski Weekends, in the buzzing French village of Les Gets.

Chalet Girl

Newly spruced-up Chalet Marjorie, with its alpine decor, makes for a brilliant base, just five minutes’ walk from the ski lifts and a 70-minute drive from Geneva airport.

COR BLIGHTY!

I went to English vineyard that feels more like France with cheese experiences

STREAK-FREE

Simple 29p trick to prevent winter sun from highlighting your streaky windows

With table football, a dinky hammam and a large hot tub, we have everything we need post-ski.

The kids share a bunk-bed room, husband Andy and I cosy up in a double, and there’s a piping-hot power shower for our aching muscles.

Each afternoon, showstopper cakes baked by sous-chef Emily welcome us home, while chef Markus rustles up an early kids’ tea, before presenting three courses of treats such as cheesy tartiflette, duck à l’orange and brioche pud for the grown-ups.

Conversation (and wine) flow between guests – this chalet sleeps up to 42 – and sharing stories of skiing triumphs and life’s adversities at the end of the day is special.

We hire boots and skis from Désiré Sport, just seconds from the gondola.

Staff here help the children each morning with huge smiles, and welcome us back each evening with mulled wine.

After two lessons with the lovely (and incredibly patient) Guglielmo, an Italian ski instructor from Maison Sport, the kids are confident enough to join us even higher up the mountain.

Riding the chairlift up above the clouds in prep to race down a stunning tree-lined run together, my heart swells with pride.

These children, who are usually first to complain back home that their legs are tired or that they’re cold, are lapping up every moment in this incredible landscape.

But while Les Gets is part of the mega Portes du Soleil ski area – home to more than 600km of pistes – we’re very happy to take things easy, grabbing cream-laden hot chocolates, £4.50, from Télébar du Mont Blanc, and spending afternoons enjoying the snow in so many other ways.

Sister Sledge

Handily, L’Aprèski Bar sits at the bottom of the slopes and serves up a stonkingly good soundtrack and cracking cocktails next to one of the resort’s sledging spots.

So, as Poppy and Raffy race each other down on sledges borrowed from the chalet, Andy and I toast them with an Aperol Spritz, £10.50 (Bellevue-lesgets.com).

Another afternoon, we stop by the 1.1km-long 4 Season Alpine Coaster, which can hit speeds of almost 25mph.

Opened less than two years ago, it’s ridiculously good fun and the kids beg to ride it again immediately.

Rides cost £8 per sledge (Lesgets.com).

Lungs full of alpine air and kids full of a new kind of confidence, we’ve all adored exploring the mountain and celebrating each other’s wins.

Give me family adventures in Mother Nature’s playground over a theme park any day.