huntington beach

A thick early morning marine layer on Saturday in Huntington Beach left players, coaches and fans arriving for the Battle at the Beach seven-on-seven passing tournament feeling cool and energized. New Servite coach Rick Garretson later joked that back at his former home in Arizona, the temperature was over 100 degrees.

Ray Fenton, the new head coach at Orange Lutheran after earning coach of the year honors at Los Alamitos, didn’t have to wear a hat to cover his shaved head. Neither sun nor one of the most talent-laden group of teams in the tournament history could disrupt where Fenton appears to be taking the Lancers.

“Are we playing selflessly or selfishly? Are we good teammates or not?” Fenton said about what he wanted to learn in the Lancers’ only appearance this summer in a passing competition.

Let’s just say the progress is impressive. Fenton brought along his up-tempo, no-huddle offense from Los Alamitos, and quarterbacks Ezrah Brown and Reagan Toki were executing it in midseason form. Looking on in street clothes was 6-foot-5, 305-pound offensive tackle Lucas Rhoa, a Texas commit who can’t wait to throw his weight around when the pads come on. The Lancers won their first four matches, including an opening win over two-time defending champion Mission Viejo.

They made it to the semifinals until a roadblock sent the Lancers home. St. John Bosco came in as the tournament favorite, and from start to finish, the Braves looked better than each opponent. It was only a matter whether coach Jason Negro was going to use his backups to spread playing time.

The Braves knocked off Corona Centennial in the championship game. Tustin won the other division title.

Junior quarterback Koa Malau’ulu, in his third year as a St. John Bosco starter, has new bulging biceps from his many hours in the weight room. The hard work shows. The ball is coming out quicker from his hand. His priority this summer has been trying to build chemistry with a new group of receivers.

“They’re all coachable,” Malau’ulu said.

Junior DJ Tubbs, one of the few returnees, remains a go-to target. “He may not be big but plays big,” Malau’ulu said.

St. John Bosco has six top defensive backs, giving the Braves options for the coming season.

One of the best players in California and the nation, Cathedral Catholic’s Honor Fa’alave-Johnson, a USC commit, got to show off his speed.

Corona Centennial, which doesn’t usually perform well in passing competitions (the Huskies like to let their running game set up the pass), started the morning 4-0 and didn’t lose until its final game. Making the final means the Huskies could be very good this fall. The only other times they reached the Edison final was in 2015 when they won the Division 1 title and 2008 when they were undefeated state champs.

New quarterback Jaden Jefferson has lots of weapons at the receiver position, including his former Cathedral teammate Quentin Hale. Sophomore defensive back Koti Fultz had a big day on defense.

Hayden Koo of Tustin makes catch between two St. John Bosco defenders.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

Palos Verdes has a four-year starter at quarterback, Ryan Rakowski, and he’s going to cause many problems for defenses this fall with his knowledge and accuracy.

Long Beach Poly, making its debut under first-year coach Travon Patterson, will have lots of options on defense because of its standout cornerbacks in Donte Wright and JuJu Johnson.

Tustin is loaded with skill-position players.

San Clemente won the Ocean View tournament. Culver City took its own tournament championship.

Jared Grindlinger is not ready to say goodbye to his friends at Huntington Beach High. The likely first-round draft pick didn’t have to play for the Oilers in the Southern California Division I regional playoffs, let alone pitch. But he did both to help Huntington Beach knock off San Diego Open Division champion Patrick Henry 10-3 on Tuesday.

Grindlinger went four for four, including a home run, and finished with three RBIs. He also struck out five in three innings on the mound. Dane Cunningham had a three-run home run. Huntington Beach advances to play the winner of Wednesday’s game between Corona and Chula Vista Eastlake on Thursday.

Cathedral Catholic 4, St. John Bosco 2: The impressive two-year run of St. John Bosco’s baseball team has come to an end. The Braves had the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the seventh but couldn’t push across any runs and were eliminated in a first-round Division I game. They won the Southern Section Division 1 title the last two seasons and the regional title last season.

La Mirada 7, Liberty 6: A three-run seventh inning helped the Matadores enjoy their bus ride home from Bakersfield. The big hit was a three-run home run by Justin Torres. La Mirada will face Cathedral Catholic on Thursday in the semifinals.

Arroyo Grande 4, Loyola 3: An RBI single in the eighth inning by Colton Gotchal pushed Arroyo Grande to victory over top-seeded Loyola in Division 2. Jack Murray had a home run and two RBIs for Loyola.

Newport Harbor 2, Madison 0: Gavin Guy threw the shutout with seven strikeouts.

South El Monte 3, Brentwood 2: South El Monte went on the road and pulled off the upset of Division 6 champion Brentwood. Anthony Mata had an RBI single and Gabriel Canchola limited the Eagles to four hits while striking out nine in six innings.

Westview 7, Carson 1: Leadoff hitter Eli Irvine had three hits for the winners.

North Torrance 2, Bell 0: Seth Narasaki and Joey Banuelos combined for the shutout.

Verdugo Hills 11, Rolling Hills Prep 2: Cutlor Fannon finished with three hits and three RBIs for the Dons.

Whether Mira Costa has the best high school volleyball team in America is open to debate, but the Mustangs left little doubt they are No. 1 in the Southern Section on Friday night, sweeping Loyola 25-21, 25-22, 25-22 at Cerritos College to repeat as Division 1 champions.

UCLA-bound Mateo Fuerbringer was ready from the start, ending Loyola’s first three rallies with thunderous kills and the fourth with an emphatic stuff block. Ten points into the match, the 6-foot-4 junior hitter already had five kills and he ended the first set with his 12th as Mira Costa was ahead from start to finish.

“He’s always had the IQ, now you add the power on top of that?” Mira Costa coach Greg Snyder said of his star. “There are no answers. It’s a deadly combination. Mateo has no weaknesses.”

The teams traded leads throughout the second set until the Mustangs created separation late on the serving of Fuerbringer and Enzo Barker before Loyola’s Pax Stetson served into the twine to put Mira Costa up two sets to none.

The third-seeded Cubs took a 17-11 lead in the third set, but Mira Costa got in front 20-19 on Barker’s ace and Fuerbringer sent the green-and-white clad fans into delirium with his right-side smash on match point. He finished with 27 kills while Barker and UC Santa Barbara commit Wyatt Davis each added six. Mater Dei transfer Jake Newman had 38 assists and Dane Del Riego had 15 digs.

Loyola’s Brendan Maffel flings the ball past Mira Costa blocker Miles Crotty during the Southern Section Division 1 boys’ volleyball championship on Friday.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

“I always try to set the tone and Jake gave me great sets,” Fuerbringer said. “They were bombing serves in that third set and got up on us, but we stuck with it and closed it strong. We didn’t want to give them any momentum.”

Mira Costa won its 10th section title and improved to 10-8 in finals. It also won back-to-back titles for the second time in school history, the first coming in Division 2 in 2001 and 2002. Mira Costa is 2-3 in finals against Loyola, having fallen to the Cubs in four sets in 2005 and 2010, prevailing in five sets in 2012 and getting swept in 2024.

Mira Costa has won 10 straight matches (dropping only three sets) since its five-set defeat at Bay League rival Redondo Union on March 26. It avenged that loss in four sets April 20 to earn the top seed.

The teams were ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the country when they faced off in a nonleague match March 21 in Manhattan Beach, where the Mustangs rallied from a two-set deficit to win 15-11 in the fifth in a two-and-a-half-hour marathon. That time, Fuerbringer had 37 kills.

“The first time we didn’t come out as strong,” he said. “This time we were ready to play and came out hot.”

In the semifinals six days earlier, Loyola upset No. 2 Redondo Union in five sets, avenging a close loss in the Redondo Varsity Classic final on April 18. Mira Costa swept No. 4 Huntington Beach — its third victory over the Oilers this season.

Mira Costa won the inaugural Division I state championship last spring and will begin its quest for a repeat Tuesday night (regional seedings will be released Sunday afternoon). If it runs the table, Mira Costa would equal its 37-2 record in 2025.

Pepperdine commit JP Wardy had 13 kills and Rafa Milchan added 12 for the Cubs (23-4), but senior captain Blake Fahlbusch, who is headed to USC, was held to nine. Libero Matt Kelly, a Loyola Chicago commit, had 12 digs.

“We know where everyone wants to swing and we know Blake’s their catalyst,” Snyder said. “When they need a kill they usually go to him.”

The teams did not meet in the postseason last year. Mira Costa defeated Huntington Beach to win the section and regional crowns while Loyola fell to the Oilers in the section semifinals and did not play in regionals.

Snyder has guided the Mustangs into the finals in each of his three seasons, winning the last two. He was with the program for 12 years prior, seven as a varsity assistant under Avery Drost.

Loyola’s JP Wardy gets blocked by Mira Costa’s Miles Crotty and Colby Graham during the Mustangs’ win Friday night.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

Loyola, making its 19th appearance in a section final, dropped to 13-6 all-time and 7-6 in 28 seasons under 1984 Cubs alum Michael Boehle.

In the preceding Division 4 final, Sunny Hills beat Royal, 24-26, 25-22, 27-25, 25-23 for its second title since coach Albert Soliguen started the program in 2020.

Owen Filadelfia had 18 kills and eight digs, Christian Lee added 17 kills and 11 digs, Jacob Sueki had 16 digs and Parker Mesnik dished out 47 assists for the Lancers (21-14), who swept Carpinteria in the Division 5 final in 2022 at Long Beach City College.

Grant Herzer had 19 kills, Donald Fleming had 18 and each added nine digs for the Highlanders (16-11), who were seeking their sixth section title in their 11th trip to the finals, having won Division 2-A in 1989 and 1990, 3-A in 1992, Division II in 1994 and Division 3 in 2022.

Get ready for the best high school boys’ volleyball action in the nation on Saturday when four powers face off in the Southern Section Division 1 semifinals.

First up is Huntington Beach hosting No. 1-seeded Mira Costa at 1 p.m. Then it’s Loyola hosting Redondo Union at 5 p.m.

All are capable of beating each other.

Teams are finally healthy, so there could be two five-game matches.

Mira Costa remains the team to beat with a 31-2 record and having the No. 1 college recruit from the class of 2027, Mateo Fuerbringer. Redondo Union owns one of those losses. Loyola is healthier than it’s ever been and has a five-game win over Redondo Union and a five-game loss to Mira Costa. Huntington Beach has two three-game losses to Mira Costa.

The championship match will be next weekend at Cerritos College, followed by the Southern California regional and state championships.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.