loyola

When it comes to high school lacrosse, Loyola has one of its best teams this season and that’s reflected in the margins of victories this past week — 29-0 over Sierra Canyon and 28-1 over Crespi.

“It’s very unusual,” coach Jimmy Borell said of the few goals allowed.

Much of the credit goes to the defense and to Andrew Goldman, a junior who handles face-offs. He’s at 92.4% winning face-offs for the 5-1 Cubs, whose only loss came to San Francisco’s St. Ignatius 12-11.

The top goal scorer has been Tripp King, the reigning Southern Section player of the year and North Carolina commit. He has 22 goals and 17 assists Senior Chase Hellie (Tufts commit) and Everett Rolph have been leading the defense, making things easy for goaltenders Will Russo and Garrett Flynn.

Loyola is set to take a trip to Florida and the University of Notre Dame to play top East Coast teams starting Saturday.

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

The duo of pitcher Jordan Ayala and shortstop Dylan Seward is going to do big things for Norco High baseball.

A little peek into their potential could be seen on Saturday against Great Oak. Ayala, a sophomore, gave up one hit in six innings striking out five and walking none. Seward, a junior committed to Tennessee, had three hits as the leadoff batter. Norco won 9-0. Jayden Serna had a three-run home run.

Bishop Alemany 9, El Camino Real 1: Brody Thompson and Daniel Aceves each had two hits for the 2-0 Warriors.

Loyola 9, West Ranch 5: Bobby Rapp, Mac Taw, Matthew Favela, Brandon Bendel each had two hits for Loyola.

Huntington Beach 3, Servite 0: Four pitchers combined for the shutout, striking out nine for Huntington Beach.

Garden Grove Pacifica 3, Corona Centennial 1: Pitchers Cade Tessier, Cash Matlock and Brody Jakel combined for eight strikeouts for Pacifica.

Oaks Christian 8, Buena 2: The Lions (3-0) two hits each from Ryan Sheffer and Jack Brinkman. Christian Ipsen had eight strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings.

Calabasas 2, Cleveland 1: Jayden Singer had no walks in five innings and Harrison Beck contributed three hits for 2-0 Calabasas.

Simi Valley 8, Granada Hills 2: Evan Rodriguez had two hits and two RBIs for the Pioneers.

El Dorado 6, Sierra Canyon 3: Julian Rodriguez struck out six in five innings for 2-0 El Dorado.

Long Beach Millikan 10, Murrieta Valley 0: Daunte Bell had 10 strikeouts in five innings.

Fullerton 11, La Palma Kennedy 1: Noah Wise recorded six strikeouts in three innings for Fullerton.

Quartz Hill 3, Camarillo 1: Parker White threw six scoreless innings and Cole Gregory had three RBIs for Quartz Hill.

Flower Mound (Texas) Marcus 6, Cypress 5: The Centurions dropped to 1-1.

Mira Costa 3, Crossroads 2: Emmett Maloney struck out four and gave up one hit in three scoreless innings of relief for Mira Costa. Ace Tarango had three hits.

Paraclete 10, Valencia 1: Mason Jacobo threw six innings to pick up the win for Paraclete.

Carson 11, Hawthorne 0: James Markel had two hits and two RBIs.

Foothill 8, Long Beach Wilson 7: Presley Gaborno had the game-winning sacrifice fly in the eighth inning for Foothill, which rallied from a 5-0 deficit. Evrett Rycroft had three hits and two RBIs. James Mirabile had three hits and four RBIs for Wilson.

Westlake 21, Oxnard Pacifica 2: Dylan Lee hit two home runs for the Warriors and finished with four hits and seven RBIs. Blake Miller had five RBIs.

Softball

Long Beach Millikan 7, Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 0: The Rams scored seven runs in the seventh inning. Two doubles and two RBIs from Abby Everrett were key. Riley McAndrew threw the shutout. Earlier, Notre Dame defeated Huntington Beach 13-1. Keira Luderer had four hits, including a home run.

Granada Hills 15, Irvine Valley 0: Zoe Justman contributed four hits and five RBIs for Granada Hills.

It’s 6 a.m. at Loyola High. Students are supposed to be asleep unless they’re on the swim team doing early morning laps at the pool. So why in the name of beach, surf and sunshine is the volleyball team practicing in the gym?

Welcome to February’s gym crunch time, when winter sports teams such as basketball are busy with playoffs and spring sports teams such as volleyball are gearing up for the start of their season.

“It’s pretty brutal,” said 6-foot-8 volleyball standout Blake Fahlbusch, who would prefer surfing in the morning and practicing volleyball in the afternoon.

Veteran coach Michael Boehle, sipping coffee, understands the routine is only temporary and does his best to get his players focused on their early morning routine.

The Cubs begin their season next week with the motivation that they have “unfinished business.”

Last year at one point they were the best team in Southern California, but there were too many distractions and too many obstacles to overcome. Players lost their home in the Palisades fire. Boehle found out he had prostate cancer. A well-known classmate, Braun Levi, was killed by a suspected drunken driver.

Boehle, feeling refreshed and excited after surgery removed the cancer, thinks the chemistry is better. Fahlbusch, a USC commit, is a candidate for best in the Southland because of his size and athleticism.

JP Wardy, a 6-4 Pepperdine commit, arrived from Newport Harbor to play his final year at Loyola, the school he was set to attend as a freshman until he moved to San Diego for family reasons.

It’s rise and shine for Loyola volleyball players during a 6 a.m. practice session.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

“It feels great to be back,” Wardy said. “I missed being at Loyola. I feel growing up, this was supposed to be the school I would go to.”

Loyola’s libero, Matt Kelly, is the brother of UCLA standout Sean Kelly. He’s committed to Loyola Chicago and considering how well his big brother serves, practicing against him has gotten Matt ready for anything. There’s also 6-6 Lucas Posell, a Princeton commit with a 4.7 grade-point average.

The usual title contenders should be the teams to watch with Loyola — Mira Costa, Redondo Union, Huntington Beach, Corona del Mar and Newport Harbor.

Mateo Fuerbringer of Mira Costa is a UCLA commit.

(Mira Costa)

There’s lots of top players, from juniors Teddy Mandelbaum and Mateo Fuerbringer of Mira Costa, both UCLA commits, to Taylor Boice of Redondo Union, a UC Irvine commit. Mira Costa has also added Jake Newman, a transfer from Mater Dei.

Boehle will be coaching in his 28th year, having won seven Southern Section championships. The Cubs have won every Mission League title since sharing the crown with Harvard-Westlake in 2007 and haven’t lost a league match since that season.

Loyola students cheer on the Loyola boys volleyball team during a match against Mira Costa on March 21, 2025.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

The annual Loyola-Mira Costa nonleague match that brings out fans en masse is set for March 20 at Mira Costa.

The Cubs open their season on Feb. 24 at home against Newport Harbor, so Wardy will be waving across the net to his former teammates.

As for his early impressions of his new team, Wardy said, “We’re good. I’m excited. Practices are competitive, which I really like because it helps us getting better.”