playoffs

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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Newcastle will play Qarabag in a two-legged play-off to reach the last 16 of the Champions League.

The Magpies drew 1-1 with defending champions Paris St-Germain on Wednesday in the league phase to seal 12th place.

PSG, who finished 11th, will face Monaco while 15-time European champions Real Madrid will meet former manager Jose Mourinho’s Benfica.

The first legs of the play-offs will take place on 17-18 February, with the second legs one week later.

The Puskas Arena in Budapest, Hungary will hosts the 2025-26 final on 30 May.

More to follow.

Firsts are not easy to come by for Jose Mourinho at this stage of his long, often highly dramatic, career.

But on Wednesday night in Lisbon, Anatoly Trubin provided such a moment.

Simply beating 15-time European champions Real Madrid was not going to be enough for Benfica.

In added time to added time, they led 3-2 but needed another goal or their Champions League campaign would be over.

A free-kick provided them with one last chance and goalkeeper Trubin was sent forward.

Moments later it was pandemonium at Estadio da Luz with Benfica players running in all directions and Trubin ending his own euphoric wild charge with a knee slide having scored the decisive goal with a bullet header.

“A fantastic goal, a historic goal, a goal that nearly brought the whole stadium down – and I think it was very deserved for us,” Mourinho said.

“For Benfica it’s an incredible prestige to beat Real Madrid.”

Given the way the league format works with 18 games taking place simultaneously on the final matchday, it is little wonder Trubin was not fully aware of what his side needed.

They were heading out on goal difference at the end of the eight-round league phase, until his sensational intervention. Marseille were the unlucky side, falling out of the play-off places as Benfica snatched their spot.

A couple of minutes before his goal, Trubin had dropped to his knees after claiming a cross, seemingly trying to waste a few seconds to close out the win, unaware Benfica were still going out as it stood.

“Before, I didn’t understand what we needed,” Trubin said. “I see everyone start to point at me and I go and after I see [I can go forward]. We need one more goal.

“I don’t know, I don’t know what to say. A crazy moment.

“I am not used to scoring, so for me it was something completely new. I am 24 years old and for me it’s the first time.”

Barcelona leap into Champions League automatic qualifying positions with win in Copenhagen, but PSG face playoffs.

Barcelona stormed ‌back in the second half to claim a 4-1 victory over Copenhagen at the Camp ‍Nou, sealing ‍a top-eight finish and direct qualification for the last 16 of the Champions League.

Goals from Robert Lewandowski, Lamine Yamal, Raphinha and Marcus Rashford on Wednesday ensured the Catalans finished fifth in the standings on 16 points, level with Manchester City, Chelsea and Sporting but ahead on goal difference.

Copenhagen shocked ⁠the hosts early when 17-year-old Viktor Dadason slotted the opener past Joan Garcia in the fourth minute, but ​the second half began with a Barcelona fightback.

Yamal set up Lewandowski to equalise in ‍the 48th minute, before scoring himself in the 60th with a deflected effort that left Copenhagen keeper Dominik Kotarski helpless. Raphinha made it 3-1 from the penalty spot after Lewandowski was fouled, and Rashford added a fourth with a free kick ‍in the 85th minute.

“We ⁠all came here tonight thinking about getting into the top eight. We’re very happy with the win,” 18-year-old Yamal told Movistar Plus.

“When you concede a goal in the Champions League, it’s very difficult to come back, but the team was very resilient and managed to turn it around. With the number of matches we play in a season, having two fewer matches leaves you feeling much better.”

Despite the comfortable final result, Barcelona endured a frustrating first half, during which Copenhagen took ​a shock lead.

Dadason stunned the home crowd after Mohamed Elyounoussi delivered a ‌defence-splitting pass, allowing Dadason to outrun Barca’s high defensive line before rifling a low shot past keeper Garcia.

Clearly unsettled, Barcelona were wasteful in attack during the opening 45 minutes. Raphinha and Lewandowski spurned opportunities to equalise, while Eric Garcia came closest to levelling ‌when his driven effort struck the crossbar in the 33rd minute.

The second half, however, saw a completely transformed Barcelona.

Barely three minutes after the restart, Yamal burst forward ‌on a counterattack, darting past Copenhagen defenders before unselfishly squaring the ⁠ball for Lewandowski to slot into an empty net.

The hosts seized control and upped the tempo, pinning Copenhagen deep inside their own half, and Barca took the lead on the hour mark through Yamal, whose deflected shot from inside the box looped over a ‌stranded Kotarski and nestled into the far corner.

Raphinha made it 3-1 from the penalty spot in the 69th minute after Lewandowski was brought down inside the area while attempting to shoot, and substitute Rashford wrapped up ‍the scoring.

Although Barcelona delivered a clinical attacking display, questions remain about their defensive organisation. They completed the league phase without a clean sheet and finished with the worst defence among the top 13 teams.

Dembele’s penalty miss costs PSG in 1-1 draw with Newcastle

Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembele had a night to forget, missing an early penalty and a golden chance from close range as defending champion Paris Saint-Germain drew 1-1 with Newcastle in the Champions League.

The draw meant both sides finished out of the top eight places in the league table and failed to qualify automatically for the last 16. They will enter the playoffs instead.

PSG was awarded an early penalty when Bradley Barcola got behind the defence down the left wing with less than one minute played. The ball hit Barcola’s arm following a tackle from a defender coming across, and then flew onto the arm of Lewis Miley right behind him.

Miley seemed unsighted, and the handball appeared accidental, but referee Slavko Vincic awarded the spot kick following a short video review.

Dembele aimed for the bottom right corner, but goalkeeper Nick Pope made a brilliant save. Pope was beaten in the eighth minute when Vitinha curled a shot into the same corner after being set up by Khvicha Kvaratskhelia on the edge of the penalty area.

Dembele, who scored 35 goals overall last season, scooped the ball well over the crossbar from 10 metres out in the 40th minute when meeting a cross from the left.

Joe Willock equalised for the visitors in first-half stoppage time, and substitute Harvey Barnes missed a chance to win it for the visitors with moments left.

Benfica beat Real 4-2 which sends both teams into Champions League playoffs, as Madrid miss out on top eight.

Goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin scored an astonishing 98th-minute header as Benfica beat Real Madrid 4-2 to keep themselves in the Champions League and deny their illustrious opponents an automatic spot in the last 16.

In an extraordinary finale on Wednesday, the Portuguese side were ⁠heading out despite leading 3-2 with seconds of stoppage time remaining before Trubin came forward for a free ​kick to score the goal needed to sneak into the playoff round on goal ‍difference.

That sparked wild celebrations from Benfica players, fans and their charismatic coach Jose Mourinho – a former manager of Real Madrid – at the Stadium of Light in Lisbon.

The Spaniards had hoped to finish in the top eight and go straight into the ‍last 16, but ⁠their 15 points from eight games were not enough, and they finished the match with nine men as Raul Asencio and Rodrygo were sent off.

Andreas Schjelderup scored two goals for Benfica and Vangelis Pavlidis netted from the penalty spot, while Kylian Mbappe netted twice for Real in a hugely entertaining, end-to-end contest.

Benfica advance at the expense of Marseille, who lost 3-0 at Club Brugge. The giant screen in the stadium in Belgium congratulated both teams for advancing to the ​next stage, but that proved premature as Trubin turned the tables.

Both Benfica ‌and Real needed a goal for different reasons going into the final minutes, and it is a vindication of the competition’s format that a single goal could have such a dramatic effect on the table.

Benfica were denied two strong early penalty shots, ‌and Real took the lead on 30 minutes against the run of play when Asencio’s cross to the back post was headed in by Mbappe.

The home ‌side drew level six minutes later when Asencio’s slip in the ⁠wet conditions allowed Pavlidis to provide a perfect cross for Schjelderup to head into the net.

Benfica were awarded a penalty in first-half added time when Aurelien Tchouameni was adjudged to have hauled Nicolas Otamendi to the floor, and Pavlidis buried his spot-kick.

Schjelderup ‌scored his second of the game from Pavlidis’s perfect pass to make it 3-1, before Mbappe swept home his second, too – his 36th goal of the season in all competitions.

Benfica were still outside the top 24 ‍when they were awarded a free kick with virtually the final play, and Fredrik Aursnes’s delivery was headed in by Trubin to complete a night of high drama in Lisbon.