Prep Rally: Sierra Canyon picks up where it left off in boys’ basketball

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. My name is Eric Sondheimer. The high school basketball season is beginning to pick up momentum. Sierra Canyon and Etiwanda finally played their first two games. City Section teams are a week away from getting started with indoor practices and games. But everyone needs to be careful, because testing is still required and COVID-19 positive tests are happening.

Boys’ basketball

Amari Bailey heads toward one of his multiple dunks in Sierra Canyon’s 103-80 win over Culver City.

(Myung Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Sierra Canyon finally returned to the basketball court for the first time since winning the Southern California Open Division regional championship game in March of 2020. The Trailblazers rolled to a 103-80 win over Culver City, with Amari Bailey and Shy Odom each scoring 23 points. Then they defeated Agoura on Saturday for a 2-0 start.

Times’ boys’ basketball rankings

The Times’ high school boys’ basketball rankings.

Rank, School, Comment, Last week

1. SIERRA CANYON (2-0); Shy Odom, Amari Bailey look good in debut; 2

2. ETIWANDA (2-0); Big win over Damien in opener; 5

3. MATER DEI (10-0); Nick Davidson is playing well; 3

4. SANTA MARGARITA (6-0); Faces Mater Dei on Friday; 17

5. ST. JOHN BOSCO (9-1); OT loss to Santa Margarita; 1

6. CORONA CENTENNIAL (5-1); Sophomore Jared McCain is thriving; 6

7. DAMIEN (17-1); USC signee Malik Thomas is a standout; 4

8. HARVARD-WESTLAKE (8-2); Wolverines need to get healthy; 8

9. WINDWARD (6-1); Scheduled to start league play this week; 9

10. RIBET (0-0); Waiting for season to begin; 10

Read the rest of the top 25 by clicking here.

Etiwanda plays defense

After a month of practicing, 0-0 Etiwanda played 15-0 Damien last week in a Baseline League opener and the Eagles came away with a 64-60 victory. It shows defense can overcome anything, including lack of playing games. Etiwanda coach Dave Kleckner earned even more respect for the way he prepares his teams.

“When you rely on defense every game, it doesn’t matter first game or last game,” said Ronnie Flores of CalHiSports.”That was one of his better wins for sure. Their defense is ready from day one.”

COVID-19 issues persist

Anyone who thinks COVID-19 issues with high school sports are over will be disappointed. What happened at Redondo Union should be viewed as a warning.

As reported by East Reader News, the basketball program had to be halted this month after 22 players and one coach tested positive for COVID-19. Many of the players participated in an indoor club event last month.

Chaminade’s game last Saturday against Windward had to be postponed after a positive test in the Windward program. Windward is hoping to return to action this week if tests are negative.

LAUSD teams practice outside

It’s truly old school watching Los Angeles Unified School District basketball teams practicing outside while awaiting approval to go into the gyms.

I visited Westchester last week, and coach Ed Azzam put his players through a crisp workout.

Here’s the link to video and column.

Girls’ basketball

Jyah LoVett, the sister of former Burbank Providence standout Marcus LoVett Jr., made quite a debut for Pasadena Muir. She scored 55 points in a win over Pasadena Poly.

LoVett’s father, Marcus Sr., is in his first season as Muir head coach. Marcus Jr. is playing professionally in Portugal. Jyah is a 5-foot-7 point guard.

Santa Ana Mater Dei and San Diego Cathedral Catholic had quite a nonleague battle, with Mater Dei prevailing 67-64. Stanford-bound Brooke Demetre scored 31 points.

Football

Punter Jack Stonehouse of West Hills Chaminade.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

The first family of punting in Southern California is the Stonehouse clan, with Jack Stonehouse of Chaminade the latest. His father, John, was a standout punter at Loyola High and USC. His uncle Paul was a standout punter at Loyola and Stanford. His cousin Ryan was a standout at Colorado State after punting for Santa Ana Mater Dei. Brother Josh, an eighth-grader, is starting to boom his own punts.

Stonehouse, who is headed to Missouri, averaged 41.7 yards as a junior at Chaminade. During the spring season, he had 14 punts and averaged 46.7 yards, with seven inside the 20. He also had six tackles on the kickoff team.

Before learning to say “Mommy” or “Daddy” they learn the words “hang time” in the Stonehouse family.

Here’s the link to a profile of Jack, headed to Missouri.

Orange Lutheran job opens

Orange Lutheran has made a coaching change and launched a search for a new football coach. JP Presley is out after four seasons as head coach.

Trinity League coaches don’t last very long if they don’t make the playoffs consistently or don’t compete for championships. That’s the expectation, and it’s tough competing against St. John Bosco and Mater Dei.

Presley had strong ties to Orange Lutheran. Trinity League schools like to hire from within, so it will be interesting to see if the Lancers can find someone with Trinity League experience or bring in a former college coach.

Mystery solved

The City Section perpetual football trophy that was last in the possession of Narbonne and went missing in 2019 has been found.

A Good Samaritan found it in a trash bin earlier this month in Torrance and took it to the Southern Section office. The City Section was notified. Commissioner Vicky Lagos picked it up, got it cleaned and updated and presented it on Friday night to Birmingham coach Jim Rose, the 2019 City championship team.

Here’s the link.

San Pedro makes statement

Robert Sarmiento and Roman Sanchez celebrate San Pedro touchdown.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

San Pedro’s 64-19 rout of Banning last week in its first and only spring football game was eye opening. Not only did the Pirates dominate but they showed off lots of promising young players, making San Pedro a team to watch in the fall of 2021.

Junior quarterback Aidan Jackson passed for four touchdowns. Both the offensive and defensive lines were dominant.

Here’s a report from the rivalry game.

The City Section concludes its spring football season this coming weekend.

Friday Night Live

Chaminade quarterback Jaylen Henderson was the guest on Friday Night Live. He discussed reversing his original decision not to play spring football for the Eagles so he could be healthy entering Fresno State this fall. Instead, he played for Chaminade and gained valuable experience.

Here’s the link to the interview.

Lacrosse

It’s going to be tough to beat Redondo Union in girls’ lacrosse.

The team is one of the best in shutting down scorers.

It starts with junior defender Asjia Roberson, a USC commit. She’s really a national recruit that the Trojans got on early and will benefit from.

Jordan Davis, a midfielder, leads the team in scoring and is headed to New Hampshire. Junior goalie Morgan Wlaschin is committed to UC Davis.

Redondo will face strong competition from Foothill and Mater Dei in the first ever Southern Section Division 1 playoffs scheduled for next month.

From the archives

The most dominant softball pitcher I’ve seen in more than 40 years was Samantha Ford of Hart. Her name was synonymous with pitching excellence in the 1980s.

This from a Los Angeles Times story from March 23, 1985 that called her “Hart High’s version of a hurricane. During the past three years, 66 of 77 opposing teams couldn’t beat her, 48 couldn’t score a run and 18 couldn’t even get a hit.”

Her coach was her father, Dennis, and I remember she was a Santa Clarita Valley icon.

She’d go on to UCLA, where she had an 0.85 ERA on the Bruins’ 1988 NCAA championship team and also played on the 1989 NCAA championship team.

She was chosen to throw out the first pitch at Dodger Stadium in 2017 on Santa Clarita Day. She’s a P.E. teacher and specialist in the Saugus Unified School District and still gives pitching lessons. Her father was one of the greatest softball coaches in Southland history.

Softball

Los Alamitos High softball catcher Sophia Nugent talks with a teammate during a recent game.

(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

Thoughts of the future motivate Sophia Nugent’s punches.

The thump of fist to punching bag reverberates around the inside of Nugent’s garage. Five sets, two minutes. With the rebellion of P.O.D.’s “Youth of the Nation” clanging in her ears, the Los Alamitos High catcher thinks of her dreams as she winds up.

What does she want? What is she fighting for?

Smack.

A starting spot. On Oklahoma‘s softball team.

Smack.

People will be ahead of her in the lineup when she gets there next year. She’ll need to train hard.

Smack.

“All these things I want, I have to keep going — there’s more push now, mentally, from myself,” Nugent said. “It makes me go another round.”

Earlier in her career, Nugent was derailed by imposing this kind of pressure on herself. Yet in addition to fine-tuning the mechanics of a powerful swing, she’s learned more about the intricacies of self-motivation — and that psychological confidence has the senior poised to make an impact to her commitment of Oklahoma next spring.

Read more

Freshman quiets Los Alamitos’ bats

Los Alamitos has been ripping every and all pitchers in softball this season. So how can you explain that it took a freshman to finally quiet the Griffins’ bats?

Freshman Brynne Nally of Gardena Grove Pacifica struck out six in a 3-2 victory over Los Alamitos, the Griffins’ first loss in 11 games.

Then Huntington Beach stunned the Griffins 5-4. It shows how competitive softball will be this COVID-19 season.

Dodger connection

Sophomore Ella Parker of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame is making her uncle, Dodger manager Dave Roberts, feel proud. She has hit seven home runs in nine games for the 8-1 Knights.

She’s batting .559 with 14 RBIs and 19 hits.

Baseball

Birmingham catcher Alex Olvera made his debut.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

I’ve been very careful which baseball games to attend in the opening month, focusing more on individuals than teams. But Saturday’s game between Birmingham and San Pedro I knew was going to have a City Section-like playoff atmosphere, and I was right.

The game lasted into the 10th inning before Birmingham prevailed 7-6 on a bases-loaded walk.

Here’s my report.

McLain brothers keep hitting

In the McLain household, they probably don’t let you in the house unless your batting average is .300 or higher.

Right now, Nick McLain, a senior at Irvine Beckman, has bragging rights over brothers Sean and Matt, who play for Arizona State and UCLA, respectively.

Nick is 20 for 39 (.513) with seven doubles, four triples and one home run.

Sean is keeping up the pressure, leading Arizona State in hitting with a .371 average, including 46 hits.

Matt leads the family in home runs with nine while batting .324.

“I think Reggie the family dog is hitting .320,” Beckman coach Kevin Lavalle said.

Freshman phenom

I think it’s pretty safe to call Harvard-Westlake pitcher Bryce Rainer a “freshman phenom.”

He had 13 strikeouts in a shutout of Loyola on Friday. In fact, the Wolverines have another exceptional freshman pitcher in Thomas Bridges, who doesn’t strike out as many batters as Rainer but keeps winning as the No. 2 pitcher on the staff.

The future is bright to build around Rainer and Bridges.

JSerra getting better

Don’t feel sympathy for JSerra, which started the season ranked No. 1 in Southern Section Division 1, then dropped out after losing five of its first nine games. Now the Lions (10-5) are on a six-game win streak and finally got to use transfer Eric Silva, a UCLA signee, on the mound.

They’ve been saving ace pitcher Gage Jump for the Trinity League and playoffs, so beware of the Lions.

Two-sport athlete

Some schools and some district aren’t allowing students to play for two different school teams at the same time, but Brentwood is, and that set the stage for Cameron MacDonald to enjoy that rare busy day and night of sports activity.

By day, he hit a three-run home run for the baseball team. At night, he changed into his basketball uniform and scored eight points in an overtime game.

As his basketball coach, Ryan Bailey, said, “This is what it’s all about. So proud of this kid. He is so much fun to coach. Two-sport varsity starter and will be attending Harvard in the fall.”

Soccer

It was the battle of the unbeatens but Birmingham was clearly ready for its showdown West Valley League soccer match against El Camino Real. David Diaz scored twice and assisted on another goal in a 4-0 victory.

If soccer holds regional playoffs, it will be interesting to see how well the Patriots do against the likes of L.A. Cathedral, Servite or Loyola.

Track

Track and field competitions are picking up momentum.

Among the performances this past weekend:

Mater Dei’s 4x100 relay team ran 42.54 and included football standouts Domani Jackson, Quincy Craig and Marceese Yetts.

Junior David Brok of Los Alamitos cleared 15-1 in the pole vault.

Miguel Orozco of Long Beach Poly went 23-01.75 in the long jump.

Mia Barnett of Crescenta Valley ran the 800 meters in 2:07.31 at the Distance Meet of Champions.

Here’s the link to the state leaders list from PrepCalTrack.com.

The Arcadia Invitational at Arcadia High is two weeks away.

Nico Young qualifies for Olympic Trials

Former Newbury Park distance standout Nico Young set an American Junior 5K record this past weekend at the Drake Relays. He ran 13:24.27.

A freshman at Northern Arizona, the mark also qualifies him to participate in the Olympic Trials in Oregon this summer.

Volleyball

It was No. 1 Mira Costa playing at No. 2 Loyola on Saturday in boys’ volleyball. But that wasn’t the main emphasis. This rivalry match has taken on a life of its own. The players mostly know each other because they live in the South Bay or play on travel teams. And the quality of the competition is the best in the nation for volleyball.

Here’s the report on the rivalry and the match won by Loyola.

Recommendations

From OregonLive, a look at the challenge and controversy of running in races wearing masks.

A profile from the Acorn on Newbury Park junior Colin Sahlman, the No. 1 distance runner in the nation.

From the Washington Post a profile on a 13-year-old bull rider.

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