OC Varsity

North practice insider

DAN ALBANO, ocvarsity.com — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 05:18:40 +0000

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NORTH PRACTICE INSIDER

Football recruiting: Tesoro OL nabs another Pac-10 offer

DAN ALBANO, ocvarsity.com — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 05:08:15 +0000

Tesoro senior-to-be offensive lineman Sil Ajawara been offered by Arizona, Titans assistant coach Matt Poston said in an e-mail.

Ajawara also has offers from UCLA, Arizona State and Washington.

Arizona, of course, has already landed another top county offensive lineman in Matt Jakubiec of Servite.

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Girls Basketball: Santa Margarita has new coach

ocvarsity — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 23:04:46 +0000

Matt Hauser is the new girls basketball coach at Santa Margarita High, officials announced last month.

Hauser, a 1996 Laguna Hills High graduate, takes over from Scott Bricker, who resigned in March so he could focus on his business.

Bricker was 39-17 in his two seasons with the Eagles, and led Santa Margarita to a share of the Trinity League title and the CIF-SS Division I-AA quarterfinals in 2008. Last season, he guided the Eagles to the CIF-SS Division III-AA semifinals.

Hauser played collegiately at both Irvine Valley College and Chico State, and went on to play in professional leagues in Germany, Switzerland, France and Portugal. He also participated in preseason camps with both the Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks.

“I am very much looking forward to watching coach Houser with the team. He has had tremendous personal success and I believe he will continue that success with the SM girls’ program,” said SMCHS Athletic Director Rich Schaaf.

Hauser comes from a family with a rich basketball history. His dad, Phil, coaches at Laguna Hills High, and his sister, Whitney, was a First Team All-CIF player, winning the state championship for Laguna Hills in 1997 before playing two seasons with USC.

Matt served as an assistant under his father and also started the OC Elite club basketball program.

He takes over a program that has had tremendous success this decade. The Eagles have won six Trinity League championships since 2001 – seven overall – and won a CIF-Southern Section title in 2005.

Hauser inherits a talented team that includes All-County guard Melissa Zornig, guard Madison McKenney, forward Jessica Johnson, and forward Elise Lorenz.

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Boys water polo: Samuels named MVP at club champs

DAN ALBANO, ocvarsity.com — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 05:56:20 +0000

Orange County male athlete of the year Josh Samuels has picked up another award. The recent Villa Park graduate was tabbed the MVP at last weekend’s U.S. water polo 18-and-under club championships in Santa Barbara.

Samuels helped lead SOCAL to the title. One of Samuels’ future UCLA-teammates - Griffin White (El Toro) - and El Toro’s Nick Rascon and Newport’s Matt Russell also were selected all-tournament.

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Newport boys, girls to be seeded 1st in state water polo?

DAN ALBANO, ocvarsity.com — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 05:35:35 +0000

The brackets for the upcoming state boys and girls water polo tournaments (July 17-19 in OC) have not been released but Newport Harbor’s boys and girls could be seeded first in both.

The Newport boys continued to sizzle at the recent U.S. club championships, finishing fourth in the 18-and-under division with strictly its high-school talent.

The Newport girls, meanwhile, captured last weekend’s Villa Park 18-and-under girls tournament. Newport Harbor defeated Laguna in the finals - in overtime.

The rest of the top-eight from VP went as follows: 3. Edison; 4. Riverside Poly; 5. Santa Barbara; 6. Corona del Mar; 7. San Diego Shores; 8. Mater Dei

So what about Dos Pueblos girls at the state tourney? Tournament director John Kulisich said DP reports that it will not have standouts Kiley Neushul and Sami Hill for the tournament, so the Chargers might not be seeded first.

But even without Neushul and Hill, DP should field a pretty strong team. As for DP’s boys - they won’t be in the tournament, Kulisich said. Kulisich believes the DP boys have travel plans in Europe.

Stay tuned for more coverage of the state tournament.

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Edison Passing Tournament approaching

DAN ALBANO, ocvarsity.com — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 05:11:41 +0000

Yes, the Orange County all-star football game (July 10) isn’t the only major gridiron event quickly approaching. The Edison Passing Tournament arrives the day after the game - July 11 - and is loaded with top schools.

Here’s a first-look at the groups:

Pool A

Tesoro

South Hills

Centennial Corona

JSerra

Pool B

Valencia/Val.

Mater Dei

Crespi

Mission Hills

Pool C

Carlsbad

Los Al

Oaks Christian

Foothill

Pool D

La Habra

Edison

Notre Dame/SO

Chaparral

Pool-play games are 9, 10 and 11 a.m. LosAl opens against Oaks Christian. Edison opens with La Habra. Tesoro starts with JSerra and Mater Dei begins against Valencia. Foothill opens with Carslbad. The championship round begins at 1 p.m.

It will be interesting to see if Edison can capture the tournament after claiming last month’s Air Strike at Dana Hills.

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Football: Checking in on the North all-stars (Thursday’s practice)

Damian Calhoun, OCVarsity.com since 2004 — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:55:34 +0000

The North squad, led by John Barnes and the Los Alamitos coaching staff, continued preparation Thursday night for the July 10 O.C. All-Star Game.

What: North football practice

Where: Los Alamitos High

Three questions with John Barnes

What are your thoughts on the first week of practice?

We have a bunch of great kids. Great character kids. We’ve put in everything we wanted and they’ve polished it fast in four days. We still have a couple of things to drop in, but they’ve handled everything …I like it.

Thoughts on the defense?

Our linebackers are a lot better coverage guys than I thought they would be and so our are secondary, so I’m excited. Mike Arakelian (Orange Lutheran) makes a lot of plays. He only knows one speed and that’s full speed.

Has anything surprised you?

Kane Wilson (El Dorado, QB) is a big-time guy. Ronnie Hillman (La Habra, RB) is a special player. He’s going to be a great college player. Not many guys can run like him. The offensive line is better than in most all-star games….(Servite’s Zach) Burge is real good, (Western’s Daniel) Jamokha is good …They’re all good, I like them.

Up next: The North has four practices remaining. Thursday is a walk-through.

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Wrestling: San Clemente has good run at L.A. Watts Summer Games

Damian Calhoun, OCVarsity.com since 2004 — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:15:49 +0000

Story written by Mark Garcia

The San Clemente Triton wrestling team finished third out of 22 teams at the annual Watts Summer Games last month at Southwest College in Los Angeles.

“The team really did an exceptional job in the competition,” said Tritons coach Mark Calentino.

Individually, San Clemente had a dozen grapplers place, including senior Kyle Conroy, who was the 189-pound weight class champion and was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player on the strength of his four pins.

“Kyle had a very strong tournament. He’s really becoming a dominating competitor,” said Calentino.

Placing third was senior Donald Stanley and junior Leo Flores. Earning fourth-place honors were juniors Zach Fishman and Hayden Yacobucci, and seniors Tyler Root, T.J. Chavez, and Aaron Lee. Juniors Calvin Wiss and Kyle Reese finished fifth, while sophomore Zach Fiene and senior Hector Garcia each took seventh.

Also representing the Tritons and winning matches in the tournament were Dakota Day, Wyatt Finnie, Justin Feldman, Spencer March, Darian Devoe, Adam Ferrier, Drake Montez and Shea Canada.

The Tritons will next be in action in the Orange County Summer Scrimmage League, as well as the Summer League Finals Tournament in late July.

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Football: O.C. All-Star game to be televised nationally

Damian Calhoun, OCVarsity.com since 2004 — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:23:56 +0000

For the second consecutive season, the county football all-star game will be televised nationally. Starting, July 25th, the game featuring the best of the county will be shown on a tape-delayed basis on ESPNU.

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Football: Checking in on the South all-stars (Wed practice)

Damian Calhoun, OCVarsity.com since 2004 — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 06:03:47 +0000

The South squad, led by Brian Barnes and the Tesoro coaching staff, continued preparation for the July 10 O.C. All-Star Game, Wednesday night.

What: South football practice

Nik Abele is back in action: Abele missed the first two days of practice with a broken left foot. Well, the boot was off Wednesday and there he was getting time on both the offensive and defensive lines.

“He’s a man child,” Barnes said. “I wouldn’t want to meet him in an alley. He’s tough to stop.”

Abele joins an already sizable offensive line, which includes Aliso Niguel’s Matt Peleti (6-3, 275), Laguna Hills’ Jeff Quigley (6-4, 280) and San Clemente’s Steve Watts (6-4, 260).

Three days in and Barnes likes what he’s seeing: “I’m impressed with how things are going. We have our offense in, our defense in and the kids have really meshed together well.”

Here is Barnes’ thoughts on those who have stood out: Segerstrom WR Nicalaus Powell-Calhoun (no relation) has been great. On the offensive line, Steve Watts (San Clemente) has done a great job pass-blocking … Jeff Quigley (Laguna Hills) is a tough kid.

The list continues: Jaron Hytche (Mater Dei), Gavin Escobar (Santa Margarita). On the defensive side of the ball, Artie O’Keefe (Fountain Valley) and the three Edison kids (Bryce Brantley- OL, Will Andrew-DE, Matt Reza-LB).

Are you checking in with dad? We talk every day, but we’re both keeping secrets.

The roster: Laguna Hills defensive back Shawn Tucker was on the field. It was his first day. He replaced Colton Fitch (Mission Viejo).

*Check back Thursday for a look at the North.

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