California: Serra smiles with two-sport athletes' arrival

As if Gardena Serra needed more attention heaped upon its small school, now the Cavaliers boys basketball team is at full strength – as if they needed any additional help.

Coming off a CIF-Southern Section Northwest Division title and a State Division III Bowl championship in football, the school is now poised to do some damage in basketball. Three members of the football team, juniors Marqise Lee and George Farmer, and senior Bene Benwikere, have given the team some depth – and a lift.

Lee was an all-tournament selection at the Las Vegas Holiday Classic that the Cavaliers (12-1) won, featuring an 85-73 victory over Pleasure Ridge (Ky.) in the final. Keith Shamburger was the MVP. In other news, senior Jordan Mitchell (6-9) recently signed with Cal State Northridge.

"Having the football guys back has been good for us," coach Dwan Hurt told the Torrance Daily Breeze. "We have more bodies to get in there and we're able to get guys rest."

But there's no rest for their opponents. Different sport, same results.

Robert Woods, Serra

File photo by Kirby Lee

Serra receiver George Farmer is only a junior, but he has already been invited to two all-star football games at the conclusion of his senior season: the U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio, Texas and the Under Armour All-American game in Orlando.

A number of Southland players will compete in the Army game on Saturday, including Farmer's teammate, receiver Robert Woods. Other players selected include: Anthony Barr, L.A. Loyola, RB; Malcolm Jones, Westlake Village Oaks Christian, RB; Cassius Marsh, Oaks Christian, DT; D.J. Morgan, Woodland Hills Taft, RB; Sean Parker, Harbor City Narbonne, DB; Ronald Powell, Moreno Valley Rancho Verde, DE; Josh Shirley, Fontana Kaiser, LB; Christian Thomas, Palmdale Highland, TE; Cecil Whiteside, Newport Harbor, LB; Demetrius Wright Jr., Corona, DB.

Among those who played in the Under Armour All-America game on Saturday were Lakewood quarterback Jesse Scroggins and Oaks Christian quarterback Nick Montana.

The USC-bound Scroggins had a pass intercepted and returned for a touchdown; Washington-bound Montana, on the winning team, started and completed four of 12 passes for 38 yards and a touchdown with an interception.

The rumor mill is swirling at record speed when it comes to reporting who will be the next football coach at Encino Crespi. The high-profile position is attracting a veritable Who's Who of high school coaches, according to the Los Angeles Daily News: Harry Welch (won back-to-back titles at San Juan Capistrano St. Margaret's and five consecutive titles overall); Troy Thomas (won Pac-5 and Division II Bowl championship at Anaheim Servite); Tim Lins (reached section finals four of the past five years at Moorpark); Jim Benkert (went 14-0 and won Northern Division title at Westlake Village Westlake); Jon Mack (Ventura College; won six section titles from 1999-2005 at Ventura St. Bonaventure); Todd Therrien (won two State Bowl championships in the last three years at St. Bonaventure); and Tony Maddox, an assistant at Westlake Village Oaks Christian that won six section titles in seven years.

The Los Angeles Times selected its All-Times football team that includes Southern and City Section players. The Times' marquee Glenn Davis Award winner was Cody Fajardo, the Anaheim Servite quarterback who led the Friars (14-1) to the State Division II Bowl Championship while completing the state's toughest schedule.

Fajardo has had only one scholarship offer, from San Jose State, which prompted coach Troy Thomas to tell The Times: "There's a lot of guys who look the part but can't handle the heat. He's a guy that gets it done when the pressure is on. I guarantee there's not a better quarterback out there, not a guy you don't want leading your team more than this kid."

The Times also honored a couple of players who do look the part: Woods was named back of the year, and defensive terror Justin Utupo of Lakewood was named the lineman of the year.

Jim Benkert, who guided inexperienced Westlake Village Westlake (14-0) to the Northern Division title, was selected coach of the year.

Don Markham, who famously piled on the points when he was at Bloomington and is the 12th-winningest coach in California with 265 victories (314-115-1 in California and Oregon), is expected to be the new coach at Rialto pending board approval on Jan. 13. He won five Southern Section titles, three at Bloomington, one at L.A. Baptist and one at Colton.

Longtime Alhambra football coach Gil Ruedaflores, 64, has retired after 21 seasons and compiling a 122-103-1 record. "It's going to be weird because he's the grandfather of coaches in the area," Keith Jones, who won a section title a few years ago coaching at San Gabriel, told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

Matt Georgia has been named the new football coach at Hemet. He replaces Andy Boynton, who was the let go after 14 seasons, the longest tenure in the school's history, but whose program was 4-16 the past two years. Georgia, a former quarterback at Fordham, had been the school's golf coach.

The struggles of Mission Hills Alemany boys basketball is probably something that will outgrow itself. Only two of its 14 players are seniors, and five underclassman are in the lineup , including freshmen Andrew English (6-5) and guard K.J. Moffet (10 points, five assists), sophomore guard Jerico Richardson and junior guard Jordan Fuller. Richardson is a transfer from Encino Crespi, Fuller a transfer from Santa Ana Mater Dei.

"We're working and we're building," coach Tray Meeks told the Daily News. "We'll get there."

Alemany (3-9) has five losses by eight points or fewer, two by four or fewer.

If all goes according to plan, which is to say his team doesn't lose, Gary McKnight will get a record-setting victory on a national stage on Jan. 18, but it may be easier said than done. The veritable coach at Santa Ana Mater Dei will direct his Monarchs against Hyattsville (Md.) DeMatha in Springfield, Mass., with a chance to make McKnight the winningest boys basketball coach in state history.

But right now, DeMatha would have to be the favored team. DeMatha is ranked No. 5 in the Xcellent 25 and No. 8 in the MaxPreps National Freeman national ratings. Mater Dei is No. 18 and No. 36, respectively.

Mater Dei (11-1) won the Orange Holiday Classic by beating Santa Ana Foothill. According to Steve Fryer of the Orange County Register, Keala King and Tyler Lamb did not start the first two games of the tournament because they were late for a Saturday practice. Fryer asked if not starting two games was the policy for being late. "It was the policy that day," McKnight told him.

McKnight has 839 victories; the state record-holder is Mike Phelps, who compiled 843 at Alameda St. Joseph and Oakland Bishop O'Dowd. Earlier this season McKnight became the winningest coach in Southern Section history with his 830th victory, displacing Lou Cvijanovich of Oxnard Santa Clara, who had 829.

You have to love Westchester for its 52-47 victory over Mouth of Wilson (Va.) Oak Hill Academy in the title tilt of the Les Schwab Invitational at Hillsboro (Ore.) Liberty. Oak Hill was 14-0 at the time. The Comets (11-2), ranked No. 1 in the state, are off until Jan. 11 when they begin Western League play against Venice.

Southland teams took it on the chin from Newark (N.J.) Memorial, which is ranked No. 24 nationally by MaxPreps. Playing in California, the Cougars beat Los Angeles Fairfax, L.A. Price, Woodland Hills Taft and North Hollywood Campbell Hall. The only loss in that eight-day period was to the nation's top team, Elizabeth (N.J.) St. Patrick.

With Sunset League beginning play this week and Los Alamitos (11-4) on the schedule for Friday, Huntington Beach Edison's hopes for the season took a significant turn when standout Kyle Boswell suffered a broken left wrist in a 57-53 loss to San Clemente. Edison (14-1) is No. 19 in the state, and Boswell is averaging a team-high 24.6 points. The 6-foot-2 guard will reportedly be out five to six weeks; he missed most of last season because of a back injury.

Harvard-Westlake forward Erik Swoope (6-5), who is averaging 31.6 points, has committed to Miami.

One of the biggest winners of the holiday tournament season was California girls' basketball. Three Southland teams took the four semifinal positions in the Nike Tournament of Champions in Arizona, with Mater Dei defeating Stockton St. Mary's in the final, and Brea Olinda beating Long Beach Poly in the third-place game. It was a terrific showing for California in the national tournament. Those four schools comprise the top four in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 national ranking; in the MaxPreps computer-generated Freeman state rating, it's No. 1 Mater Dei, No. 2 Poly, No. 3 St. Mary's and No. 4 Brea. In the latter rating, North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake is No. 7, and Corona Santiago is No. 10.

Brea Olinda went on to win the marquee division of the West Coast Jamboree in Antioch for the second year in a row with a 78-64 victory over Jacksonville (Fla.) Potter's House Christian (No. 18 in the Xcellent 25); less challenged was Mater Dei, which won the Nike Interstate Shootout in Lake Oswego, Ore., with a 107-51 victory over Portland Franklin. The Monarchs, whose margin of victory averaged about 40 points, continue to get outstanding MVP performances from Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, but the Monarchs are already down junior forward Alexyz Vaioletama (shin splints) and may be without senior guard Lauren Rock, who injured her knee in Oregon and is awaiting the results of tests.

One of the best local tournaments for many years has been the Ayala Best of the West tournament, which Santiago won, 77-55, against Burbank Bell-Jeff. Pomona Diamond Ranch beat Ayala, 57-50, in the third-place game.

Harvard-Westlake beat Mission Hills Alemany, 64-41, in the title game of the Harvard-Westlake/Beverly Hills tournament. The impressive thing about H-W right now is it's getting big contributions from several different players, such as Nicole Hung, Nicole Nesbit, and Skylar Tsutsui, which will make it tough on opposing teams. The two teams will meet again on Jan. 22 in a Mission League game. "It's nice to see a different person stepping up every night," Hung told the Daily News.

Harvard-Westlake played State No. 20 Bell-Jeff on Tuesday and overcame a 55-47 deficit early in the fourth quarter for a 66-62 nonleague victory behind Hung's career-high 29 points. When they played on Dec. 21, Harvard-Westlake defeated Bell-Jeff, 69-47.

Fascinating story coming out of San Gabriel, where the entire girls basketball coaching staff was fired after freshman coach Jannie Han – a 2007 graduate of Alhambra and a student at Cal Poly Pomona – allegedly played in a nonleague junior varsity game on Dec. 9 against El Monte, and the program later attempted to cover it up.

Dismissed were Han, along with varsity coach Manny Flores and JV coach Mark Ho. Jennifer White has taken over the varsity program, which is 1-8 after beating El Monte Mountain View, 42-41, on Tuesday..

"One of the things that high schools struggle with is ethics and integrity and making sure the kids follow academic honesty," principal Jim Schofield told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. "If something like that was to happen in a program it would be sending the exact opposite message, that we don't have to work ethically or show integrity in what we do."

In two games prior to the firings on Dec. 15, San Gabriel was beaten by San Gabriel Gabrielino, 63-7, and Burbank, 65-2. Schofield said a number of upperclassmen left the program and many freshmen were playing on the varsity, although the roster on MaxPreps lists three freshmen and four sophomores on the 12-player squad.

Playing defense – and rebounding – is often a matter of will. That was on display at the Larry Doyle O.C. Championships in the form of Villa Park's Shomari McCorkle, a 5-11 senior forward who was used as a stopper on two of Orange County's prized recruits. McCorkle limited USC-bound Cassie Harberts (6-3) of San Clemente, who is averaging 25.3 points, to 16; she limited guard Melissa Zornig of Santa Margarita (26.6 ppg) to 14. "It's tough but you have to be mentally in it because if you're not, you're not going to get through the game," McCorkle told the Orange County Register. Villa Park won the tournament as Nicole Ballestero was named tournament MVP.

Martin Henderson began covering Southland preps in 1993 for the Los Angeles Times. He contributes to the Orange County Register, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin and San Bernardino Sun, and offers up motorsports opinions at Racescribe.com. You can reach him at southlandpreps@yahoo.com.