By Mitch Stephens
MaxPreps.com
1. Order Tickets Early for Oaks Christian Football GamesIt may be something of a media circus once football practice begins this summer at Oaks Christian (Westlake Village, Calif.), about 25 miles north of Hollywood. Contra Costa Times reporter Chase Bryson reported on Tuesday that Nicholas Montana has transferred from De La Salle (Concord) to the highly visible Southern California program. Montana, an incoming junior quarterback who started on De La Salle’s junior varsity team last fall, is the son of NFL legend Joe Montana, which should give the Lions at least three iconic figures in the stands this fall. Also on the team is Trevor Gretzky, son of NHL Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky, and Trey Smith, son of actors Will Smith and Jada Pinkett. “Michael Jordan said his son’s coming and Babe Ruth’s great, great grandson is supposed to enroll,” Oaks Christian coach Bill Redell joked to the Ventura County Star. The strong-armed 6-foot-2 Nicholas Montana likely would have shared time at defending national champion De La Salle with last year’s part-time starter Blake Wayne but now will have to compete with six quarterbacks at Oaks Christian. Two seasons ago the Lions won a mythical national championship with Jimmy Clausen (see MaxPreps video), now the starting quarterback at Notre Dame. In a strange twist, Montana’s older brother Nate Montana, a third-stringer at De La Salle last season, has walked on at Notre Dame and along with another incoming California freshman Dayne Crist (Notre Dame, Sherman Oaks) is listed behind Clausen. Crist (see MaxPreps video), Clausen and the Montana brothers were all tutored by quarterback coach guru Steve Clarkson. The younger Montana said he wants to be closer to his quarterback coach, who is located in Southern California. Seems like he's got some pretty fair resources right at home.
2. Stephenson Not Among Elite Dozen
He may just be the best and most talented returning boys basketball player in the land, but Lance Stephenson (Lincoln, Brooklyn, N.Y.) didn’t make the National Men’s Under-18 team. The 6-5 guard (see MaxPreps video) was one of the last two players cut along with Wesley Witherspoon (Berkmar, Lilburn, Ga.) on Tuesday. Dick Weiss of the New York Daily News thinks this piece of humble pie might just prove flavorsome in the near future for Stephenson. The dozen to make the squad were the Wear twins, Travis and David, from Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.), Dominic Cheek (St. Anthony, Jersey City, N.J.), JaMychal Green (St. Jude, Montgomery, Ala.), Matt Humphrey (Hales Franciscan, Chicago), Ryan Kelly (Ravenscroft, Raleigh, N.C.), Malcom Lee (North, Riverside,Calif.), Leslie McDonald (Briarcrest, Memphis), Mason Plumlee (Christ, Arden, N.C.), Travis Releford (Bishop Miege, Shawnee Mission, Kan.), Kemba Walker (Rice, New York City) and Maalik Wayns (Roman Catholic, Philadelphia).
3. Olympic Efforts
No prep track and field athletes advanced but many flourished at the Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore., last week, especially new national record holders Jordan Hasay (1,500 meters) and Jeff Demps (100). We mentioned Hasay (Mission Prep, San Luis Obispo, Calif.) first because she’ll actually still be in high school in the fall. The diminutive senior to-be finished 10th overall in 4 minutes, 17.36 seconds, well off her national mark of 4:14.50 set two days earlier. She broke 49 seconds and passed three more experienced runners over the last 300 meters to reach the finals. Like Hasay, Demps (South Lake, Groveland, Fla.) astonished all during the preliminaries by going 10.01 in the quarterfinals to smash the previous national high school mark of 10.08 set in 2005 by J-Mee Samuels. The Florida-bound football player bowed out in the next round but had made his mark. So did the other prep stars: Jackie Coward (West, Knoxville, Tenn.) was well off her best of 13.21 in the100 hurdles, taking seventh in her heat at 13.69; Christine Babcock (Woodbridge, Irvine, Calif.) was eliminated in the 1,500 semifinals with a time of 4:20.00, off her best of 4:18.32; Texas female high jumpers Shanay Brisco (Cypress Christian, Houston) and Victoria Lucas (Midland) didn’t compete in the finals, though Brisco actually qualified by clearing 5-10½. She opted to pass so she could compete at the World Junior Championships in Poland; High jumper Erik Kynard (Rodgers, Toledo, Ohio) cleared 7 feet, ½-inch but it wasn’t good enough to advance to the finals; In the women’s 800, the nation's best prep chance Chanelle Price (Easton, Pa.) failed to reach the semifinals by going 2:05.93 but incoming junior Laura Roesler (Fargo South, N.D.) surprised most with a time of 2:04.03. Roesler finished eighth in her semifinal heat (2:06.83) to end a strong run; Victoria Jordan (Dunbar, Fort Worth, Texas) placed eighth in her 100 heat in a wind-aided 11.29 and failed to move on; Ryann Krais (Methacton, Pa.) was 19th in the 400 hurdles (59.39); Discus thrower Anna Jelmini (Shafter, Calif.) was 19th overall at 160-6.
4. Soaring Toward Stardom
Long jumper Marquise Goodwin (Rowlett, Texas) scored his biggest international victory by soaring 25-4¾ at the World Junior Championship Wednesday in Poland. Goodwin isn’t done by any means as he’ll also compete in the sprints and triple jump.
5. Texas-Sized 7
Summer 7-on-7 football used to rank with matinees, the county fair or a trip to the local malt shop. As Dallas Morning News writer Keith Whitmire reports, fastbreak football has hit new high ground, highlighted by the Lone Star state’s FSN Southwest 7-on-7 Tournament at Texas A&M. Our own Stephen Spiewak is in College Station and will file reports and send video from the massive 3-day event that started today.
What story did we miss? Let Stephens know by e-mailing him at mstephens@maxpreps.com.
