LJ FB: 7-on-7 vs. El Capitan, West Hills, Christian

Receiver Gabe Solis leaps to snag a pass from

quarterback Trevor Scully against West Hills.
(Photos by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

25-min. mini-games
Start on the 40 - 3 downs to get to the 30 (no first down)
On the 30 - 4 downs to get to the 10 (20 yards)
On the 10 - 4 downs to score (10 yards)
Teams call sack on their own quarterback if he doesn't pass within approximately 3.7 seconds

La Jolla: Rising senior Trevor Scully took all snaps at quarterback, though rising senior Kenny Hayden, rehabbing a knee, threw passes to receivers in warm-ups.

LJ vs. El Capitan - first rotation

LJ offense

1st possession
began 4:33 p.m.
From the 40: 2nd and 10 - complete to Sola Hope 3 yards left side
From the 40: 3rd and 7 - complete to Tucker Jacobs 6 yards right side
From the 40: 4th and 1 - complete to Gabe Solis 26 yards near right sideline throw over defender
From the 10: 1st and goal on the 5 - sack
From the 10: 2nd and goal on the 5 - incomplete to Tucker Jacobs
From the 10: 3rd and goal on the 5 - complete to Tucker Jacobs TD 5 yards middle, three yards into end zone
ended 4:38 p.m.

QB Trevor Scully delivers

after making his reads

in four-way 7-on-7.

2nd possession
began 4:40 p.m.
From the 40: 2nd and 10 - complete to Finn Rice 19 yards left side
From the 30: 1st and 11 - sack
From the 30: 2nd and 11 - complete to Zach Garcia? 6 yards
From the 30: 3rd and 5 - incomplete to Finn Rice middle in end zone diving attempted catch
From the 30: 4th and 5 - complete to Gabe Solis 5 yards good grab reaching behind him
From the 10: 1st and goal on the 10 - complete back right of the end zone leaping catch
ended 4:44 p.m.

3rd possession
began 4:49 p.m.
From the 40: 2nd and 10 - sack
From the 40: 3rd and 10 - incomplete almost a pick
From the 40: 4th and 10 - incomplete to Finn Rice middle batted down by defender turnover on downs

4th possession
began 4:52 p.m.
From the 40: 2nd and 10 - complete to Gabe Solis 23 yards a bullet throw
From the 30: 1st and ? - complete to Gabe Solis right side in end zone leaping catch
ended 4:54 p.m.

Vike defender D'yhar Sturgis

before the scrimmages.

El Capitan offense
Righty quarterback with a nice spiral, quick release

1st possession
began 4:38 p.m.
From the 40: 2nd and 10 - complete 5 yards left side

2nd possession
3rd possession

LJ vs. West Hills - second rotation

LJ offense

1st possession
began 5:09 p.m.
From the 40: 2nd and 10 - incomplete to Gabe Solis jumped too early long bullet
From the 40: 3rd and 10 - complete to Gabe Solis 27 yards middle - long run after catch with moves had LJ sideline whooping
From the 30: 1st and 3 - incomplete
From the 30: 2nd and 3 - sack
From the 30: 3rd and 3 - complete to Sola Hope 10 yards near left sideline - leaped to almost evade defender to get into end zone
From the 10: 1st and goal on the 3 - incomplete to Gabe Solis middle leaping in the end zone - almost had it but defender pulled ball down to knock it loose
From the 10: 2nd and goal on the 3 - complete to Gabe Solis TD middle front of end zone
ended 5:14 p.m.

2nd possession
began 5:17 p.m.
From the 40: 2nd and 10 - incomplete
From the 40: 3rd and 10 - complete to Jack Wiese 10 yards left side
From the 30: 1st and 20 - sack
From the 30: 2nd and 20 - complete to Jack Wiese? 8 yards middle
From the 30: 3rd and 12 - complete 12 yards short pass then zigzag run
From the 10: 1st and goal on the 10 - incomplete
From the 10: 2nd and goal on the 10 - complete to Gabe Solis 5 yards left side leaping catch
From the 10: 3rd and goal on the 5 - complete to Finn Rice 5 yards TD catch in end zone

3rd possession
began 5:29 p.m.
From the 40 - 2nd and 10 - incomplete to Israel Sandoval thrown too long - time called 5:30 p.m.

LJ vs. Christian - third rotation

LJ offense

1st possession
From the 40: 2nd and 10 - complete to Tucker Jacobs 10+ yards right side
From the 40: 3rd and ? - complete to Sola Hope 5 yards middle
From the 30: 1st and 15 - incomplete to Tucker Jacobs
From the 30: 2nd and 15 - complete to Michael Wells 13 yards left side in the flat
From the 30: 3rd and 1 1/2 - sack
From the 30: 4th and 1 1/2 - incomplete - turnover on downs
ended 5:37 p.m.
Comments: LJ's energy level seems to have dropped since earlier in the scrimmage. Another observer made the same observation.

2nd possession
began 5:44 p.m.
From the 40: 2nd and 10 - complete to Michael Wells 7 yards left side
From the 40: 3rd and 3 - incomplete to Phillip Pacleb
From the 40: 4th and 3 - incomplete - turnover on downs
ended 5:46 p.m.

3rd possession
began 5:50 p.m.
From the 40: 2nd and 10 - personal foul - LJ relinquishes ball

4th possession
began 5:58 p.m.
From the 40: 2nd and 10 - sack, completion too late to Zach Garcia middle right
From the 40: 3rd and 10 - complete to Sola Hope 19 yards middle, leaping catch, then juking for additional yards
From the 30: 1st and 11 - complete to Gabe Solis 15 yards, who was open, then juked for additional yards
From the 10: 1st and goal on the 6 - intercepted
time called 6:01 p.m.

LJ b BB: The view through the Lenz

Rising junior Otto Lenz,

the man, the myth, the legend.

By Ed Piper

Otto Lenz, 16, has blue eyes. A sportswriter doesn't know this until he sits down with the rising junior on the La Jolla basketball team in the bleachers before the Vikings' last summer league game at Montgomery High, and faces him eye-to-eye.

What does "Lenz" mean?

"Springtime, I think. Something like that."

Wow. I Googled it. True. Very few people know what their names mean, teen or adult.

What does "Otto" mean?

I Googled it. Wealth, fortune.

Wealth or fortune in the spring. That means next spring will be advantageous, if Coach Paul Baranowski's team plays in spring league, which they didn't do this year.

What we really want to know is, how will next winter go? That's when the regular basketball season is.

Lenz, coming off the bench in summer league games, has showed consistency as far as a short-range jump shot. He has a high arch, and a family member said that Otto was struggling earlier in the summer with his shot. But it went in consistently during the recent summer league at Montgomery High, and likely at the various weekend team camps, including UCSD--though he didn't take a high volume of shots.

"Why has your shot been going in lately?"

Lenz: "Just getting rotation on it. Looking at the back of the rim."

"Did someone suggest doing this?"

Lenz: "No, I just tried it. I don't see very well. I wear contacts."

Reporter: "I can't see through the net to the back of the rim."

"Is that your natural eye color?"

Lenz: "Yes."

"What is a favorite dessert?" (since this is a hard-hitting, investigative interview--tongue in cheek).

Lenz: "I'm an ice cream man. Strawberry."

Any toppings?

Lenz: "Straight."

"A favorite food?"

Lenz: "I like tacos. Fish tacos." Spoken like a true San Diegan.

"Talk about the team."

Lenz: "A lot of transition (offense). Pushing the break."

"What does pick-and-pop mean?"

Lenz: "You set a screen. The screener, instead of rolling to the basket, pops out for a jump shot."

"Thank you. No one has ever explained that to me."

"What would your friends say you are like?"

Lenz: "Pretty reserved."

"What do you like to do besides basketball?"

Lenz: "Tennis. I played JV last year."

"How do you like Darice Carnaje as coach?"

Lenz: "Good."

"What is your mental approach?"

Lenz: "Just to play as hard as I can when I'm out there."

"What is something nobody knows about you?"

Lenz: "That's a hard question to answer" (screwing up his expression, trying to think).

"What's an easy question?"

Lenz: "Dunno."

"A member of your family said you were struggling with your shot."

Lenz: "I was last week."

"Is 10 feet out from the basket, in the left half of the key, your favorite spot? (showing him a quick sketch on paper)

Lenz: "Yes, midrange."

Baseball cards: The agony and the ecstasy

By Ed Piper

When I was in the ninth grade, my first period class--and my first class in high school--was Public Speaking. Mr. (Earl) Sherman was a great teacher, but it was a painful class for me because of my intense self-consciousness during that period of my life, including my totally negative self-view because I had had braces and my front teeth had stuck out, which I had a hard time to overcome.

So, in my parents' careful planning with me--largely by my dad, Ed Sr., who loved me a lot, I know--we mapped out that I would take Public Speaking as a freshman, with Latin for two years to prepare me for a possible major in journalism, with two years of German to follow that. (I bailed out of German after three weeks my junior year, having already met the foreign language requirement.)

Already dreading going up in front of class, standing behind Mr. Sherman's wooden podium (visible because I was not short), I wore a blue jacket that I fiddled with in my nervousness during speeches. Mr. Sherman was really gentle and reassuring. He could see, with the rest of the class--which included upperclassmen who were way more developed and mature than I was at that early time--the extreme discomfort I was in, in front of class. He would comment quietly about my playing with the zipper of the jacket. Nothing to put me down, but feedback to point out it distracted from my presentation.

In this setting, I brought my baseball card collection in the wooden box my father had personally constructed for me. He used a router, I believe, to cut slots into the bottom and sides so that we could slip dividers into the box--which measured maybe 18 to 24 inches wide, by 12 or more deep. Being the collector that I was at age 13 (I didn't turn 14 until April the following Spring, I'm sure part of my maturity issue), I was careful with cards I put in the side channels, because in Dad's usual extremely careful measurement, somehow these two outside rows were a little too narrow for the cards. If I forced them to being lined up straight, it would have bent the edges of the cardboard cards, which would have completely decreased their value as collecting cards.

Classmates snickered. In 1967-68, the baseball card boom was decades away from happening (things peaked in the 80's), and I felt the added embarrassment of older, more sophisticated upperclassmen thinking my collecting was kind of childish. Not something a teenager ought to do to be cool.

Anyway, I did the oral presentation, which in that assignment required some kind of show-and-tell. I survived. Barely. I took my beloved baseball card collection, in box, home after school. I don't know where I kept it during the school day. These things weren't like cash the way they became in the 80's.

Long story short to say I've been chewing on talking about baseball cards for a couple of months now, ever since the new Series 1 cards from the 2017 Topps issue came out in February or later. One thing that is really evident these days, in the age of digital photography, is that the quality of photos on the individual cards is far beyond anything that was printed back when I was a kid collector in the 60's.

LJ FB: 4-way with Mira Mesa, Santana, Mission Bay

Viking QB Carsten Fehlan

takes his snaps.

(Photos by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

La Jolla High quarterbacks ran almost 50 offensive plays against three opposing teams in a four-way 7-on-7 Tues., July 18, on the Edwards Field turf.

Rising senior Trevor Scully and rising junior Carsten Fehlan completed a combined total of 26 passes in 46 attempts (in incomplete, unofficial statistics) against defensive units from Mira Mesa, Santana, and Mission Bay. Scully was 19 for 29, while Fehlan was 7 for 17.

Viking receiver Gabe Solis was a favorite touchdown target for Scully, as he grabbed at least four TD receptions. Other La Jolla receivers who caught TD passes included Sola Hope, Matthew Hammel, and Tucker Jacobs.

"We're rusty," said La Jolla Head Coach Tyler Roach partway through the rotations. "We've had a lot of time off recently." The Viking football program chose to have its so-called "no contact" period in which coaches and players can't be interacting with one another, when there are no workouts, over the July 4th holiday.

That means that La Jolla players came back the day before this 7-on-7 competition, Mon., July 17, for their first workout in two weeks. The fact that even the past two weeks without organized team activities were significant shows how specialized high school sports have grown. Football, like many other sports, can be almost a year-round sport, without the regular season sandwiched between weight training, offseason workouts, and so forth.

One has to keep in mind with 7-on-7 passing that there is no pass rush and no blocking, so what 7-on-7 predicts as far as team effectiveness under normal game conditions in the fall is highly questionable. The main value seems to be in the practice and repetitions that quarterbacks, receivers, and defensive backs receive during the summer.

Receiver Gabe Solis gathers in a touchdown

aerial from quarterback Trevor Scully

against Mira Mesa in the opening

rotation.

Rules:
25-minute mini-games
Ball starts on the 40 - 3 downs to get to the 30
Ball on the 30 - 4 downs to get to the 10
Ball on the 10 - 4 downs to score

LA JOLLA vs. MIRA MESA
began at 4:27 p.m.

LJ offense
LJ quarterback - Trevor Scully
1st possession: 4 completions in 7 plays; TD Scully to Gabe Solis
2nd possession: 4 for 5; TD Scully to Solis
3rd possession: 4 for 5; TD Scully to Sola Hope
Totals: Scully 12 for 17
Comments: Scully was zipping the ball, effectively finding open receivers against Mira Mesa's pass defense with three straight TD's in three series; Solis looked active and effective, too.

Mira Mesa offense (MM went first on offense, before LJ)
1st possession: 3 for 4, one play not recorded; TD
2nd possession: 2 for 2; TD in end zone, leaping catch
3rd possession: 3 for 3; TD to receiver Noel Sanchez
4th possession: 5 for 9; TD
Totals: 13 for 18, 4 TD's
Comments: Left-handed QB, zipping passes; looked pretty good.

LA JOLLA vs. SANTANA
began at 4:54 p.m.

LJ offense
1st possession: 2 for 2; TD Scully to Tucker Jacobs
LJ quarterback change - Carsten Fehlan inserted
2nd possession: 2 for 3; TD Fehlan to receiver; reporter's notes: "Carsten is mobile, moving well"
3rd possession: 3 for 6, one play not recorded; turnover on downs
4th possession: 2 for 5; TD Fehlan to Matthew Hammel; completion to Abdul Sinjab during possession
5th possession: 0 for 3; time ran out
Totals: Scully 2 for 2
Fehlan 7 for 17
Team totals: 9 for 19

Santana offense
1st possession: 1 for 2; interception by Tucker Jacobs
2nd possession: 4 for 7; TD
3rd possession: 3 for 5; TD in end zone
4th possession: 1 for 3; TD in end zone on long bomb
Totals: 9 for 17, 3 TD's
Comments: Santana seemed to be breaking in a new, inexperienced quarterback. He had a hard time throwing a tight spiral on many throws. Athletes not as impressive, maybe, as those on Mira Mesa and Mission Bay.

LA JOLLA vs. MISSION BAY
began at 5:22 p.m.; ended at approximately 5:47 p.m.

LJ offense
LJ quarterback change: Scully reinserted
1st possession: 1 for 1; TD Scully to Solis in end zone
2nd possession: 0 for 2; interception
3rd possession: 3 for 5; TD Scully to Solis; completion to Buster Hoy on 1st-and10 from the 40
4th possession: incomplete statistics, with 1 completion, 1 sack
Totals: Scully 5 for 10, incomplete stats

Mission Bay offense (went first)
1st possession: 2 for 2; TD "long, nice spiral by right-hander" (reporter's notes)
2nd possession: 5 for 5; TD in end zone
3rd possession: 0 for 3
4th possession: 3 for 4; TD; LJ's Phillip Pacleb made a good defensive stop on a 1st-and-goal from the 4-yard line, sticking his hand in to knock a pass away
5th series: Stats not recorded; time ran out
Totals: 10 for 14 in recorded stats
Comments: MB used more than one quarterback; program under direction of new head coach and new offensive coordinator. MB looks pretty athletic, with several talented athletes.

TOTALS
LJ 26 for 46, incomplete stats
Scully 19 for 29, incomplete stats
Fehlan 7 for 17

Dodger Stadium - 5 days in heaven

By Ed Piper

Don't read this if you're sick of the Dodgers.

I haven't taken the time to write about it, but in mid-June (it's now a month later, mid-July) I was able to audit a course in Pasadena for five days. I got the brainy idea to attend Dodger games at night: It started with Monday, buying a cheap seat way up on the Reserved Level or Top Deck on StubHub for $5 or $6 (fees making the total $10 or close to that).

Over the space of a couple of weeks leading up to my course on the New Testament book of First Peter (a letter) June 19-23, I periodically went back to the computer to check how prices were. Meanwhile, I also Googled parking, and got ready to buy that at $10--saving me $10 from the gate price.

Background, if you haven't read my blog, is that I grew up in Long Beach and Camarillo, both in Dodgers territory. So, at age eight, I attended my first Major League game with my Grandpa Merle, my dad's dad. Grandpa always bought seats on the green level, Reserved. $2.50 apiece! Can you believe it? That bought something back then.

Grandpa was economical like my dad, his son, was taught to be. Hence, Reserved Level, not Loge, which was a hike to $3.50 a ticket. (The numbers seem hard to believe now.)

Long story short, on my stay in Pasadena last month, of course there was a heat wave. I still went to Dodger games--my first time ever attending Major League games more than two days in a row. They were warm nights without need of even a windbreaker on the top deck, after 97-degree heat one day (Wednesday).

Fortunately for my Dodger fandom, and unfortunately for the Mets, who are suffering through a lousy season, the Dodgers were on a tear and won, not one night, not two nights, but all five--5!--nights I went in a row.

It was part of a 10-game win streak the Bums put together over the period I was in L.A.

Clayton Kershaw, the lefthander, who I had never seen pitch in person before, was shelled the first night, Mon., June 19, for four home runs by Mets hitters for the first time in his career.

As a diehard Dodger fan remarked to me later in the week at the stadium, "But the Dodgers still won, right? That's the important thing."

The upper decks, where I bought tickets for but where I rarely sat (just like at Petco Park, you can roam the park and stand at counters placed behind back row on each deck to watch the game from a closer perspective), are heavily Latino-attended. The bottom deck, where I occasionally bought tickets as a youth on the yellow level for the whopping amount of $5.50 to see Sandy Koufax, Maury Wills, Don Drysdale, and my other childhood heroes, is heavily white-populated. I found the two strata interesting.

I broke my former record when I followed attending Monday's and Tuesday's wins over New York--rookie phenom Cody Bellinger had a pair of home runs in one game, shortstop Corey Seager homered three times in another--with going to Wednesday's win for my third game in three nights. Then I set new personal records Thursday (four nights in a row) and Friday (five nights in a row).

It was a slice of heaven for a boy who grew up practicing a lot of his reading in the Long Beach Independent-Press Telegram sports section, a large chunk of that Dodgers coverage. And boy, to see five wins in a row. Really something.

LJ g BB 25, El Capitan 33

By Ed Piper

We learned a few things from the La Jolla-El Capitan summer league basketball game at Grossmont High Thurs., July 13:

--The girls basketball team at El Cap goes by "The Stampede". I suppose this is an alternative to the school mascot, which is the Vaquero. How do you make a female cowboy? That's a cowgirl, but not something in the East County school's nomenclature, apparently.

--Sina Anae can block shots and generally create some problems for the tall girls playing against La Jolla. Sina, as everyone knows from her forays into softball and basketball, is athletic. She just hasn't practiced ball skills much.

Her blocks against the Stampede big girls came flat-footed, and she still created jam-ups. She can improve her footwork as she gains more experience on the court.

With the Vikings playing their last summer game, what can we say about the state of the union at this point?

Coach Darice Carnaje said earlier this week that things are "better than last summer". That's a hopeful sign. Her team was able to break the press a few times in the Monday game against Otay Ranch.

The girls had the fire Wednesday, but the only thing that is going to make them better individually and collectively is more time invested in improving their skills in dribbling, passing, practicing the right position defensively, and practicing their free throws and shooting.

These things don't happen magically or by osmosis. When I was a baller at age 17, I carried a basketball with me as I hitch-hiked from Occidental College to my family's home in Camarillo 55 miles away every weekend during the spring quarter of my freshman year in college.

I dribbled whenever I could. I lay on my back on my bed working on the rotation of the ball coming off my fingers on my shot. There is no substitute for the time spent in working on these skills.

There is a direct correlation between the time spent practicing, and results.

You can see it when you watch a basketball player (or for that matter, an athlete in another sport) doing their sport.

So, everyone on La Jolla's team needs to put in time on their own, or request help in addition to formal practice time. Otherwise, they will continue to face juggernauts--you can look up the better girls teams these days--and be challenged to stay up with girls on opposing teams who play on club and travel teams.

It's great that girls who have never played the sport go out and participate with their friends on their school team. That is what high school sports are for.

On the other hand, if a girl--boys, same thing--wants to see steady improvement, and hopes for classmates to come out to games to watch them during the regular season, they're probably going to have to work diligently on increasing their basketball I.Q., ball-handling, shooting, and defense.

Only family members are going to be nice enough to say "Good job" when their daughter has played with energy and tried her best--with no other time investment put in than formal team practice and games.

To draw classmates and the greater student body to root for the team, you're going to have to be realistic and realize that they would much rather see a team that is making visible steps of progress and improvement, and whose team members are willing to do more than "give it the old college try".

In my experience, this is more of an issue in girls sports than boys sports. Boys tend to play pickup ball and practice shooting even when their team does not have formal practices. Girls, though their sports involvement is light years beyond where it was in 1972, the first year of Title IX mandating equal opportunities in federally-supported activities, are still socialized from a young age more in the social graces and avenues that are more traditionally "feminine".

You see girls and women jogging along the road in a way you never saw in 1972, when I was early in my college years and Title IX was on the horizon about to begin a cataclysmic change in girls and women in sports.

Fast-forward to high school sports in 2017, and the reality is that Carnaje's varsity, as it has her first two years coaching at La Jolla, is going to face teams next winter that are populated with club-experienced ballplayers.

At this point, to my knowledge, none of the girls on the Viking squad--they're all great people, I've met most or all of them--plays on a non-school basketball team.

That is the rub.

Petra Eaton is a county record-holder in track. That's her number-one sport. Skyla Loux puts the shot and throws the discus in track. That's at least tied for her number-one sport, I'm thinking. Rebecca Saul only plays basketball, to the best of my knowledge, but I could be wrong.

The three girls coming up from last year's junior varsity who played Monday and Wednesday in the Grossmont league are inexperienced, pretty new to the sport of basketball.

Probably Katrina "Kat" Kurtchi, besides Saul, identifies the most as a basketball player. She wears the leggings, she seems to thrive on and live for hoops.

If that becomes more contagious, that can only help the girls basketball program. I wish them all the best, and I look forward to the regular season next December 1.

LJ b BB 57, Olympian 41

By Ed Piper

If not for Olympian's Cameron Canlapan acting as sharpshooter, La Jolla would have run away and hid--if it didn't already.

The Vikings, playing their final tilt of the summer, stayed with their acknowledged strength of being rapid in transition to nail down a 57-41 win Wed., July 12, in the Montgomery High league.

Evan Brown, especially, showed renewed freedom and confidence as he played big and leaped high for rebounds and putbacks. Maybe it had to do with fellow big Charlie Gal being absent and Brown serving as the lone frontcourtman for Coach Paul Baranowski's bunch.

And Nick Hulmquist, another rising junior newcomer to the La Jolla varsity, showed brief glimpses of what he may have in store in the future with back-to-back threes around the three-minute mark in the third quarter, when the Vikings led the overmatched Eagles by as many as 18 to verge on blowout status.

Back to Canlapan, number double zero for Olympian Coach Marty Ellis' squad. The 5'6" guard, a rising senior who averaged 1.8 points per game for the South Bay League champs last year (30-4 for the season), had the Vikings' Jacob Duffy in extremis in the third quarter.

First, the slight player canned a three from far out from the left elbow. Duffy, guarding Canlapan closely, knocked him down while the long bomb went in. That made for a four-point play opportunity.

The second time this happened, Cameron going down, the three going in, a foul on Duffy, the Viking defender looked at his coach with a look like, "What am I supposed to do?"

Had Canlapan not been firing multiple long-range tracers, Olympian would have been much farther out of a contest their guard was gamely trying to keep them in.

The Eagle ball-handler committed a costly turnover with 58 seconds left in the period. With Brown's unlikely three from the top of the key dropping through the hoop as the third quarter buzzer sounded, La Jolla led 45-29.

Olympian made a final effort in the fourth period to whittle the lead down to 13 at 53-40 with 3:20 left.

Hulmquist, though he missed, dazzled with a Jordan-like move to the basket on his team's final possession. Nick, who struggled a little with his ball skills earlier, fronted the basket, faked, then leaped extending his right arm with the ball out to the side with his legs gathered.

The ball nudged off the right side of the rim, but it was a fun way to end the contest, and the summer.

LJ g BB: Sina's sister

By Ed Piper

Coach Darice Carnaje had a fascinating tale to tell about the sister of Viking basketball player Sina Anae, who she coached against, before one of La Jolla's recent summer league games.

Carnaje, coach for several years at Our Lady of Peace (OLP) before coming to La Jolla two years ago, was in a reflective mood as Anae showed up to warm up for the Vikings' game against Imperial July 6.

"OLP defeated Cathedral Catholic with Wendy Anae for the CIF title," the coach recounted. Wendy, Sina's older sister, is now entering her fifth year of a full-ride basketball scholarship at the University of Utah, where she will play as a so-called "redshirt" senior. She had to sit out last year with an injury.

"That was a fun season," said Carnaje, warming to her subject, "because who got seeded ahead determined the playoff brackets. We (OLP and Wendy's Cathedral coach) flipped a coin for number-one seed, because the two teams split their games during the season. Wendy is about 6'2". She was good.

"When I saw Sina (three years ago) when she came to OLP (where Carnaje was then coaching) with the La Jolla JV's, I said, 'Wow, they have some athletic ability.'

"Wendy got in foul trouble. That's how we won. We had Kirsten Johnson, a rebounder and inside player. Wendy could shoot from outside. I didn't put Kirsten on Wendy, because I didn't want her to get in foul trouble." OLP won the title. That was 2013.

Sina's mother agreed. Keeping score up in the stands during La Jolla's summer league game, she was with the girls' father, Bill. Mom nodded, yes, Wendy getting into foul trouble was a key part of that championship game between OLP and Cathedral. As a result of her fouls, Wendy Anae had to sit out significant portions of the game. Her team lost without her playing her usual dominant role on the floor.

Besides Carnaje's narration of that title game, we also learned that Sina's full name, "Saumasina", means "Coming moon" or "the moon coming": "sau" means "come" in Samoan, and "masina" means "moon". There you have it.

LJ b BB 59, Sweetwater 45

By Ed Piper

La Jolla's basketball team showed aggression early, signified by Jacob Duffy's driving basket to kick off the game, and built an early lead before securing a 59-45 win over Sweetwater in the Montgomery High summer league Wed., July 5.

The Vikings, exhibiting a heavily guard-powered attack, surged to a 16-6 advantage at the end of the first quarter. The starting quintet of Duffy, Jacob Ohara, Behzad Hashemi, Nick Hulmquist--all guards--and Charlie Gal, led 7-4 after six minutes of play.

Then Coach Paul Baranowski sent in a second platoon to complement Gal, consisting of the surprising Diego Solis, Gabe Solis, Evan Brown, and Otto Lenz, who then forced a 10-point lead after one period.

That "second platoon" remained in the game for much of the second quarter. Ohara, a guard, reinserted, was active with two buckets and two other attempts. Hashemi deposited a three from outside the left elbow with 7:45 left to put La Jolla up 24-12, then another from the top of the key with 5:34 left for a growing 29-13 bulge.

The Devils closed to within eight at the end of the half, 33-25.

Brown remained active, staying around the basket, as he put back his own miss for a score early in the third quarter. Ohara contributed his electric drives for a pair of field goals in the period as La Jolla played Sweetwater to a standoff.

Finally, Brown showed he wasn't going to take "just holding them" any longer, going up high to take a rebound with authority to begin the fourth quarter. His teammates seemed to follow his lead, with Diego Solis scoring on a putback of a Gal miss for 53-41.

Gal, the 6'6" rising senior, countered with his own putback of a Brown miss on a move with Evan's back to the basket in the center of the lane. La Jolla showed good discipline on that possession, reversing the ball several times to work Baranowski's offense. The Vikings led, 55-43.

Evan Brown would not settle for mediocrity down the stretch, as he scored inside with 3:20 left, then again on a drive from the left baseline. That was all she wrote for La Jolla's scoring for the night, taking home a sweet, devilish win.

Diego Solis contributed two defensive rebounds in the final period. Gal had two defensive rebounds and one off the offensive glass in the initial period, combined with a nice deflection of a shot.

LJ b BB: Behzad is honored

By Ed Piper

Behzad Hashemi, put on the spot, couldn't remember what his first name means in Farsi. So he forced a local reporter to do some research on it. A Google search turned up the following meanings: "noble", "high-born", "honorable".

Told that he has looked more comfortable at his guard position in summer league play, the rising junior agreed, "It's a lot easier to control the game, having more experience."

Regarding La Jolla's outside shooting, the three-point specialist said, "Obviously, with Reed (Farley) graduated, we're playing a totally different style of basketball.

"We look inside. That's our main option. Then we may take a shot outside."

Are you more confident shooting from distance this summer? he was asked. "Not more confident," he asserted. "I've always been confident. It's now I have the green light (from Coach Paul Baranowski).

Asked to clarify, he said, "(The green light) as long as we've looked inside. As long as we've tried to look inside and reversed the ball a couple of times."

LJ BB: Gal campus visits

By Ed Piper

"I like schools in big cities," says La Jolla forward Charlie Gal, anticipating his senior year and reporting on visiting several college campuses in the East and participating in basketball camps on other campuses.

Camps included the Ivy League schools of Penn, Cornell, Dartmouth, and Columbia, while Brown and Harvard consisted of visits and talks with each school's basketball coach.

As Gal, a burly 6'6", carries a 4.5 grade-point average, he will have opportunities that some other athletes may not as far as his college future.

"I liked New York (City) a lot," he said, prior to his high school team's game in the Montgomery High summer league July 5. He also reported meeting with the coach at Johns Hopkins University, and a visit to MIT.

As far as his recent two-handed dunk from a standing position under the basket, he said, "I couldn't do it last year. I've done it in showcases."

His father Steve had told him not to dunk as an injury preventative. "He was mad at me," the younger Gal said with a sly grin.

Other schools that Gal graced on recent visits include Tufts, Emerson, and Boston College.

LJ BB: JD 'in the NBA'

"Famous people" Jacob Duffy hanging

after the girls game at Grossmont.

(Photos by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

Viking guard Jacob Duffy attended the La Jolla girls basketball team's summer league game at Grossmont High Tuesday afternoon, July 11.

Obviously, the animal magnetism of someone on the Viking baller team drew him to that outpost toward the east end of the county.

"Famous people here. What are you up to?" inquired a visitor after the game. Duffy and some members of the Viking girls team and their mothers were standing outside the entrance to the "New Gym".

"He's in the NBA," said one of the girls, indicating Duffy, a rising junior who will see significant minutes in the new edition of the La Jolla boys team next fall.

The observer looked skeptical. "Yeah, right."

"You say he can't do it?" countered the girl.

"Animal magnetism" candidate

Maxwell Lloyd, a member of

the Viking girls team.

 



"You said he was in the NBA. I don't think so," came the reply.

"I'm going to play in the WNBA," said Skyla Loux of the girls team that had just played inside.

"That's assumed, if I'm going to cover your games now," said the visitor, carrying his notepad.

Loux's mom wasn't there, as she was last week.

Maxwell Lloyd, a rising junior on the girls team, was there with her family member.

Another member of the girls team was there, but the sportswriter didn't recognize her right off the bat.

After the others dispersed toward the parking lot to return to San Diego, Duffy walked with the reporter.

"It's your last game of the summer tomorrow night at Montgomery, right?" said the media person.

"Yep."

"I hope to see you there. Good luck."

LJ g BB: Loux locked in on publicity

Forward Skyla Loux is wearing

out the La Jolla media lately.

(Photos by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

"Ed, where have you been?"

"Ed, you need to come to more of our games."

Skyla Loux was locked in on a media person, and she demanded answers.

Actually, the outgoing, good-natured rising junior was in her usual friendly mode.

This was Tues., July 11, after La Jolla's basketball game against Otay Ranch in the Grossmont High summer league.

Flashback to the Viking track team's dual meet at Hoover High last spring: Loux, a sophomore then, preparing for the day's two throws--shot put and discus. Very social, very engaging, in her element talking with her throw event teammates and friends gathered inside the far west gate to the Hoover campus.

During a dual meet, there is a lot of dead time; i.e., tie to schmooze and hang out with fellow student athletes.

That is something the frontcourt player for Coach Darice Carnaje's Viking basketball team does well: hang with the "gente". While teammate and point guard Rebecca Saul is much quieter, more likely to give a stranger a look than a word, Skyla--her last named pronounced "locks"--will play the "Hail, fellow, well met" role of verbally greeting someone.



Viking players huddle briefly inside after the game

before Coach Darice Carnaje moves them outside.

"I looked on your blog and I didn't find any stories on us," Loux said, back on the hardwood after the Vikings' basketball game against the Lady Mustangs, which they lost by eight.

The media person she was directing these comments to replied, "Four paragraphs on your last game."

Loux apparently did not see them.

Skyla will continue to be counted on by Carnaje for grabbing some of the rebounds La Jolla has missed ever since Satori Roberson moved on to Grossmont College two years ago. Roberson, at that point of development, wasn't polished. But she did grab a number of defensive rebounds off the glass just due to her athletic ability.

Loux is helped up front by Sina Anae, who also is a good athlete but who hasn't played a lot of basketball. Otherwise, Carnaje starts Petra Eaton, Saul, and Kat Kurtchi, all of whom are more suited for the guard spot.

LJ b BB: Ohara torrid

On teammate Evan Brown's free throw, Jacob

Ohara is in the second position on the right.

(Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

Jacob Ohara was in a mood to answer questions.

Still sitting in a chair arranged as part of the La Jolla team bench after the game, scooping up his things to go, Ohara looked up and over to a questioner with an engaging look.

This, despite the Vikings' loss to Steele Canyon just concluded, 47-39.

You never know what reaction you're going to get.

"You scored on three straight drives to the basket near the end of the second quarter. How did you do it?"

"Getting down in transition. If someone gets the rebound, I take off."

"You seem bigger and stronger since the end of last season. Is there a change?"

"When it's not a set offense, I can go inside to score."

"You drive from both sides of the basket. Do you have a preferred side?"

"No. Either side. Except if I'm driving baseline--then the right side, because my strong hand is protected (from defenders)."

"How about the team?"

"The team shows we're pretty fast when we're getting down in transition. We're better that way than in setting up our offense."

"What do you think of (rising freshman) Diego (Solis') play? He's playing with confidence."

"He's looking good. He's shooting well."

Ohara, who just turned 17 on June 26, is a returning 6-foot guard and one of only two rising seniors on Coach Paul Baranowski's roster.