LJ wrestling: Meet story 1/24

By Ed Piper

Senior Noah Pace, in his final City Conference Championships tournament of his high school career, reached the title bout at 122 pounds at Canyon Hills High Sat., Jan. 24.

The prestigious tournament, dedicated to the memory of Lincoln wrestler Willie James Jones, Jr., a standout wrestler/valedictorian taken in random gang violence years ago, comes at the height of the season--just before La Jolla's trip to the Holtville Tournament Jan. 30-31 and the CIF Section championships a week later.

Everything came together for Pace, the slim, blond veteran who takes his glasses off right before each bout. "I saw that he (second round opponent Angel Sardina of Hoover) was front-heavy, because he was putting his hands on the mat. So I knew that I could snap him really easily," the 12th-grader said after his 10-second pin, the fastest this reporter has ever seen.

On the girls' side, fellow senior Maddie Quach reached the finals at 107 pounds. Her second fall was the quickest--59 seconds. Of her first-round pin in 1:25, she said, "Choose violence, but legally, obviously. Go hard, go strong, get it done." Quach is so good-natured, she has been coached in this to do something that is counter to her personality off the mat.

LJ wrestling @ City Conference Championships @ Canyon Hills HS - 1/24

Photos by Ed Piper

LJ senior Noah Pace (122)

(behind) has the fastest

pin one reporter has seen:

10 seconds over Angel

Sardina (Hoover).

LJ b basketball 18, Point Loma 42 - 1/23

Photos by Ed Piper

Injured Cole Hein (far left) (concussion protocol)

 does homework during Coach Paul Baranowski's

halftime talk with the team to stay up with his studies.

"Pink Out" PLHS students go crazy after

the last reserve being inserted into the game

with 3:20 left.

LJ wrestling: Mor in feature match

Ori Mor (top) grabs the right wrist of Kilian

Strachota of SDHS to begin the second period

of their 165-pound match Wed., Jan. 21.

Mor held on one more period to pin Strachota

with 1.8 seconds left. (Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

In a match that went virtually the entire six minutes (three two-minute periods), La Jolla's Ori Mor came out in a test of endurance to best Kilian Strachota of San Diego High at 165 pounds at the two teams' dual meet Wed., Jan. 21.

The bout matched two behemoths--Mor, especially, shows rippling shoulder muscles on his frame--in an exciting contest of wills.

Obviously, both were adept at countering the shots and other maneuvers of their opponent, with a standoff of 0-0 through the first period.

In the second, Mor, who has been out for a couple of weeks and tuned up by competing in last Saturday's Monte Vista Invitational, took Strachota down and held him for a multiple count on the mat, but was unable to pin him.

Kilian pulled a reverse after the count, ending the period trailing 4-2.

In the third and deciding period, the two gulping big breaths as they lined up repeatedly for resets, Ori was down at the outset of the period and escaped. That put him up, 5-2.

A takedown led him to 8-2.

Finally, with the Senior Night crowd cheering and exhorting, the Viking wrestler got a pin just before the final buzzer--1.8 left on the clock. So his time of fall was rounded off to 5:58 (actually 5:58.2).

The hosts now led, 32-19, with the six team points for the fall. La Jolla held on to win, 38-37, after three more matches and forfeiting the heavyweight bout.

LJ b wrestling 38, SDHS 37 - Senior Night 1/21

Photos by Ed Piper

Dylan Haugum, on his own Senior Night,

faces the crowd as he is declared the winner

at 215 pounds over Ernesto Rodriguez
(right, behind referee Terrence Dugay).

Haugum had a fall (pin) in 34 seconds.

LJ g water polo: Further refining

Mackenzie Adams (top) was setting up so far

from the goal on the 1-2 side Tues., Jan. 20

at Bishop's because the Knights' physical play

was forcing them outside. #8 red cap is

Aileen Shin. (Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

I came up with a new term overnight: "boys' water polo", to describe the way the La Jolla boys team had to play Cathedral Catholic and Bishop's last fall--after being treated rudely by JSerra in San Juan Capistrano, and a year ago, Oaks Christian.

In both latter games, Coach Tom Atwell's male squad traveled up north and faced nationally-ranked teams who battered, bruised, and otherwise stepped on their opponents.

The Viking girls absorbed the same brusque treatment in early December, as JSerra's team came to Coggan and dealt them a sizeable loss--all with the kind of jarring play that makes you pull back in mini-shock and see they're playing a different game.

Don't get me wrong, La Jolla has two extremely talented teams, both at the elite level and playing far above the level of 90 percent of the other teams in San Diego County. I recognize that.

But there is another level, and only Bishop's on the girls' side plays "boys' water polo" (as I defined it) in the area.

In this super-elite atmosphere--Ian Davidson and Doug Peabody's Knights are ranked second in the U.S., behind Mater Dei Santa Ana--there's no consideration of playing "nice" or "playing like a girl", which isn't even a term anymore, with the quality competition girls and women (defined by under-18 and over-18) are putting forth these days.

In the Knights' 18-8 win over visiting La Jolla last night (Jan. 20), I again saw a kind of play that was in-your-face, foul if you need to, pushing on the waterline and kicking underneath the waterline to establish position, knock the player you're defending off-balance, don't let them set up where they want to in the offense they're running.

There's no room for allowing the other side to dictate to you, on either offense or defense.

Atwell is working on it, but that it where he has to get his girls--accustomed to bumping and bruising from the start, and not apologizing for it, in my humble opinion. It has to happen the minute the ball comes out after the opening sprint, until the point where the game is decided. No other team in San Diego can afford the Viking girls the testing they need in preparation to compete with cross-town Bishop's.

The long-time (25 years) coach has been wise to expose his team to top (read "rough" as far as this discussion) teams in Orange County and elsewhere. That's where he's going to have to go to submerge them in this foreign culture of physicality.

LJ g water polo 8, Bishop's 18 - 1/20

Attacker Cora Pfau (4), far left, of La Jolla

is blinded by water splashed by Knight

defenders, including Farren Moss (9,

far right). (Photos by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

Reigning CIF Player of the Year Aileen Shin scored eight goals, as she and her Bishop's teammates showed why they are the number-two water polo team in the nation, downing La Jolla 18-8 Tues., Jan. 20.

Shin, who sat out much of the third and fourth quarters, still led the Knights in scoring as they charged out to a 5-0 lead after one quarter and 8-2 midway through the second period.

The day before, Ian Davidson and Doug Peabody's squad had played national number-one-ranked Mater Dei Santa Ana closely in a 14-10 loss, trailing only 9-8 late in the game.

They brought the same physicality against the Vikings, intruding on space and aggressively denying positioning as they disrupted La Jolla's ability to set up offensive patterns early and dominate on the scoring end.

La Jolla is ranked sixth nationally.

Knight Fiona Salatka (5), guarded by

La Jolla's Stella Tezcan (7), looks for a pass

on the 4-5 side in the first quarter.

Coach Tom Atwell's team regrouped a little to close the gap to 8-3 and 9-4. But Davidson began substituting freely from his stocked roster, still in the first half.

Atwell complained to the referees that Bishop's players were "slapping the water"--apparently to distract or cut visibility across the pool. He was answered by his counterpart, which the near-side official pointed out.

Shin, the First Team All-CIF standout, was inserted for one offensive play in the middle of the third quarter, and seemingly scored a goal at will, sailing a shot over LJ goalie Lucia Vega's head into the corner of the goal, for an 11-5 lead. Davidson and Peabody immediately substituted her out.

Bishop's goalkeeper Edie Nordan was tough in the cage. Lefty Fiona Salatka, starting on the 4-5 side (right side of the imaginary rectangle in front of the goal), and Ava Grandinetti supplied plenty of firepower for the Knights.