LJ BB: Demiral

Vikings assistant Huseyin Demiral (left) talks with

Alex Pitrofsky during scrimmage Nov. 27

at Grossmont. (Photo by Ed Piper)

"Since I was a player, I want to put myself in my players' shoes and do what's best for them," says Huseyin Demiral, assistant coach for the La Jolla boys basketball program.

Demiral, 6'9", played professionally in the European League. He played both inside and outside. His coaching role under head coach Paul Baranowski is basically open-ended--wherever he can help.

Baranowski compliments his second-year assistant's unique abilities, offering a playing background in the national program in Turkey, as well as an ability to get with Vikings players and work with them on specific skills and situations.

As a result, Demiral will be head coach of the freshman boys team this season, while continuing in his assisting role on the varsity.

"There is no other way to get good at basketball besides hard work," says the married father of two sons, ages 11 and 9. He describes his long involvement in the Turkish national program, which in his case meant committing at age nine to year-round practice and training.

He says that eventually training went to two practices a day, and allowed time for "no family reunions, no vacations." Participating in the national program in his native country while attending school, he says, "If you have an exam at the same time as practice, you don't go to the exam."

"You can be really good at anything," says the coach. "There is a fine line between being good and great. If you're not filling yourself up with knowledge, something will be missing." In other words, this applies in basketball as well in real life--studying to gain the information that will make you better.

He played internationally most recently for Tuborg Pilsener SC and Besiktas JK, teams in the European League, during the 2004-05 season.

He played most recently for Kolejliler SC in Ankara, Turkey, in 2006-07. The team advanced to the final eight of the Turkish Cup. He was 35 years old.

Demiral, 37, has his own company and coaches under Baranowski at the Jewish Community Center in UTC as well.


Copyright 2015 Ed Piper

LJ BB: Petco Park

Reed Farley passes inside to Alex

Pitrofsky (35) at the low post in

Friday preseason scrimmage.

(Photos by Ed Piper)

Coach Paul Baranowski says there are several factors that led to La Jolla getting the nod to play Bill Walton's alma mater in the feature game Tuesday night, Dec. 1, at Petco Park in the first Walton Basketball Festival.

Did the invitation have to do with the Vikings expected to feature a fairly strong team this season?

"Partly," responded Baranowski, talking in his office at the Jewish Community Center. "We were already playing Helix in a tournament, so neither team had to add a point to their schedule," making scheduling easier.

Teams are allotted a certain number of points for their schedule by CIF San Diego Section. This is to keep within CIF regulations for fairness and balance and the welfare of the student-athletes.

Another factor was Helix being Walton's high school alma mater. The event being named after the 6'11" Hall of Famer for his three NCAA titles at UCLA and two NBA titles, one with the Portland Trailblazers before Walton suffered crippling foot injuries that limited his career, it was a no-brainer that Bill's high school would take part in the festival.

"We hope the weather will cooperate," said Baranowski of the outdoor game played on the Petco baseball diamond infield. "As far as condensation (on the wooden court laid on the grass), I hope they have fans (to keep the surface dry)."

The Vikings' brain trust coaches La Jolla up in

morning scrimmage in chilly gymnasium

at Grossmont High Friday.

"I think the only place spectators will sit is in the bleachers" that will be set up along the second base line."

"I went outside at 7:20 (same time as game time) the other day, and the air was heavy."

Will the coach have time to enjoy the game amid the hoopla? "Sure, it's a big honor that we get to play at Petco." What an exciting way to start the season.

The week-long festival starts Mon., Nov. 30, with boys and girls games in the afternoon and evening throughout the week. Walton will hold a basketball clinic. Then the event culminates in San Diego State facing off against USD Saturday afternoon, Dec. 5.


Copyright 2015 Ed Piper

LJ BB: A lot of weapons



Vikings senior Eddie Parker sets up offense

against Santana Nov. 27. (Photos by Ed Piper)

La Jolla's basketball team is going to field a lot of weapons this season. There are size and bangers inside, with Alex Pitrofsky, Charlie Gal, and Daniel McColl. There's outside shooting, with Reed Farley, Nick Hammel, Quinn Rawdin, and others. There's ball-handling besides Farley, including Eddie Parker and Hammel.

The Vikings looked fairly tight and cohesive in their preseason scrimmages Fri., Nov. 27, at Grossmont High. They blitzed a Santana team that wasn't ready for a 9 a.m. start. They came back from a deficit to a good Grossmont team to ultimately outscore the Hillers by five points.

"I'm not going to be afraid to put any of the 10 players into the game," said LJHS coach Paul Baranowski Sun., Nov. 29, in his office at the Jewish Community Center in UTC, anticipating Tuesday's opener at Petco Park.

Gone are the days when Baranowski padded the bench with the player or two who, realistically, weren't going to contribute when the game mattered but whom the coach kept on the roster because of their allegiance to the program and hard work in practice.

"It's not likely you'll see a roster with more than 10 players from here on," said Baranowski. In his first three years at the helm, he usually carried 13 players or so.

"It rarely works out to have players sitting on the bench who are not going to play," he said. "We're thinking we may have a rotation that includes all 10 players."

Sophomore Charlie Gal drives for the basket

against Grossmont in scrimmage.

As evidence of the slimming down, none of the likely non-starters is a senior who is not fairly proficient and who won't contribute. In fact, two of the reserves are sophomores, big man Gal and wing Rawdin.

So, what has been seen in summer and fall leagues is basically two units, the starters and a group that comes in relatively early in the game to supplement what the starters will do.

Of course, with games that really count starting Tuesday, "everyone plays" can go out the window.

Veteran Morgan Albers flips

a free throw in Foothiller

workout.

Copyright 2015 Ed Piper

LJ BB: Scrimmages

La Jolla's Alex Pitrofsky (left) battles for the ball

in a tie-up with Grossmont Nov. 27.

(Photos by Ed Piper)



 

Nick Hammel is a baller.

I just read John Fogerty's autobiography, as well as part of the unauthorized story of his band, Creedence Clearwater Revival. What I didn't know previously, and took away from my reading was that Fogerty's entire life is music.

My application here is that someone can be a member of a team, or they can be an athlete who lives and breathes the sport.

Hammel, while combining football with his basketball skills, seems to be leaning toward the latter. In La Jolla's preseason scrimmages at Grossmont High Fri., Nov. 27, the junior showed one of his skills he has had for a while, driving to the basket.

Another skill he brings to the varsity is his outside shooting. He missed a couple of shots from the outside, then hit a three, not shying away after the misfires.

That gives the LJHS artillery three or more outside threats this year: Tony Coan, an absentee Friday, Hammel, and Reed Farley. Another new member of the varsity besides Hammel who isn't afraid to put the ball up from the outside is lefty Quinn Rawdin, but he was absent from the scrimmages over Thanksgiving weekend.

Viking players huddle. Assistant coach Demiral

Huseyin (far left) helps coach the Viking big men

and others.

Coach Paul Baranowski also employed Hammel handling the ball, which gives La Jolla some versatility along with Farley. Eddie Parker set up the offense, as well. This helps diversify LJHS from being a "one-man band", which Fogerty knew about in his CCR days.

In the initial scrimmage Friday morning in a cold Grossmont High gym, La Jolla wasn't tested in out-scoring a weak Santana contingent in two quarters of refereed play, 53-11.

In a second scrimmage against host Grossmont, the Vikings did play a proficient opponent and showed they are capable, out-scoring the Foothillers, 30-25, in the two quarters of the multi-team practice. 6'6" Alex Pitrofsky got to face off for part of the scrimmage against Grossmont's Tommy Rutherford. Rutherford, 6'9", was Player of the Year as a junior in the Grossmont Hills League, averaging 24.4 points and 21.5 rebounds.

Pitrofsky doesn't always get to face big men who are capable like Rutherford. But, with Grossmont rotating 15 players, Alex only saw Tommy, headed to UC Irvine next year, for part of the contest.

Baranowski is going with a slimmed-down roster of only 10 players this year, after a normal of 13 or so in past years. Morgan Albers showed he has been working on being more physical in going to the basket. The goal isn't perfection, it's progress.

Charlie Gal's default setting when he gets the ball on offense near the basket is to go to the hoop. That's something we haven't really seen recently in such a young player who is a big man. He's aggressive in going for the ball. Daniel McColl, another front court man, was gone to Europe on a family vacation--how dare he?--but he and Gal will provide some new punch to be physical, helping out Pitrofsky in the middle.

Bijan Hashemi showed a willingness to work within the team framework. Parker took multiple shots from the outside, which gives LJHS more weapons. Eddie looks assured on the court, giving the Vikings some confidence and leadership to add to that of Farley's.

Having 10 players doesn't leave many sitting on the bench for many minutes. You don't have the hard-working senior who isn't that talented but who earns a spot on the team sitting there. This would seem to be a slimmed-down hardhat crew, with potentially eight or more contributing on a regular basis.

The Vikings looked pretty solid. After the opening romp against Santana, not being tested, they fell behind to Grossmont, then played it kind of like a regular season game in strategizing to keep their lead over the Hillers in the last minute. The two teams were tied 25-25, then LJHS pulled ahead to stay, outscoring Grossmont by five points.

Farley, as usual, looked in midseason form. What are you going to say about Reed, who plays AAU ball alongside his Viking contributions? He was spot-on on a trio of threes. Baranowski didn't show off the alley oop play that brings Reed to the hoop for a slam opportunity, but this is only preseason.

We'll see what fireworks happen Tuesday night, Dec. 1, in the Vikings' season opener in the Bill Walton Basketball Festival at Petco Park. Game time is 7:20 p.m. La Jolla plays the feature game that night against Walton's alma mater, Helix. The venue will have a court specially laid on the infield surface, with stands on the basepath from first base to second base, sitting in right field, according to a drawing distributed in the media. We'll have to hope that the recently-rainy weather cooperates.


Copyright 2015 Ed Piper

LJ cross country: Narrowest of margins

La Jolla's Rylee Olson buzzes to sixth place

to lead the Vikings girls to third place

in the CIF team finals. (Photo by Ed Piper)

On Sat., Nov. 21, the La Jolla girls cross country team finished third in the CIF Division 4 finals at Morley Field, missing second place by the narrowest of margins--one point.

Coronado won the finals with 56 points (low totals win), with Santana in second with 94, La Jolla back one with 95.

The difference between the Vikings and Sultans girls' times: four-tenths of a second.

Only an electronic system could record such a minute difference in times.

Each of the girls wears an electronic chip, contained in a small device, that they loop into their shoelaces for the race.

As results were revised after the race and runners' places in the mass humanity of individuals running in the event--one of 10 or so races for the whole day--were finalized, the gap became smaller and smaller between La Jolla and the second-place team.

Parents and participants in the LJ camp were literally or figuratively slapping their foreheads in amazement at the realization of how fine the cat's whisker was that separated the two teams.

It was a testament to the La Jolla girls' fine performance on the morning that people were even guffawing over the tight race.

True, Santana gets to go to the state meet with Coronado as the top two finishers, and La Jolla doesn't. But it still was a very good day. A very good performance by first-year coach Mandy Benham's squad.

Junior Rylee Olson clocked an 18:14 for the 2.75-mile course winding up and down on grass and among eucalyptus trees in Balboa Park. That put her in sixth place. Sierra Roberson, a freshman, finished 11th, junior Julia Walton 17th, Sierra's older sister Sakura 30th, and Ines Robo 33rd.

The thing was Santana's first five finished 5th, 7th, 13th, 15th, and 56th to edge La Jolla. Having four finishers among the top 15 sealed the deal. La Jolla's fifth runner, Robo, to her credit, placed far higher than Santana's fifth runner (23 places higher).

Cross country team results are scored similarly to golf. In cross country, you can field seven runners, then the top five finishers count toward your score. In CIF golf, you can send out a team of six golfers, with the lowest five counting.

Coronado had a clear advantage, scoring a low 56 points to outdistance second-place Santana by 38 points, because the Islanders placed three runners in the top eight. They finished 1-2-8. Then their next two runners placed 22nd and 25th to bring them home.

La Jolla girls golf coach Aaron Quesnell will preach it to you: It's not so much how stellar your top golfers are. Your fifth golfer is the key to compiling a strong team score. If your fifth golfer or runner places far back in the pack, you're sunk. Fortunately, in both sports, the Vikings do well in this respect.

*  *  *

 

"Grandma" Deborah was at the meet. Deborah is grandmother of Sierra and Sakura Roberson, who finished 11th-30th in the Division 4 race for La Jolla. Deyna, the girls' older sister, helps coach the girl runners. She is also visible in the spring at La Jolla track workouts for the girls.

 

Deborah was enjoying the meet. She moved from the La Jolla spot on the grass at Morley Field--the old team nearby without an awning to protect from the increasingly warm sun Saturday--to the finish line as races went on. She is smiling and friendly.

 

One piece of family lore was gleaned: There is a flight of kids in the family whose names start with the letter D, including Deyna, who was a runner in her time. And there is another group of kids whose names start with the letter S: Satori is Sakura and Sierra's sister, a senior who runs track. Satori played basketball the last two years. Sakura played basketball as a freshman.

Copyright 2015 Ed Piper

LJ b soccer: Division IV

La Jolla's boys soccer team is included in CIF Division IV, according to the San Diego Section website.

Several other teams in Division IV are from smaller schools or schools that historically have not had strong soccer programs. La Jolla's placement in the division, which is done by power rankings, can be attributed, at least partly, to the turnover in coaches in the program over the last few years.

This is Coach Marco Gonzales's second season as head coach of the Vikings. The continuity of his presence alone yields benefits for the boys, who are talented but have had to learn various systems under different coaches.

Opposing coaches have commented in recent seasons about La Jolla's players' high ability. But, as one coach at the Coronado Invitational commented, "We don't really know what to expect with La Jolla."

One of the things Athletic Director Paula Conway has done in her three years in the position is work at stabilizing individual sports with able coaches who will provide continuity by staying for multiple seasons. She hired Lisa Griffiths to replace herself as field hockey coach for this fall, and Griffiths is starting a youth program to feed her high school program.

Darice Carnaje, who had a stellar record at OLP, is the new girls basketball coach, hired by Conway.


Copyright 2015 Ed Piper

LJ b BB: All 6-footers

Something that hasn't happened in recent memory: On the Vikings varsity boys basketball roster posted on Maxpreps and elsewhere, all 10 of the players listed measure six feet or taller. La Jolla has never had that occur in the past 12 seasons.

The tallest: frontcourtman Alex Pitrofsky at 6'6". The shortest: guards Bijan Hashemi and Tony Coan, both 6'0".

In fact, La Jolla has often suffered from lineups in the past that were shorter than several of their opponents.


Copyright 2015 Ed Piper

LJ strength program: Lennard

The present Viking weight room, which was enlarged

considerably in Spring 2013 when walls surrounding

coaches' offices were knocked out (to left,

out of view). Photo by Ed Piper

Ryan Lennard, La Jolla High's strength coach, enthused over the new Viking weight room that will be constructed as part of the new facilities on the west side of Edwards Stadium next year.

"It's gonna be great," Lennard said, showing a reporter around the present weight room not far from the steps from campus up to Coggan Pool, in a visit Nov. 18.

He has a schemata drawing of the new configuration within the stadium, expected to be completed for Fall 2016. Groundbreaking occurred after graduation June 18, and the new buildings will include locker rooms, coaches' offices, and a tennis pavilion.

At present, the foundations and bases of buildings have been constructed inside the south gate to the field. No further work appears to have been done on the new press box, which will sit in the middle of the home side stands and has a base already in place.

The location of the new weight room will place it right next to the field, where players from football, soccer, lacrosse, and other sports will be practicing. It will centrally locate facilities for more convenience and for more of a Viking athletic identity.

One wag commented regarding the new Mission Bay High press box that more people should have been consulted before plans were made up for that structure, which La Jolla High used for multiple games this season as a result of the construction on Edwards Stadium. He said areas for announcers, spotters, and coaches are so small in some cases as to make it really hard to get around and perform necessary tasks during a game.


Copyright 2015 Ed Piper

LJ g VB: Gates honored

Middle hitter-blocker Madeleine Gates, having just completed a successful senior volleyball season at La Jolla High by leading the Vikings into the second round of the Open Division playoffs, was named Second Team Under Armour High School All-American.

Gates' kill rate during her senior season was 58.8%, with an even 200 kills. For a point of comparison, Ronika Stone, a First Team All-American from San Jose headed to Oregon next year, registered a 46.8% kill rate, much lower than the 6'3" Gates'.

La Jolla's record was 20-11.

Gates, a stellar academic student as well, has accepted a full athletic scholarship to play volleyball at UCLA beginning in 2016-17.


Copyright 2015 Ed Piper

AD Conway honored

Paula Conway, Athletic Director at La Jolla High, was presented with the Norm McKenzie Award at the California Athletic Directors Conference held in Reno, Nevada.

"I was greatly honored," Conway, not one for bringing attention to herself. commented.


Copyright 2015 Ed Piper

LJ sand VB: "Getting close"

Told of a CIF official's comment that official recognition of sand volleyball is getting "close", Coach Dave Jones of La Jolla said the next step is presenting the sport to the City Conference.

"The important thing is having each of the conferences recognize the sport," said Jones, commenting before school Fri., Nov. 20. "We have many schools participating" throughout the San Diego Section at this point.

The Vikings boys team recently won the San Diego County title, after winning its third straight league title. Jake Northrup and Curran Robertson, and Dane Pieper and Luke Lentin were the pairs who led the way.

At present, sand volleyball is not yet recognized and sanctioned as an official CIF sport. It is already recognized by the NCAA at the college level.

"We'll start with the girls first," said Jones. For various reasons, girls sand volleyball is closer to official status than boys sand volleyball, at this point.

Last year Jones went full-time coaching the boys Vikings volleyball programs--indoor and sand. Formerly, he coached the girls indoor team as well.


Copyright 2015 Ed Piper

LJ b VB: Pieper

Dane Pieper, star hitter-blocker for La Jolla, said he is "emailing schools" in Division I at this point regarding possible scholarships for volleyball in college next year.

Pieper, a senior, just concluded an excellent sand volleyball season, in which the Vikings won the San Diego County championship by defeating Carlsbad in the final. Pieper was paired with Luke Lentin.

"There are fewer opportunities for boys in volleyball," said Dave Jones, Pieper's coach at La Jolla, just before entering class for first period Fri., Nov. 20. Jones explained that under Title IX, a federal mandate, opportunities for girls must be equal with those for boys. That means that to equalize the many scholarships given to football players on D-I campuses, women's volleyball programs give out more scholarships than men's volleyball.

That means Dane could be fighting for a quarter, or one-fourth, scholarship to play at a D-I institution.

While Jones was discussing volleyball opportunities outside his classroom on the LJHS campus, Pieper walked past him into the room to get ready for first period.

On the academic side, Pieper said he has two tests on Friday but not much homework during the Thanksgiving week vacation Nov. 23-27.

The Vikings sand volleyball team upset the Falcons of Torrey Pines in the semifinals, enabling them to move on to the finals, which they won.


Copyright 2015 Ed Piper

LJ FH 0, Hilltop 1 - CIF 2nd Round

La Jolla played a long thriller at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista against Hilltop Tues., Nov. 17. It was the second round of the CIF Division I playoffs in field hockey.

After going scoreless through two periods of 35 minutes each in regulation time, the Vikings and the Lancers--who won their league title with a 11-0 record--then proceeded into overtime.

During the coin flip for overtime, the lead referee explained to the team captains that the two teams would play a 10-minute overtime of 7-on-7. Then, if the score was still tied, they would enter a 10-minute sudden death period. If no winner still emerged after sudden death, the two teams would face off in a shootout.

Sunset was scheduled at 4:47 p.m., with no lights available, so the head referee said he would allow five minutes of play beyond that, then suspend play at 4:52, if necessary.

LJHS Coach Lisa Griffiths selected Trisha Turner, Maya Hildebrand, Karla Quevedo, and Nikki Collins among her top seven entering the extra periods. The other four starters had to take a seat on the bench.

Neither team netted a goal in overtime. In sudden death, Hilltop had two balls entering the La Jolla goal annulled. So, after 90 minutes of play, the score was still knotted 0-0. The sudden death stanza ended at 4:51 p.m. by one reporter's watch. With sunset having passed, the referees suspended play before a shootout could occur.

That meant the two teams had to travel back to the South Bay the next day to complete the game, since Hilltop had the home game as the higher seeded team. In the shootout held at Otay Ranch High Wednesday afternoon, the Lancers prevailed, moving to the third round of the playoffs Thurs., Nov. 19. It took 25 hours to complete the game, in which only a single goal was scored.

The Olympic Training Center has a beautiful facility for field hockey. The artificial surface is even, in excellent condition, and has a water-softened technology to give the playing surface a cushion to support players, according to an OTC intern at the game.

One drawback, though, is that the field is not fan-friendly in location. With OTC officials not allowing family and friends attending the game to park at a lot inside the training center, instead they had to park in the lot just inside the main entrance off Olympic Parkway in Chula Vista. They then had to walk a bit of a distance up and down hills to reach the stadium, nestled beyond a BMX bicycle racing track and an archery range.

According to a person involved with the Hilltop program, Hilltop High does not have a field with artificial surface. As a result, if the team proceeds to the playoffs, it is stipulated that home games have to be played at the Olympic Training Center or elsewhere.


Copyright 2015 Ed Piper

LJ FH: Youth league

Vikings' first-half action in Saturday's playoff game.

(Photo by Ed Piper)

 

Reporter's question: Do you plan to start a youth league for field hockey?
Lisa Griffiths, coach at La Jolla High before her team's CIF opener Sat., Nov. 14: "I just did. Two weeks ago." The team is called the Spitfire. Griffiths is going to play on a team called the "Jolie Pitts", as in Angelina and Brad. Quite a sense of humor.

The topic came up because La Jolla's field hockey team has consistently played well over the years against the middle teams of CIF. But against the top tier, like Serra and Scripps Ranch, the Vikings always fall short--because their girls haven't started mastering the skills of field hockey until they enter the LJHS program in the ninth grade.

Now, girls as young as four years old--Griffiths says, "If you have someone four years old, bring them in"--can begin practicing the sport to begin to develop the skills that take them beyond "good athletes" to "good field hockey players".

Bea Mittermiller, former LJHS coach and mother of Claire Mittermiller, an all-league player for the Vikings in 2007-08 (Class of 2009), dropped by Saturday's first-round playoff game at Muirlands Middle School against an outclassed University City team to say that she and Paula Conway started an after-school program at Muirlands last year.

So, Serra and Scripps Ranch beware. If these new programs endure, those top-tier schools won't be able to dominate poor La Jolla as they have in the past. Of course, it will take time. But it should provide girls who are interested an opportunity for coaching by Griffiths and a chance to gain the stick skills that don't develop in four years of playing only for one's high school.

When Scripps Ranch visited Muirlands to face La Jolla during the regular season this fall, it was evident of the wide gap in hockey skills between the two programs. Falcon players were able to dribble the ball through multiple defenders and either score or pass off to teammates without losing the ball.

On the other side of the ball, LJHS players visibly did not have the same capabilities. They showed excellent heart in contesting for the ball, but there really was no one on the roster who could control the ball and push through defenders before having the ball deflected away.

This is the difference in a couple of years of experience in high school, and seasoning going back to the sixth grade.

A parent on the sidelines from Scripps Ranch said that at tryouts, the Falcon program cuts a third of those who tryout. That would be unheard of in a program like La Jolla's up to now that recruits players. For example, La Jolla had no goalie starting this season. The present  goalie, a ninth-grader, was asked if she was willing to play in the goal. It is these kinds of situations that keep La Jolla at a pretty-good-but-not-great level, never quite getting over the hump.


Copyright 2015 Ed Piper

LJ FB: Realignment, cont.'

There will be a realignment of schools, involving La Jolla High, in CIF football leagues for 2016, LJHS Athletic Director Paula Conway confirmed.

She said the exact configuration of leagues will be released in January 2016.

Ideally, this will work in La Jolla's favor, placing the Vikings in a league alignment that doesn't include Madison, annually a CIF title semifinalist or finalist, and Point Loma, long an LJHS nemesis in football.

Madison would move into a league with Cathedral Catholic, another football powerhouse, while La Jolla could land among Clairemont, Serra, and others closer in power rankings.

These changes would be a godsend for third-year Coach Jason Carter and his staff as he continues to try to build the LJHS football program, relieving a little pressure in next year's schedule. The team has faced enormous attrition this season, as players have been injured and the varsity roster has been smaller than some other schools.

CIF power rankings (available at cifsds.org) factor in a school's wins, losses, margins of victory or loss, and strength of schedule--how powerful opposing teams a school plays are. Power rankings are being used in many of the CIF sports to arrange postseason playoff competition. They were used to set the football playoff brackets announced Sat., Nov. 7, commencing action next Fri., Nov. 13.


Copyright 2015 Ed Piper

LJ FB: Realignment

La Jolla's football team will be realigned in a new league in 2016 that will include Clairemont, with Point Loma and Madison moving into a league with Cathedral Catholic, according to a source at Point Loma High at the LJHS Homecoming Game Fri., Nov. 6. The information could not be immediately verified.

The Vikings have taken their lumps from Madison and Point Loma this season, as it has in other seasons. La Jolla is a Division III team for the postseason playoffs, while the other two schools move up for the postseason.

Alignment of leagues is determined by power rankings of each school's team. The ranking factors in wins and losses, and strength of schedule. For example, in recent power rankings, La Jolla's football team has been in the top five, more recently in the top eight of Division III teams. The top 12 of 16 Division III teams advance to next week's playoffs.


Copyright 2015 Ed Piper

LJ BB: Petco Park

La Jolla's boys basketball team will kick off its 2015-16 season playing Helix High at Petco Park Tues., Dec. 1, at 7:20 p.m. It will be the feature game that evening, with other boys and girls games being played on a special court that will be laid on the Petco Park field specially for the occasion.

The central event of the Bill Walton Basketball Festival will be a game between San Diego State and USD Sat., Dec. 5, at 2 p.m.

Tickets for the Vikings' game were on sale at the Homecoming Game Fri., Nov. 6, held at University High (due to reconstruction at the La Jolla football stadium). They cost $15 each.

"It's kind of special, as the feature game that evening, because La Jolla will be playing Helix, Bill Walton's alma mater," said a source at the game.

The game is also listed on the LJHS boys basketball website.


Copyright 2015 Ed Piper

Baseball playoff blues

Stuck in Ellsworth, Maine. Actually, my wife and I chose to stay in Ellsworth, a small town near the Atlantic Coast, during our vacation so that we could visit the picturesque Bar Harbor that someone in San Diego suggested we see.

The agony for me was being caught in rural Ellsworth, though at the Ramada, without reception of the major league baseball playoff games on FS1 or TBS. Here Dianna, who couldn't care less about sports, and her sports-enthusiast husband were going to spend three nights out of the U.S. in Quebec--yet it was in our own country that I couldn't view the games, while among the Quebecois I could through international coverage.

How ironic.

We did enjoy the scenic rocks and tourist town of Bar Harbor. It was a dark day, and cold. So the rocks and the fishing boats moored out in harbor looked somewhat stark. (Loads of tourists from the East came piling off cruise ships and tour buses, so we ran for cover after a few cold hours.) Acadia National Park, nearby, with overlooks of the water and land formations below, showed all the colors of the fall that they advertise.

But then, to not even be able to take a glance on cable TV at any of the games at night was a little frustrating.

When we crossed over to the Canadian side, a beautiful drive in northern Maine through oranges and reds, along with a sole sighting of a moose right on the road, at first I was thinking we wouldn't have reception at our hotel in Quebec City either.

But, my bad: It turned out I just needed to look through the various Canadian sports channels to find the playoff coverage.

A whole mental shift is adjusting to watching games that start so late in the Eastern Time Zone. I've lived my whole life (except for one year in Mexico City) residing in the Pacific Time Zone. We're used to getting World Series and other big games at 5 p.m. But in the populous East, opening pitch comes three hours later in the day. It had its good on this trip, with our sightseeing all done by the evening. But its bad--staying up late (for this early-to-bed urchin) if you see the game through to the end.

I had a similar adjustment several years ago while visiting my wife's relatives in St. Louis. There the time adjustment is two hours. But with the Cardinals playing some long postseason games, I was watching from 7 p.m. until late evening. The whole rest of the house had long gone to bed by the time the games were over.

"Stuck in Lodi again", by Creedence Clearwater Revival, might have been "Stuck in Ellsworth" on this trip.

One other baseball note: I had wanted to visit Fenway Park in Boston, which I had never seen. But, lo and behold, I wasn't able to. We only had a few days in the Boston area. Then at the end of our trip, circling around from Vermont and re-entering Massachusetts from the west, it just wasn't going to be workable with our luggage and valuables in the rental car before checking in for our flight to find a subway stop (the "T"), ride into Boston, take a tour of the park (the season had ended only the week or two before), then get back to our rental car to return it in time at the airport.

Oh, well. I have never seen Wrigley Field in Chicago or Fenway in Boston, the two historical parks of the major leagues. The one chance I had in Chicago two decades ago--wouldn't you know it?--the White Sox were in town, and not the Cubs. The new Comiskey Park is pretty vanilla. Nothing like Wrigley.


Copyright 2015 Ed Piper

LJ BB: Update

"We'll have to wait and see in tryouts," said Coach Paul Baranowski regarding Charlie Gal's chances of making the La Jolla High varsity basketball team. Gal, a strapping 6'5", 220-pound 16-year-old, "had his moments" during the Vikings' unseemly 85-27 thrashing of El Capitan Sat., Oct. 31, in the Mount Miguel tournament.

Unseemly, because it was on Halloween? Don't know, but the game wasn't competitive from the start, with the Vaqueros stuck under 10 points for a long stretch of the game.

Gal, who subs in up front for Alex Pitrofsky and Morgan Albers, is reaping the benefits of Daniel McColl's and Nick Hammel's involvement on the Viking football team. With them occupied in the fall sports season, Gal and others who would sit longer gain more playing minutes.

Asked if he had been told he already made the varsity, Gal said "No." Baranowski confirmed that after the game, the first of two Saturday afternoon for LJHS. After the 2 p.m. blowout game in Mt. Miguel's darkened gym, La Jolla was going to have to make the trek south to play their second game at San Ysidro. That's the way the tournament was set up.

Baranowski inquired how the football team did the night before. He expressed concern about his two players, due to the fact that McColl is going both ways for the Viking football team and faces a greater risk of injury in doing so. With a limited roster, several team members (six or more) play on both offense and defense.

The El Capitan game did not afford La Jolla much of a chance to work to improve. It just wasn't competitive. In the Montgomery summer tournament that LJHS participates in, the situation is much the same, with most games not pushing the Vikings to their limits.

The good thing is that what La Jolla could do, it did. The Vikings ran right by the out-manned Vaqueros on offense. Lefty Quinn Rawdin showed a lot of freedom in movement, and put up a lot of shots from the outside as well. Pitrofsky wasn't tested and had his way offensively under the basket. Team leader Reed Farley, now a junior after two years starting on the varsity, was a calm, reassuring presence. He had several shots from his spot in the offense, the right baseline behind the three-point line.

In El Capitan's defense, their basketball program may have been suffering from the same thing La Jolla's was--key players occupied with football. Only the regular season will tell.


Copyright 2015 Ed Piper

LJ FB: Stats

La Jolla 19, Scripps Ranch 28
Friday, October 30, 2015

STATS

DEFENSE

TACKLES
(total - solo - assists)
Nelson, Jalen             6 - 6 - 0
McColl, Daniel          6 - 6 - 0
Hope, Tyler               5.5 - 1 - 1
Ponsaty, Johann        4.5 - 4 - 1
Rust, Austin              4 - 3 - 2
Mitchell, Andrew      3.5 - 3 - 1
Duran, Joseph           3.5 - 3 - 1
Hansen, Dane           3 - 1 - 4
Hammel, Nick          2.5 - 2 - 1
Lopez, Alex              1.5 - 1 - 1
Levenson, Jonathan  1.5 - 1 - 1
Matalon, Miles         1 - 1 - 0
Watson, Tanner        0.5 - 0 - 1

Sacks - Mitchell, McColl
TFL (tackles for a loss) - Mitchell, McColl, Hansen 0.5, Lopez 0.5
Interception - Levenson


OFFENSE

RECEIVING
(receptions - yards)
Rowan, Reilly           7 - 63 - TD
Watson, Tanner        5 - 58
Dockery, Alex          5 - 39
Fudge, Trenton         4 - 31
Duran, Joseph           1 - 19
Levenson, Jonathan  1 - 8

RUSHING
(carries - yards)
Levenson, Jonathan  14 - 51 - TD

PASSING
(completions - attempts - yards
Brown, Casey  20 - 38 - 193 - TD - Rating: 64.9
Dimich, Cole     3 -   5 -   25            Rating: 72.9


TEAM TOTALS

                                       LJ       SR
Total plays                     87        74
Total yards                   223      348
Passing yards               218      166
Rushing yards                  5      182
First downs                    19        18
3rd down efficiency   5-15     5-12
                                   33%     42%