Eric Sondheimer

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Edison left-hander Henry Owens shuts out Los Alamitos

Edison left-hander Henry Owens shuts out Los Alamitos

March 19, 2010

One after another, Los Alamitos players stood in the batter's box Friday, took a couple of swings, then walked back into the dugout after suffering the same fate — a strikeout at the hands of Huntington Beach Edison junior left-hander Henry Owens.

  • For Robert Feathers, the 'sky is the limit' in volleyball

    March 18, 2010

    The Los Angeles Loyola junior is the No. 1 college prospect in Southern California, if not the nation.

  • Kennedy shuts out Chatsworth

    March 17, 2010

    If Chatsworth High Coach Tom Meusborn and Granada Hills Kennedy Coach Manny Alvarado had each shown up to Wednesday's baseball game at USC wearing the Los Angeles City Section championship rings they'd won over the last 20 years, they would have needed a security guard to escort them home.

  • Serra flexes its athletic muscle

    March 14, 2010

    Let me make official what many have already figured out: Serra, a Catholic high school in Gardena with a little more than 600 students, has become a sports powerhouse.

  • Zenyatta, Rachel Alexandra return to track, and horse racing world waits for main event

    March 12, 2010

    The last time Zenyatta was seen in public, the unbeaten mare was parading before her adoring fans at Hollywood Park and Santa Anita as part of her farewell tour.

  • Woodland Hills Taft's victory epitomizes this time of year

    March 11, 2010

    Endings don't get more dramatic than what transpired at the conclusion of Thursday's Southern California regional playoff game between Woodland Hills Taft and Lawndale Leuzinger.

  • L.A. Westchester playing like No. 1 team

    March 7, 2010

    There was no mistaking the compliment from Woodland Hills Taft Coach Derrick Taylor late Saturday night after his team lost to Westchester, 70-60, in the City Section Division I championship basketball game at USC's Galen Center.

  • Dwayne Polee Jr. rises above just dunking

    March 4, 2010

    If Dwayne Polee Jr. is playing in a basketball game, then it's almost certain before the night is done he'll have at least one dunk. Since he was 15 and showing off his 40-inch vertical leap, he has been a crowd favorite for Westchester High.

  • Gang rivals on the street, teammates on the court

    March 2, 2010

    Kurt M. Keller, the boys' basketball coach at Kilpatrick, a juvenile detention center in Malibu, always wonders what will happen when rival gang members from the Crips and the Bloods are brought together on the same team.

  • Football scholar-athlete award winners feted

    March 1, 2010

    Every March, I get to meet a group of teenagers that, in 10 years, might include the doctor, firefighter or policeman who saves my life.

  • Bryce Jones makes quite the impression

    February 27, 2010

    It seemed as if Bryce Jones of Woodland Hills Taft couldn't miss at USC's Galen Center on Friday night. His future college coach, USC's Kevin O'Neill, was sitting courtside, and if there weren't a few thousand people in the stands, O'Neill might have been willing to do a somersault to show his excitement.

  • High school baseball players to watch

    February 26, 2010

    Pitchers

  • Henry Owens of Huntington Beach Edison is ready to put his best size-17 foot forward

    February 26, 2010

    There was a knock at the Owens house in Huntington Beach. Henry Owens was in no mood to answer. He was a 16-year-old sophomore pitcher who had just recorded his first loss for Edison High. He thought it might have cost his team a Sunset League title.

  • Crenshaw, Washington hope to join elite boys' basketball club

    February 26, 2010

    Since 2000, either Westchester, Woodland Hills Taft or Los Angeles Fairfax has won every City Section upper-division boys' basketball championship.

  • Washington goes inside for quarterfinal victory over Fairfax

    February 25, 2010

    Three-point fever was spreading in the gym at Los Angeles Washington, where the host Generals and Los Angeles Fairfax were engaged in a long-range shooting competition during a City Section Division I quarterfinal playoff game.

  • Etiwanda heeds advice, beats Corona Centennial, 78-72

    February 24, 2010

    Aaron Crockett of Etiwanda was invisible for the first three quarters of Tuesday night's Southern Section Division 1AA quarterfinal playoff game against No. 3-seeded Corona Centennial.

  • For Washington coach, an old-school matchup

    February 22, 2010

    When it comes to teaching basketball fundamentals to guards, Coach Leonard Johnson of Los Angeles Washington said, "That's my specialty."

  • Gahr wears down Oak Park with press

    February 20, 2010

    Teams know what to expect when they face Cerritos Gahr in basketball. The Gladiators put on a relentless full-court press. Oak Park certainly prepared for it, but the Eagles found out Friday night that there's no way to simulate Gahr's athleticism and quickness in practice, and by the time they finally adjusted, it was too late.

  • Cause of high school football players' deaths released

    February 20, 2010

    Spencer Juarez, a 13-year-old Hollywood High football player who collapsed on the field in October during a game against Los Angeles West Adams, died from a "massive cerebral edema due to blunt head trauma," according to a spokesman for the Los Angeles County coroner. His death has been ruled an accident.

  • A strong pitching staff gives Fullerton the edge

    February 18, 2010

    College baseball fans in Orange County are excited and pumped about Friday night's season opener at Cal State Fullerton that matches the host Titans against former coach George Horton and his second-year team from Oregon.

  • Montebello passes first playoff test in impressive fashion

    February 18, 2010

    Everybody knows how good top-seeded Santa Ana Mater Dei is, but it might be time to start paying attention to the team in the Southern Section Division 1AA playoffs with an even better record than the Monarchs -- the unsung Montebello Oilers (28-1).

  • Boys' soccer program at Cathedral High thrives with some brotherly love

    February 18, 2010

    Some families argue about food, others about politics. Then there's the Lopez family, whose soccer loyalties are challenged and tested seemingly every day.

  • A new day for Jared Gibson's Verdugo Hills Dons

    February 16, 2010

    A massive 36-inch pizza with 50 slices was being devoured in the boys' P.E. office at Verdugo Hills High in celebration of the basketball team's winning its first league championship since 1959, and the boyish-looking coach, Jared Gibson, could only smile at the irony of the moment.

  • Mater Dei is the team to beat in Southern Section's top playoff division

    February 15, 2010

    The Southern Section boys' basketball pairings were released Sunday, so no more talk about potential or promise. It's time to perform and show what's been learned over the past three months. Here's the rundown:

  • Westchester, Taft, Crenshaw seeded 1-2-3 in City playoffs

    February 14, 2010

    After nearly three months of boys' basketball play in the City Section, the top three teams haven't changed much and that was reflected in the Division I playoff pairings released Saturday, with Westchester (23-3) earning the No. 1 seeding, followed by No. 2 Woodland Hills Taft (21-4) and No. 3 Crenshaw (19-3).

  • Blind Luck rallies at Santa Anita

    February 14, 2010

    Rallying from last place, the odds-on favorite Blind Luck was able to stick her nose in front at the finish to win Saturday's Grade I, $250,000 Las Virgenes Stakes over hard-luck loser Evening Jewel on a cloudless, picturesque day at Santa Anita.

  • Verdugo Hills High wins East Valley League title in boys' basketball

    February 13, 2010

    There was no denying the historic moment taking place in the tiny gym at Verdugo Hills High. Not since 1959, when Dwight Eisenhower was president, had the Dons' basketball team won a league championship.

  • Postponed stakes are on at Santa Anita

    February 12, 2010

    With warm weather expected Saturday, Santa Anita officials can breathe a sigh of relief when three graded stakes that were canceled last week because of rain and poor track conditions finally take place, along with the 2010 debut of Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic champion Life Is Sweet in the Grade II, $250,000 Santa Maria Handicap.

  • Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta set to face off

    February 12, 2010

    Horse racing fans are on the verge of having what might be the top item on their wish list fulfilled -- a race between the nation's top two female horses, Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta.

  • Hats off to boys' basketball standouts

    February 11, 2010

    With the regular season ending Friday, it's time to recognize players and teams exceeding expectations in boys' basketball this season.

  • Windward still has star power

    February 10, 2010

    Denzel Washington, actor, sports fan and former L.A. Windward parent, showed up Tuesday night in the Wildcats' gym and was passing around his cellphone so his son, Malcolm, last season's point guard, could offer a pep talk to a couple of Windward players.

  • Allen Crabbe is big time in a small school

    February 8, 2010

    At tiny Los Angeles Price, a school of kindergarten through 12th grade in the sprawling Crenshaw Christian Center, Allen Crabbe is the boy everyone has seen grow up before their eyes.

  • Santa Ana Mater Dei defeats Las Vegas Bishop Gorman, 82-76

    February 7, 2010

    Every once in a while, UCLA-bound Tyler Lamb of Santa Ana Mater Dei wishes he could help his future Bruins teammates right now.

  • Five stakes scheduled for Santa Anita on Saturday

    February 6, 2010

    There are five stakes set to be run at Santa Anita on Saturday, including the first for 3-year-olds with Kentucky Derby ambitions.

  • USC, UCLA land top prospects

    February 4, 2010

    The UCLA-USC football rivalry is definitely alive and flourishing -- in recruiting, at least.

  • The City Section's history of talent

    February 3, 2010

    After nearly five years of talking, tinkering and debating, Los Angeles high schools finally have their own sports hall of fame, with 55 of the best athletes and coaches Southern California has produced inducted into the inaugural class.

  • It's almost time to put it on paper

    February 1, 2010

    Wednesday is letter-of-intent day for high school football players, and even though Pete Carroll is gone from USC, he left a gift that Trojans fans are going to be grateful for -- Gardena Serra receiver Robert Woods.

  • Gabby's Golden Gal wins Santa Monica Handicap

    February 1, 2010

    Two years ago, Arnold Zetcher retired as chief executive of Talbots after guiding the preppy retailer from a $360-million company into $1.8 billion in revenue over 20 years. Now he's having even more fun devoting his full-time attention to owning horses.

  • Bold Chieftain wins $500,000 Sunshine Millions Classic

    January 31, 2010

    It was the experience of horse and jockey, combined with racing luck, that enabled 7-year-old Bold Chieftain and 51-year-old Russell Baze to come away victorious Saturday in the $500,000 Sunshine Millions Classic at Santa Anita.

  • Harvard-Westlake overpowers Los Angeles Loyola in 77-63 win

    January 30, 2010

    To say that 6-foot-5 Erik Swoope of North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake is the strongest player on the basketball court is an understatement. He looked like Hercules on Friday night, scoring 37 points, grabbing 12 rebounds and sending home seven dunks in the Wolverines' 77-63 Mission League victory over Los Angeles Loyola before more than 1,200 in Loyola's packed gym.

  • The Usual Q.T. looks for synthetic-surface victory at Santa Anita

    January 30, 2010

    The best horse based in California not named Zenyatta might be The Usual Q.T., a 4-year-old gelding who has won six consecutive races on the turf, including the Grade I Hollywood Derby in November.

  • The Anthony and Avery show is boosting Ocean View's ratings

    January 29, 2010

    Anthony Brown and Avery Johnson have been best friends since seventh grade. And now, in their senior basketball season at Huntington Beach Ocean View, their closeness, unselfishness and knowledge of each other's strengths and weaknesses come through as if they were brothers.

  • Los Angeles City Section faces $1.4-million budget cut

    January 26, 2010

    The Los Angeles City Section high school sports program is facing $1.4 million in budget cuts for the next school year, Barbara Fiege, commissioner of athletics for the section, said Monday.

  • Los Angeles City Section program faces $1.4-million budget cut

    January 25, 2010

    The Los Angeles City Section high school sports program is facing a $1.4-million budget cut for the next school year, and Commissioner of Athletics Barbara Fiege said today that she has begun discussions on how to deal with the reductions without making substantial cuts to teams.

  • Etiwanda quarterback Santiago aims to be Army strong

    January 25, 2010

    There are teenagers who don't know what they'll be doing tomorrow, let alone next week or next year, which makes Angel Santiago's attempt to map out his life through 2020 so extraordinary.

  • Jon Mack named Encino Crespi football coach

    January 24, 2010

    When Jon Mack was an assistant football coach at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame in the 1980s, he used to try to inspire his players for their rivalry game against Encino Crespi by describing the Celts' school colors in not very complimentary terms.

  • UCLA persuades prep pitcher to get off the fence, face the net

    January 22, 2010

    Imagine if there were a 7-footer walking around a high school campus who could dunk like Shaquille O'Neal but refused to play for the basketball team. It would be a travesty and the subject of much debate.

  • At Santa Margarita, Harry Welch will face a tall challenge

    January 22, 2010

    Harry Welch says he's not afraid of challenges or hard work.

  • Santa Anita cancels Thursday's card

    January 21, 2010

    Santa Anita canceled racing for today because of continuing rain and poor track conditions, and track officials are not optimistic about resuming racing until Saturday, at the earliest.

  • Trevor Wiseman's smart play guides Santa Clarita Golden Valley

    January 20, 2010

    Of all the high school basketball players in Southern California, Trevor Wiseman of Santa Clarita Golden Valley might be the most extraordinary.

  • Josiah Turner is taking a liking to Los Angeles

    December 29, 2009

    Josiah Turner, a junior guard from Sacramento, is starting to like Los Angeles. He attended UCLA's game at Pauley Pavilion on Sunday, and he experienced exhilaration on Monday with a career-high 48-point performance in the Oaks Christian tournament that culminated with a game-winning three-pointer from the top of the key at the buzzer to beat Pasadena, 71-70.

  • Thousand Oaks continues winning ways from last season

    December 27, 2009

    A year ago, the Thousand Oaks boys' basketball team sneaked up on opponents. The Lancers kept winning and winning but few thought they would end up as Southern Section champion.

  • Geno Hall named City Section football player of the year

    December 22, 2009

    Geno Hall, the most versatile and feared player for Crenshaw High's 14-1 football team, has been selected the City Section player of the year by a panel of sportswriters.

  • In Crenshaw-Concord De La Salle matchup, City (Section) pride is on the line

    December 16, 2009

    Ask Jeff Engilman what lesson he learned from having his unbeaten City Section champion football team from Sylmar High play unbeaten Southern Section large-division champion La Puente Bishop Amat for a mythical Southern California championship 17 years ago, and his answer is quick.

  • Oaks Christian High's Malcolm Jones is Gatorade national football player of the year

    December 11, 2009

    UCLA-bound Malcolm Jones of Oaks Christian High has been selected the Gatorade national player of the year in football. The official announcement is scheduled for this morning at the Westlake Village campus.

  • State bowl selection day is Sunday; here are the contenders

    December 9, 2009

    Sunday is bowl selection day for high school football teams in California. Any school that wins a section championship is bowl-eligible. The 10 section commissioners will choose five schools from Southern California and five from Northern California to play in games on Dec.18 and 19 at the Home Depot Center in Carson.

  • Bill Redell shows off team's prowess at luncheon

    December 8, 2009

    Bill Redell used to be the chief executive of an insurance company, so the Westlake Village Oaks Christian football coach knows how to make a presentation that impresses people.

  • Crenshaw's Isaac Hamilton gets 27 points in 91-50 win

    December 1, 2009

    Freshman guard Isaac Hamilton of Los Angeles Crenshaw turned in a basketball performance Monday in the Westchester tournament that 15-year-olds, let alone high school seniors, just don't do.

  • Taft High's D.J. Morgan has torn ACL

    November 25, 2009

    The high school sports season for football-track standout D.J. Morgan of Woodland Hills Taft might have ended today when an MRI exam diagnosis revealed he has a torn ligament in his knee and a partial tear of the meniscus, according to football Coach Matt Kerstetter. Surgery will be needed.

  • Middlebrooks next to test Notre Dame defense

    November 17, 2009

    It might be a good time for the Sherman Oaks Notre Dame High defense to start tackling running backs a little better because the Knights are set to face perhaps the fastest running back in California on Friday night: Fountain Valley's Kyle Middlebrooks, runner-up at last spring's state track and field championships in the 100 meters.

  • Bobby Frankel dies at 68; Hall of Fame racehorse trainer

    November 17, 2009

    Bobby Frankel, a Hall of Fame trainer recognized on both coasts for his affection for and success with thoroughbred horses, died Monday at his home in Pacific Palisades from complications of lymphoma. He was 68.

  • Edison, Mater Dei ready for Thursday football showdown

    October 1, 2009

    There's another football showdown in Orange County on Thursday night, with Huntington Beach Edison (4-0), ranked No. 3 in the Southland by The Times, taking on No. 14 Santa Ana Mater Dei (3-1) at Santa Ana Stadium.

  • Bishop Amat's Isaiah Bowens is on a collision course with stardom

    August 31, 2008

    Seventh in a series previewing top high school players:

  • Kirifi Taula gets a new start at Servite

    August 30, 2008

    Sixth in a series previewing top high school players:

  • Carson's Morrell Presley is new breed of tight end

    August 28, 2008

    Fourth in a series previewing top high school players.

  • A break in the fencing

    June 19, 2008

    Sweat drips from Brennan Louie's face as the 16-year-old twists and turns in a series of acrobatic break dance movements that produce both pleasure and pain.

  • Malibu's Williams has plenty of class

    April 25, 2008

    Autographs can become very valuable. Just ask someone who got reclusive Dodger Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax to sign a baseball.

  • This track is not completely meter made

    April 23, 2008

    Call it the "Incredible Shrinking Track."

  • Demands of some club soccer coaches test high school ethics

    April 19, 2008

    If Mario Ledezma had his way, he would have become invisible at the conclusion of a tension-filled City Section semifinal soccer playoff game on the last day of February.

  • Southland is brimming with top baseball prospects

    April 16, 2008

    Anthony Gose of Bellflower is a left-handed pitcher who can throw a fastball 95 mph. There are major league teams that have paid million-dollar signing bonuses to teenagers with similar skills.

  • Taft hurdler D.J. Morgan has a jumping-off point

    April 11, 2008

    When sophomore track standout D.J. Morgan of Woodland Hills Taft was 5, he tried to leap over a thorn bush in the frontyard of his parents' house in Pacoima while his older brothers watched in amusement.

  • Parent-coaches must find the right balance

    April 4, 2008

    Whenever a parent decides to coach his son or daughter on a sports team, their relationship faces potential risks as well as possible rewards.

  • Newhall Hart pitcher Trevor Bauer keeps head in game

    March 21, 2008

    Last July, while many teenagers were hanging out at the beach on their summer vacations, Trevor Bauer of Newhall Hart was spending three weeks in 95-degree temperatures and 85% humidity at a baseball camp in Texas.

  • Blind swimmer is true inspiration

    March 19, 2008

    A loud beep tells the six swimmers standing on starting blocks to dive into the pool. Andrew Luk of Diamond Bar, wearing goggles, pushes off from the wall as his competitors splash and dart ahead in the 500-yard freestyle race.

  • UCLA-bound Holiday soars to new heights

    March 14, 2008

    Standing at the entrance to the gymnasium at North Hollywood Campbell Hall and wearing a Disneyland hat with the name "Grumpy" emblazoned on its front, a smiling and playful Jrue Holiday hardly fit the profile of an All-American high school basketball player who, in a couple of years, could be playing with or against Kobe Bryant.

  • Shooting death of his father drives Riverside King's Leonard

    March 8, 2008

    The last time Riverside King and Compton Dominguez played in a high school basketball game was Jan. 19 at Pauley Pavilion, and Kawhi Leonard was grieving.

  • Separate playoff divisions isn't the answer

    March 5, 2008

    A leap of faith is necessary to support the idea that creating separate public and private school playoff divisions in the Southern Section would be good for Southern California's high school sports.

  • Open enrollment is a magnet for Taft success

    February 29, 2008

    If Woodland Hills Taft wins the City Championship Division boys' basketball title Saturday night at the Sports Arena, give some of the credit to the state legislature for passing the open enrollment law that went into effect in the fall of 1994.

  • Orange Lutheran's Cole is a pitcher with options

    February 27, 2008

    Long before Gerrit Cole's junior baseball season, UCLA Coach John Savage identified the Orange Lutheran right-hander as having one of the better pitching arms in the Southland. Savage got an early commitment from Cole and started to make plans for when Cole would arrive for the 2009 college season.

  • Villanueva's journey has him back at Roosevelt

    February 24, 2008

    There are spider webs not nearly as entangled or twisted as the strange odyssey involving left-handed pitcher Martin Villanueva of Los Angeles Roosevelt.

  • Harris wins over a tough crowd

    February 20, 2008

    On Sundays in the Mojave Desert town of Twentynine Palms, home to the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, 17-year-old Montreal Harris likes to travel to a gym on base to test himself against some former athletes who offer him no sympathy.

  • Sophomore takes her best shot at Olympic glory

    January 11, 2008

    Marisa Berger, a 15-year-old sophomore at North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake, would have no problem toting a .44 Magnum while spouting, "Go ahead, make my day."

  • Showing their Wares

    January 9, 2008

    Those who followed City Section boys' basketball in the late 1970s know that it was a time of oohing and aahing over the magnificent displays of athletic talent.

  • After Serna is switched to QB, St. Bonaventure lights it up

    December 14, 2007

    While munching on a carne asada taco at a coaches' barbecue, Ventura St. Bonaventure's youthful first-year football coach, Todd Therrien, made a decision that proved to be a decisive moment in helping the Seraphs (13-1) earn an invitation to Saturday's CIF state Division III championship bowl game.

  • Corona Centennial has quite the spread

    December 12, 2007

    There can't be anything more frightening for a high school football coach these days than trying to figure out how to stop Corona Centennial's seemingly unstoppable spread offense.

  • Pain never slows Dorsey's Franklin

    November 30, 2007

    It was Thanksgiving morning, and running back Johnathan Franklin of Los Angeles Dorsey woke up feeling the pain of a hard night's work.

  • She's got a ticket to ride

    November 28, 2007

    If Ryan Sheckler, the skateboarding MTV heartthrob from San Clemente, ever needs a companion with X Games-like fearlessness, 15-year-old Kate Hansen of La Cañada could be the perfect match.

  • Crespi defense creates a buzz

    November 22, 2007

    Defensive coordinator Joe McLaughlin expects his Encino Crespi players to act like a bunch of crazed bees.

  • Olmos makes family proud

    November 21, 2007

    With temperatures in the 90s, Jesus Olmos spent last Wednesday building a fence. Almost every hour, while sweating and full of dirt, he thought about his son, Edgar.

  • Fairfax center Sidney brings complete set of skills

    November 14, 2007

    At 6 feet 10, 235 pounds, with the ability to dribble like a point guard, dunk as if he were Shaquille O'Neal and shoot three-pointers with relative ease, Renardo Sidney is no ordinary high school basketball player.

  • Top Southland boys' basketball players like it hot

    November 14, 2007

    The rumors started on the Internet and spread to the gyms around Southern California. DeMar DeRozan of Compton was transferring to Mouth of Wilson (Va.) Oak Hill to join Brandon Jennings. Then he was going to New York Lincoln, where Lance Stephenson holds court.

  • Ward, Jakubiec learn from best

    November 9, 2007

    Two giant 16-year-old sophomores who didn't play tackle football until they reached high school have discovered that smashing their smaller opponents to the turf can be fun and rewarding.

  • Notre Dame's Crist is defined by more than football

    November 7, 2007

    Coach Kevin Rooney held a meeting with his Sherman Oaks Notre Dame football team on Halloween, and he found that keeping a straight face was extremely difficult. Linebacker Anthony McDonald showed up as Dog the Bounty Hunter. A teammate was Scooby-Doo and another was dressed as Superman.

  • Beverly Hills senior still growing

    November 2, 2007

    Shaquille O'Neal is 7 feet 1 and wears size 23 shoes. UCLA freshman Kevin Love is 6-10 and wears size 19 shoes.

  • Taking a new stance on football

    October 31, 2007

    In fall 2004, Datone Jones was a freshman at Compton High, dreaming of becoming a basketball standout. He ignored the repeated pleas of his P.E. teacher, Calvin Bryant, to try football.

  • Gretzky living baseball dream through son

    October 27, 2007

    The greatest ice hockey player in history, Wayne Gretzky, a nine-time NHL most valuable player and 10-time scoring champion, had a pen in his hand Wednesday night and was signing jerseys, hockey sticks and wine bottles in such rapid fashion that it seemed as if he might develop carpal tunnel syndrome before the night was over.

  • Baca goes from zero to hero at Ayala

    October 24, 2007

    Matt Baca of Chino Hills Ayala has already mastered one of the most important skills necessary to becoming a top athlete: blocking out miserable memories.

  • Barkley stands tall for Mater Dei

    October 19, 2007

    At midseason, it's time to look at who's doing well, who's exceeding expectations and who's come out of nowhere to make an impact on the 2007 high school football season.

  • El Segundo's Bundy has the right (and left) stuff

    October 17, 2007

    As a 747 jumbo jet began its full-throttle climb from Los Angeles International Airport, far below stood left-handed quarterback Michael Bundy on the football field at El Segundo High, lofting one 20-yard spiral after another.

  • A little variety doesn't hurt

    October 12, 2007

    There's an urgent need to restore the concept of cross-training to the vocabulary of high school coaches, athletes and parents.

  • Hart's Ewart on a mission after being injured in fire

    October 10, 2007

    Five days before Christmas 2005, Mike Ewart was jolted awake in the early morning by the piercing screams of his younger brother.

  • It's a family thing for Garfield standout

    October 3, 2007

    For 26 years, Maria and Jesus Lopez have lived in a two-bedroom house in City Terrace, sending seven sons to Garfield High, where each learned to play football and gained an appreciation for the difference between right and wrong.

  • UCLA becomes a detour choice for Ivy League son

    September 28, 2007

    If anyone seemed destined to become an Ivy Leaguer, it was Jonathan Martin. After all, his father went to Harvard. His mother went to Harvard and her parents went to Harvard. Even his mother's cousin went to Harvard.

  • A standout stays close to home

    September 26, 2007

    The start of school each September can be cruel for any high school basketball coach waiting to learn if rumors of summer transfers out of his program turn out to be true.

  • Old-school style for new school

    September 21, 2007

    Julio Segura had never played tackle football until he came out for spring practice at the urging of a couple of football coaches who saw him play basketball as a sophomore at South East, a new high school in South Gate.

  • Big Bear's Kriss Proctor thrives under pressure

    September 19, 2007

    Nestled in the mountains of the San Bernardino National Forest is Big Bear, hometown of Kriss Proctor, a 17-year-old senior quarterback whose life tales are filled with enthralling moments.

  • Evans has the right attitude on and off the field

    September 14, 2007

    When a teenager loves to play football, his attitude can become contagious, inspiring teammates and even coaches.

  • They're off and running with the shotgun formation

    September 12, 2007

    It took 25 years of coaching high school football at the varsity level before a skeptical Kevin Rooney of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame finally embraced the shotgun formation in 2004.

  • Mascarenas corners the market on big plays

    September 7, 2007

    Something special seems to happen every time cornerback Alex Mascarenas of Mission Viejo is on the football field.

  • Loyola's Thompson is answering the call

    September 5, 2007

    There's an interesting way to determine whether a high school athlete has attained big-time status in the college recruiting world.

  • Mater Dei's Barkley figures to stay on course

    August 30, 2007

    When the final story is written years from now, chronicling the football achievements of quarterback Matt Barkley, don't let anyone downplay the significance of what happened in the fall of 2005.

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