Serra flexes its athletic muscle
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.
Last fall, the football team finished 15-0 and won the CIF state Division III championship bowl game. Now the basketball team is 33-2 and playing for the Southern California Division III regional championship on Saturday, putting the Cavaliers in position to become the first school to win football and basketball state titles in the same school year.
What’s happening is that Serra has begun to attract top athletes from neighborhood public schools, and if coaches at Compton, Inglewood, Crenshaw and L.A. Jordan aren’t worried, they should be. With relatively affordable tuition of $6,000 and an academic and athletic program designed to prepare students for college, Serra is in position to build upon its success.
Add to that, the City Section just announced each of its schools will be cutting two football coaching stipends and the freshman-sophomore basketball programs will be losing their lone coaching stipend, all because of budget cuts. That’s not exactly the best way to promote the Los Angeles Unified School District in competition with private schools or charter schools.
The evidence of Serra’s growing reputation can be seen in transfer students. Last fall, junior quarterback Conner Preston, a transfer from Palisades, was a key contributor in football. In basketball, the team’s best player is senior Keith Shamburger, who arrived this season from Long Beach Cabrillo via La Verne Lutheran.
The baseball team just picked up sophomore Ron Miller, a transfer from Crenshaw with pro potential. Two All-City football players from L.A. Jordan, sophomores Raymond Ford and Patrick Wooten, recently enrolled, and there are more Jordan players trying to get in.
Jordan officials have expressed concern to City Section officials about the exodus.
Serra football Coach Scott Altenberg said, “We’re an open book. We don’t want to jeopardize anything.”
Serra must be careful about accepting transfers en masse. Schools that have done so have faced increased scrutiny and trouble. The basketball programs at Compton Dominguez and L.A. Fremont each received unwanted attention after an influx of transfer students.
With success comes new responsibilities. Serra is being watched and the Cavaliers should understand that championships can be lost if rules are not followed.
At the same time, public schools are facing renewed challenges to improve or there will be an exodus of top students and athletes.
Let the hype begin
Forget about the state championships March 26-27 in Bakersfield as being the place for the best games of the season. The real marquee matchup comes Saturday at 8 p.m. at USC’s Galen Center, when Santa Ana Mater Dei (32-1) takes on Westchester (30-3) for the Southern California Division I regional title.
Mater Dei Coach Gary McKnight calls it “a classic matchup.” The schools last played in 2006 in the Nike Extravaganza. Mater Dei won, 91-89, in two overtimes. In 2000, Cedric Bozeman scored 33 points in a 72-64 Mater Dei victory over the Comets in a regional semifinal.
“As much as we try not to think about it, we’ve heard Mater Dei and Westchester all year long,” Mater Dei guard Tyler Lamb said. “Now that it’s here, all my guys are excited.”
Woodland Hills Taft, which lost to Mater Dei, 75-73, on Saturday, also lost twice to the Comets. Taft Coach Derrick Taylor gives Westchester a slight edge because of its defense.
“They’re one of the most dominant defensive teams I’ve ever played against,” Taylor said. “Points are going to be hard to come by.”
Another advantage for Westchester is that 6-foot-7 Dwayne Polee Jr. is getting better and better.
How UCLA and USC are going to let Polee leave town tells a lot about the sorry state of college basketball in Southern California.
Pitching for mom
Last week, the mother of Bellflower St. John Bosco pitcher Corey Painter died of a stroke at 44. The funeral for Laurie Painter was Friday. On Saturday, Painter took the mound against Long Beach Poly, and with the bases loaded and the tying run at the plate, he got a strikeout to preserve an 8-4 victory.
He was pitching for mom.
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