Prep Review : The Setups, Upsets and the Sunset

Early nomination of the wackiest boys’ basketball league goes to the Sunset League.

In two weeks of league play, it appears that almost any team can be beaten. Only Fountain Valley High School has emerged from the first three games undefeated.

In the league openers Jan. 8, Edison beat Marina, 50-45, and Fountain Valley defeated Ocean View, 70-46. But the surprise was Huntington Beach’s 93-60 romp over Westminster.

Huntington Beach, the league’s only team with a record below .500, is also the shortest. The Oilers, who don’t have a starter taller than 6-feet 4-inches, still stopped the Lions and their 6-10 center, Chris Tower.

Wednesday night, Fountain Valley defeated Huntington Beach, 71-50, and Westminster bounced back to beat Edison, 70-64.

The upset of the night belonged to Ocean View, which beat Marina, 63-60. Ocean View, which played a tough nonleague schedule, had a 6-7 overall record at the time. Marina has been ranked in the Orange County Sportswriters’ Assn. top 10 most of the season.

Friday night, Fountain Valley beat Edison, 69-63, and Ocean View handled Huntington Beach, 72-48. Upset of the night went to Marina, which beat Westminster, 49-46, on a last-second three-point shot by Steve Yamate.

In the consolation round of the Orange tournament, Westminster beat Marina on Eric Kutas’ last-minute three-point shot.

So, going into this week’s games, Fountain Valley (13-2, 3-0) is in first place. Ocean View is (7-7, 2-1) is in second.

Marina (12-5), Edison (11-7), Westminster (9-8) and Huntington Beach (7-11) are all 1-2.

Although Fountain Valley appears to have established itself as the leader, Baron Coach Dave Brown isn’t taking anything for granted.

“Everybody knows this league is so balanced,” Brown said after the Barons’ victory over Edison Friday night. “Our guys know if they don’t play hard every night they’re going to be in trouble.”

Add competitive: The South Coast League appears to be the county’s toughest girls’ basketball league, at least among the top three teams.

Capistrano Valley, El Toro and Mission Viejo all have a solid shot at winning the league title. Each team is ranked in the Orange County coaches’ poll. Capistrano Valley is 12-2 and 2-0; El Toro is 15-3, 1-1, and Mission Viejo is 14-5, 1-1.

Capistrano Valley took a step in establishing itself as a favorite to win the league title by beating El Toro, 57-52, Tuesday night. Stan DeMaggio, Capistrano Valley coach, called the victory the biggest of his career.

Mission Viejo came close to beating El Toro Thursday night, losing, 54-52.

El Toro lost its leading scorer, Elaine Youngs, who re-injured a sprained ankle. Charger Coach Greg Yeck said he expects Youngs, who originally hurt the ankle in the championship game of the Savanna tournament in mid-December, to be out for a month.

Free throw: When Chris Drakos made a free throw with 7:46 left in the first quarter of the cross-town rivalry between Sunny Hills and Fullerton, it gave Sunny Hills a 1-0 lead.

As soon as the ball dropped through the basket, Sunny Hills students threw what seemed like hundreds of rolls of toilet paper onto the court.

The paper covered the court and cost Sunny Hills a technical foul, but it also seemed to give the Lancers a psychological boost. Sunny Hills took a 21-8 first-quarter lead and won, 68-65.

David Chisum, who scored 8 points, said he didn’t know that the students were planning the escapade, but he said everyone was really excited about the game.

“It kind of psyched me up,” Chisum said. “I liked it. It showed a lot of spirit. I thought it was kind of neat.”

Said Steve White, Sunny Hills coach: “They watch that stuff on TV. I think it’s dumb and shouldn’t be done. I don’t condone it. I don’t think we’ll see it again. It just shows they’re watching TV too much. The kids are seeing this stuff.”

Mat Mania: One measure of how big the Five Counties wrestling meet has become is the level of participation by schools from out of the area.

Clovis West (near Fresno), Vacaville (near Sacramento) and Overfelt (San Jose) traveled to compete in the meet, which was held Friday and Saturday at Fountain Valley.

But Shawnee (Okla.) High gets the mileage-plus award. Shawnee, which is near Oklahoma City, also won the wrestling competition, scoring 209 1/2 points to beat Capistrano Valley (108) and Canyon (107 1/2).

Valencia, which was 13th, and El Dorado (15th) also finished in the top 20 among the 32 teams.

Canyon’s Bryon Schultz, at 122 pounds, and Brett Schultz, at 129, won individual championships.

Other county champions included Mike Philips (148) and Rex Vollmer (heavyweight) of Capistrano Valley, and Sam Lopez (115) and Fred Jenkins (178) of Valencia.

Prep Notes

Dave Webb, Irvine linebacker, has planned recruiting trips to Arizona State, Colorado, USC and Nebraska. Jeff Pease, Mission Viejo linebacker, has planned trips to Colorado, UCLA, USC and Arizona State. . . . Among the trips Servite kicker Pat Blottiaux canceled when he committed to Colorado was a visit to Hawaii. . . . Diane Ursin, a former member of the Mission Viejo Nadadores, has been hired as the boys’ and girls’ swim coach at Trabuco Hills. Ursin, who attended the University of Arizona, will coach in a walk-on capacity. . . . Sherri Ross, girls’ athletic director at El Toro, has been appointed a member of the Southern Section’s Executive Committee. Ross replaces Sheila Burrud of Muir, who had served on the committee since 1982. . . . The winter meeting of the Orange County Athletic Directors’ Assn. is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 25, in the Anaheim Stadium Club. The group will honor booster club presidents. . . . The ninth Southern Section Athletic Administrators’ Symposium is scheduled for 8 a.m. Wednesday at the Anaheim Convention Center.