Woolridge Scores on the Inside Track

Nash Rivera, Santa Ana High School basketball coach, has discovered that he must demand less to get more from leading scorer Chauncey Woolridge.

Last season as a sophomore, Woolridge scored 14.4 points a game and was a first-team All-Century League selection. So Rivera knew he had a talented player to work with when he began his first season as head coach last fall.

“Because of his size and his quickness, he is able to score in almost every conceivable way,” Rivera said.

But Rivera wasn’t satisfied with Woolridge’s offensive production early this season. He told Woolridge, a 6-foot-5 swingman, to stop forcing too many outside shots and take better advantage of his height.

“I think Chauncey is all caught up in the fact that he wants to be a guard,” Rivera said. “(I told him), ‘I don’t care if you want to be a guard, just go rebound.’ ”

Woolridge, The Times’ Athlete of the Week, seems to have taken Rivera’s advice. Rivera said Woolridge’s concentration on going inside contributed to his success last week, when Woolridge scored 27 points in a 69-52 victory over Santa Ana Valley Wednesday and 31 points in a 69-66 victory over Villa Park Friday.

“I think he has consciously made an effort,” Rivera said. “It’s a credit to him that he has realized he can do that.”

Woolridge, who is averaging 17.2 points a game, said he decided that the Saints needed someone to step forward and be the leader.

“We’ve been having so many problems with our team that something had to change,” Woolridge said. “I had to clamp down to bring our team up.”

Woolridge missed Santa Ana’s first two Century League games--against El Modena and Santa Ana Valley--because of personal reasons and the Saints lost both by narrow margins. The Saints have won five of six games since he has returned, losing only to Foothill, the league’s first-place team. The Saints (10-11, 5-3) are tied for second with Canyon.

“I don’t think Chauncey realizes how good he could be,” Rivera said.

Woolridge, who said he didn’t play basketball until the eighth grade, admitted he is surprised by his success.

Making the all-league team as a sophomore last year and playing with some of the best high school players in the nation in a tournament in Texas last summer have given him confidence that he has the talent to continue playing after high school.

“It’s just kind of shocking,” he said. “I’ve worked pretty hard at it and I guess I have evolved into a pretty decent ballplayer.”

TOP PERFORMERS

El Dorado guard Mike Bradach scored 41 points in a 95-47 victory over Katella Friday. Bradach was 10 of 15 from the field and 21 of 22 from the free throw line. He also had 10 assists.

Foothill center Fred Amos had 12 points, 18 rebounds and 11 blocked shots in a 68-43 victory over El Modena Wednesday. He had 23 points, 16 rebounds and eight blocked shots as the Knights defeated Canyon, 64-53, Friday.

Jaysn Ochs of Brea-Olinda scored three goals in two soccer matches, including two in a 6-2 victory over Valencia Wednesday that moved the Wildcats into a first-place tie with Anaheim. Ochs has 12 goals on the season, including eight in the last six games.

Chauncey Woolridge

Santa Ana High School

* Position: Guard/forward

* Height, Weight, Class: 6-5, 195, Junior

* Last Week: Woolridge scored 27 and 31 points in victories over Santa Ana Valley and Villa Park.

* Season: Woolridge is averaging 17.2 points.