NOTEBOOK / GARY KLEIN : Reilly Looms Larger Than Ever

Pepe Reilly of Glendale moved up in weight class and now he’s moving on to the world boxing scene. Reilly, 19, scored a unanimous decision over Pat Briceno of Vancouver, Wash., last weekend to win the 147-pound class at the U. S. Amateur Boxing Championships at Colorado Springs, Colo.

Reilly, who fought at 106 pounds in 1989 and 119 pounds last year, said he feels most comfortable at 147 pounds.

“At 119, I could hardly make the weight. I was always running to get down to 119,” Reilly said. “At 147, I didn’t have to worry about that. I lost a little speed, but moving up in divisions, guys are a little slower.”

With the championship, Reilly qualified for the Olympic Festival in July and will be considered for international competition throughout the year.

Title run: The Ribet Academy boys’ basketball team began its run for a state championship with a 75-54 victory over Calipatria in a first-round Division V game on Tuesday night.

Ribet (28-2), under second-year Coach Mike Miller, won its second consecutive Southern Section 5-A title by defeating Rio Hondo Prep, 95-69, last Friday.

The Fighting Frogs, ranked No. 2 in the state, became the fourth Small Schools champion to win back-to-back titles.

Ribet is led by senior point guard Jrmirol Duncan, who had 17 points and nine assists against Rio Hondo Prep, and senior forwards Chris Maxwell and Jaiquin Moore, who had 25 and 20 points in the championship game.

It’s over: Basketball season for Glendale-area girls teams ended last week when La Canada and Flintridge Prep were eliminated in the semifinals of the Southern Section playoffs.

La Canada, which had advanced to the semifinals for the first time in 15 years, was defeated by Costa Mesa, 59-42, in a 3-A game.

Flintridge Prep, making its first semifinal appearance, lost to then top-ranked Pasadena Poly, 47-44, in a 5-AA game.

Back to the drawing board: The St. Francis High baseball team has gone back to the basics in practice, but not through choice. Rain has postponed the normal routine and the gym is being prepared for a fund-raiser and is unavailable.

“They hang backdrops and literally shut our gym down,” Coach John Yakel said. “Unfortunately, it’s happening at a bad time.”

Yakel has had the players running on the street and playing catch in the parking lot. He is also giving extensive lectures in the classroom on game strategy.

“There’s not very much left to talk about,” Yakel said. “We’ve just about gone through everything.”

Honor roll: Sean Whiting was named the Rio Hondo League boys’ basketball co-most valuable player along with Paul Perkins of South Pasadena. Whiting, a 6-foot-4 forward, averaged 9.5 points and 6.5 rebounds in helping to lead La Canada to a share of its fourth consecutive league title.

La Canada’s Richard Mandeville and Jeff Lord, last year’s MVP, were also selected to the first team.

For starters: The Glendale area is well represented in the Southern Section preseason softball rankings. Glendale and Crescenta Valley are ranked seventh and ninth in the 3-A Division; La Canada is ninth in the 2-A; Flintridge Sacred Heart is fifth in the 1-A; and Ribet Academy is 10th in Small Schools.

Qualifier: Occidental junior Ed Bradford will be the Tigers lone representative at the NCAA Division III swimming championships March 21-23 at Emory University in Atlanta. Bradford finished second in the 100-yard butterfly last week at the SCIAC championships, qualifying for the nationals with a time of 51.82 seconds.

Just reward: The California Interscholastic Federation is sponsoring a scholar-athlete award for high school students worth $2,000.

One boy and one girl from the state will receive the scholarships.

Applications are at all high school counseling offices.

Add St. Francis: Golden Knight football players Ernie Cruz and James Yun are among 29 players that will be honored Monday night at a banquet sponsored by the Pasadena/San Gabriel Valley Chapter of the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame.

Smart set: The Occidental women’s cross-country team was selected as an Academic All-American team by the National Cross-Country Coaches Assn. The Tigers, who placed 10th at the Division III nationals, had a cumulative grade-point average of 3.18.

Staff writer Kirby Lee contributed to this notebook.