LETTER OF RECOMMENDATION : Monte Vista is Winning With E’s

Pertaining to math, science or even his basketball coaching abilities, Monte Vista’s Zack Peck would be the first to admit he’s no Einstein.

“If you put (Chula Vista Coach) Mike Collins and myself in a room, and told us to write a book on defense, you’d get a novel from him and one of those kids’ magazines from me,” Peck said.

Yet reasoning in relativity, Peck somehow managed to stumble upon a formula for unprecedented success this season at Monte Vista: If E=mc 2 (Energy equals mass times the speed of light squared), just imagine what an astounding equation E3 would produce.

In 18 games this season, Monte Vista’s E3--Matt Ehlke, Aaron Elliott and Marty Ellis----have made Peck out to be a genius.

Ellis, a 6-foot-1 junior, is averaging 18.9 points per game; Elliott, a 6-4 senior, 18.4; and Ehlke, a 6-4 senior, 12.0.

Combine that--49.3 points from only 60% of the starting lineup--with the the county-low 48.1 points per game the Monarchs allow, and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand why second-ranked Monte Vista is 17-1, 2-0 in the Grossmont 3-A League.

Said Peck: “We’ve also been lucky.”

Not entirely.

They started the season with victories against Lincoln, Poway, Bonita Vista and Valhalla and went on to win six more before losing to Mt. Carmel, 55-52, in the semifinals of the Mt. Carmel Tournament. Despite Peck’s insistence they not run up scores, they have doubled-up four opponents this year and have a 23.3 points per game average for margin of victory.

Paul Watson, a senior guard, is averaging 10.4 points, and Jason Peck, a junior point guard and the coach’s son, is averaging close to eight assists.

“The amazing thing is there hasn’t been much of an ego problem with anyone,” Elliott said. “Everyone understands his role and is comfortable with it. The main thing is, everyone wants to win. And we have a chance to be even better than we are now. I believe we can still improve.”

Said Ellis: “Great, great, great team work. I can’t stress that enough. Everybody communicates well and plays together. And that’s how you win. It takes all five.

“People have called us Triple E or whatever, but I like to think of us as WEEEP, with Watson and Peck supporting (Ehlke, Elliott and Ellis).”

Having won a league championship three of the past five seasons, Peck said any of those previous teams had at least as much skill, but this year’s team is unique in character.

Take Ellis.

About 1 1/2 years ago his mother, Deborha, remarried and moved with her husband, John, to Palmdale, 50 miles northeast of Los Angeles. Ellis, however, didn’t want to leave Monte Vista or a church group to which he had grown close in Spring Valley.

He also didn’t want to leave his mother and new family, so he decided to give Palmdale a try. He didn’t like it. Within weeks, he was back at Monte Vista, living with teammate Mike Tully and his family, and back at the Church of God of Prophecy.

“We didn’t really know for sure if he’d even be back this year,” Peck said. “He went back home for the summer and missed the first few days of school this fall.

“It has got to be tough on him being away from his family, but he’s really taken to that church group. They’ve become like a second family to him. It’s really a neat situation, and he’s really a neat kid.”

Then there’s Ehlke.

Elliott describes him as, “the nicest, most generous, most polite gentleman I’ve ever known.”

That’s outside the gym.

“He steps between the lines,” Elliott said, “and he’s the meanest kid in the world. I mean, he gets downright ornery. He wants every rebound. He wants every loose ball.”

Said Peck: “He’s like a Clark Kent-type guy. It’s really humorous. He’s such a quiet guy, you’d never dream he was such a pain in the butt on the basketball court.”

Ehlke says he gets his dual personality from the Rev. John Ehlke, his father and the pastor at Atonement Lutheran Church near Monte Vista.

“People always make assumptions about me because I’m the son of a pastor,” Ehlke said. “But after they see my dad at a game, they change their opinions. He goes kind of wild sometimes.”

Elliott, not to be left out of the religious sect, did not miss a beat when asked about his denomination: “Basketball.”

He was only half-joking.

“When I’m not playing basketball, I’m thinking about it or watching it,” he said. “I ref, too, for the La Mesa Rec Center with Marty. I’m always around the game, always trying to learn something.”

Said Peck: “He’s really committed. He’s got some obvious gifts. He jumps well and shoots well. But he’s really put in the time on the court to make himself better. I think he’s opened up some opportunities for himself now.”

Though none of Monte Vista’s E3guys, all of them forwards, figure to find themselves on any national or even state postseason honor team, Ehlke, Elliott and Ellis complement and compliment each other well.

Elliott on Ellis: “He’s got more potential than anybody I’ve ever seen at Monte Vista. More than Joe McNaull,” said Elliott, who started as a sophomore when McNaull, now at San Diego State, was a senior at Monte Vista. “Marty’s leaping ability is limitless. He can just fly.”

Ellis on Elliott: “Any last shot, if I was a coach, I would want Aaron to take it. He’s that kind of player.”

Peck says Elliott is the team’s best player and Ellis the best athlete, though he still is raw. Ehlke, Peck said, “just works so stinking hard.” Some feel he is the league’s most valuable player.

“Elliott and Ellis get the points and most of the recognition,” Mt. Miguel Coach Bill Sullivan said. “But I think Matt Ehlke holds that team together.”

A player coaches dream about but seldom get, Ehlke is one those guys who insists he enjoys playing defense more than offense.

“You get more banging in there,” he said. “It’s more of a challenge. There’s more satisfaction.

“With Aaron and (Helix guard) Lloyd Lake in the league, it’s surprising that coaches would say that about me,” he said.

Not to Elliott: “Doesn’t surprise me a bit,” he said. “He’s got to be the hardest working player in the county.”

Said Peck: “One of the big things we have going is balance. It’s awfully tough for a high school team to try to stop you when you’ve got four or five kids who can score.

“The other thing is the kids get along so well, and they’re such neat kids to be around.”

To Peck, it’s the kind of team for which he would want his son to play.

“I like the statement made by (junior varsity coach) Jeff Babbitt,” Peck said. “He told me, ‘It would probably be a better year if you weren’t winning so much, and you could just enjoy coaching and being around these kids without the pressure of winning. You’d probably have more fun.’

“He’s probably right.”