Rio Mesa Proves That It Belongs

Many have criticized the Southern Section’s expanded boys’ and girls’ basketball tournament fields the past two years. Oxnard Rio Mesa boys’ Coach Steve Wolf is not one of them.

After finishing the regular season fifth in the Channel League with a 10-13 record, Rio Mesa qualified for the playoffs as an at-large entry. Although only the league’s top three finishers were guaranteed berths, league officials have the option to enter other deserving teams.

Wolf said he felt his team could be competitive in the playoffs, but even he is surprised the Spartans advanced past their first three playoff games.

They will play host to second-seeded Artesia (24-3) in a Division II-AA semifinal game tonight at 7:30 at Camarillo High.

Rio Mesa advanced with upset victories over Whittier California (81-78), Riverside La Sierra (70-67) and Irvine Woodbridge (64-61). La Sierra was the third-seeded team in the division, and Woodbridge was a II-A finalist last year.

The Spartans trailed La Sierra by 17 points at halftime, and were down by nine to Woodbridge at the break.

“A coach should only want his team in the playoffs if he thinks they can be competitive,” Wolf said. “We lost a lot of our games by three or four points, and we played in some tough holiday tournaments. We use our league as a tuneup for the playoffs, so we feel we’re peaking at the right time.”

More than 300 teams in 10 divisions qualified for this season’s tournaments, which end Friday and Saturday with title games. Rio Mesa is one of three at-large entries in the boys’ field that is still playing.

The others are Long Beach Poly in I-AA and Gardena Serra in IV-A.

The Delphic League has been the most dominant in the tournament. Five of the league’s seven boys’ teams made tonight’s semifinal round.

Co-league champion Canoga Park Faith Baptist will play fourth-place league finisher Brentwood in a IV-A game at Santa Monica High.

Santa Monica Crossroads, the other co-league titlist, will play Burbank Bell-Jeff in a IV-A game at Burbank Burroughs High. Campbell Hall, the league’s No. 3 team, will play host to Cypress Brethren Christian in a V-AA game at Studio City Harvard-Westlake High. Fifth-place finisher Bel-Air Prep will play Culver City Westside Prep in a V-A game at Murphy High.

City and Southern Section officials say they plan to play all of today’s boys’ and girls’ soccer semifinals on schedule even if the rain persists.

Karen Hellyer, Southern Section administrator, said Friday and Saturday’s championships will be played no matter what the conditions and the semifinals will go on unless there is a safety danger to the players.

“We look at things on a day-to-day basis,” Hellyer said. “We do have a few days to work with, so there is no panic.”

Barring any upsets, the Southern Section has the opportunity for a rare championship game between undefeated teams. Torrance (30-0) and Arcadia (25-0) could play in the girls’ Division 3-A final Saturday if both win today.

Torrance has outscored its playoff opponents, 15-0, and Arcadia has outscored its opponents, 11-2.

The Shrine All-Star football game will be moved from the Rose Bowl to Long Beach Veteran’s Stadium this year, it was announced Monday.

The Rose Bowl, site of the game since 1975, will be under renovation this summer. Officials looked into playing at the Coliseum and Anaheim Stadium, but the Coliseum also will be under renovation and Anaheim was not interested.

Veteran’s Stadium, which has a capacity of 12,000, was chosen over Cerritos College.

The move is expected to result in a bigger donation to the Shriner’s Hospital. The Rose Bowl cost $35,000, while Veteran’s Stadium will cost less than $5,000.

North and South rosters also were released Monday. The South squad will be headed by Santa Ana Mater Dei quarterback Billy Blanton and running backs David Dotson of Moreno Valley Valley View and Sharmon Shah of Dorsey.

Veteran’s Stadium will be the site of the first Long Beach Poly Track and Field Invitational Saturday beginning at 8:30 a.m.

The boys’ field includes teams from Bakersfield, Pasadena Muir, Compton, Locke and Dorsey. The girls’ field will have teams from Dominguez, Washington and Morningside, among others.

Shot put and discus standout Jeff Buckey of Bakersfield and distance runner Shelly Taylor of Huntington Beach Edison head the list of competitors.