State’s Top Wrestling Teams Square Off in Fountain Valley

It might not be the state tournament, but what Orange County is hosting this weekend could be even better.

Twenty three of the state’s top 25 wrestling teams--including Santa Ana and Calvary Chapel--highlight a 61-team field that will congregate at Fountain Valley High for the Brute Five Counties Tournament Friday and Saturday.

“In some regards, this tournament may be tougher than state,” Fountain Valley Coach Mike Provenzano said. “Guys who finish second or third here have won state. Coaches love bringing their teams here because it gives them a good idea how they measure up.”

Other teams participating include Temecula Valley from the Southern Section, Poway and El Cajon Valhalla from San Diego, Clovis, Clovis West and Bakersfield from the Central, and San Jose Independence from the Central Coast.

Preliminary matches begin Friday at 1 p.m. and continue Saturday at 9 a.m. The finals are at 7 p.m. Saturday.

Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for students with IDs and $1 for children.

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Tim Devaney said 19 years was enough and stepped down as Sunny Hills’ football coach last week.

But there are still a handful of coaches in the county who have comparable tenure to Devaney, 54, and have chosen to keep on coaching. So when is it time to quit?

“I think about it every year,” laughed Los Alamitos Coach John Barnes, who finished his 20th season as head coach at the school.

Barnes, 50, took his first head-coaching job when he was 28 at Magnolia, where he stayed for one year before moving on to Los Alamitos.

“I keep thinking maybe I’ll just coach six more years so I can finish with my youngest son [Jimmy], who’s 11 now,” Barnes said. “But I really don’t know.

“And we’re still winning consistently and finishing 12-1 or 9-3. But I don’t think I could take another 4-6 season.”

Saddleback’s Jerry Witte, who is 51 and just finished his 25th season as head coach--the county’s longest tenure at any one school--said losing bothers him more now than it did 10-15 years ago. But winning is not what ultimately keeps him going.

“The kids can drive me crazy but I love them and they respond to me,” Witte said. “That makes up for putting up with all of the garbage, whatever it is, administrative problems, parents, raising money.

“And if I can still reach the kids . . . that’s why most of us are still doing this.”

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Sunny Hills Athletic Director Ralph Trigsted said the Lancers will try quickly to find a replacement for Devaney.

“We’ve had interest from some college coaches, people on our staff and other schools,” Trigsted said.

The Lancers would like to hire their new coach by the end of this month before Sunny Hills begins the spring semester Feb. 1.

Mission Viejo, Capistrano Valley and Los Amigos are also trying to fill football coaching vacancies.

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Top-ranked Mater Dei and second-ranked Capistrano Valley didn’t disappoint by playing a double-overtime thriller Friday as the Monarchs escaped with a 78-74 South Coast League boys’ basketball victory.

“That’s as good a high school game as you’re going to see,” said Mater Dei’s 17-year Coach Gary McKnight.

The game even had some controversy when officials waved off Capistrano Valley’s potential tying basket at the second-overtime buzzer and called a foul on the Cougars before the shot.

“I watched the [taped] replay of the game [Saturday] morning and you could see the ref call the foul with his hand raised,” McKnight said. “But it was understandable that nobody heard him because it was so loud in there. It was a CIF playoff-type crowd. “

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In girls’ soccer, second-ranked Mission Viejo was tickled with its 2-2 tie against top-ranked Capistrano Valley last week. But the Cougars cringed at the result.

“We were very disappointed,” Capistrano Valley Coach Jack Peterson said. “I didn’t think we played that well and their keeper [Hannah Cochrun] came up big. It’s always such an emotional game.”

Two weeks ago, Capistrano Valley defeated Mission Viejo, 2-1, on the way to winning the Excalibur tournament.

Last season, the Diablos beat the Cougars, 1-0, in the Southern Section Division I championship game.

The teams’ final regular-season meeting is Jan. 21 at Capistrano Valley.

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Fox Sports West 2 began its weekly high school boys’ basketball telecasts Saturday and will broadcast 13 more games, including five section and state playoff games.

The only games featuring Orange County teams take place Feb. 4 (Capistrano Valley at Mater Dei) and Feb. 7 (Mater Dei vs. Oakland Bishop O’Dowd in the Nike Extravaganza at Cal State Fullerton). Both are tape-delayed broadcasts.