You Can’t Coast in This League

Todd Dixon didn’t have much of a choice Saturday. He had to take the night off.

The Lake Forest El Toro boys’ basketball coach and his wife, Katie, welcomed their second child, daughter Kaitlin, about four hours before the Chargers’ third-place game against Cypress in the Anaheim Convention Center tournament.

Dixon missed seeing the Chargers win, 39-35, and almost as important, he missed another chance to scout South Coast League rival Mission Viejo Capistrano Valley, which defeated Anaheim Esperanza, 38-37, in the championship game.

“You always have to work in our league,” Dixon said, as he watched and videotaped Capistrano Valley after his team’s semifinal loss to Esperanza on Friday. “Our league is brutal from top to bottom.”

It has been that way ever since 2000, when Santa Ana Mater Dei ended its seven-year reign by moving to the Serra League.

Dixon himself has guided the Chargers to two South Coast titles and compiled a 151-56 record in eight seasons at El Toro, and the league still includes three teams ranked in The Times’ top 25 and another that is close to being ranked. No other public-school league comes close.

Capistrano Valley, ranked No. 14, figures to challenge No. 13 El Toro for the league championship. Dixon is also keeping an eye on No. 24 Mission Viejo, which finished play Saturday in the Maui Invitational, and Mission Viejo Trabuco Hills, which reached the consolation final of the Anaheim tournament with a 75-57 victory Friday over Anaheim Servite.

San Clemente and Dana Point Dana Hills have also proved difficult to beat, especially at home.

Dixon said the Chargers’ loss to Esperanza could have been a result of his team’s looking ahead to a possible matchup against Capistrano Valley in the championship game. El Toro fell behind by 14 points after five minutes and didn’t challenge until the game’s final minutes.

“In our league, you can’t overlook anybody,’” said Dixon. “When you’re dealing with high school kids, they tend to look at the next game and not the game at hand.”

Capistrano Valley senior Davis Baker said he didn’t mind seeing El Toro lose its semifinal because he would rather wait until league play to face such a familiar opponent.

During last season’s Anaheim Convention Center tournament, the Cougars lost intense games to Mission Viejo in the semifinals (61-51) and El Toro in the third-place game (60-52).

“It was kind of like a league atmosphere,” said Baker, who averaged 23.5 points per game last season. “It left a lot of guys drained and some guys hurt.”

Coaches and players also said game plans are usually simpler when league rivals meet in nonleague games early in the season.

“I don’t know if this time of year is a great barometer for what will happen in league,” said Capistrano Valley Coach Brian Mulligan, who has a record of 175-64 in nine seasons at the Cougars’ helm. Last season, El Toro appeared to be breezing to the league title, but losses in its final two games to Capistrano Valley and Mission Viejo dropped the Chargers to 8-2 and into a three-way tie for first with the Cougars and Diablos.

El Toro managed only a first-round playoff victory before losing to Los Alamitos in the second round of the Southern Section Division I-A playoffs. Mission Viejo lost in the division’s quarterfinals, and Capistrano Valley reached the semifinals.

Each of the three teams has two returning starters this season, though Baker, a 6-4 senior guard, is the only first-team All-Southern Section player among them.

Mission Viejo began playing at full strength last week with the return of its best player, Jed Collins, a 6-3, 235-pound senior who was an outstanding linebacker for the school’s football team.

The Diablos also added transfers Marcus Blackshire, a 6-6 senior forward who averaged 14.9 points at San Clemente last season, and 6-4 junior reserve Mark Sanchez from Santa Margarita.

Junior guards Darryl Best and Jonathan Johnson, both three-year starters, return at El Toro, which does not have a starter taller than 6-4.

That could be a problem against Trabuco Hills, which has three returning starters, including 6-7 Spencer Earnest and 6-8 Chandon Siman, both senior forwards. The Mustangs also figure to take advantage of their newest addition, senior center Louis Saucedo, a 6-7, 290-pound transfer from Paramount.

“Maybe if he is in another league, he doesn’t do much damage,” Mulligan said.

“But he’s the guy other teams [in the South Coast] don’t have.”