It’s a Final Step-Down for Thornton

Most coaches leap at the chance to climb the coaching ladder, competing with fellow coaches in pursuit of bigger and better jobs.

Not Mark Thornton. After several successful seasons at Mission Viejo Capistrano Valley, he dialed it down and went to Dana Point Dana Hills seven seasons ago. He went from winning 23 games every season to 13 or 14. He went from losing six games a season to losing six by the time the Christmas tree went up.

The main reason: He had coached his two sons and won two Southern Section championships in 15 seasons at Capistrano Valley. It was time for something else.

Dana Hills will never be confused with Santa Ana Mater Dei but it didn’t matter to Thornton, who coached his last game Friday night. Thornton, who turns 61 next month, is retiring after 34 years of coaching, 22 at the boys’ varsity level.

Dana Hills went 17-11 this season, finishing fourth in the six-team South Coast League. The Dolphins eked out a 64-61 victory over Hawthorne in a Southern Section Division I-AA wild-card playoff game, Thornton’s 392nd career victory. Then they got crushed by Long Beach Poly, 67-40, in the first round. It was Thornton’s 165th loss, give or take a few.

The end of a careercame with quiet normalcy. No rocking chairs as gifts from friends. No gift certificates to resorts. Just a few sleeves of golf balls, so Thornton can try something else for a while.

Thornton won section titles in 1989 and 1991. The transfers came in because the basketball was good at Capistrano Valley, the program was quality.

At Dana Hills, he played with the hands he was dealt ... even if they double-dribbled more often than not.

“When I was at Capo Valley, we did get transfers. When you win, that’ll bring people in,” Thornton said.

“But I think high school basketball should be played with the kids within your school district. You can run into problems with so many people shopping their kids. It makes it tough on young coaches these days.”

Thornton had 6-foot-7 and 6-9 players at Capistrano Valley, even a 7-1 kid. He didn’t at Dana Hills. The Dolphins finished 3-7 in league this season, 1-9 in league last season.

“We liked to say we started guys that were 6-foot-3 and 6-foot-2 in the post,” Thornton said. “They were probably 6-2 and 6-1. But they never quit. They couldn’t give us any more than they did. That was kind of the way my teams at Dana Hills played.”

*

Maybe the only “shocking news” coming out of Murrieta Valley these days is the success of the basketball team. It certainly beats the unpleasant newsletter that greeted Coach Steve Tarabilda when he arrived at school on an otherwise nondescript day last month.

Tarabilda was surprised to see the creation of “Shocking News: The Truth,” a cantankerous, and anonymous, newsletter that claimed to be circulated by “Murrieta Valley High School fans and student insiders.”

In the letter, a single sheet of pink paper, the authors predicted “things are going to get pretty ugly for us over the next two years.”

The newsletter said the starters were “great guys, but not even close to varsity material.” It criticized and chided Tarabilda.

At the time, Murrieta Valley was 7-10. The Nighthawks are now 15-14 after upsetting Golden League champion Palmdale Highland in the first round of the Division I-AA playoffs.

“It’s one of those things where you don’t even give it a consideration,” said Tarabilda, in his eighth season at Murrieta Valley. “Everybody’s a coach, everybody’s a critic, everybody has an opinion about how things are supposed to be. I don’t have the time or energy to think about it. Too many positive things going on here.”

Murrieta Valley can’t be too satisfied yet. The Nighthawks play host to top-seeded Rialto Eisenhower (20-7) in the second round Tuesday.

“When you’re playing good basketball, you want to play the No. 1 seed,” Tarabilda said. “That’s who we want to play now.”

*

Of course it had to happen.

Brentwood and Santa Monica Crossroads, private-school rivals for decades, couldn’t go an entire season without playing each other ... although they almost did.

The teams went separate ways when the Gold Coast Athletic Conference swallowed up the Delphic League before the school year -- Brentwood went to the Alpha League, Crossroads to the Olympic League.

They couldn’t find time to schedule each other during the regular season, but they’ll play Tuesday at Brentwood in a Division IV-AA quarterfinal.

The teams appear to be evenly matched, each with a high-scoring player: Crossroads (15-14) has Robert Locke, who has 52 points in two playoff games; Brentwood (17-10) has Brandon Turner, seemingly a lock to score more than 20 points.

“I figure this thing will probably be packed Tuesday night,” said Crossroads assistant John Skinner, who graduated from the school in 1995 and played there with future NBA players Baron Davis and Austin Croshere.

*

Westlake Village Westlake wasn’t anything special during the regular season. Now the Warriors might be the most surprising team in the playoffs.

The Warriors defeated Goleta Dos Pueblos, 65-64, in a Division II-AA wild-card game and then scored a 76-58 victory over Almont League co-champion Alhambra Keppel in the first round.

This, from a team that tied for third place in the Marmonte League with a 6-4 league record.

Forward P.J. Isaacson, who moved to the United States two years ago from Sydney, Australia, has continued to be effective from long distance, scoring 20 points and making five three-point baskets against Keppel.

“We believed we could do it,” said Isaacson, who isn’t surprised by Westlake’s hot streak. “In the first tournament we played this season, at Saugus, we won four in a row and beat Santa Barbara in the final. If we can get the wheels in motion, it just keeps rolling.”

Westlake (20-9) plays host to Inglewood (19-8) in the second round Tuesday.

*

Lorenzo Mata, a 6-8 junior at South Gate, hasn’t really lived up to his name.

He lit up Canoga Park for 39 points in an 83-77 victory in the first round of the City Championship playoffs. He also had 25 rebounds, lending to the theory that his name doesn’t quite fit his character -- “mata” in Spanish means a small bush or shrub.

Mata stood tall in making 16 of 20 shots against Canoga Park and setting what is believed to be a school record for rebounds in a game.

“We don’t get those types of players at South Gate too often, so he’s huge for us,” said Coach Sal Serrano, in his fourth season at South Gate.

Mata will need to play particularly large Wednesday: Eighth-seeded South Gate (18-8) plays a quarterfinal at No. 1 Westchester (25-3).