LOOKING BACK:
This is the second of eight consecutive editions in which the News-Press looks back at the area’s 2008-09 seasons, school by school, before looking ahead at the year to come.
It wasn’t exactly the kind of athletic year that Hoover High had planned. No Hoover squad captured a Pacific League championship and just one team qualified for the playoffs this past year. Some teams didn’t win a contest or a league game, adding to further frustration when their hope to turn the corner was negated.
There was, however, the resurgence of the boys’ water polo team and the boys’ track and field squad. But all of the wins and losses paled in comparison to the heartache felt during the baseball season, as Tornadoes assistant Brandon Villalobos died suddenly in an off-road accident and Hoover baseball coaching icon Jim Delzell, just a year removed from resigning his position as baseball coach, died in his sleep.
Inside the lines, some athletes put up respectable numbers on the field, track and courts en route to securing all-league and All-Area accolades. The lone team to qualify for the postseason was the boys’ water polo squad and a pair of boys’ track and field athletes won league titles.
Hoover’s football team encountered its second winless season in a row, capped by falling to cross-town rival Glendale in “The Battle For the Victory Bell.”
While there’s always next year for each team to regroup, the Tornadoes will look to do anything but repeat what transpired throughout this past year.
Here is a recap of some of the Tornadoes’ athletic highlights and events that unfolded during the past year:
Sept, 12, 2008 — Hoover’s football team opens its first season under new Coach Chris Long with a 48-6 nonleague road loss to Golden Valley.
Sept. 23, 2008 — Behind two goals from Zoree Karibyan inside the final two minutes of regulation, Hoover picks up a 15-13 road nonleague win against Flintridge Prep.
Oct. 14, 2008 — The girls’ tennis team suffers a 13-5 Pacific League road loss to Glendale. The Tornadoes go 2-10 in league for sixth place.
Hoover’s girls’ volleyball team is handed a 23-25, 25-20, 25-21, 26-24 home loss by Glendale in a Pacific League match. Edlin Yousefi had eight kills for the Tornadoes, who finish at 3-11 overall and in sixth place in league.
Oct. 16, 2008 — The boys’ water polo team shows it is, indeed, for real, forcing Crescenta Valley, which would go on to win the Pacific League title and a CIF crown, to play keepaway in the waning seconds of a league match that the upstart Tornadoes lose, 16-15.
Nov. 6, 2008 — At the Pacific League cross-country finals at Arcadia County Park, boys’ runner Brian Trejo clocks 15 minutes 61.1 seconds to finish a team-best fifth and qualify for CIF.
In the girls’ portion of the meet, Katherine Brouwer finishes a team-best 20th in 19:56.37.
Nov. 11, 2008 — Led by six goals from freshman Hakop Kaplanyan, the Tornado boys’ water polo team gets a 17-9 road win against Lompoc Cabrillo in a CIF Southern Section Division VI first-round match.
Nov. 13, 2008 — The boys’ water polo team sees its surprising season come to a close with an 18-17 overtime road loss to Arroyo Valley in a CIF Southern Section Division VI second-round match. Hoover goes 14-5 and 4-2 in the Pacific League for third place.
Nov. 14, 2008 — The football team finishes 0-10 and 0-7 in the Pacific League following a 55-7 defeat to cross-town rival Glendale in “The Battle For the Victory Bell.” Wide receiver Adam Ochart has six catches for 67 yards, including a 38-yard scoring pass from quarterback AJ Pule, who completes 11 of 26 passes for 83 yards. The Tornadoes see their losing streak swell to 20.
Feb. 4, 2009 — The girls’ water polo team wraps up its campaign with a 9-8 loss to Glendale in a Pacific League match. The Tornadoes go 2-16 and 0-6 in league for sixth place.
Feb. 12 — The girls’ basketball team sees its season conclude with a 53-31 home loss to Glendale in a Pacific League game. Hoover finishes 5-18 and 2-12 in league action.
Hoover’s boys’ basketball team concludes one of its most difficult seasons in recent memory with a tough 47-46 Pacific League home loss to Glendale. The Tornadoes finish 5-21 and 0-14 in league.
April 3 — Hoover gets a team-high five kills from junior outside hitter Elio Machaalany in a 25-13, 25-10, 25-21 Pacific League loss to host Glendale. The Tornadoes finish 0-10 overall and in league for sixth place.
April 11 — Assistant baseball coach Brandon Villalobos dies in a dune buggy accident in Hesperia.
April 28 — In the 10th installment of the Bronze Bowl, given to the school with the most total points at the Hoover-Glendale track and field meet, Glendale picks up a 157-113 victory in the Pacific League dual meet at Glendale. Glendale’s girls’ team picks up a 95-31 win, Hoover’s boys’ squad collects a 74-52 victory and Glendale tops Hoover, 10-8, in the combined discus.
Paige Hollis of Hoover (3-4 overall and in league) wins the 100 low hurdles (17.7) and 300 low hurdles (52.17). Katherine Brouwer takes the 3,200 (12:40.73) for the Tornadoes before grouping with Liyana Avansian, Renee Lawson and Hollis to win the 4x400 relay (4:28).
In the boys’ portion of the meet, Hoover (3-3 overall and in league) turns to sprinter Harold Tabora and distance runner Brian Trejo. Tabora wins the 400 (51.94) and the 200 (23.34). He also helps the Tornadoes win a pair of relays, as he works with Nzhdeh Alaverdian, Alex Mikhailpoor and Joseph Roach to win the 4x100 relay (44.98). Hoover’s 4x400 relay team of Roach, Trejo, Mikhailpoor and Tabora remained undefeated on the season after clocking 3:30.26. Trejo wins the 1,600 (4:42.73) and the 3,200 (10:55). Roach captures the 100 high hurdles (15.9) and 300 high hurdles (41.66). Hoover’s Highbert Davtian takes the high jump (5-6) and long jump (19-5). Hoover also gets a win from Wyatt Bowers in the discus (92-1 1/2 ).
“I can’t explain the meet other than it’s interesting and fun,” Hoover Coach Jack Sallakian says. “Everybody is so pumped up and they love performing.”
April 30 — The Hoover boys’ tennis team sees its season conclude with a 13-5 Pacific League loss to Glendale. Alex Vartanian sweeps, 7-5, 7-6 (7-3), 6-0 and Dro DerMegerdichian also wins two sets for Hoover, 7-5, 6-0. The Tornadoes go 6-10 and 2-10 in league for sixth place.
In the annual Pacific League dual swimming meet against Glendale, Hoover suffers a pair of defeats. In the girls’ competition, Hoover falls, 116-32, and loses, 107-58, in the boys’ portion of the meet.
Hoover’s two wins come in the 100 breaststroke, which Mineh Garamanian swims in 1:25.57, and the 200-freestyle relay, which is won by Irene Ismailyan, Erin Babakhanian, Atineh Sepanyan and Alisa Ovsepyan (2:03.50).
On the boys’ side, Hoover gets wins from Zoree Karibyan in the 200 freestyle (2:04.61) and Hakop Kaplanyan in the 100 freestyle (55.78), while also taking the 400-freestyle relay in 3:50.39 behind Kaplanyan, Karibyan, Tiko Edinchikyan and Vahe Avalyan.
May 2 — Former baseball Coach Jim Delzell dies in his sleep at his Tujunga home. Delzell, 50, coached the Tornadoes from 1994-2008.
“Nobody saw this coming,” says Troy Jemjemian, who played at Hoover under Delzell and then coached with him for three seasons, as well. “He’s probably one of the greatest people I’ve ever met. He was a mentor to me when I was a player and he was a mentor to me as a coach.”
May 6 — Boys’ golfer Alan Cho places 15th with a two-round score of 163 at the Pacific League individual finals at Santa Anita Golf Course in Arcadia.
May 8 — Tabora clocks a personal-best time of 48.88 seconds to win the 400-meter race at the Pacific League track and field finals at Arcadia High. Roach captures the 300 intermediate hurdles title (39.26).
May 14 — Knowing it wouldn’t qualify for the playoffs, Hoover’s softball team wraps up its season with a 9-7 Pacific League win against visiting Glendale, preventing its rivals from a chance to compete in a play-in game to qualify for the postseason.
“We had plenty of reasons to come out here and play,” Hoover Coach Rich Henning says. “A, it was against Glendale High and B, it was a chance to salvage a little bit more of the season and knock them right out of the playoffs.
“My seniors wanted to come out and make their last game a win.”
Marissa Vasquez goes two for two with a pair of walks and scored three times for the Tornadoes, who finish 9-13 and 5-9 in league for sixth place.
May 15 — Hoover’s baseball team wraps up its season with a 4-3 home victory against cross-town rival Glendale. Hoover finishes 8-11 and 5-9 in the Pacific League for sixth place while missing the playoffs.
“I told the guys that it’s their last game at home, and they were able to come through,” Hoover first-year Coach Tito Cruz says. “They showed up to play and they wanted to win.”
May 20 — Charles Martinez, who coached the school’s boys’ soccer team for three seasons, resigns. Martinez, who piloted the Tornadoes to the Pacific League title in 2007, leaves so he can concentrate on coaching a pair of Los Angeles Futbol Club teams in La Cañada Flintridge.
June 24 — After one year as baseball coach, Tito Cruz resigns. Cruz, a 2002 Hoover graduate and a former All-Area Player of the Year, cites lack of time available to coach team as reason for leaving. It is the end of tumultous year for Cruz, who dealt with the death of his friend and assistant coach just weeks before the death of his former high school coach.
CHARLES RICH covers sports. He can be reached at (818) 637-3228 or charles.rich@latimes.com.
