Prep Rally: This high school football season exceeded expectations

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. My name is Eric Sondheimer. The 16-week high school football season has ended. What a season it was.

Thrilling finishes

Cornerback Marcelles Williams of St. John Bosco reacts during the Braves’ thrilling 43-42 win over Corona Centennial.

(Craig Weston)

As the prep columnist for the Los Angeles Times, it’s my job to choose which games to watch Friday nights for 16 consecutive weeks, trying to see the best play against the best while also seeking out intriguing story lines and hoping for a little drama and excitement.

The 2023 high school football season exceeded expectations in terms of witnessing some amazing finishes. Call it luck, call it intuition, call it good timing. Whatever the reason, the finishes were better than any roller coaster ride.

Let’s start with St. John Bosco 43, Corona Centennial 42 in the Southern Section Division 1 semifinals. Remember Centennial came in as a heavy underdog. The team that was making a massive number of turnovers early in the season while getting blown out by Bishop Gorman 56-28 had grown up, from quarterback Husan Longstreet to running back Cornell Hatcher Jr.

Here’s a look back at a season of amazing finishes.

State recap

Mater Dei continued Southern California’s domination of the Open Division bowl game with a convincing victory over San Mateo Serra. Here’s the report.

Mission Viejo showed it’s going to be a team to watch in 2024 because its young players grew up by season end, resulting in a victory over De La Salle in the 1-AA bowl final. Here’s the report.

St. Bonaventure ran out of miracle finishes just when it thought it had pulled off another before falling in the 1-A final to Folsom. Here’s the report.

La Serna won its first state in 2-AA. Here’s the report.

It was not the way Birmingham wanted to finish, with quarterback Kingston Tisdell being helped off by Naithen Mena and Abraham Higuera after a 35-23 defeat to Acalanes in the 3-AA bowl game.

(Craig Weston)

It was a tough final game for City Section Open Division champion Birmingham, which held a 21-7 lead in its 3-AA final before losing. Here’s the report.

Fairfax opened a 21-0 lead in its 7-AA bowl game before giving up 29 consecutive points to lose to Ferndale. Here’s the report.

All-Star game on Friday

An all-star football game matching City Section all-stars will take place Friday night at 7 p.m. at Birmingham High. Admission is free to the L.A. City Gridiron Classic.

Birmingham coach Jim Rose is directing one team and Narbonne coach Malcolm Manuel is directing the other.

Every school in the City Section was asked to contribute at least one player to the game.

Basketball rewind

Robert Hinton of Harvard-Westlake battles with Douglas Langford of St. Pius X-St. Matthias.

(Nick Koza)

Top performance of the week belongs to Mazi Mosley of St. Francis. He scored 44 points in a win over Maranatha.

Blair’s Timmy Anderson scored 46 points in a 103-82 win over St. Joseph Academy.

La Mirada freshman Gene Roebuck continues to be the top freshman around. He had games of 33 points against St. John Bosco and 36 against Long Beach Poly.

One of the best games of the week was Harvard-Westlake holding off St. Pius X-St. Matthias 72-71. Here’s the report.

Bernstein High guards Troy Agtang (left), Gregrion Griffin and Carlos Cordero have led team to a 7-0 record.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

Bernstein is 9-0 in the City Section under former Price coach Chans Smyth. The team is Division IV and looking strong with a pair of transfers at the guard position. Here’s a report.

LACES knocked off Fairfax for the first time in school history in a Western League game. The Lions are waiting for the end of the month when several transfer students become eligible. Fairfax also lost to University for the first time since 2011.

Hall of Fame City Section coach Ed Azzam returned to Westchester as an assistant coach for North Torrance on Saturday. North Torrance won 47-41.

West Ranch’s winning streak in the Foothill League continued with a close win over Saugus. Here’s the report.

Here’s this week’s top 25 rankings by The Times.

In girls basketball, the top two teams in Orange County, Sage Hill and Mater Dei, met in the semifinals of the Troy tournament. Mater Dei came away victorious and won the tournament championship. Jenessa Cotton came through for the Monarchs with 19 points against Sage Hill and earned MVP honors.

Kennedy Smith had 25 points in Etiwanda’s 64-33 win over Northern California power Oakland Tech.

Sierra Canyon lost its first game of the season, losing in Hawaii to national power Sidwell Friends from Washington D.C., 59-58.

Soccer

The girls’ soccer team at Santa Margarita is loaded with talent. There are eight players already committed to four-year colleges.

They include: Faith George, USC; Kaylee McKeehan, Boise State; Ruby Berg, UC San Diego; Ireland Regan, Northwestern (La.) State; Molly MacMillan, Texas; Bella Gissendander, Idaho; Charlotte Memoly, San Jose State; Ruby Casey, Miami (Ohio). Sydney Osborn, who attends Santa Margarita but doesn’t play for the team, is committed to Arizona.

Santa Margarita won the Division 1 title last season.

There have been some distressing season-ending injuries to top girls’ players. Ava Tibor of El Camino Real suffered another torn ACL injury after missing last season with a torn ACL. Granada Hills’ Anahi Aranda, the City player of the year three years ago, is also sidelined after a knee injury. Also out is Westlake’s Finley Aghassi.

In boys soccer, El Camino Real earned respect for the City Section with a 2-1 win over Harvard-Westlake.

Cathedral won the battle of downtown soccer powers, defeating Loyola 4-1.

Thompson sisters reunited

Gisele and Alyssa Thompson will be reunited at Angel City.

(Photo courtesy of Nick Koza)

Eleven months ago, Angel City made Alyssa Thompson the first high school player to be selected with the top pick in the NWSL draft, then signed her to a three-year contract. Last week, the team came back to the same house in Studio City and signed a three-year deal with Thompson’s younger sister, Gisele, one that will make her one of the richest high school seniors in the country.

Which raises one very important question: When will the girls’ 12-year-old sibling Zoe turn pro?

“Let’s not put that out there,” Mario Thompson, the girls’ father, said with a laugh. “It’s already stressful enough having two.”

Here’s the report.

Notes . . .

Paige Nobles has resigned as football coach at Saddleback. . . .

Calabasas basketball coach Jon Palarz and El Camino Real softball coach Jodi Borenstein have been elected to the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. Induction ceremonies will take place next June at the Skirball Museum. . . .

Jessica Rose of Birmingham was selected the first City Section player of the year in flag football. Here’s the link to All-City team. . . .

Gus Martinez has resigned as football coach at Nogales. . . .

Ruby Casey, a girls’ soccer player at Santa Margarita, has committed to Miami (Ohio). . . .

Dustin Hurley is the new football coach at Katella. . . .

Justin Villasenor is the new football coach at Brea Olinda. He has been an assistant coach. . . .

El Camino Real baseball players Braden Sellz and Brendan McClure have committed to Sonoma State. . . .

Ron Jones is the new football coach at Pasadena. He’s been an assistant at Muir and Burroughs. His son, RJ, is a defensive back at UCLA. . . .

Mater Dei junior infielder Bradley Beaudreau has committed to Fordham. . . .

Ron Glatnick has been dismissed as football coach at San Diego St. Augustine. . . . .

Eric Kay, a former player at Crespi, is the new boys’ volleyball coach at Calabasas. . . .

Randall Reynoso has resigned as football coach at El Toro. . . .

Left-handed pitcher Alito McBean from Mira Costa has committed to San Diego State. . . .

Former Cajon quarterback Jayden Daniels of LSU was selected winner of the Heisman Trophy.

From the archives: Ethan Anderson

Ethan Anderson reacts after a loss against Miami in a college basketball game in the first round of the NCAA tournament Friday, March 18, 2022, in Greenville, S.C.

(Brynn Anderson/AP)

The former City Section player of the year at Fairfax, Ethan Anderson is the starting point guard for Pepperdine.

He went to USC out of high school, transferred to Wyoming for one season, now is back in the Southland.

Here’s a 2019 story on Anderson being the best player in the City Section.

Here’s a 2022 story from Anderson.

Recommendations

From the Washington Post, a diary of a high school basketball player.

From Outsports.com, a story on a football official who worked his sixth City Section title game.

From the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, a story on standout linebacker Owen Long from La Serna.

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