March 1, 2007

SPORTS

CCS loss ends strong run, season for Leland girls’ basketball

Chargers lose 63-30 to No. 1 Mitty in Division II semifinals; Leland ends year with 20-8 overall record

By Diego Abeloos
Sports Editor

A successful 2006-07 season that included a league championship came to an end for the Leland girls’ basketball team, which dropped a 63-30 loss to No. 1 Mitty in the CCS Division II Semifinals on Feb. 27.

Leland's Kristen Yoshioka led the Chargers with 14 points in the loss to Mitty. Photos by Dan Miranda

The loss ended a solid run in both the regular season and postseason for the Chargers (20-8 overall), who claimed the 2006-07 Mt. Hamilton Division Championship with a 12-2 record before taking wins over Los Gatos and Wilcox in the first two rounds of the Division II Playoffs. Despite the loss, Leland head coach Wade Nakamura said he’ll remember the season for his team’s season long perseverance and continued improvement, while garnering league-wide respect.

“For us to even get this far and be on the court and compete, I’m proud of our kids,” Leland head coach Wade Nakamura said. “I think everyone respects our program, and that’s what it’s all about. We work hard not just to gain respect, but to learn something and build lifelong friendships. …That’s what it’s all about. I have good kids.”

Leland never managed to get things going against the Monarchs, trailing 36-11 at the half before scoring a game-high 11 points in the fourth quarter to set the final score at 63-30. Leland senior Kristen Yoshioka led the Chargers in scoring with 14 points. In spite of the season-ending loss, Nakamura said he was proud of the season as a whole, considering that the 2006-07 version of the Chargers was the first team in Nakamura’s six-year coaching career to reach the CCS Semifinals.

“I’m very proud of our team for having the season that they had,” Nakamura said. “…To make it to the semifinals, to be one of two public schools remaining in Division II in the semifinals of CCS is a huge accomplishment. It’s a huge accomplishment to win league, to dominate our league at 12-2 and win a league championship. We won big games and finished the season extremely strong. I feel like we are one of the best public school teams in CCS.”

Nakamura said that while it’s tough for any public school team to go up against a private school powerhouse like Mitty, questionable calls, or non-calls, by game officials during the loss didn’t help matters. In short, Mitty’s physical play should’ve resulted in more fouls called against Monarch players, who hand-checked and bumped Leland’s players throughout the game, according to Nakamura.

Leland's Meggie Yoshioka dribbles the ball up the court in the CCS Division II Semifinals on Feb 27.

“It’s difficult to compete against a team like Mitty when the game is called the way it was called,” Nakamura said in leveling criticism at the game’s officials. “The same thing happened three years ago when we played Mitty in CCS. They pushed us off the ball. They just physically were allowed to get away with things that I don’t think a normal team is allowed to get away with. …Our strength is to attack and penetrate, but how could we penetrate? I’m not saying that every time it’s a foul, but how can you be allowed to put your hands on us and hand-check us, and not allow us to get a head and shoulder by you by using your hands?”

Nakamura added that the non-calls by game officials on Mitty’s physical play made the task of trying to win much tougher for Leland.

“First of all, we have to play a close to perfect game to even be in the game and compete with them,” he said. “It’s five-on-five. It’s impossible to play five-on-seven. …I’m not making an excuse. Would we have beat them? No. We didn’t do what we needed to do to compete with them, but I mean, it didn’t help the situation that the game was called the way it was called.”

But the loss was also particularly difficult in another way for Nakamura, in realizing the game was the last one in the high school careers of the team’s six seniors – twins Kristen and Meggie Yoshioka, Amanda Do, Melissa Erickson, Pam Wolfe and JoVanna Cobos.

“It’s always tough, it’s always difficult to play your last game,” Nakamura said of the team’s seniors. “It’s emotional for me, it’s emotional for them, especially with the time and effort that they put in and I put in at the gym to find success and get better.”

Up and coming

Boys’ frosh/soph basketball team finishes in first place for the fourth time in six years

By Eric Zimmerling
Times Intern

The Mustangs, Pioneer boys’ frosh/soph basketball team, galloped its way to another Mount Hamilton division championship after winning its final 13 league games.

The Pioneer frosh/soph boys’ basketball won its fourth league championship in the past six seasons with head coach Kevin Mack at the helm. The Mustangs finished the season with a 21-4 record.

The Mustangs defeated Piedmont Hills 56-49 in the season finale to finish the season with a 21-4 record, clinching its fourth league championship in six years under head coach Kevin Mack.

“We had 10 days off from the time we played our last preseason game until our first league game, so we came out a little rusty in our first league game,” said Mack, in looking back on the season. “We rebounded from that first loss with 13 wins in a row. We didn’t lose for the next seven or eight weeks, so we did pretty good.”

Mack said the Mustangs success was largely attributed to a balanced attack featuring strong post players and nifty guards on offense to compliment a solid defense. 

Six-foot, four-inch sophomore Travis Lorius led the Mustangs in scoring at 9.5 points per game, while sophomore Daniel Montesano led the team in rebounding. Lorius said hard work and a lot of practice led to the Mustangs success.

“We struggled in the beginning,” said Lorius. “We worked in practice to get better and it paid off by the time we got to our league games – we finished strong.”

Mack said Lorius has a bright future ahead of him as he anticipates moving on to varsity next year.

“Travis has so much potential and talent on the court,” Mack said. “He is a little hard on himself sometimes but that is because he just wants to dominate offensively and defensively. I look for him to possibly start right away at the varsity level, if not the first man off the bench.”

Jason Berticevich, a freshman guard for the Mustangs and was second on the team in scoring at 8.5 points per game, quickly garnered a reputation as a solid defender, earning him first-team all-league honors, Mack said. Berticevich scored 19 points in a key win over Leigh earlier in the season.  

In addition, Mack said a pair of sophomore guards added depth and experience to his team. Nick Sarabia averaged 7.6 points and 6.5 assists per game, which included a 13-point night in a one-point victory over Westmont earlier this year. Terrance Duncan averaged 7.5 points per game and was the best perimeter defender on the team, Mack added.

“Jason (Berticevich) was a standout freshman,” Mack said. “We had strong guard play this year, which really helped us. Terrance (Duncan) played really good defense for us and Jason was our best on-ball defender, he led the league in steals at four a game.”

During the preseason, the Mustangs finished second in both the Fremont tournament and Leigh tournament, while winning the consolation championship in the Homestead tournament.

Over the past two seasons, the Mustangs have an overall record of 44-8 and the team is 24-2 in league play during that same span.

With those types of numbers, Mack said expectations for next season remain very high for the Mustangs.

“We’ve won four out of six league championships since I’ve been here,” said Mack. “I don’t see why we can’t keep that success going in the future. We’re returning some good players next year from this team that will be ready and hopefully we get some good freshmen (coming in) as well.”

Sports Briefs

Editor’s note: Due to the high volume of requests, announcements in the Sports Briefs section will run for one issue only, effective immediately. Announcements submitted to the Times must be 100 words or less and must be received by the Times no later than noon on Monday for that week’s issue. To submit announcements, please e-mail Almaden Times
Weekly Sports Editor Diego Abeloos at diego@timesmediainc.com.

Top Flight Girls’ Basketball tryouts March 8
The Top Flight High School Basketball Girls’ Elite Travel Club is holding open tryouts on March 8 at Martin Murphy Middle School from 6 to 8 p.m. The tryouts are for the girls’ 15U and 16U teams in the Top Flight program, which competes in both AAU-sanctioned tournaments and exposure tournaments attended by college coaches across the nation. The season runs from March through July. Additional information will be provided at the tryouts. For questions, call coach Cachopo at (408) 483-6995

High School Sports Schedule

Leland High School
Saturday – Boys’ lacrosse at San Lorenzo Valley, varsity 1 p.m. and frosh/soph 3 p.m.

Monday – Frosh/soph golf vs. Sobrato, 2:30 p.m.
Monday – Varsity golf vs. Piedmont Hills, 2:30 p.m.

Tuesday – Boys’ volleyball vs. Aptos – location TBA, 7 p.m. varsity and 6 p.m. frosh/soph
Tuesday – Baseball vs. Westmont, 3:30 p.m.*
Tuesday – Golf vs. Branham at Almaden Golf and Country Club, 3 p.m.
Tuesday – Boys’ tennis vs. Santa Teresa, 3:15 p.m.
Tuesday – Softball at Santa Teresa, 3:30 p.m.*

Wednesday – Softball at Presentation, 3:30 p.m.*

Thursday – Boys’ volleyball vs. Monterey, 7 p.m. varsity and 6 p.m. frosh/soph
Thursday – Baseball at Westmont, 3:30 p.m.*
Thursday – Golf vs. Piedmont Hills at Almaden Golf and Country Club, 3 p.m.
Thursday – Boys’ tennis vs. Evergreen, 3:15 p.m.
Thursday – Track vs. Leigh, 3:30 p.m.

Pioneer High School
Monday – Golf vs. Branham, 3 p.m.

Tuesday – Baseball vs. Live Oak, 3:30 p.m.*
Tuesday – Badminton vs. Sobrato, 3:30 p.m.

Wednesday – Golf vs. Branham at the Villages, 3 p.m.

Thursday – Badminton vs. Gilroy, 3:30 p.m.
Thursday – Boys’ volleyball vs. Westmont, 6 p.m.
Thursday – Boys’ tennis at Prospect, 3:15 p.m.
Thursday – Baseball at Live Oak, 3:30 p.m.*


*JV or frosh/soph team plays at opposite site of varsity at the same time

For more information about Leland and Pioneer sporting events, go to:

Pioneer Athletics: http://www.phsathletics.com/
Leland Athletics: http://www.lelandathletics.com/
Blossom Valley Athletic League: http://www.bval.org/

High School Scoreboard

Feb. 19
Leland baseball 13-5 loss vs. Los Altos at Mission City Classic

Pioneer baseball 3-1 win vs. Woodside at Michael DeJesus Classic

Feb. 20
Pioneer baseball 8-0 win vs. San Mateo at Michael DeJesus Classic

Feb. 23
Leland baseball 3-2 loss vs. Mitty at Mission City Classic

Pioneer baseball 5-2 win vs. Milpitas at Michael DeJesus Classic

Feb. 24
Pioneer baseball 4-3 loss vs. Scotts Valley at Michael DeJesus Classic

CCS roundup

Pioneer, Leland boys’ basketball teams end year with first round losses in CCS Playoffs

By Diego Abeloos and Justin Petersen
Times Staff

The Pioneer boys’ basketball team saw its season come to an end with a 58-54 loss to thirteenth ranked Hillsdale in the opening round of the CCS Division III Playoffs on Feb. 21.

The season-ending loss came on the heels of a successful run to end league play in the Mt. Hamilton Division that saw the Mustangs reel off three straight wins to finish the regular season in second place at 11-3. Despite getting the No. 4 seed in the playoffs, the Mustangs couldn’t overcome a tough shooting night in which the team hit just two of 16 shots from three-point range in the first half, as well as a 25-point effort by Hillsdale point guard Eddie Attaway, said Pioneer head coach Joe Berticevich.

Pioneer's Matt Montelongo goes up for a layup during a season-ending 58-54 loss to Hillsdale on Feb 21. Photo by Dan Miranda

“We thought we could win, and based on the seed, we should’ve won, but we didn’t. That’s why we play the games,” said Berticevich. “You just can’t go out there and think you’re going to win. You’ve got to play, because the other team wants to win just as bad as you do.”

All told, Berticevich said, the Mustangs could never clear the final hurdle and pull away from Hillsdale, despite hanging close and briefly taking the lead midway through the fourth quarter on an Andrew Springer drive to the hoop for a 51-50 edge. Hillsdale stormed right back on its next possession by getting fouled and hitting a pair of free throws to regain the lead.

“It seemed like we couldn’t get over the hump,” Berticevich said. “We could never get a stop and come back. We couldn’t separate from them.”

One key issue on defense, Berticevich said, was defending Hillsdale’s speedy starters, particularly Attaway, who scored 10 points in the second quarter before putting up nine more points in the fourth quarter. After starting the game out with a zone defense, Berticevich switched things up and directed his team to play man-to-man defense with the hope of slowing the Knights down. Still, the Knights were able to distribute the scoring, with forward Brandon Council chipping in 15 points and guard Brandon Jackson adding 10 points.

“We started with zone, but their other guys were beating us; their post guys were scoring points,” said Berticevich. “We knew (Attaway) was going to get his (points), but we didn’t want their other guys to get them.”

Despite the loss, Berticevich said he was proud of his team’s season long efforts, noting that the expectation of having a team that’s capable of winning in CCS each year is a positive development.

“It says a lot nowadays when you have expectations in not just making CCS, but getting wins,” Berticevich said. “That’s a good thing. It’s good to expect to win in CCS and unfortunately we didn’t do it this year, but I’d rather keep those expectations high every year.”

Lopsided playoff defeat leaves Chargers looking toward next year
A winning season for Leland boys’ basketball ended in defeat with a 64-29 final on the road versus eventual Central Coast Section Division II finalist Menlo-Atherton on Feb. 21.

The Chargers, however, outperformed all expectations placed on the program prior to the year, winning 14 games, recording a winning 9-5 record in league and qualifying for the playoffs, according to head coach Ed Campbell.

With the retirement of longtime Leland coach Dave Frandsen, who guided the program from the late 1980s, there was little guidance in terms of what to expect from the Chargers, which featured two sophomores, two juniors and one senior in the starting lineup. In short, Campbell said, there was doubt whether the Chargers would succeed this season.

However, Campbell, the program’s former frosh/soph head coach, understood the personnel and he had different plans.

“I don’t have all of the historical facts, but I would say that it has been [more than 10] years since any team at Leland has won 14 games,” said Campbell.

Campbell said he focused on the will and want, in his terms, this season.

“It’s great to do X’s and O’s, game plan and strategize with what you want offensively, but it really comes down to what kind of will you want to take out there,” he said.

Campbell said he learned that Leland would stand a chance to win on any given night if he assigned the proper role to each player.

Seniors Patrick Calhoun, David Janes and Adam Munoz occupied positions of leadership, while sophomores Matt Vera, Greg Hipwell and Adam MacKey provided an influx of energy and promise. Scoring duties, meanwhile, went to junior Drew Marino.

Marino averaged 14 points per game, second among league scoring leaders. His 57 three-pointers were a league-best.

As a result, Marino, Calhoun and Hipwell were all recognized by opposing coaches as All-League selections. Marino received the league’s award for 2006-2007 Junior of the Year, and was named First-Team All League. Hipwell was Sophomore of the Year and Second-Team All League.

Calhoun, whom Campbell called the difference-maker in Leland’s league efforts, was named Second-Team All League.

“I was disappointed that we didn’t play a little better in CCS, but the fact is that we played a bigger, faster, stronger and more talented team that played well that night,” said Campbell.

Menlo marksman, 6-feet, 6-inch Adam Call, nailed three three-pointers to open the first quarter, and the Chargers never recovered.

“They were probably the best team that we had played all season,” said Campbell. “Their guy made three shots early, and things snowballed.”

Leland, seeded fourteenth, entered the game on an emotional high, having stopped rival Willow Glen on Feb. 16 from clinching the Santa Teresa Division title with a last-second win that featured a left-handed put-back by Tyson Cody as time expired.

Pioneer girls’ basketball season ends with loss in CCS Quarterfinals

Mustangs drop 64-17 loss to nation’s 7th ranked team at Sacred Heart Cathedral

By Diego Abeloos
Sports Editor

The Mustangs’ season ended in the second round of the CCS Division III Playoffs with a 64-17 loss to the West Catholic League’s Sacred Heart Cathedral Fightin’ Irish on Feb. 24.

Pioneer's Michele Rebozzi drives to the basket during a 64-17 loss in the quarterfinal round of the CCS Division III Playoffs against Sacred Heart Cathedral on Feb 24. Rebozzi, a senior, scored seven points in her final game as a Mustang. Photos by Dan Miranda

The loss, which pitted Pioneer against the seventh ranked team in the nation, finished up an otherwise successful run in 2006-07 for the Mustangs, who received an at-large bid in Division III after winning two of their final three games during the regular season. The season-ending defeat also came on the heels of a 38-28 win over Saratoga on Feb. 21 in the opening round of the Division III playoffs.

Despite the lopsided loss, Pioneer head coach Kim Yanda said her team’s run in the 2006-07 playoffs is something to be proud of.

“I think when you look at it, to play your final game against the (No. 7) team in the country, that’s a good way to go out,” Yanda said of the season-ending loss. “I mean, if you’re going to lose to somebody, you might as well lose to somebody like that. I think it gave the kids some good exposure to some good athletes and some good basketball. They don’t have anything to hang their heads about.”

Pioneer fell behind early and never managed to recover against the Irish, trailing 37-9 at halftime before putting up eight points throughout the second half. Sophomore Mercedes Pardo and senior Michele Rebozzi accounted for 15 of Pioneer’s 17 points throughout the game, with Pardo scoring a team-high eight points in the loss.

Taking into account the fact that Pioneer played one of the best teams in the country, Yanda said she was proud of her team’s effort in the loss, noting that the Mustangs achieved two important season-long goals this year: reaching the postseason and making it through to the quarterfinal round of the playoffs.

“At least they can say they made it to the second round, which 40 other teams didn’t,” Yanda said of her squad. “I’m proud of them.”

In looking back on the year, Yanda said she was pleased with her team’s play toward the end of a trying regular season, which included a six-game losing streak during league play. The losing streak, at the time, set the Mustangs’ record at 3-6 and out of contention for an at-large berth in the playoffs. The Mustangs managed to recover and finish the regular season with a 3-2 stretch, including key wins over Westmont and Gunderson, while dropping their final game in league competition at home – senior night – to Piedmont Hills on Feb. 16.

“I’m definitely happy with the way the (regular) season ended,” Yanda said. “After the six losses, they could’ve gone in the toilet, but they didn’t. They came back and picked it up and won the next game. I think we finished pretty well in league. Obviously, we would’ve liked to win the senior game, but it’s okay. The girls played hard, and I think they had a pretty good season.”

Yanda said one of the hardest parts of ending season is saying goodbye to the team’s seniors in Rebozzi, Steffi Mattern, Courtney Mesa, Emily Mather, Nancy Neal and Abby Williams.

“I’ll miss the seniors,” Yanda said. “I’ll miss them, but I know they’ll be moving on to bigger and better things, and I know they got a lot out of this year, whether they’re playing on in college or whether they’re not.”

Yanda added that next year’s squad will see some big changes, considering the departure of Rebozzi, the team’s most consistent scoring threat from the outside, as well as starters in Neal, Mattern and Mesa. Still, Yanda said she’s pleased to have two key players returning next year in Pardo and sophomore guard Haley Schorr, who are both expected to shoulder some additional responsibilities as scoring threats and team leaders.

“I’m definitely looking forward to getting Mercedes back, and I think Haley has grown a lot as a player too,” Yanda said. “…She (Schorr) handled herself really well in today’s game. I think she’s a definite leader that will come back next year and help us.”

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