SPORTS

Pioneer boys bash favored Monterey

Bundlie and company carry Mustangs into semifinals

By Justin Petersen
Staff Writer

Mustang Mark Bundlie finishes for two of his game high 21 points versus Monterey Saturday. Photo courtesy of Ron Reed

Scrappy Pioneer blew by Terra Nova and Monterey last week, advancing to Wednesday’s CCS Division III semifinal versus Burlingame.

Pending results, the Mustangs (15-13) will vie for the title Friday, Mar. 4, at Foothill College. However, the number-two seed Panthers (25-4)—led by CCS Player of the Year favorite Drew Shiller—guard the grail.

Shiller is headed to University of San Francisco in the fall.
“We’ve got a shot,” said Pioneer Coach Joe Berticevich. “We match up well, but they have a special player in Shiller. We’re going to throw a bunch of guys at him and see if we can tire him out.”

The Mustangs appeared in the semifinal game last season, with reigning Player of the Year Ceylon Elgin-Taylor at the helm, but fell 74-54 to St. Ignatius.

With no marquee names this time around, Pioneer has relied on a balanced offense and tenacious defense. Seniors Joe Montolongo, Mark Bundlie, Brent Osborne, Robbie Nelson and Mike Kaufman have shared the spotlight along with junior guards Nolan Magipinto and Mark Ashfar, hounding opposing offenses and converting in transition. Returning all-leaguer Bundlie has more than filled the void in scoring left with Elgin-Taylor’s departure. The 5-foot-11 guard is averaging 23 points per game in the playoffs.

As a whole, Pioneer has averaged 60.5 points in two playoff games.

The results, a 65-54 victory over Terra Nova (11-15) at home Wednesday, Feb. 23, and the 56-53 upset of Monterey (22-3) on Saturday, Feb. 26, silenced doubters. A win Wednesday would seal their fate.

First round foe Terra Nova collapsed early, falling behind 7 points in the opening quarter. The deficit swelled with a spirited 25-point showcase offered by Bundlie on his 18th birthday.

“I don’t know what that was all about,” joked Bundlie, regarding the apparent injection of speed he received at playoff inception. Ever since I turned 18 I’ve been a little quicker. Really though, we’re all just playing well right now, playing hard and trying to get teammates involved. We don’t want our season to end.”

The end loomed versus Monterey.

The heavily favored Toreadors jumped out to a 13-point lead in the first quarter, nailing five 3-point shots in confirmation. However Chi balanced in the second, and the Mustangs stood fast, surrendering just 2 points to the total, down 40-25 traveling to the locker room.

“We went in at half time and we could see the end of our high school careers,” said Bundlie. “Coach told us we were playing scared, and we came out really hard in the second half.”

“When we got out on the floor they were big and athletic,” said Kaufman. “Everybody knew they were the number-three seed and we were six.”

Monterey opened the second half with a quick 2 points, extending their lead to 17 before Pioneer struck—with might. The Mustangs closed the difference to 1 point by the end of the third, outscoring the Toreadores 17-4 in that period. Again Bundlie led the charge dumping more than half of his game high 21 points.

The tables tipped toward the Mustangs again in the fourth.

“I told them to be aggressive,” said Berticevich. “The key was that everybody stepped it up defensively. Nobody looked back or felt happy just to be there. We got it done on both ends of the court, in every phase of the game.”

Osborne grabbed 10 rebounds on the day, 6 in the deciding fourth quarter, while Kaufman and Nelson wrapped up double digit scoring efforts, finishing with 14 and 10 respectively.

Pioneer outscored Monterey 13-9 in the final period.

“I think our success in the playoffs has a lot to do with the strength of schedule,” said Kaufman. “If you look back at our losses in preseason, a lot of those teams either won their league or finished second. Versus Burlingame we just need to play solid defense and stick to the game plan; just play hard and play strong like we have been.”

“This might be the top,” said Berticevich, regarding the quarterfinal victory. “That was a quality team we played. It was big coming back on them from a deficit like that.”

The CCS Division III finals begin at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, pitting the Pioneer-Burlingame winner versus either number-four seed St. Ignatius (14-12) or number-one Santa Cruz (30-1).

High School Sports Schedule March 4 - March 11

Leland High School
Friday – Baseball at Oak Grove, 3:30 p.m.
Friday – Wrestling CIF-CCS state meet in Bakersfield

Saturday – Wrestling CIF-CCS state meet in Bakersfield

Tuesday – Golf vs. Leigh at Almaden, 3 p.m.
Tuesday – Badminton at Mt. Pleasant, 3:30 p.m.
Tuesday – Boys’ volleyball vs. Gunderson, 6 p.m.

Wednesday – Track vs. Mt. Pleasant, 3:30 p.m.
Wednesday – Baseball vs. Leigh, 3:30 p.m.

Thursday – Badminton vs. Willow glen, 3:30 p.m.
Thursday – Golf vs. Leigh at Cinnabar, 3 p.m.
Thursday – Boys’ volleyball at Prospect, 7 p.m.

Pioneer High School
Friday – Boys’ basketball CCS Division III finals at Foothill College, 7:30 p.m.
Friday – Baseball vs. Silver Creek, 3:30 p.m.
Friday – Wrestling CIF-CCS state meet in Bakersfield

Saturday – Wrestling CIF-CCS state meet in Bakersfield

Tuesday – Baseball at Independence, 3:30 p.m.
Tuesday – Badminton vs. Sobrato, 3:30 p.m.
Tuesday – Boys’ volleyball at Oak Grove, 6 p.m.

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

Thursday – Track vs. Yerba Buena, 3:30 p.m.
Thursday – Baseball at Lincoln, 3:30 p.m.
Thursday – Badminton at James Lick, 3:30 p.m.

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

Leland boys’ basketball drops round one decision to Mitty 68-44

Up-and-down season ends with CCS Division II loss

By Diego Abeloos
Sports Writer

The Leland boys’ basketball team’s season ended on Feb. 23 with a 68-44 loss to Archbishop Mitty in the first round of Central Coast Section playoffs.

“It was our initiation in to West Catholic League basketball with the size and depth and athleticism,” said Leland Head Coach Dave Frandsen. “We can compete for a while, but then things just got a little bit over our heads, especially on the boards. My kids still hustled. They worked hard and tried to run their stuff. There were so many good little things going on down the court on defense that it was reinforcement to what we’ve been doing all year.”

For the Chargers, the loss ended a season full of trials and tribulations. The Chargers started the non-league portion of their season by dropping seven of their first eight games, ending with a 2-9 non-league record.

All of those losses didn’t seem to matter once the Santa Teresa Division schedule got underway, as Leland won four of its first six games, placing the team right in the thick of a division race. After going 2-3 in the middle portion of the schedule, the Chargers ended their Santa Teresa Division run by winning their last three games, placing them third overall in the standings with 9-5 record and a CCS playoff berth to show for it.

“No one believed in us, that we’d make it all the way to CCS,” said Leland senior reserve Isaias Asfaha. “It was a goal for us from freshman year, watching the varsity making it to CCS. We always said that we’re going to make it our senior year.”

The Chargers, who came into the game as the 15th seed in the Division II playoff bracket, found themselves down 22-9 after one quarter against the second-seeded Monarchs. From that point on, Leland never had the chance at gaining the lead in the game, as the Monarchs outscored the Chargers in all four quarter of play.

Leland had trouble matching up with Mitty’s big men, six-foot, six-inch senior Alex Okafor and six-foot, seven-inch freshman Drew Gordon, despite a combined 18 points throughout the contest.

Logan Foos, who emerged as a low-post presence for the Chargers near the end of the season, had the unenviable task of defending Mitty’s big guys along with Charger senior forward Danny Hamouie. Foos finished with 5 points while the Monarchs dominated on the glass, pulling down 28 team rebounds to Leland’s 11.

“We played tough,” Foos said. “We just didn’t match up. They had a lot of big forces on the inside. We played a tough game but we just didn’t pull it out. We didn’t do what we needed to do.”

Despite the lopsided loss, bright spots still came to light for Frandsen and the Chargers. Guard David Farsai, who finished the game with a team-high 20 points, turned out to be a tough player to deal with for the Monarchs.

Farsai hit two 3-pointers in the third quarter, one to cut an 18-point lead down to 15 and another to cut a 19-point lead to 16, before breaking his team out off an offensive slump in the fourth quarter by driving the lane, converting on a lay-up and getting to the free-throw line for a 3-point play.

“I’m more impressed by how hard David is playing defense right now,” Frandsen said. “I think part of it carries over to his offense too … he’s just consciously working hard and to that effect, I think it’s helped his offensive game.”

Although the season is over for the Chargers, Frandsen will look back on the season with fondness and pride.

“It was a tough year for us emotionally, with everything that’s happened within our family,” said Frandsen, whose son D.J. passed away prior to the start of the season. “This group, they’re such good guys. They’re very supportive of each other with schoolwork, helping with all aspects of their lives and then with me. I mean, they took care of me this year. I’m so grateful that I’ve had a group like this.”

Sports Briefs

Almaden Valley Girls Softball League Hit-a-Thon April 10
The Almaden Valley Girls Softball League (AVGSL) will hold its second annual Hit-a-Thon on April 10 at Bret Harte Middle School. Individual and team prizes for fundraising will be awarded by the AVGSL. The AVGSL also seeks sponsors that would like to make a cash donation in exchange for having their name and company logo on Hit-a-Thon t-shirts. The AVGSL requests that all prizes and sponsorship offers are made by March 11. Prizes can be picked up by the AVGSL, but those fitting in a standard business size envelope can be sent to P.O. box 20642, San Jose, CA 95160.

For more information visit www.avgsl.org or call (408) 808-1405.

USYVL youth volleyball sign-ups for spring 2005
The United States Youth Volleyball League is accepting registrations for the spring 2005 season, slated to begin in early April, for programs in Los Gatos, San Jose and Morgan Hill. Boys and girls ages 8 to 14 are welcome to sign up and learn the basic techniques of volleyball. The program meets two days a week with one day for practices and one day for games.

For more information on registering, visit www.usyvl.org or call 1-888-988-7985.

Almaden Ladybugs Class 1, U17 tryouts
Almaden Ladybugs Class 1, U17 Girls, tryouts for State Cup and Spring/Fall season, every Tuesday and Thursday. Must be born after 7/31/88. Contact Roger Haupt (408) 779-7697 or Linda Urzi (408) 723-0928.   

Chargers drop round two loss to Mitty 64-22

Season ends for Chargers, also part with graduating league MVP

By Diego Abeloos
Sports Writer

For the Leland girls’ basketball team, like any other team in the Central Coast Section playoffs, the end came too soon.

Fresh off a 52-38 win over Palo Alto in the first round of CCS Division II playoffs on Feb. 24, the Chargers couldn’t overcome the Archbishop Mitty attack in a 64-22 loss just two days later, thereby ending Leland’s season.

For Leland Head Coach Wade Nakamura, the quarterfinal round game against Mitty featured not just a lopsided score, but uneven officiating as well.

“They (the officials) pretty much already decided that we were going to lose and get blown out,” said Nakamura, who added that Mitty was called for only nine fouls the entire game.

Despite Nakamura’s disappointment in the officiating, he also realized that his team had a challenge ahead of itself in facing the Monarchs. The statistics in the loss reveal Nakamura’s concerns coming into the game as well.

Leland was outscored in the first quarter by a 16-3 margin and in the second quarter by a 21-6 difference. Things didn’t get any better for the Chargers in the second half, as the team put up 13 points in the remaining 16 minutes of play.

“I knew they (Mitty) were going to jump on us and press us, and they did,” Nakamura said. “…I think if the referees called just a few fouls (against Mitty) in the first quarter, things would’ve been different for us.”

Although the loss ended the season for the Chargers, Nakamura reflected back on the season fondly. The Chargers won a co-championship in the Mt. Hamilton Division, posting an 11-1 record along with Leigh. Leland also had the Blossom Valley Athletic League MVP on its side in center Jackie George as well as BVAL Sophomore of the Year Kristen Yoshioka.

“I’m so proud of Jackie,” Nakamura said. “She came so far from her freshman year to now being league MVP.”

On Feb. 24, things looked rosier for the Chargers, who took a convincing 52-38 road win from the Palo Alto Vikings. Leland came out aggressive on offense from the very start, opening up the game on a 10-1 run, setting the tone for the remainder of the contest.

With a 10-5 lead at the start of the second quarter, the Charger offense kicked it into high gear once more, going on an 8-2 run to build an 18-7 lead at 3:34.

After an offensive surge by Palo Alto ended the first half with the Chargers leading 20-13, the second half featured more of the same up-tempo offensive style from Leland, which opened up the second half with a modest 6-2 run for an 11-point lead. Later in the quarter, with a 28-19 score, the Chargers went on a 7-2 run for a 35-21 lead and ended the period with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Amber Barbieri, who scored 9 of her game-total 13 points in the third.

Barbieri, who worked her way into the starting lineup midway through the season, averaged only 1.6 points per game for the year.

“It was just a matter of me stepping up,” Barbieri said of her numbers in the Palo Alto game. “I knew they were going to take our key players away, so it was a matter of getting the ball from my teammates and finding some open shots.”

George led the team in points with 14 while also collecting 6 rebounds and 6 blocked shots. The six-foot, one-inch center said playing in the CCS playoffs during her senior year gave her extra motivation.

“I’m going to come out a lot harder than in the past,” said George, who will attend Chico State next year on a basketball scholarship. “If this is my last game, I want to leave everything out on the floor.”

In the end, George’s last game came around only a couple of days later. For Nakamura, the loss to Mitty, however disheartening, was not an accurate indication of the type of season the Chargers had in 2004-05 or of the things to come in the future for Leland basketball.

“I told the girls after the (Mitty) game to not let this game be a reflection of the season,” Nakamura said. “…We’re still young and small on the perimeter. I don’t know what people expected from us.”

Castillero sixth grade girls’ basketball team takes third place in invitational

The Castillero Cobras sixth grade girls’ basketball team won third place in the 27th Annual Hillbrook Invitational Basketball Tournament held in Los Gatos last weekend.
 
Suffering a first round loss at the buzzer to Hillbrook in first round tournament action, the Lady Cobras kept strong, winning two games in a row and bounced back to victory over an elite Harker Academy team to take home a third place trophy, 
 
Team members are Marissa Sarabia, Kendra Meadows, Andrea Sargis, Mari Nakashima, Nikki Sarantinos, Eleni Sarantinos, Sara Vierra, Sydnee Hall, Angie Regua, Yianna Markolefas, Leigh Hiura, Julia Mangin, Nick Sarabia
(head coach), Ken Hiura (coach) and Randy Meadows (coach).

Mustangs’ season ends with 1-0 loss to Wildcats in CCS semifinals

Pioneer players look back on year fondly and proudly after loss

By Diego Abeloos
Sports Writer

The ride is over for the Pioneer girls’ soccer team. The Mustangs, who ended the regular season as Mt. Hamilton Division Champions and put together one of the finest seasons in Pioneer girls’ soccer history, lost their Central Coast Section Division II semifinal match-up to Los Gatos on Feb. 23 at Milpitas High.

“The girls played really hard,” said senior Tania Trejo of her squad. “For us it’s a victory because we all came together and fought for this. Unfortunately, we lost, but it’s all worth it because we fulfilled our goals.”

All was not lost in the loss to Los Gatos. The Mustangs, who stressed teamwork and gleefully shared in the glories of the season, still stuck to their motto following the loss to the fourth-seeded Wildcats.

“I’m more proud of the season, of the season that we played in order to get ourselves here,” said Pioneer Co-captain Amy Cusick. “If you look back on it, we achieved so much. For one game to ruin us would be really sad.

I’m not happy with the way things ended. But I’m proud of the team, and I’m glad I got to be part of the entire season as a senior.”

The first half of the game featured both teams working valiantly on offense, albeit absent a score.

All of that changed in the first four minutes of the second half when Los Gatos’ Melissa Shawhan took advantage of a communication mix-up between Pioneer defenders and Mustang goalkeeper Kiki Demarquez. Both parties called for the ball at the same time, causing Shawhan to slip past defenders, knocking in the lone goal of the game past Demarquez with 36 minutes left in the game.

“We have an awesome goalie in Kiki who never makes mistakes. She’s always on her game,” Cusick said. “I don’t think we can attribute it to one person making a mistake or anything. It was definitely a team effort gone bad, if you will.”

With the Wildcats up 1-0, the Mustang offense kicked it into high gear. At 33 minutes, a penalty kick by Cusick from the far right side and 20 yards out was caught by Wildcat goalkeeper Elizabeth Magnan, canceling out the first significant chance for Pioneer in the second half. The Mustangs continued to pressure the Los Gatos defense as the second half continued, getting another scoring opportunity with 28 minutes to go.

A throw-in from Stephanie Righetti rolled toward the Los Gatos goal with several Mustangs pursuing the ball. But before anyone could get their foot on the ball, Magnan was there again, smothering the ball and killing the scoring chance for the Mustangs.

Another chance, just a couple of minutes later, saw Mustang Co-captain Lauren West take a penalty kick from nearly 30 yards out. The shot was blocked by Magnan and deflected out of bounds, spoiling yet another scoring chance for Pioneer.

“At first we were struggling, but in the second half we picked it up,” Trejo said. “We started fighting for the ball and that’s when we started picking it up.”

The Mustangs had opportunities for a goal in the first half, beginning with a throw-in from Righetti to freshman Bianca Springer near the Los Gatos goal with 31 minutes left. Springer chased the long toss toward the goal just as Magnan approached the ball. Springer got a foot on the ball for a shot, which sailed wide to the right of the goal.

Just a few minutes later, a corner kick at 30 minutes found West, who headed the ball toward the goal, only to see Magnan catch the ball and spoil the chance.

“It’s tough because we’re a good team and they’re a good team,” Alysia Ramirez said. “It was pretty much fair throughout the game. One lucky goal.”

The Mustangs were quick to point out that getting to the CCS playoffs is a feat in itself and is only a part of a successful season. Nevertheless, losing is not a fun way to end the season.

“I’m happy that we got here,” Trejo said. “I would’ve been happier if we would’ve won.”

Leland’s January Athletes of the Month

Girls Soccer - Valerie Huffman: “Val has been an outstanding player and leader for our girls’ soccer team. She has done it all for us. She has scored 8 goals and had 9 assists. Val plays forward, outside half and also defense.”

Boys Soccer - Steven Beitashour: “Steven has an excellent work rate, is a very skillful player and is our team captain. Steven is a leader on and off the field.”

Wrestling - Melis Barota: “Melis, a junior, transferred from Chicago and is a quiet team leader. He was 4-1 in the San Ramon Tournament to take fifth place, 4-0 to win the Overfelt Tournament and is 11-1 overall.”

Girls Basketball - Jackie George: “Jackie has been instrumental with her leadership on and off the court this year. She has really matured into a good basketball player as well as a good person and teammate. Jackie has signed a National Letter of Intent to play basketball for Chico State University. Jackie’s stats are 20 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocks per game in league this year. Despite being double-teamed she has found ways to be successful and help us win games.”

Boys Basketball - David Farsai: “David is averaging 12.3 points during league with a game high of 24, and in addition has really improved his defense and assists/turnover ratio.”

Pioneer baseball looks to compete for league title in 2005

3-2 pre-season win against Santa Teresa gets ball rolling toward league opener

By Ken Lotich
Times Correspondent

The Pioneer baseball team is no different than any other club in their division. The Mustangs, like everyone else, want their name at the top of the Santa Teresa division standings when all is said and done.

Jake Hernandez, who’s entering his fifth season as head coach, said his squad has the heart and personnel to win it all this season.

“We all expect to compete for the league title,” Hernandez said. “We’re an experienced team with many skilled players.”

Hernandez, who played baseball for Santa Teresa High School, Mission College and Cal State East Bay, said he’s inspired to coach because of his love for the game.

“There’s a great bunch of guys here — I love working with them every day,” Hernandez said. “We build off of each other’s energy.”

This energy has made its way off the diamond.

“We’re friends off the baseball field,” said junior pitcher Andy Wright. “We’re a pretty tight-knit group.”

Senior first baseman Steve Matos affirmed his teammate’s claim.

“We like to play cards together,” Matos said. “We’ll play Texas Hold ’Em, Nintendo — we just like to have fun together.”

Senior shortstop Andrew Schulz, who’s entering his fourth year on varsity, said the relaxed atmosphere keeps the team together through tough times.

“It’s laid back and it’s fun to play ball here, but we have discipline.” Schulz said.

After missing the playoffs last year with an 11-7 league record, the Mustangs don’t want to see history repeat itself.

With nine seniors on the squad, Hernandez expects the Mustangs to thrive in league play.

“Hopefully we’ll have our basketball guys back soon,” Hernandez said. “League is where it counts.”

Hernandez said the arms of senior pitchers Robbie Nelson and Brent Osborn will be key in the team’s performance this season.

However, the Mustangs may have to wait for Nelson, Osborn and senior utility fielder Mike Kaufmann, who are competing in the Central Coast Section basketball playoffs.

The basketball team came from behind to upset No. 3 Monterey 56-53 on Feb. 26 (see story, page 36). The Mustangs played No. 2 Burlingame on March 2, and if Pioneer wins, Nelson, Osborn and Kaufmann will miss the baseball team’s league opener March 4 against Silver Creek.

The Mustangs are hoping to ride some momentum into league, and they started this path on Feb. 26 with a 3-2, come-from-behind victory against Santa Teresa. Pioneer improved its record to 2-3 with the victory.

The Mustangs were held down by the Saints for most of the game and went into the bottom of the seventh inning trailing 2-1.

With one out, right fielder Michael Rudolph ripped the ball down the third base line for a double.

After third baseman Michael Schulz and second baseman Danny Ventura walked, Andrew Schulz stepped to the plate.

Schulz came into the at-bat 0-for-3 at the plate, including grounding into a double play, and also hit into a fielder’s choice with the bases loaded in the fifth inning.

“I got in there and just wanted to be aggressive,” Schulz said. “I was too selective in my other at-bats.”

Schulz ripped the ball into right field, and pinch runner Jon Silva beat the throw home for the game winning run.
Relief pitcher Johnny Carreras, who came in at the top of the sixth inning, picked up the win.

Wright started the game for the Mustangs and went five innings, with two earned runs on four hits. Wright notched five strikeouts and allowed four walks.

“I felt comfortable out there,” Wright said. “I held my own out there, and the team was able to come back and pull of the win.”

Matos said his team put forth a good effort in the game, despite not laying down some bunts.

“We didn’t do a couple squeezes right today, but that’s no big deal,” said Matos who went 2-for-3 at the plate with two singles. “We like to play a little small ball — keep ’em guessing.”

Matos said the team is excited to start league play on Friday, and begin its quest toward the championship.

“Some out there might label us as underdogs, like we were last year,” Matos said. “But there’s a good shot we’re going to take this.”

Pioneer hosts Silver Creek on March 4 at 3:30 p.m.

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Do you have a sports story to share? Contact the sports department at 494-7000 x 217 or by e-mail at diego@timesmediainc.com or fax to Almaden Times Sports at 494-7078.