Players and coaches at Canyon of Anaheim still dealing with the shock of freshman’s death. Plus, ex-St. Bonaventure coach now at Thousand Oaks, a losing streak that is going to hold steady for at least one year, and more.
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It has been less then a week since tragedy struck the beginning of football practices at Canyon High of Anaheim.
Last Wednesday, freshman football player Mitchell Cook collapsed during warm-ups and died later that night at a nearby hospital.
According to reports, Cook walked up to his coach, laid down and his heart stopped. Football staff and an off-duty firefighter gave him CPR until paramedics arrived. He was taken to Kaiser Permanente Anaheim Medical Center, then transferred to Children’s Hospital of Orange County where he died.
Mitchell’s father reported that his son had a known heart condition, a mitral valve prolapse, but it was not considered to be serious. He had regular checkups and had received medical clearance to play football.
The team returned back to practice on Monday. Funeral services will be held on Wednesday morning at San Antonio Catholic Church in Anaheim Hills.
The Mitchell Cook Memorial Fund has been set up at Go Fund Me. CLICK HERE.
Therrien will stay in Marmonte League
Todd Therrien, the head football coach for St. Bonaventure of Ventura since 2007 until he was let go back in July when his contract was not renewed as a teacher or coach, has recently been hired as an assistant coach at Thousand Oaks.
Although Thousand Oaks and St. Bonaventure are both in the Marmonte League, the two teams are in different divisions and did not play last season.
Quarterback Ricky Town, who saw his recruiting stock rise even more during the summer, will have a new head coach at St. Bonaventure. Photo: Tom Hauck (Courtesy Student Sports).
In more St. Bonaventure news, returning junior quarterback Ricky Town decided not to transfer to another school and earlier this month gave a verbal commitment to Alabama.
Between Town, St. John Bosco’s Josh Rosen and Upland’s Tyler Hilinski, Southern California figures to have three of the top junior quarterbacks in the nation this season.
St. Elizabeth losing streak put on hold
It was confirmed last month by principal Marty Procaccio to the Contra Costa Times that the 2013 football season at St. Elizabeth of Oakland will be suspended due to a lack of players.
The Mustangs forfeited two games in 2011 and its final game from last season for similar reasons.
With forfeits counted, the team has a 30-game losing streak. Forfeits are not counted in the Cal-Hi Sports state record book, however, so the school’s 0-27 total with an asterisk does not yet qualify for the all-time list.
St. Elizabeth’s last win was over St. Vincent de Paul of Petaluma in the CIF North Coast Section Division V championship.
Once the Mustangs resume playing, the losing streak total would then be continued.
Be careful what you post on social media
Once it’s out there, there’s no taking it back and it may be interpreted differently then you intend.
The bottom line for all coaches and players is to so be careful what you post on social media sites like twitter and Facebook no matter who you are.
One person wishing he hadn’t made a post on Facebook is Santa Margarita assistant football coach Elijah Asante, who according to Eric Sondheimer of the L.A. Times, has been suspended for two weeks for making a post that was interpreted as trying to recruit players to the school.
OC Register vs. Press-Telegram to battle in Long Beach
One of the benefits in any fight among newspapers for readership in a particular area is increased, improved and enhanced high school sports coverage.
We are already seeing that in Long Beach where the Orange County Register recently has made moves to break out of its county comfort zone with a Long Beach edition.
The Register has always been one of the best not just in California but in the entire nation for its high school sports coverage.
The ownership group of the Long Beach Press-Telegram – the Los Angeles Newspaper Group – knows this so as not to get steamrolled by the Register it will need to ramp up its local coverage.
Earlier this week, two journalists we’ve enjoyed reading at the Gazettes.com web site in Long Beach – Mike Gaurdabascio and J.J. Fiddler – announced they are going to be the Press-Telegram’s new high school editors. Guardabascio and Fiddler also will be able to continue to work for the on-line site.
The Register may not have gotten those two, but it will eventually get a strong prep editor for its Long Beach edition.
As we said earlier, this is only going to be good for all high school athletes in Long Beach, which by the way has remained one of the nation’s top hotbeds for prep talent in many sports even as the local prep coverage has suffered in recent years.
Note: Paul Muyskens contributed to this report.
Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow him on Twitter: @CalHiSports
