Cal-Hi Sports Insider Blog

Quick-hitting, behind-the-scenes news and notes from the CalHiSports.com staff, including previews of upcoming content and events.

Stout-led South Wins Lions Game

By Mark Tennis | Published June 25, 2023

Recently graduated Joey Stout from Pitman of Turlock and Roland Brown of Modesto Central Catholic were MVP and Defensive MVP for the 2023 Lions All-Star Game played on June 24 in Tracy. Photo: Mark Tennis.


MVP Joey Stout from Pitman of Turlock caught a TD pass, ran for a score and did more to lead the South team to a 38-13 win over the North in the annual Lions All-Star Football Game played on Saturday night at Wayne Schneider Stadium in Tracy.

Note: This is a game that is local to us in Stockton and we help the game in a volunteer capacity as a way of giving back to our local high school sports community. If any other all-star games around the state wish to have similar coverage, send us the writeups, details and photos and we’ll be glad to post them. This also is a free story on CalHiSports.com. Some of our upcoming preseason football content will be for Gold Club members only. Join our team today by CLICKING HERE.

The annual all-star game for the southern part of the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section (involving high schools from San Joaquin County, Stanislaus County, Merced County and other smaller counties in the Sierra Foothills) hadn’t been played since 2019 at Lincoln High of Stockton due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

The game was historically significant since there were three 200-win coaches in attendance. South co-coach Trent Merzon won 225 games over his years at Oakdale (he retired from coaching after the 2022 season), one of the South assistant coaches was former Central Catholic of Modesto head coach Mike Glines (won 204 games in his career) and founder of the game Wayne Schneider (won 224 games during his career at Tracy). There are just about 100 coaches in the history of California high school football spanning more than 120 years who have won 200 games in a career.

Merzon and co-coach Tim Garcia from Davis of Modesto seemed to benefit from the South team having far fewer players that dropped off of the roster in the week leading up to the game than the North team, which was led by head coach Booker Guyton from Edison of Stockton. By the time the week was over, due to the drops, there were eight players from Edison on the North squad.

Tyler Sells of Sonora was named Most Inspirational Player for the North according to a vote from his teammates. Fermin VIllegas of LeGrand was named Most Inspirational for the South. Photo: Mark Tennis.


“We just had tremendous kids to work with,” said Merzon, whose son, Mick, was one of them. “They were really a pleasure to be around. The receivers and the quarterbacks were so smart that Tim was able to get in just about everything he wanted to for his offense in the one week (of practice).”

Despite that advantage, the North squad had a lead in the first half and was within striking distance until early in the fourth quarter.

After the South grabbed a 7-0 lead with 5:32 showing in the first quarter on a 78-yard run by Stout, who broke several tackles on a burst down the sidelines, the North equalized quickly on a 65-yard bomb from Jayden McKey (Tracy Kimball) to Tyree Owens (Edison).

Another Edison player, running back Johnel Pettus, then gave the North a 13-7 lead early in the second quarter on a three-yard run. Stout then scored his second TD of the game on a 22-yard pass from Eleazar Garza (Merced Golden Valley) and the successful PAT gave the South a 14-13 lead.

After taking a 24-13 lead in the third quarter on a 4-yard run by Jahkylle Smith (Merced Golden Valley) and on a 27-yard field goal by Christian Casillas (Patterson), the North squad appeared to have gotten itself back into the game when Kai Elkins (Summerville) grabbed an interception and scampered for a 30-yard touchdown. A penalty flag did drop on the play, but was picked up by one official and waved off. The referees weren’t done considering what happened, however, and as the North team was lined up to kick the PAT both teams were summoned back to the field. The initial penalty was not waved off and was enforced. It was a call of an illegal line stunt by the North defense, which had been called on the South in the first game.

Once the interception return touchdown was reversed, the South went on to score on that drive for a 31-13 lead on a 30-yard TD pass from Garza to Jaelen Nichols (Modesto Central Catholic). Smith scored the final TD of the game on a 2-yard run later in the fourth quarter.

Stout, who had another long catch and run that set up one of Smith’s rushing TDs, was voted MVP in a close call over Garza, who was named Offensive MVP of the game. Stout finished with four carries for 73 yards and nine catches for 113 yards. Garza passed for 159 yards. Smith had 56 yards rushing on 12 carries while QB Cole Gilbert (Turlock) had 72 passing yard and 25 rushing yards.

“Just to play in this game was an honor,” Stout said. “We were playing for all of them who’ve been in this game before. We knew it was going to be high intensity, but we came in prepared. It’s been awhile to have the pads on, but it also felt like being back home.”

McKey had 120 passing yards for the North, but was hurt by three interceptions. Owens ended with four catches for 92 yards.

Central Catholic’s Roland Brown, who had a pair of interceptions, was named Defensive MVP of the game. If Elkins’ pick six had held up, it’s very possible the vote for Defensive MVP might have gone in his direction.

With the win, the South won for the fourth time in the last five games of the event, which began in 1974. The North still leads with an all-time record of 26-18-2. Without the pandemic, this would have been the 50th game.

Defensive Stat Leaders (South)
Roland Brown (Central Catholic) 5 tackles, deflected pass, two interceptions
Luis Vargas (Hilmar) 10 tackles
Brock Osmundson (Oakdale) 5 tackles, sack
LeBron Stallworth (Ceres) two sacks, one pressure
Bryant Austin (Merced) 5 tackles, deflection
Jaelen Nichols (Central Catholic) 4 tackles, interception

Defensive State Leaders (North)
Barry Rhodes (Edison, Stockton) 11 tackles, interception
Kai Elkins (Summerville) 8 tackles, fumble recovery, nullified pick six
Joe Cowan (Linden) 4 tackles, forced fumble, two deflections
Alijah Cota (Manteca) 7 tackles
Christopher Hollan (Edison, Stockton) 6 tackles
Malahki McElvaine (Edison) 4 tackles, interception

Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle: @CalHiSports

Lions All-Star FB Game on Saturday

By Mark Tennis | Published June 21, 2023

Players and coaches for the North team took a photo after practice for the 47th edition of the Lions All-Star Football Game. Photo: Mark Tennis.


It was a hectic few days this week for Booker Guyton, the head football coach at Edison of Stockton and the head coach of the North team for the Central California Lions All-Star Football Game.

When practices began at Edison on Monday, Guyton was informed by nearly 10 players who had previously committed to be playing in the game that they would be opting out. He had to scramble to add several players from his own team who recently graduated from the school plus a few others from other schools.

By Wednesday, there were 26 players working out under the guidance of Edison’s coaches and there still were plenty of all-star level players and enough linemen with size and strength so that the North team should be okay in its battle with the South on Saturday night.

The scene was more calm for the South team practicing at Gregori High in Modesto. The roster was finalized on Wednesday with two new additions and three players that dropped. The duo of Trent Merzon from Oakdale and Tim Garcia from Davis of Modesto are the coaches for the South. They are being assisted by former Central Catholic head coach Mike Glines and former Oakdale head coach and former Oakdale Unified School District Superintendent Mark Malone.

This year’s game will feature for the first time tickets that can be purchased through GoFan.com. Tickets are $10. We are asking for cash only for tickets at the game site on game day and for additional items such as t-shirts, concessions and game programs.
Here is the link to get tickets on GoFan:
https://gofan.co/app/events/997689?schoolId=CA87815
It’s been four years since the Central California Lions All-Star Football Game has been played in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it’s back and the year No. 47 for the event will finally happen on Saturday, June 24 at Tracy High School’s Wayne Schneider Stadium.

The game was last played in June of 2019 at Alex G. Spanos Stadium on the campus of Lincoln High in Stockton. It had been played in Tracy for the six years prior to that from 2013 to 2018. The Lions All-Star Football Classic began in 1974 and was held at the University of Pacific’s Memorial Stadium until 2011.

The North now leads in the overall series 25-19-1. Since the South was the home team in 2019, the North will be the home team this year.

The North team has been practicing at Edison High in Stockton since Monday and will be continuing on Thursday & Friday from 5 to 7 pm. The South team has been practicing and will be practicing on the same days and the same times at Gregori High in Modesto.

North Team (Alphabetical roster)

OL/DL Aveon Brown (Kimball, Tracy)
TE/DE Joshua Chavez (Stagg, Stockton)
OL Jared Codde (Stagg, Stockton)
LB Alijah Cota (Manteca)
RB Joe Cowan (Linden)
DL Jaiden Crawford (Chavez, Stockton)
PK Anthony Cuellar (Lathrop)
LB Kai Elkins (Summerville, Tuolomne)
WR/TE Ronald Green (Stagg, Stockton)
OL/DL Dylan Gulseth (Manteca)
DB Chris Hallon (Edison, Stockton)
TE/DE Mohamed Kamara (Franklin, Stockton)
DE/FB Jacob Lanticse (Linden)
DL Josiah Lockridge (Stagg, Stockton)
RB Malahki McElvaine (Edison, Stockton)
LB Zachary McMartin (Kimball, Tracy)
OL Michael Marsh (Linden)
QB Jayden McKey (Kimball, Tracy)
OL Hector Meza (Lathrop)
WR Tyree Owens (Edison, Stockton)
RB Johnel Pettus (Edison, Stockton)
QB Jerry Raguindin (Stagg, Stockton)
LB/DE Joseph Robinson (Edison, Stockton)
OL/DL Tyler Sells (Sonora)
LB Simon Smiley (Stagg, Stockton)
OL Samuel Vigil (Escalon)
DB Nadar Williams (Edison, Stockton)

South Team (Alphabetical Roster)

LB Bryant Austin (Merced)
OL Diego Barajas (Livingston)
LB Kai Brazil (Orestimba, Newman)
LB Liam Bridgford (Hughson)
DB Roland Brown (Central Catholic, Modesto)
DB Mark Carreiro (Los Banos)
PK Christian Casillas (Patterson)
DB Kailin Frade (Buhach Colony, Atwater)
QB Eleazar Garza (Golden Valley, Merced)
WR Gavin Garcia (Downey, Modesto)
QB Cole Gilbert (Turlock)
OL Cornell Gilkey (Buhach Colony, Atwater)
OL Landon Gomes (Hilmar)
OL Isaac Haro (Merced)
WR Gabriel Hernandez (Downey, Modesto)
RB Tarrell Lee-Gill (Ceres)
WR Vincent Lopez (Orestimba, Newman)
DB Nicholas Mendoza (Atwater)
WR Mick Merzon (Oakdale)
DB Jaelen Nichols (Central Catholic, Modesto)
DL Brock Osmundson (Oakdale)
OL Dorian Ramirez (Gregori, Modesto)
RB/LB Jahkylle Smith (Golden Valley, Merced)
LB Kahmi Smith (Ceres)
DE LeBron Stallworth (Ceres)
WR Joey Stout (Pitman, Turlock)
DL Tito Tutonu (Davis, Modesto)
LB Cobi Twist (Davis, Modesto)
OL Nathan Valenzuela (Atwater)
DB Luis Vargas (Hilmar)
OL Fermin Villegas (Le Grand)

More State Softball Coaches of the Year

By Mark Tennis | Published June 17, 2023

California of Whittier softball head coach Jason Ramirez sits in a chair in a photo with players from the 2023 team. Photo: wuhsd.org.


In addition to overall State Coach of the Year Jim Bennet of Poway, we have additional state coaching honors for the 2022 season going to Jason Ramirez from California of Whittier (medium schools) and Melissa Snyder of Holtville (small schools).
Read more…

More Baseball Coaches of Year

By Mark Tennis | Published June 15, 2023

Birmingham baseball coach Matt Mowry plants a kiss on one of the five CIF L.A. City Section title trophies that his program has won in his 17-year career. Photo: Hudl.com.


In addition to overall State Coach of the Year David Jeans from De La Salle of Concord, we have additional state coaching honors for the 2023 season going to Matt Mowry from Birmingham of Lake Balboa (medium schools) and Stewart Peterson of Sutter (small schools).
 Read more…

Lions All-Star FB: June 24 (Tracy)

By Mark Tennis | Published June 9, 2023


Here are some updates regarding the upcoming Lions All-Star Football Game that will be played Saturday, June 24 in Tracy. This is a game that is local to us in Stockton and we help the game in a volunteer capacity as a way of giving back to our local high school sports community.

It’s been four years since the Central California Lions All-Star Football Game has been played in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it’s back and the year No. 47 for the event will finally happen on Saturday, June 24 at Tracy High School’s Wayne Schneider Stadium.

The game was last played in June of 2019 at Alex G. Spanos Stadium on the campus of Lincoln High in Stockton. It had been played in Tracy for the six years prior to that from 2013 to 2018. The Lions All-Star Football Classic began in 1974 and was held at the University of Pacific’s Memorial Stadium until 2011.

This year’s game will feature for the first time tickets that can be purchased through GoFan.com. Tickets are $10. We are asking for cash only for tickets at the game site on game day and for additional items such as t-shirts, concessions and game programs.
Here is the link to get tickets on GoFan:
https://gofan.co/app/events/997689?schoolId=CA87815

State Small Schools Players of the Year Ryker Peters of Escalon is slated to play for the North in Lions All-Star Football Game. Photo: FrontRowPreps.com.


The North won in the final seconds of the 2019 game, 19-18, to snap a six-game winless streak (one of the games was a tie). With the win, the North now leads in the overall series 25-19-1. Since the South was the home team in 2019, the North will be the home team this year.

Selected in January to be the head coaches for this year were Booker Guyton from Edison of Stockton (North) and the duo of Trent Merzon of Oakdale and Tim Garcia from Davis of Modesto (South). Coach Guyton was supposed to be the head coach of the North squad for the 2020 game that was cancelled due to the pandemic. The South coach from 2020 has moved out of state.

Merzon has retired as the head coach at Oakdale after the 2022 season and will be coaching his son, Mick, as one of the South all-stars. This final stint for Coach Merzon on the sidelines also is going to be even more special with good friend Tim Garcia serving as co-coach. The two co-coaches also will be joined on the sidelines as assistants by two other huge names in Sac-Joaquin Section football history – Mark Malone and Mike Glines.

Malone is the former head coach at Oakdale who later became superintendent of the Oakdale Unified School District. He retired in 2021 and will be traveling from out to state to be part of the Lions game.

Glines is the former head coach at Central Catholic of Modesto who retired after the 2007 season with 214 all-time wins. Glines also is the one who first hired Tim Garcia to be a football coach.

With Merzon, Glines and Lions All-Star Football Committee member Wayne Schneider all scheduled to be there for this year’s game, it will bring together three of the top coaches in the history of California football going by winning percentage for those with 150 wins or more. Glines, in fact, is still No. 2 on the all-time state list at 214-31-3 (trailing only the legendary Bob Ladouceur of Concord De La Salle) at 86.3 percent. Schneider retired in 1994 at 224-59-5 for 78.6 percent. Merzon ended with one win more than Schneider at 225-62-2, but his winning percentage was just a tick lower at 78.3.

Gates will open on Saturday, June 24 at 5 pm with pregame photos and lineups getting ready to be announced at 6 pm. Kickoff is set for 7 pm. Lions clubs attending the game also are reminded to please bring their banners for display.

GAME DEDICATION

This year’s 47th edition of the Lions All-Star Football Game is respectfully being dedicated to the memory of Gene Weatherby. Mr. Weatherby was a longtime member of the Lions All-Star Football Game committee who died last March at age 86. His son, Jason, also was recently a head coach for the North team in the game and Jason also played in the game representing Calaveras High of San Andreas. Grandson Logan Weatherby also played in the 2019 game. Gene had a long career as a civil engineer in Calaveras County.

North Team (Alphabetical roster)

OL/DL Aveon Brown (Kimball, Tracy)
TE/DE Joshua Chavez (Stagg, Stockton)
LB Alijah Cota (Manteca)
RB Joe Cowan (Linden)
DL Jaiden Crawford (Chavez, Stockton)
RB Tyrone De Loney (Lincoln, Stockton)
DB Freezandren Dosty (Edison, Stockton)
LB Kai Elkins (Summerville, Tuolomne)
TE/DE Mohamed Kamara (Franklin, Stockton)
DE/FB Jacob Lanticse (Linden)
LB Zachary McMartin (Kimball, Tracy)
OL Michiel Marsh (Linden)
WR Kurtis Maynor (Tracy)
QB Jayden McKey (Kimball, Tracy)
OL Hector Meza (Lathrop)
OL/DL Aidan Monarrez (Tracy)
WR Owen Nash (Escalon)
QB Kenyon Nelson (Lincoln, Stockton)
P Braeden Orlandi (Calaveras, San Andreas)
RB Ryker Peters (Escalon)
RB Johnel Pettus (Edison, Stockton)
QB Jerry Raguindin (Stagg, Stockton)
PK Eric Rodriguez (Edison, Stockton)
OL/DL Tyler Sells (Sonora)
LB Simon Smiley (Stagg, Stockton)
OL Samuel Vigil (Escalon)
Note: More players still need to be added to fill out North team.

South Team (Alphabetical Roster)

LB Bryant Austin (Merced)
OL Diego Barajas (Livingston)
LB Kai Brazil (Orestimba, Newman)
LB Liam Bridgford (Hughson)
Roland Brown (Central Catholic, Modesto)
DB Mark Carreiro (Los Banos)
LB Michael Edmond II (Johansen, Modesto)
DB Kailin Frade (Buhach Colony, Atwater)
DL Manvir Gakhal (Pacheco, Los Banos)
QB Eleazar Garza (Golden Valley, Merced)
QB Cole Gilbert (Turlock)
OL Cornell Gilkey (Buhach Colony, Atwater)
OL Landon Gomes (Hilmar)
OL Isaac Haro (Merced)
WR Gabriel Hernandez (Downey, Modesto)
RB Tarrell Lee-Gill (Ceres)
WR Vincent Lopez (Orestimba, Newman)
DB Nicholas Mendoza (Atwater)
WR Mick Merzon (Oakdale)
DB Jaelen Nichols (Central Catholic, Modesto)
DL Brock Osmundson (Oakdale)
OL Dorian Ramirez (Gregori, Modesto)
Jahkylle Smith (Golden Valley, Merced)
LB Kahmi Smith (Ceres)
DE LeBron Stallworth (Ceres)
WR Joey Stout (Pitman, Turlock)
DL Tito Tutonu (Davis, Modesto)
LB Cobi Twist (Davis, Modesto)
OL Nathan Valenzuela (Atwater)
DB Luis Vargas (Hilmar)
OL Fermin Villegas (Le Grand)
WR Kayson Welch (Los Banos)

Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle: @CalHiSports

Willow Glen Softball Makes Mark as NorCal D2 Champs

By Mark Tennis | Published June 4, 2023

Freshman pitcher Alanna Clincy of San Jose Willow Glen holds CIF D2 NorCal regional title trophy after team edged Notre Dame of Salinas on Saturday in the championship game. Photo: Mark Tennis / Cal-Hi Sports.


On a day that began by going to a CIF NorCal regional baseball final, it ended with another dramatic win as Willow Glen of San Jose walked off a 6-5 victory in the CIF NorCal D2 softball championship.

TO SEE OUR WRITEUP OF THE CIF NORCAL D1 BASEBALL FINAL ALSO SEEN ON SATURDAY, CLICK HERE.

It wasn’t possible to attend both the CIF NorCal D1 baseball and softball finals on Saturday given the distance and starting times between the campus of Valley Christian in San Jose and Hollister to the south. But it was possible to try to hit the NorCal D2 softball championship at Willow Glen of San Jose after the baseball game.

It was mission accomplished. The length of the D1 baseball game (which was won by De La Salle of Concord 11-8) that began at 1 p.m. and the softball game (it started at 4 p.m.) meant seeing both games from beginning to end did not happen, but it was still very much a close game at Willow Glen against Notre Dame of Salinas at 2-2 in the bottom of the fourth inning upon arrival.

Th host Rams were in the midst of rally that saw them score three times for a 5-2 lead in that fourth inning, but it didn’t last long. Notre Dame has one of the most feared batters in Northern California in junior Addison Amaral (committed to Notre Dame University), who smashed a home run in the top of the fifth. The Spirits then punched across two more runs on an two-run single by Maddie Albert-Day to tie the score at 5-5.

Both teams had chances to score in the sixth, then in the seventh the Spirits used walks and a fielder’s choice to get a runner to third base with one out. Willow Glen freshman pitcher Alanna Clincy, however, then struck out one batter and got a pop up to end the threat. In the bottom of the seventh, with one out the Rams struck with a single by Katelynn Dilbeck, who was quickly followed by McKenna Campbell hitting a fly ball deep and toward the left field line. A pinch runner raced around from first and scored the winning run.

Campbell has been one of Willow Glen’s leading hitters all season, along with fellow senior Faamaai Ulu.

It also was a breakthrough win for the Rams. They finished 23-7 with some early losses sprinkled around some significant wins, especially one that came when Archbishop Mitty of San Jose was unbeaten early on. Head coach Don Spignola also challenged the team with a matchup against nationally ranked St. Francis of Mountain View, which was a 3-0 loss.

“Yes, it did,” said Spignola when asked if that win over Mitty provided a lot of confidence for the rest of the season. “This was another good team we just played. We threw Crawford (Lea) and Clincy all season and they kept us in every game. It was just different people coming through in the clutch in different games.”

To reach the NorCal D2 final, Willow Glen earned wins over Casa Grande of Petaluma and CIF Central Section D1 runner-up Bullard of Fresno. Notre Dame had gotten past an East Nicolaus of Nicolaus team in the semis that was 29-1-1 and has one of the state’s top softball traditions with the second best record in the state during the decade of the 2000s and a state record for most consecutive section titles that was set at nine in between 1998 and 2006.

With some younger players like Dilbeck, Crawford and Clincy, Willow Glen softball may be starting something even more special in the coming seasons.

NBA Finals Alums: NorCal Flavored

By Mark Tennis | Published June 1, 2023

Gabe Vincent of the Miami Heat visited his alma-mater last summer (left) to a free clinic of kids from the Stockton community. At right, Archbishop Mitty’s Aaron Gordon battles to score during 2013 CIF Open Division state final vs Mater Dei. Photos: Twitter.com & Willie Eashman.


One of the two Northern California alums in this year’s NBA Finals has been called “the missing link” for his team to go all the way. The other has become a key starter and was even the leading scorer in an Eastern Conference finals’ game for his team. How do Aaron Gordon and Gabe Vincent rank among the best years in NBA Finals history for NorCal alums on different teams?

For an updated look at our all-time NBA Finals Alums (Gold Club), CLICK HERE.

Note: We hope you enjoy this free post on CalHiSports.com. Updated player rankings in boys hoops going out this week are for Gold Club members only. All final rankings in all sports also are for Gold Club only. You can now join for one-month rate of just $3.99. For subscription info, CLICK HERE.

(Managing editor Ronnie Flores contributed to this post.)

For the history of the NBA Finals, Northern California has a great place to start for a high school alum doing great things. That’s, of course, with the legendary Bill Russell of Oakland McClymonds and Boston Celtics’ fame. And for many of Russell’s championship seasons, guard K.C. Jones from Commerce of San Francisco was right there with them.

There are not many years, though, in which this year’s duo of starting players Aaron Gordon from Archbishop Mitty of San Jose and Gabe Vincent from St. Mary’s of Stockton can be matched by starting players on different teams.

You have to go back to 2007 when Drew Gooden of the Cleveland Cavaliers (from El Cerrito) and Bruce Bowen of the San Antonio Spurs (from Edison of Fresno) were starting players on opposing teams in the NBA Finals who went to Northern California high schools. Bowen also started for the Spurs in 2003 against Jason Kidd of the New Jersey Nets (from Alameda St. Joseph). There also was the 1993 Chicago Bulls with Bill Cartwright (Elk Grove) playing against the Phoenix Suns with Kevin Johnson (Sacramento High). The only other year we’d say was similar to Gordon and Vincent would be 1975 with Phil Smith of the Golden State Warriors (San Francisco Washington) and Phil Chenier of the Washington Bullets (Berkeley).

Gordon and Vincent were both standout players in high school. Gordon was of course more than that as he was Mr. Basketball State Player of the Year for both 2012 and 2013. Vincent didn’t get those kinds of accolades but as a junior in 2013 he was all-state for Division 2 and then as a senior in 2014 he was second team all-state overall (10 on first, 10 on second).

We saw both of them play their final games in high school. Gordon and his team at Mitty played in the very first CIF Open Division state final and fell to Mater Dei of Santa Ana (which was led by junior Stanley Johnson with 26 points), 50-45. He had 22 points and 12 rebounds. Vincent poured in 40 points in his last game at St. Mary’s, but it wasn’t enough in a 76-74 loss to Cosumnes Oaks of Elk Grove in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs. Gabe had a good look at a possible game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer but the shot bounced off the back rim.

Gordon also had a more projectable NBA future. He played just one year at the University of Arizona and then went at No. 4 in the first round to the Orlando Magic. Vincent played a full four years at UC Santa Barbara and was undrafted. He worked his way up through the NBA G League, including one stint for his hometown Stockton Kings, and eventually got his shot with the Heat. When the team was last in the NBA Finals during the bubble season of 2020, Vincent was listed on the roster as a two-way G-League player. He never dressed or played a minute in that series, however.

Fast forward to today and Gordon is in his second year with the Nuggets after a trade with Orlando. With his ability to rebound, block shots, score in the paint and defend against elite players like LeBron James of the Lakers, he is the type of player that was missing from the Nuggets’ lineup when they lost to the Lakers in the 2020 NBA Western Conference finals. With Nikola Jokic playing like an MVP and Jamaal Murray returning to form after a knee injury, Gordon helped the Nuggets sweep the Lakers in this year’s conference finals.

“We are excited that AG is making the NBA Finals,” said Tim Kennedy, Aaron’s high school coach and still the head coach at Mitty. “It’s a great fit at Denver and it’s unique that he’s found a place where all they care about is doing everything to help the team win. He keeps getting better and stronger both physically and mentally.”

After Vincent scored a career high 29 points to lead the Heat to win over the Boston Celtics, the team only needed one more win for it to win in its conference finals via a sweep as well. That didn’t happen, though, as Boston came back to get three wins to force a Game Seven. Vincent had 10 points in that win for Miami after he had to miss Game 5 with a sprained ankle.

“Our staff and our school is having a surreal experience to see Gabe play at this level,” said current St. Mary’s head coach Ken Green, who also was Vincent’s head coach. “He’s not only competing at this level, but doing more than that.

“When people talk about the Heat culture, Gabe already had a lot of that in him. He made the game seem easy and he worked so hard at every practice.”

Green was asked if he could name the only other player from a Stockton high school who has been in the NBA Finals. He answered correctly: John Gianelli, a back-up center for the New York Knicks, in 1973 who is from Edison. The only other two players from a San Jose high school who have been in the NBA Finals have been Mark McNamara from Del Mar of San Jose (once for the 76ers and once for the Lakers) and Dennis Awtrey from Blackford of San Jose (once for the Supersonics and once for the Suns).

Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle: @CalHiSports

All-State Girls BB Patch List

By Mark Tennis | Published May 5, 2023

Our all-state hoops patch for this year (2023) is now available to order at BillyTees.com. Patches also come with a certificate to further recognize the achievement.


For those just wanting to check to see about a particular player on this year’s All-State Underclass Team for girls basketball without being a subscriber, here is a simple alphabetical list. If you want the full presentation and are not Gold Club, please check out getting a membership today.
Read more…

Yes, It’s True: We’ve Added Tip Button

By Mark Tennis | Published May 5, 2023

This has been done for a couple of reasons, but one of them is that it’s a way for fans of our major two contributors, Ronnie Flores and Harold Abend, to more directly show them some appreciation for the work they do on behalf of boys and girls basketball high school teams, players and coaches for many, many years.

Leaving a tip for someone who has a job writing and/or editing stories about high school sports may not be the same as tipping a delivery driver or a food server or many others who do service jobs. But for those of us at Cal-Hi Sports it’s not a job. It’s been part of our life for more than 45 years and while for many of those years it was part of a job within the framework of Student Sports Inc. or ESPN, for the last nine years it’s not been like that.

All tips left through this button through Sunday, May 7 will directly go to our longtime boys basketball analyst Ronnie Flores. This was another great season of work by Ronnie on our site. CLICK HERE to support Ronnie.


We’ve had to keep going with a CalHiSports.com website and have had to keep it operating mostly through subscriptions. A model with 100 percent free content supported by advertising just is not in our DNA. We write, edit and compile lists, rankings and records in five sports and that’s still what we prefer to do with as much of our time as possible. Advertisers can be served and we have done that over the years. The subscription model was just something we knew how to do from the time we spent in the 2000s building a high school network at Rivals.com.

This brings us to 2023 and it’s not that adding a tip button is going to be something we need to work for us to keep going. We’re just hoping it can add just a little extra to the subscriptions already coming in and that have been growing at the levels they were before the pandemic.

The way in which our tip button has been set up on PayPal also will enable us to promote special tipping days and weekends so that every tip that comes in during a particular period of time can be tracked and then given to a particular person. For us, that means we hope a few extra dollars for Ronnie and Harold.

As mentioned in the intro to the tip button when someone hits it, giving us a tip also may be a preferable way for someone to show appreciation for our work for all these years without becoming a subscriber and having a monthly or quarterly or yearly charge hitting a credit card. This group of people would include parents of graduating seniors or coaches who are retiring.

Cal-Hi Sports has been providing state rankings, state records, all-state teams and more in five sports for more than 40 years. For more than 20 years, we’ve also been working with Ronnie as our partner for boys basketball and with Harold for girls basketball. They are now covering players with NIL deals that will all earn a lot more money than they or us will ever make. That’s fine. None of us do this for the money. Still, it would be nice to know we’re appreciated and leaving us a tip is just another way to do that.

All-State Boys BB Patch List

By Mark Tennis | Published April 24, 2023

Our all-state hoops patch for this year (2023) is now available to order at BillyTees.com. Patches also come with a certificate to further recognize the achievement.


For those just wanting to check to see about a particular player on this year’s All-State Underclass Team for boys basketball without being a subscriber, here is a simple alphabetical list. If you want the full presentation and are not Gold Club, please check out getting a membership today.
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