Quick-hitting, behind-the-scenes news and notes from the CalHiSports.com staff, including previews of upcoming content and events.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
Records can always be broken, but no one will ever take away the milestone achievement when longtime head football coach Herb Meyer won the 300th game of his career while coaching at El Camino High in Oceanside in the early 2000s. He became the first football coach in state history to reach 300 career wins and it doesn’t matter who else has done it since then. He’ll always be the first.
Meyer, who also will always go down as the first coach in state history to win 100 games at two different schools, died this week at age 87 while on vacation in Washington. According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, he was still going to Friday night games at El Camino as recently as last season.
Herb Meyer also still holds the record for best winning percentage among coaches in San Diego Section history with 200 wins or more. Photo: LinkedIn.
Meyer began his career at Oceanside High (where he also went, Class of 1953) in 1959. His teams there won two CIF San Diego Section titles and went 133-44-6 through 1975 when he switched to open the new school in town at El Camino. He built the Wildcats into a section perennial contender until retiring after the 2003 season. At El Camino, his teams compiled a 226-104-9 record with eight section titles.
When we were first getting into compiling state coaching records in the 1980s, Carson’s Gene Vollnogle (also now deceased) was the winningest coach in state history in football. He retired in 1990 with 289 wins. Meyer moved past Vollnogle into the No. 1 position a few years later and stayed in the No. 1 spot with his final total of 338 wins until it was surpassed in 2005 by Marijon Ancich (then coaching at St. Paul of Santa Fe Springs).
When Ancich retired for the first time after the 2005 season (he came back to coach the Swordsmen again for the 2009, 2010 and 2011 seasons), he held the record until the first game of the 2009 season when it was broken by Bob Ladouceur of Concord De La Salle. Lad went on to coach through the 2012 season and retired with the record sitting at 399 wins. Ancich is still No. 2 at 360.
We were fortunate one day at one of our early Student Sports/Cal-Hi Sports events in the late 1990s to speak with both Meyer and Vollnogle about their coaching careers. As they stood under a canopy, they both felt very fortunate to have had the careers they did, but spent most of their time talking about De La Salle. “That guy is going to leave all of us in the dust,” Meyer said of Ladouceur.
On another day when Meyer brought a talented team to a summer 7-on-7 event at University of the Pacific in Stockton, he couldn’t stop raving about the talented twosome he had of Bryant Westbrook and Michael Booker. He was right. Westbrook and Booker later became both first round picks in the same NFL Draft. How many coaches can say they ever coached two guys like that on the same team?
Since he retired, Meyer has received multiple honors and awards. He was the first football coach from California inducted into the National High School Sports Hall of Fame in 1995 and he’s in the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame. He’ll also be in the new California High School Football Hall of Fame (coming soon to the Rose Bowl) and in 2010 the Southern California Football Coaches Association renamed its Distinguished Service Award in Herb’s name.
We at Cal-Hi Sports also would like to extend our condolences and best wishes to Herb’s family and to all of those in San Diego and around the nation who knew him well.
Etiwanda head coach Stan Delus hands off the CIF Open Division state title trophy to standout junior Kennedy Smith following team’s win in Sacramento. Photo: Samuel Stringer.
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(Associate editor Harold Abend contributed to this article)
There was a time not long ago when it was almost normal for a stellar girls basketball program in California to earn back-to-back final No. 1 state rankings. The age of the Open Division that began in 2013 has definitely helped prevent it, but so has the competition level among the very top level of teams.
From 2000 to 2006, teams at Narbonne of Harbor City, Lynwood and Piedmont all won two straight Cal-Hi Sports State Team of the Year honors. Then from 2010 to 2012, Mater Dei of Santa Ana gained the top spot for three straight seasons.
It was expected by many that in 2023 there would be the first-ever back-to-back CIF Open Division state champion State Team of the Year crowned. It sure looked that way after the CIF Southern Section Open finals as 2022 champion Sierra Canyon rolled to a 70-57 win over Etiwanda. The Trailblazers also went to the regional playoffs unbeaten and ranked No. 1 in the nation.
But playing teams for the second time around proved to be a good situation for Etiwanda. Instead of a coronation of a perfect season and newly crowned Gatorade National Player of the Year Juju Watkins being sent off to the college level with every single possible championship and accolade, the Eagles were not cooperative. They upset the Trailblazers in a rematch last week to win the CIF SoCal Open title and then needed a buzzer-beating put-back by Jada Sanders to nip Archbishop Mitty of San Jose for the state title last Saturday at the Golden 1 Center.
No, it’s not Sierra Canyon that was added to the 2023 line on the all-time state list of State Teams of the Year. It’s Etiwanda and it’s now been done.
“Our staff and players are honored to be the State Team of the Year, as we have worked hard to handle all the elements to improve as a unit, daily throughout the season,” said head coach Stan Delus in a text sent on Tuesday morning. “Our mental toughness evolved with every lesson, to where we were ready for anything & everything, especially in the state championship run.”
This is the second time in three years that a team from the Inland Empire region of the state has been State Team of the Year. The team from 2021 that earned the recognition, however, Centennial of Corona, was not able to win a CIF Open state title due to the state championships not being held and only the SoCal regionals being held due to COVID. Etiwanda is therefore the first team from the Inland Empire to be State Team of the Year AND win a CIF state title since the legendary Cheryl Miller led Riverside Poly to doing it two years in a row in 1981 and 1982.
Etiwanda will now take its crack at going back-to-back and has the returning players next season to greatly enhance those chances. Kennedy Smith, the 2022 State Sophomore of the Year, led the Eagles against Mitty with 30 points, 13 rebounds, six steals and four blocks. Aliyahna “Puff” Morris, the 2022 State Freshman of the Year, had 14 points and four assists. Senior starters Majesty Cade and Sa’La Hemingway will be missed but junior Mykelle Richards and Sanders (who came off the bench in the state final) also will be back.
With those two star players returning and their relentless drive to win when they are on the court, this could be an entirely different State Team of the Year announcement 12 months from now.
Cal-Hi Sports Girls Basketball
State Teams of the Year All-Time List
2023 – Etiwanda (32-3)
2022 – Chatsworth Sierra Canyon (30-2)
2021 – Corona Centennial (25-1)
2020 – La Jolla Country Day (32-1)
2019 – Chatsworth Sierra Canyon (33-1)
2018 – Los Angeles Windward (27-3)
2017 – Fresno Clovis West (34-2)
2016 – West Hills Chaminade (31-4)
2015 – Stockton St. Mary’s (34-1)
2014 – Long Beach Poly (27-3)
2013 – Oakland Bishop O’Dowd (30-3)
2012 – Santa Ana Mater Dei (34-3)
2011 – Santa Ana Mater Dei (34-1)
2010 – Santa Ana Mater Dei (32-1)
2009 – Brea Olinda Brea (33-2)
2008 – S.F. Sacred Heart Cathedral (33-0)
2007 – Long Beach Poly (36-1)
2006 – Fullerton Troy (33-1)
2005 – Piedmont (32-2)
2004 – Piedmont (33-2)
2003 – Lynwood (32-1)
2002 – Lynwood (32-0)
2001 – Harbor City Narbonne (28-3)
2000 – Harbor City Narbonne (34-0)
1999 – San Jose Archbishop Mitty (31-0)
1998 – Harbor City Narbonne (32-1)*
1997 – Berkeley (29-3)
1996 – Irvine Woodbridge (32-2)
1995 – Irvine Woodbridge (33-1)
1994 – Brea Olinda Brea (33-0)
1993 – Lynwood (31-0)
1992 – RH Estates Peninsula (33-0)
1991 – Berkeley (30-2)
1990 – Inglewood Morningside (32-3)
1989 – Inglewood Morningside (33-1)
1988 – Fremont Oakland (28-0)**
1987 – San Diego Point Loma (34-0)
1986 – San Diego Point Loma (31-1)
1985 – Compton (26-0)
1984 – Ventura Buena (31-0)
1983 – Ventura Buena (28-4)
1982 – Riverside Poly (34-0)
1981 – Riverside Poly (29-0)
1980 – Berkeley (29-0)
1979 – Woodland Hills El Camino Real (19-0)
1978 – Huntington Beach (25-2)
1977 – Los Angeles (16-0)
1976 – Ventura (23-0)
1975 – Chula Vista Hilltop (18-0)
1974 – Berkeley (19-1)
1973 – Fresno San Joaquin Memorial (12-0)
1972 – Ventura Buena (8-0)
*Forfeit losses not included. CIF Division I state title vacated due to residency issues.
**Eleven wins forfeited due to use of ineligible player.
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
Harvard-Westlake players & coaches are shown at center court at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento after their win in CIF Open Division state final. Photo: Samuel Stringer / Cal-Hi Sports.
Note: We hope you enjoy this free post o CalHiSports.com. Upcoming final state rankings and some of our all-state teams will be for Gold Club members only. To become a member of our Gold Club so you can check out all of our boys basketball content, including player rankings in each class, please CLICK HERE.
(Managing editor Ronnie Flores contributed to this article)
The players surrounding Harvard-Westlake head coach Dave Rebibo after they had defeated St. Joseph of Santa Maria last Saturday at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento for the CIF Open Division state title got a little amped up when their coach didn’t immediately declare them the best team he’s ever coached.
“Okay, yes, they are the best team I’ve coached,” said Rebibo, who had a previous CIF state title team in D4 in 2016. “They are just so connected to each other. Win or lose after this game they wanted to travel back together just to be with each other one last time.”
It was a different story, though, when it was asked about the team being on the same all-time list of teams that have been No. 1 in the state.
“We’re fine to say we’re the second best ever (from Harvard-Westlake),” the coach added. “These guys up here won’t get it, but some of the people in the back get it (why that’s the case).”
There were also a few others that were in the press conference (especially those of us from Cal-Hi Sports) who saw Harvard-Westlake’s only other State Team of the Year, which came after the 1997 CIF state championships. There were no Open Divisions or competitive equity seedings then, but the Wolverines cruised to the D3 state title, lost just one game all season (which was in the finals of a major tourney in Las Vegas to a team from North Carolina that was led by future Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady) and were ranked No. 11 the last time we did our all-time rankings of the greatest teams in state history.
When Jaron and Jason Collins played at Harvard-Westlake of North Hollywood, their parents were always close by. Photo: Willie Eashman / Cal-Hi Sports.
Small forward Rico Cabrera Jr., shooting guard Ryan Smiley, and point guard Victor Munoz rounded out the starting lineup for that 1997 team. Despite all of its accomplishments, however, this year’s starters with junior Trent Perry at the point, with senior Jacob Huggins providing most of the inside power and then senior Brady Dunlap, senior Robert Hinton and sophomore Nikolas Khamenia able to do pretty much everything within the team’s system would be hard to top as a unit that as the coach said was completely connected to each other. Junior Christian Horry also scored in the state final.
Just for this year’s team to have been able to knock off the school that had been State Team of the Year for 2021 and 2022, Centennial of Corona, also is a feat hard to top despite historical comparisons. Centennial didn’t win a CIF state title in 2021 (the COVID season in which there were no CIF state playoffs) but was No. 1 in the final rankings. Sierra Canyon also wasn’t able to win a CIF state title in 2020 since the pandemic hit just a few days before those finals. The Trailblazers did win CIF Open titles in both 2018 and 2019 and were named State Team of the Year after winning the 2020 CIF SoCal Open Division regional title. And other than those two schools, there are no others on the all-time list of state No. 1 teams from the San Fernando Valley.
Cal-Hi Sports Boys Basketball
State Teams of the Year All-Time List
2023 – Studio City Harvard-Westlake (33-2)
2022 – Corona Centennial (33-1)
2021 – Corona Centennial (21-2)
2020 – Chatsworth Sierra Canyon (30-4)
2019 – Chatsworth Sierra Canyon (32-3)
2018 – Chatsworth Sierra Canyon (27-4)
2017 – Torrance Bishop Montgomery (31-2)
2016 – Chino Hills (35-0)
2015 – Oakland Bishop O’Dowd (28-4)
2014 – Santa Ana Mater Dei (35-0)
2013 – Santa Ana Mater Dei (34-2)
2012 – Santa Ana Mater Dei (34-2)
2011 – Santa Ana Mater Dei (32-3)
2010 – Los Angeles Westchester (32-3)
2009 – Los Angeles Westchester (35-2)
2008 – Oakland McClymonds (32-0)
2007 – Lakewood Artesia (33-2)
2006 – Lakewood Artesia (32-1)
2005 – Los Angeles Westchester (25-3)
2004 – Los Angeles Westchester (23-2)
2003 – Santa Ana Mater Dei (34-2)
2002 – Los Angeles Westchester (32-2)
2001 – Santa Ana Mater Dei (33-2)
2000 – Compton Dominguez (35-2)
1999 – Compton Dominguez (32-3)
1998 – Los Angeles Westchester (29-3)
1997 – Studio City Harvard-Westlake (35-1)
1996 – Compton Dominguez (34-2)
1995 – Santa Ana Mater Dei (36-1)
1994 – Los Angeles Crenshaw (29-2)
1993 – Los Angeles Crenshaw (26-2)
1992 – Alameda St. Joseph (32-3)
1991 – Alameda St. Joseph (31-3)
1990 – Santa Ana Mater Dei (34-1)
1989 – Los Angeles Crenshaw (25-2)
1988 – Los Angeles Manual Arts (27-3)
1987 – Santa Ana Mater Dei (31-1)
1986 – Los Angeles Crenshaw (25-2)
1985 – Los Angeles Crenshaw (24-0)
1984 – Long Beach Poly (31-2)
1983 – Los Angeles Crenshaw (27-2)
1982 – Carson (26-2)
1981 – Long Beach Poly (26-2)
1980 – Inglewood (29-0)
1979 – Los Angeles Verbum Dei (28-1)
1978 – Pasadena (26-2)
1977 – Oakland Fremont (25-1)
1976 – Long Beach Poly (30-1)
1975 – Elk Grove (27-5)
1974 – Los Angeles Verbum Dei (30-2)
1973 – Los Angeles Verbum Dei (29-2)
1972 – Los Angeles Verbum Dei (30-1)
1971 – Los Angeles Verbum Dei (29-2)
1970 – Berkeley (32-0)
1969 – Compton (30-0)
1968 – Compton (32-0)
1967 – Los Angeles Fremont (16-2)
1966 – Los Angeles Jordan (18-0)
1965 – Long Beach Poly (29-3)
1964 – Long Beach Poly (32-1)
1963 – Oakland McClymonds (19-3)
1962 – Oakland McClymonds (23-0)
1961 – Compton (28-3)
1960 – Oakland McClymonds (22-0)
1959 – Oakland McClymonds (22-0)
1958 – Oakland McClymonds (21-0)
1957 – San Francisco Poly (28-1)
1956 – El Cerrito (31-1)
1955 – Alhambra (27-2)
1954 – San Francisco St. Ignatius (26-2)
1953 – Los Angeles Loyola (34-2)
1952 – Compton (32-0)
1951 – Los Angeles Jefferson (27-0)
1950 – Chico (15-3)
1949 – Los Angeles Washington (21-0)
1948 – San Francisco Lincoln (29-2)
1947 – Los Angeles Mt. Carmel (34-2)
1946 – Stockton (20-2)
1945 – San Diego Hoover (16-1)
1944 – Alameda (15-1)
1943 – San Francisco St. Ignatius (14-0)
1942 – Palo Alto (18-0)
1941 – Glendale Hoover (21-1)
1940 – Long Beach Poly (22-2)
1939 – San Francisco Lowell (17-3)
1938 – Whittier (24-3)
1937 – San Francisco Lowell (17-3)
1936 – San Diego (14-1)
1935 – Santa Barbara (14-1)
1934 – Santa Barbara (16-1)
1933 – Stockton (16-2)
1932 – San Francisco Lowell (18-3)
1931 – Whittier (25-1)
1930 – Palo Alto (13-0)
Note: List continues back to 1903 in Cal-Hi Sports Record Book & Almanac. All selections prior to 1975 made retroactively based on research by our founder, the late Nelson Tennis.
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
