I had a bit of a crazy weekend, or at least a crazy moment on the weekend, Saturday night while running in the 10K race at the Howlin' at the Moon fun run put on by the Bakersfield Police Department. Read here for what happened; my thoughts and prayers go out to the young man running in front of me and to his family.

On a less serious note, Foothill 3,200-meter state champion and former cross country state champ Chris Schwartz was also in the 10K race. He beat me by 10 minutes, somehow leaving me impressed with myself.

Let's get back to our Year in Reviews. It's the slowest three days of the sports year, with even Major League Baseball taking its annual break, so there are no excuses not to read these, especially if you didn't follow every high school sport during the year.

See that shameless plug? I'm good, aren't I?

2008-09 Kern County BOYS SOCCER

Overview: This is an interesting sport to follow in Kern County, because the powers-that-be in most Bakersfield high school sports (ahem, Bakersfield, Stockdale, Centennial, Liberty, Frontier) are not always the powers that be in boys soccer. For the second year running, Golden Valley clearly had the best team in town. There's a collection of talent down there that coach Troy Lynch has done a great job getting to buy into a ball-control, defense-first scheme that usually allows the Bulldogs to show off plenty of individual skill, too. GV won the Division III section title a year after finishing as a heart-breaking runner-up. Highland also had a great year. Elsewhere, West won the SWYL even without one of its better players and made the Division II final before losing at home to Tulare Western. The wild, wild South Sequoia League finished with Wasco on top, but the Tigers fell to league rival Arvin in penalty kicks in the Division IV semifinals. Arvin then lost to Fresno-Roosevelt in the final.

Best team: At one time, Golden Valley was 18-0-3 and had what appeared to be a fair shot at an unbeaten season. That didn't last, thanks to losses at Bakersfield and at Liberty, but the Bulldogs still came through at 25-2-3 and Division III section champions. It's pretty clear that the SEYL was the toughest local league, and though things got interesting at the end of the year, the Bulldogs led it wire to wire. It's really too bad that they didn't play in a higher playoff division; they went 3-2-1 against Division I teams, including a tie against D-I runner-up Fresno-Central. Golden Valley won with stifling defense — they allowed just 16 goals in those 30 games — and brilliant ball control.
Honorable mention: Bakersfield, Liberty, West, Highland, Wasco, Stockdale, Arvin, Shafter

Best player: Plenty to choose from here, especially considering soccer is one of the ultimate team games, but I'll go with Golden Valley's Matt Clemons, who was the rock of the defense mentioned above. It was rare that a goal-scorer saw much breathing room when Clemons was on him, and that's a big reason why GV was so successful. Like in baseball and basketball, defense can often get underrated in soccer, so let's give a shout-out to the back line.
Honorable mention: Golden Valley F Joel Jauregui, Centennial M Ryan Lemay, West F Jorge Salas, Highland G Carlos Rodriguez, Arvin F Noel Lopez, Bakersfield M Greg Quintero

Best game: There were several meetings between the teams, but the best — and one with some pretty high stakes — came when Golden Valley visited Highland to finish the regular season. The teams battled through a physical game to a 0-0 draw after regulation. A tie would do the Scots no good in the crowded SEYL league race, though (Liberty and Bakersfield were playing another key game simultaneously), and when they tried to push for a goal, Golden Valley swiftly counter-attacked and netted two of its own to put away the game and its second straight SEYL title. The teams would play again not two weeks later in the Division III playoffs, this time with Highland taking a 1-0 lead before the Bulldogs stormed back for a 3-1 win.
Honorable mention: Stockdale 1, Bakersfield 0, D-I quarterfinal; Golden Valley 3, Highland 1, D-III semifinal; Bakersfield 2, Golden Valley 1; Arvin 3, Wasco 2, shootout

A look ahead: Many of the best players in town were seniors, including Clemons, Jauregui and Quintero, so we may experience a changing of the guard in some leagues around the county. West does return Jorge Salas, who filled in admirably when the Vikings' top scorer, Amilcar Escobar, was declared academically ineligible early in the league season. That should help West next year. Another team to keep an eye on is Wasco, which returns arguably its best player in Edgar Placencia, and has been under the radar for a few years now. There's good boys soccer in the SSL, and this might be the year it really moves to the forefront (kind of like it did in football last year). I also like what Highland, Bakersfield and Stockdale have been building, and Liberty, even in a down year, was competitve last year. The Patriots might be back on the top perch in 2009-10.

Year in Review Index
July 1: Football
July 2: Volleyball
July 3: Boys cross country
July 6: Girls cross country
July 7: Girls tennis
July 8: Girls golf
July 9: Boys basketball
July 10: Girls basketball
July 11: Wrestling

Tomorrow: Girls soccer