Time for a couple of quick updates before the weekend ...

Bakersfield High's Travis Rasmussen began his run at All-American status at the Senior Nationals wrestling tournament in Virginia Beach, Va., today. He was 1-1, beating an Arizona wrestler 11-4 before losing to an Illionis wrestler 4-2 in the second round. He'll continue wrestling Saturday, needing to win at least five matches before losing if he's to be an All-American.

Arvin 103-pounder Edgar Diaz is the other Kern County wrestler at senior nationals, but the 103-pound bracket is smaller and doesn't get under way until Saturday.

As for an update on Jonah Cruz and Jonah Ramirez, who wrestled in Junior Nationals earlier this week, Cruz finished one victory short of being Junior All-America, and Ramirez went two-and-out.

Speaking of honors, have a look at the All-Area boys and girls soccer teams released Friday. Players of the year were Javier Piña from East and the Kassi Massey/Laura Johnson combo from Stockdale.

Wrestling teams come out Saturday and basketball on Sunday. Here's a scoop for those of you who read the blog: Travis Rasmussen is our Wrestler of the Year.

OK, so as far as scoops go, that one was pretty bad. But seriously, check out the Californian's Saturday and Sunday sports sections to read about the rest of the All-Area athletes. All very deserving kids, and they have some great stories behind them, too.

League play starts next week, and it's business as usual in Kern County baseball, with the Southwest Yosemite League sitting atop the heap.

The big guns, Stockdale and Centennial, are blazing in the early season to lead the league's charge. Centennial is 13-3 overall and 6-1 against the Southeast Yosemite League, with the only loss a 7-6 affair against Liberty. The Golden Hawks and Patriots meet again Friday at Centennial in a key nonconference game. Centennial is hitting heavy, boasting second-team preseason Rawlings All-American Jarret Martin, an outfielder hitting .306. And that's only the 10th-best average on the team. Wow. Sam Westendorf is hitting .600, and Joe Ramirez, Dustin Robinson and Martin have combined for 16 home runs already.

Stockdale is more about pitching, I think, and it starts with Philip Valos, an ace lefthander, and K.C. Hobson, who's also a big bat in the middle of the lineup. The Mustangs are 16-1 and they've have beaten the pulp out of a few teams. Their only loss came in a surprise to Bakersfield High, which we'll get to later. Stockdale's offense, after Hobson and a couple other big bats, is built around getting on base and using team speed to put together big innings.

Centennial vs. Stockdale on April 11 (at Stockdale) and again on May 7 (at Centennial), so mark your calendars.

The rest of the SWYL ain't too shabby, either. North is 12-5 and beat Liberty 8-5 on Thursday, a big win for a team that wants to challenge CHS and SHS at the top of its league. Ridgeview is 11-5 and has perhaps the area's very best player in Art Charles, a first baseman who could go as high as the first or second round in the MLB draft in June. West is only 7-9 but reached the final of the Terrio Therapy Spring Classic, and South is 8-6. Probably only Frontier (4-9) qualifies as an "easy" win in that league.

Meanwhile, in the SEYL, there's two ways to look at things. One, the league is weaker than ever, with even Liberty (8-8-1) struggling a little bit, or two, that it's more balanced than it has been. The Patriots have dominated the SEYL in the past, going 31-1 over the past three seasons. I think it'll be a bit closer this year.

Bakersfield High has proven itself to be a tough game, and the Drillers might present a challenge (at least nominally) to Liberty. BHS is 11-6 with that aforementioned 7-6 victory over Stockdale (the first time the teams played, it was 12-0 Mustangs). Liberty and BHS play April 10 (at BHS) and May 6 (at Liberty).

The rest of the SEYL is typically ho-hum, though Highland (7-8) has shown some spunk and Garces will be competitive. I wouldn't expect a whole lot out of Golden Valley, Foothill or East.

As for the South Sequoia League, Bakersfield Christian is definitely the team to beat. The Eagles have racked up a 14-1 league record, including three wins against Golden Valley and another against Frontier. Taft and Wasco will be the only other SSL teams to touch BCHS, which beat Taft 6-1 in an early league game.

Bottom line, the SWYL is where baseball lives — the league is 43-22 vs. the SEYL and 10-1 vs. the SSL. Nearly every league game will be a dogfight.

I had a quick chat with Foothill football coach Dennis Manning yesterday at Rabobank Arena, where he had just been introduced as the East team's coach in the Edge Arena Bowl all-star game. Sounds like that for all the talk of his possible resignation, he's staying put at Foothill.

He said it was a difficult situation and it sounded like he'll lose an assistant or two either to layoffs or to involuntary transfers, but he was still holding out hope that his staff, one of the best in the section, could return intact for next year. He also mentioned the Trojans should have a heck of a team next year.

We'll have to see how this all pans out. Coaches like Manning are going to have to come to grips with the fact that there's a state budget crisis up in Sacramento, and that nobody is safe from its repercussions. That means you could see quite a bit of attrition in the coaching ranks this summer.

And really, like Manning said, it's nobody's fault. There's not enough money to go around, so the Kern High School District has to make cuts. That's going to result in some unfortunate layoffs, but that doesn't mean KHSD likes doing it. Everybody's hands seem to be tied on this one.

On to a bit of brighter news. National High School wrestling tournaments are this week in Vriginia Beach, Va., and several Kern County stars are taking part. The brackets are split up by class (meaning that you can be a freshman All-American, sophomore All-American, etc.). Arvin's Edgar Diaz and Bakersfield's Travis Rasmussen are in the senior nationals brackets, which don't get started until Friday. The other three classes started tonight.

Here are today's results:
Juniors
Jonah Cruz, Bakersfield High 140-pounder, def. Tyler Lee, Texas, 13-4
Cruz def. Kevin Matyas, New York, 10-1. He'll face Max Ortega of Rio Rancho (N.M.) in the round of 16. Funny, i wrestled a few Rio Rancho guys in my time. I'll bet Cruz fares better than I ever did.

Jose Ramirez, Bakersfield High 160-pounder, lost to Craig Kelliher, Minnesota, 6-0

This is a pretty big deal as far as attracting college attention and testing yourself against the rest of the nation, so kudos to those guys for going and for any success they have.

Thursday we'll do a look at Kern County baseball, like we did with softball and track a few weeks back. Looks like the SWYL is loaded again...

Since I know you all are waiting with bated breath, here are the rosters for the May 2 Edge Arena Bowl at Rabobank Arena. Keep in mind that these are "unofficial" rosters, which, by my guess, means the folks in charge haven't gotten a hold of a few kids to confirm that they can make it. So expect a few minor changes before it's official.

The West has won all six of these all-star arena games (all when it was called the Blitz Bowl), and there was already some friendly trash-talking between the teams today at the introductory news conference. I'd say (and my opinion is certainly a limited one, considering I covered high school football in Southwest Missouri last fall, not in Bakersfield) that the East might have an advantage this year. The East has three players headed to Division I-A schools; the West none. Dennis Manning has some arena football experience (last year's game and a year with the Blitz); Steve Sprague has none. But, then again, you never can tell with something like this. It should be an entertaining game.

West

Coach: Steve Sprague, Taft
Gene Blair, Ridgeview
Allen Daniels, West
Dionte Tomlin, West
Rodney Miller, West
Roland Meyers, South
Luis Diaz, Stockdale
Brandon Benavides, Stockdale
Tyler Thompson, Shafter
Nico Garza, McFarland
Dalton Botts, Taft
Lyndon Fagauu, Taft
Kyle Taylor, Taft
James Hiracheta, Taft
Ryan Clanton, Bakersfield Christian
J.T. Peterson, BCHS
Josh Gallington, BCHS
Brock Bivens, Centennial
Jacob Cross, Centennial
Pedro Quintero, Centennial
Joey Betrand, Centennial
Cameron Shelton, Centennial
Anthony Masuda, Centennial
Andrew Quintero, Centennial
Tony Lenz, Frazier Mountain
Sam Teare, Frazier Mountain
D'Abre Dugan, Wasco
Spencer Kennedy, Lighthouse Christian

East

Coach: Dennis Manning, Foothill
Anthony Johnson, Highland
Justin Owens, Highland
Kyle Atchley, Highland
Joe Feliz, Garces
Tanner Webb, North
Derek Karns, North
Joey Caraballo, Arvin
Randy Davenport, Foothill
Derrick Hartman, Foothill
Eric Jones, Foothill
Deandre Wallace, Foothill
Casey Sorrell, Liberty
Byron Campbell, Liberty
Matt Akers, Liberty
Chad Pollard, Liberty
Pete Mitchell, Bakersfield
Mark Durando, Bakersfield
Mitch Knoy, Bakersfield
Emmanuel Ojeriakhi, Bakersfield
Collin Ellis, Bakersfield
Sean Andrew, Bakersfield
Vince Van Horne, Bakersfield
Alek Talilulu, Tehachapi
Andre Smith, East
Eddie Morrow, East
Jake Lanier, East
Emmett Hodges, Golden Valley

Hey, hey, everybody. Welcome back from Spring Break. Lots to talk about this spring, including teachers' involuntary transfers to other schools, which could split up coaches from their teams and from each other. We'll also keep an eye on some track and field standouts — Foothill's Dayshan Ragans and Shafter's Anna Jelmini seem poised to make runs at state titles in the discus and shot put — and several talented teams in other sports. Not to mention the Edge Arena Bowl, an indoor football all-star game that holds its seventh edition May 2.

We'll get to all of that in due time. To begin with, here's a look at what to watch for in the first post-break week:

Wednesday — Centennial, Frontier and South meet at South for a track meet that could be a good barometer for the SWYL meet. Also, Bakersfield High visits Liberty in boys tennis and there's an SEYL mini-tourney for golf at Sycamore Canyon.

Thursday — A good chance to see the golfers in the SWYL at Riverlakes.

Friday — Liberty at Centennial in one of the premier non-conference baseball tilts of the season

Saturday — Garces holds its swimming invitational at McMurtrey Aquatic Center. Most of the city teams will be there, it looks like, so a good opportunity to gauge teams' strengths there.

I'll report back later with a look at the rosters and coaches for the Arena Bowl.

I'm not going to give up any secrets, but the All-Area teams for winter sports have been selected, along with a Player (or Wrestler) of the Year and a Coach of the Year in each sport.

Picking the teams, of course, ain't easy. Consider this: Typical all-league teams for basketball include anywhere from eight to 10 players for a six- or seven-team league; the Californian's All-Area team has an MVP plus six spots, and that's for the whole county.

Soccer teams? 12 players, including the MVP, in each sport. Wrestling? One wrestler at each weight class, including the MVW.

So if you felt your favorite team or player was under-represented, consider that it's a very high cut line. Only the very elite can make one of the teams.

Here's the schedule for the teams' releases:

Friday, March 28 — Boys and girls soccer
Saturday, March 29 — Wrestling
Sunday, March 30 — Boys and girls basketball

Sometimes it's hard to squeeze high school news out of spring break, but there seems to be a fair amount this week. We'll start football, everybody's favorite.

There was a news conference this weekend in L.A., and word is the state football championships likely are on their way out of the Home Depot Center in Carson. The interest here for Kern County, of course, is that Bakersfield College's Memorial Stadium is one of the front-runners to become the state site. There would be some fantastic football here every December if that were to be the case.

In other news, Bakersfield baseball teams are faring well in out-of-town tournaments. Highland won a 7-6 thriller today against San Diego-Madison in the Lions Classic down in San Diego. Centennial won twice yesterday, including a 6-4 victory against USA Today's No. 4 team, Tucson-Catalina Foothills, yesterday at the Blazer Sportco Spring Bash in Las Vegas. Centennial dropped a 4-3 game today to Las Vegas-Bonanza, but the Golden Hawks are 9-2 on the year.

I hesitate to even mention rumors, so take this post with a huge grain of salt. But there's something going on with the football program at Foothill High.

We had heard a few rumblings of it here in the office, and now there's a message thread on the topic over at cvhspreps.com. For those who don't want to browse through the thread, the rumors are that Foothill football coach Dennis Manning, who led the Trojans to last fall's Division III Central Section title game, offered his resignation after finding out that several of his assistant coaches had been involuntariy reassigned.

I'm not going to comment on what I think of the situation or whether I think they're even true, but I'll tell you what concrete information I have (it's not much).

I called Manning yesterday evening, and he told me he couldn't comment on the situation, saying only "we've got some serious problems over here," and that I'd have to "investigate what's going on at Foothill with job cuts."

Today, after several attempts, I got a hold of Foothill athletic director Kevin Platt. He basically said there was no story. But the way he answered still makes you think something is happening or is about to happen.

"I would hope not," Platt said. "Dennis is here as long as he wants to be here."

I then asked Platt, point-blank, if any of Manning's assistant coaches were going to be reassigned.

"Possibly," he said. "We don't know that yet. Some could have been reassigned, but I'm not privy to all that information yet. I think they informed them that it could be a possibility. The state budget crisis still looms, but we won't find out anything absolute until May or June.

"I hope we can keep this staff intact. They've done a great job, but we just don't know anything concrete."

Clear as mud, right? In Platt's defense, I'm sure he doesn't get a lot of that information until a decision has already been made. And it sounds like, even if the rumors are true, no one is being laid off, just reassigned against their will.

Foothill principal Brenda Lewis had already left for the weekend and for spring break when I called the school at about 3:30 p.m. Friday.

And that's another wrench in this story. Spring Break is next week, and we almost certainly won't know anything final at least until it's over.

Of course, the Kern High School District has final say in all personnel matters and probably is the one handing down any reassignment orders. But KHSD spokesman John Teves said he didn't know of any resignations at Foothill.

The bottom line is, there's no story yet, not that anyone can confirm. But "yet" might be the key the word there.

Was just handed a release here in the office informing us that the artist formerly known as the Blitz Bowl will be played again, only this time it'll be known as the Edge Arena Bowl.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Blitz Bowl (like me until approximately four minutes ago), it's basically a senior all-star football game, like they have in hundreds of places around the country. Only Kern County's game has a twist: It's arena football, played by AFL rules at the Rabobank Arena.

The news is a bit of a surprise, of course, because the title sponsor of the event for its first six years was the Bakersfield Blitz, the now-defunct Arena Football League2 team that made Rabobank its home.

I'm glad they found a way to keep the game around, because this strikes me as a really cool idea. Gives people other than the kids' parents, coaches and teammates to show up at an all-star game. When else do you get to see a burner like Emmanuel Ojeriakhi or Anthony Johnson return a kick bouncing off the net rebound (watch Week 1 highlights), or Zander Fabbri or Matt Akers crunching somebody against a wall.

Last year the game drew more than 4,000 fans. For those of you unfamiliar with the way arena ball works, it has the same basic rules, except it's played on a 50-yard field, has walls, and the goalposts are much narrower. Here's a complete rundown.

Oh, and if you didn't notice: I learned how to link! I finally bit the bullet and admitted I didn't understand our complicated system. Turns out, it wasn't nearly as complicated as I was trying to make it.

One more note: Stockdale's David Carr has signed with the Super Bowl champions. He now joins the Colts' Jim Sorgi as the two men with one of the best jobs in America: Backing up a Manning.

Every area, it seems like, has a few sports where it seems like the locals rise above the rest. Football, in Kern County, it seems like, is pretty darn good, with four section champions in the five divisions. Basketball isn't bad, but I'd say Fresno still has the edge there. Same with wrestling.

Obviously, I'm still new here and don't know all of the sports, but I'd say track and field might be the best of all. Judging on what I've seen so far, there are some tremendous athletes around here.

Foothill's Dayshan Ragans, who's been in the news because he signed with CSUB last week, is one of the nation's best shot-putters, and he's right up there in the discus also. From what I understand, a dual state championship is certainly not out of the question for him, and not to get at least one could be considered a disappointment.

On the girls side, Shafter's Anna Jelmini is a threat to do well in state.

Foothill distance runner Chris Schwartz was a Division I cross country champ, so you know he'll do well, and there are already a few youngsters joining the list. Stockdale freshman Alex Collatz set a high school record for freshmen in the discus at an exhibition meet at East and Garces sophomore Phillip McCullum tied a Central Section record with a 6-foot-5 high jump at the Kern Invitational on Saturday.

Should be an exciting spring. One note, though. This is by no means a comprehensive list of the best track and fielders out there. I haven't tracked 'em all down yet. So if there's somebody else who's going to compete for a section title or beyond, let me know with a comment and I'll post an amended list later in the week.

Before we get to the main post, let's play a quick word-association game. I'll let Garces junior Stephon Carter handle the first answer for me:

Campbell Hall and star guard Jrue Holiday? "As good as advertised," Carter said.

Garces' boys team? Poised for an even deeper run next year.

Garces' girls team? A fantastic, out-of-the-blue run by another team could be even better next season.

Dayshan Ragans? A state champion shot putter for Foothill and an absolute coup for Cal State Bakersfield in the recruiting wars. The Roadrunners beat out at least Fresno State and Arizona for a guy who says his goal is to throw 70 feet during his senior year. (The NCAA's regional qualifying standard is only 55 feet).

And now, on to the main post, which today is about Kern County softball.

I spent the afternoon out at North Rosedale Park covering the Driller Tournament, and it looks like both city league races and the SSL race should all be pretty interesting as the season goes on.

Garces is the hot team in the Southeast Yosemite League, starting 11-0-1 with a senior-laden team that looks like it can really hit up and down its lineup. But Liberty might have the area's best player in junior Cassidy Bell, who hit a three-run homer to best Tehachapi 3-2 in a pool-play game that allowed the Patriots to make the elimination phase of the bracket. East barely missed the second phase, and Golden Valley, Foothill and Bakersfield High were competitive. And the other team, Highland, is 1-11 but won the Division III section title last year. So there aren't any easy games in that league schedule.

As for the SWYL, Ridgeview and Frontier are both off to somewhat surprising fast starts. Both have reached the elimination phase and boast gaudy records. North also won its pool. But two teams that aren't even in the tournament, Centennial and Stockdale, might be the best two teams in all of Kern County. Only West and South appear to be down a bit.

Wasco won its pool at the Driller Tournament over tough teams like Fresno-Edison, Ridgeview and Golden Valley and might be the favorite in the South Sequoia League. But Tehachapi will have something to say about that, and I would guess neither Bakersfield Christian nor Shafter will be a roll-over, either.

You can check out videos on YouTube, MaxPreps, Ball is Life, or wherever else they may be, or you can just trust me on this one.

Campbell Hall's Jrue Holiday is one heck of a basketball player. It's become a cliché, but it's very fitting in this case: Holiday cannot be stopped, only contained.

And it's Garces' challenge to do that in North Hollywood tonight in the Division IV SoCal semifinals at 8 p.m. The Rams have their own great player in junior Stephon Carter, but even he doesn't measure up to Holiday, who's considered the best point guard in the country and UCLA's top recruit for next season.

By the way, the recruiting services call Holiday a "point guard," but if he's a point guard, he's some sort of mutant (maybe he is). He's 6-foot-4, averages 2-3 blocks a game (and I'm talking about the swatting, get-out-of-my-lane variety) and can post up and dunk. Closer to what you might call a point guard in the NBA, which makes sense, because that's exactly where Holiday is headed in a few years.

As big of a challenge as Holiday and his Campbell Hall teammates will be for Garces tonight, it's going to be a fun experience for the Bakersfield contingent down there tonight, even if Campbell Hall wins by 30. How often can you say you went up against the very best there is? (OK, CH is ranked 10th in the state by MaxPreps, but this is about as good as it gets in the country).

Rams coach Gino Lacava, Carter and just about everyone involved seemed genuinely excited to go down and take their shot. Win or lose, there should be quite a show tonight.

And don't forget, the Garces girls have their own stiff challenge to face at 7 tonight. They travel to L.A.-Marlborough and Rutgers signee Nikki Speed, who's probably named quite appropriately. If either of these Garces teams wins, it'll be a big-time upset. But it's going to be fun either way.

What a night it was for Garces, which will send both its boys and girls basketball teams into the state quarterfinals (technically, the Southern California semifinals, but who wants to get techinical?) after two very different victories at home.

The finals: Garces girls 48, Whittier Christian 46
                    Garces boys 72, Carlsbad-Army Navy 51

First came the girls, who I'd just about left for dead with three minutes left and La Habra-Whittier Christian up 43-34. Sure, nine points isn't insurmountable even with just three minutes to play, but the way Garces had been shooting — struggling to get open looks and missing them when it did — I thought there was no way the Rams would get to 43, much less pass it.

What followed was one of the more remarkable comebacks I've ever seen. Garces reeled off 13 straight points until a Whittier Christian 3-pointer with a second left made things interesting. How'd they do it? Well, first of all, shots started falling. Freshman Caitlin Bernardin hit a baseline jumper and then a 3 from the corner to make it a four-point game. For another thing, Whittier Christian — which brought its pep band, cheerleaders and a couple hundred fans — wilted under Garces' extra dose of pressure.

Bernardin made a steal, Kirsten Acosta made a three-point play, a couple more free throws, then a steal of her own which led to two more free throws. Just like that, Garces was into the quarterfinals.

As for the boys, I'll put it like this. I told Stephon Carter (he of the 32 points, 13 rebounds and four steals) after the game that I didn't remember a game where the teams' objectives were so clear: Garces to speed things up and Army Navy to slow them down.

The more I think about it, the more I think I should have put it like this: I've never seen one team accomplish its objective more thoroughly than Garces did. The Rams had Army Navy running from the start, turning them over and getting easy buckets. Army Navy was missing its 6-10 center to an ankle injury, but I really don't think it made much difference. The visitors from the south rarely got a chance to use their size advantage.

Even when Army Navy got back within eight early in the fourth quarter, the pace of the game was fast, and Garces answered that with a 15-2 flurry.

So congratulations to both Garces squads, which now will travel to the L.A. area for quarterfinal games on Thursday. Both have tough assignments: the girls against L.A.-Marlborough and the boys against Campbell Hall and UCLA signee (this year's O.J. Mayo, maybe?) Jrue Holiday.

Other Kern County teams didn't fare so well Tuesday. Here's the damage:

Div. II boys — Santa Ana-Mater Dei 76, Centennial 39
Div. II girls — Chino Hills-Ayala 90, Centennial 51 (both Centennial squads should be proud to get this far; neither had much of a chance at this stage)
Div. IV boys — Campbell Hall 88, Rosamond 22 (ugh, though Campbell Hall will do that to a lot of people)
Div. V boys — El Cajon-Foothills Christian 68, Bakersfield Christian 62 (a lot better than the 68-34 score I originally heard)

What's everybody think? Does either Garces team stand a chance?

 I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry when I took a gander at the CIF State Basketball Championships brackets released Sunday.

Nothing against Centennial or coach Alex Lee, who's a great guy, but the Golden Hawks were the object of my snicker. CHS drew Santa Ana-Mater Dei in the first round of the Division II boys state playoffs.

It would be enough if Centennial, which made a great run to the Central Section title game only to be routed by Fresno-Edison, just had to play a 31-1 team that was ranked first in the state by MaxPreps.

But add to the equation that Mater Dei's one loss came in its last game, a 63-60 defeat in the Southern Section Div. IAA championship Saturday. So the Monarchs will probably motivated and angry when Centennial comes into their gym Tuesday night.

Can Centennial win? I don't see any possible way. They'd do Kern County and the Central Section well just to keep this one within 20. Honestly, I don't think that'll happen either. And again, this is nothing against Centennial. Mater Dei is that good and won't be at all ripe for an upset right after its first loss.

The other big news out of the basketball brackets is that in Division IV, Garces will host an old-fashioned girls-boys doubleheader Tuesday, with the girls facing Whittier Christian and the boys taking on Carlsbad-Army Navy right afterwards. Festivities begin at 6 p.m.

Centennial's girls team, a Central Section champ, was awarded with a home game. But the Golden Hawks are a No. 7 seed and will face No. 2 Chino Hills-Ayala at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Three other local teams are in the state playoffs:

Div. I girls — No. 12 Stockdale at No. 5 Fontana-A.B. Miller, 7 p.m. Monday
Div. V boys — No. 6 Bakersfield Christian at No. 3 El Cajon-Foothills Christian, 7 p.m. Tuesday
Div. V boys — No. 9 LACES at No. 8 Rosamond, 7 p.m. Monday

Winners on Tuesday would play in Thursday's state quarterfinals. Teams that play Monday and win have to play again Tuesday and then Thursday if they win again. State championships are March 14 and 15 at ARCO Arena in Sacramento.