Late again. Sorry. I'll do better, I promise.

Today's preview takes us into the High Desert League, which is always a good race between some evenly matched schools. You rarely see the mismatches here that you do in the Yosemite Leagues around the Central Section, so it can be kind of fun to keep an eye on. Today we examine a team trying to stay towards the top of the heap and one that's looking to get there. We'll do a couple of non-desert High Desert teams tomorrow. Enjoy.

DESERT SCORPIONS

Coach: Chris Hinton (sixth year)

2008 record: 7-4 (2-2 High Desert League, 4-1 home)
Average points: 31.3
Average points allowed: 24.7
*Average rush yards: 310.3
*Average rush yards allowed: 284.4
*Average pass yards: 29.0
*Average pass yards allowed: 78.9
Best win: Desert 56, Boron 40
Worst loss: Frazier Mountain 19, Desert 16
*—yardage figures are from MaxPreps and are only used if at least half of games are available. Take them with a grain of salt. Figure could be skewed depending on which games, if any, are missing

Key players: Chris Buchanan, sr, RB/DB; Justin Kennett, sr, OL/LB; Brandon Taylor, jr, OL/DL; Carl Jacobsen, sr, WR/DL

Key losses: Terrence Wells, QB/DB; Steven Ronfeldt, OL/DL; Dorian Smith, WR/LB; Josh Villalobos, OL/LB

Outlook: Relax, Desert fans. The sky is not falling on the Scorpions football program just because all-everything quarterback Terrence Wells has graduated. Yes, Wells was a Division I caliber athlete (he had offers all over the place but went to Antelope Valley junior college because his grades weren’t quite good enough for D-I yet), yes, his team gave Frazier Mountain its only league win last year in the one game he missed with injury, and yes, this year’s Desert team has only three senior starters returning from last year’s squad. But there is good news. The two players charged with replacing Wells are junior Dannon Curry (spicy yogurt, as coach Chris Hinton joked) and sophomore Will Keene. Both can run, as the QB in a triple-option offense has to, though Curry is probably the more athletic of the two and Keene the better pure passer. Chris Buchanan, one of the three senior returning starters, rushed for 551 yards in half a season last year. But the big news is the offensive line where giants Malik Rivers (325 pounds) and Brandon Taylor (295) return to anchor a group that should give those skill players time to do their thing. If the Scorpions can get a young defense to gel, they’ll compete for their second High Desert League title in three years. And even if they’ve got to win shootouts, even without Wells, another playoff berth is well within reach.

Quotable: “Our expectations haven’t changed. Obviously we’re going to have to do it in different ways because we’re not going to have that one kid. We’re going to have to spread the ball around.” — Hinton

ROSAMOND ROADRUNNERS

Coach: George Esquer (first year)

2008 record: 2-8 (1-3 High Desert League, 1-4 home)
Average points: 15.3
Average points allowed: 27.3
*Average rush yards: N/A
*Average rush yards allowed: 236.1
*Average pass yards: N/A
*Average pass yards allowed: 84.4
Best win: Rosamond 22, Frazier Mountain 0
Worst loss: Bishop 30, Rosamond 10
*—yardage figures are from MaxPreps and are only used if at least half of games are available. Take them with a grain of salt. Figure could be skewed depending on which games, if any, are missing

Key players: Nick Lloyd, sr, RB/LB; Tyler Villanueva, sr, WR/DB; Victor Olmos, sr, WR/DB; Kevin Powers, sr, OL/DL — injured; George Mazun, sr, RB/DB; Curtis McCann, sr, RB/DB

Key losses: Marquiel Archibald, QB/LB; Vance Franco, RB; Courtney Quinton, OL/DL; Steven Porter, OL/DL; Matt Sanchez, DB

Outlook: It was one year and out the door for Doug South as athletic director and football coach at Rosamond. My sources tell me that there was some kind of disagreement with administration at the school, but I don’t have many details. The point is, the Roadrunners will have to adapt to a new coach and theoretically a new system for the third time in four years. That’s rough for a football team in a league as balanced as the High Desert, even if Rosamond has one of the HDL’s higher enrollments. Here’s the good news — based on first impressions, they’ve got a guy in George Esquer who can right the ship for the long term. Esquer comes with a defensive pedigree from bigger schools; he was the defensive coordinator at Lancaster last year and the DC at Lancaster-Paraclete prior to that. This is his first varsity head coaching gig. He’s optimistic, even going as far to say that the Roadrunners can challenge for a top-three league finish and playoff berth, but he has the realism needed too. Before Rosamond is ready to compete with the HDL’s big boys, it’s going to take some time and stability.

Quotable: “I like what I see a lot. We have a lot of dedicated young men eager to learn. It’s very encouraging. We should be very competitive and surprise some people.” — Esquer

HS FOOTBALL PREVIEW INDEX
July 29: Lighthouse Christian, Maricopa, Immanuel Christian
July 30: Mojave, Boron

TOMORROW: Climbing the peaks — Frazier Mountain and Kern Valley

Sorry this is a bit late tonight — just got off the phone with Boron coach Todd Fink a few minutes ago and have been gathering some more info.

We started high school football season previews yesterday with Kern County's 8-man schools, and now it's time to move on to the full squads.

Today's season previews focus in on the Desert Mountain League, where Boron has long been a title contender (or even a favorite) most years. Now there's a new horse in the race. Mojave moves in from the High Desert League after one year as an independent.

MOJAVE MUSTANGS

Coach: Larry Satterfield (18th year)

2008 record: 7-6 (freelance, 4-3 home)
Average points: 21.8
Average points allowed: 24.2
*Average rush yards: N/A
*Average rush yards allowed: 172.5
*Average pass yards: N/A
*Average pass yards allowed: 92.8
Best win: Mojave 35, San Juan Capistrano-Saddleback Valley Christian 14
Worst loss: Acton-Vasquez 36, Mojave 33
*—yardage figures are from MaxPreps and are only used if at least half of games are available. Take them with a grain of salt. Figure could be skewed depending on which games, if any, are missing

Key players: Cleo Brown, soph, RB/DL; Norman Early, jr, RB/LB; Billy Cannaday, sr, WR/DB; Dennis Nemeth, sr, QB/DB

Key losses: Doug Wilson, QB/DB; Garland Smith, RB/LB; Bryan Cantalupo, OL/DL; Quintel Madlock, WR/DB/KR

Outlook: It’s the beginning of a new era for the Mustangs, who lost a bunch of enrollment to the new California City High School, which is in its second year (Satterfield said Mojave is down to an enrollment of about 300). Seeing that writing on the wall, the school moved out of the High Desert League last year — Cal City has replaced it — spent 2008 as an independent and then joined the Desert Mountain League this year. That’s a tiny-school league, so that’s going to obviously help competitively, but the DML has also been Boron’s territory for a long time (see above). The Mustangs, though, bring an interesting team into the mix. They’ve got only 20 players on the roster but quite a few returners among them from a team that won its last two regular-season games last year to sneak into the Southern Section playoffs and then went on a run, beating No. 1 seed San Juan Capistrano-Saddleback Valley Christian and Yermo-Silver Valley — now a league opponent — on its way to the section semifinals. Mojave ought to have enough horses back from that team to finish in the top three in the DML — good enough to be eligible for another playoff run.

Quotable: “We’ve got a lot of kids back from that team, and they saw what could happen if you just keep working. I really think that’s going to help us coming into this year. You see a different attitude with the kids coming in.” — Satterfield

BORON BOBCATS

Coach: Todd Fink (ninth year)

2008 record:10-2 (4-0 Desert Mountain League, 6-2 home)
Average points: 44.3
Average points allowed: 22.1
*Average rush yards: 370.9
*Average rush yards allowed: 190.4
*Average pass yards: 76.2
*Average pass yards allowed: 137.9
Best win: Boron 46, Yermo-Silver Valley 27
Worst loss: Desert 56, Boron 40
*—yardage figures are from MaxPreps and are only used if at least half of games are available. Take them with a grain of salt. Figure could be skewed depending on which games, if any, are missing

Key players: Josh Core, jr, QB/DB; Leroy Taylor, sr, RB/DB; Cory Stanton, sr, WR/DL; Cody Caillier, sr, OL/LB; Cashe Sexton, jr, OL/DL

Key losses: Israel Lucas, RB/DB; Joshua Glass, WR/DL; Jason Hartman, WR/DB; J.R. Peleti, OL/DL

Outlook: If you paid attention to desert football last year, you heard a lot about Boron. First, the Bobcats were once again a small-school powerhouse in the Southern Section, racking up big numbers, 10 wins and staying in their section rankings all year long. Second and much more somber, Boron had to deal with the death of sophomore Vinnie Rodriguez, a talented player who died a few days after suffering severe head injuries during a play. So where are we a year later? Well, coach Todd Fink said Rodriguez's loss is still felt every day, that it'll never go away for most of his classmates but that they've done a remarkable job of dealing with it. As for the on-field product, Boron loses its big names, Joshua Glass and Israel Lucas, but returns eight offensive and seven defensive starters. That's remarkable for a school with enrollment of 143 and a football program with 21 players. The Bobcats will rely on an experienced line (four out of five starters back) and running back Leroy Taylor, who Fink said was running the ball better than anyone by the end of last year.

Quotable: "A lot of those guys were good friends with (Rodriguez), were close with him, grew up with him. To have something that devestating take place, that's going to live with guys. But kids are very resilient. They've done a fantastic job." — Fink

Tomorrow: High Desert League rivals — Desert and Rosamond

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, it is that time again. 

I've had my nose buried in high school football and haven't been paying a lot of attention to the non-sports world this week, but someone just brought it to my attention that the horrible news out of northwest Bakersfield yesterday hits home to our little sports bubble, too.

Andrea and Angel Santa Cruz died following a shooting at their home. They were the parents (Andrea her mother; Angel her stepfather) of Alex Gomez, the national champion girls wrestler who competes for Frontier's boys team. Gomez, who was Andrea's daughter from a previous marriage, will be a junior in the fall.

This is agonizing news for anyone who knew Andrea and Angel. It's times like these when it's difficult to be a writer, because I feel like I should have the words for everything. I don't have the words for this. I come across quite a few parents covering the high school sports beat, and these were two of the best — they updated me on everything Alex was doing, took the time to say hello when they saw me, gave me information when I asked for it and did it all without pushing for positive coverage or expecting anything in return. They also raised a polite, goal-oriented, focused daughter. I knew Angel better than Andrea, but if she was anything like him, I just cannot bring myself to imagine what happened at their home Thursday.

Thoughts and prayers go out to Alex, the Santa Cruz family, the Frontier wrestling team and anyone else involved.

Here it is, folks, the end of the road for this summer's Year in Reviews. I'm a little sad to see them go, because it's nice to relive some of the better moments from the past school year.

At the same time, what's more exciting than looking forward? Starting Wednesday, July 29 (the day I turn one-quarter century old), we'll have team-by-team previews published at School House Zach — starting with the small schools from the far reaches of Kern County and then slowly getting more Bakersfield-central. Same thing as last year but with a little more knowledge on my part. Actually being here for a football season helps, you know.

Speaking of the impending football season, here's a note we're publishing in The Californian each of the next three days. I'd like as many eyes to see this as possible, so pass it on if you know any ex-Kern County high school football players:

Did you play high school football in Kern County? Do you have a story to tell?
The Californian is looking for you.
In preperation for its annual high school football preview section, The Californian is asking former players to submit vignettes about their memories and observations of the game at the high school level.
Submissions should be 250 words or less and can be about any topic you choose — so long as it pertains to high school football. We are looking for players from any school in every decade back to the Kern Union High days in the 1930s and 1940s.
Please e-mail your vignette to sports@bakersfield.com or mail to: The Bakersfield Californian, c/o Sports Dept, P.O. Box 440, Bakersfield, CA 93302. Include your name, phone number, high school, years you played, your position and what you did after high school.
Entry deadline is Monday, Aug. 10.
Select submissions will be published in The Californian’s high school football preview section in early September.

Now to finish up the Year in Reviews with a visit to the links.

2008-09 Kern County BOYS GOLF

Overview: There was a lot of anticipation for this season around Stockdale parts, with junior Pete Fernandez coming off a state runner-up finish and a host of young talent behind him. But come the postseason, the Mustangs had a couple of mediocre days and left with a shallow feel to the year. On the other hand, Centennial junior Manav Shah was terrific at Seven Oaks to win the Central Section individual crown, and he and Fernandez put on a show with matching 69s at the Southern Cal Regional in Murrieta after an epic hail delay halted play on the first day of the tournament. But neither local player could get out of a playoff to get to state.
The other big stories were on the east side of town, where Highland came out of nowhere to win the SEYL and Garces, after a ho-hum regular season, came on strong at the end. The Rams shot a 380 at the South Area tournament — exactly what they needed to advance — and then did it again at the team section meet, narrowly missing a very unlikely championship.
At that same event, SSL champion Bakersfield Christian took the Division II team title.

Best team: I’ll go with what was the best team all year long, and that’s Stockdale. It’s funny; the Mustangs seemed like they were peaking at just the right time at the area meet, when they shot a season-low 366 to enter the postseason. But the nature of high school golf in the Central Section is that you’d better be good when they tell you to be, and the Mustangs struggled in Fresno during the team championships. Still, this was a good team and will continue to be so. Fernandez was the most consistent player around and sophomore Bryce Keene is the best young player in the county. Add a solid 3-4-5 of Alex Marina, Suraj Patel and Daniel King, and you’ve got the potential for a low-scoring machine.
Honorable mention: Centennial, Highland, Garces, Liberty

Best player: Last year, Fernandez won this award because he turned it on in the postseason even though Bakersfield’s Bhavik Patel had the slightly better scoring average throughout the year. Well, turnabout’s fair play. Fernandez was the No. 1 guy in town throughout the season, but Manav Shah was better when it counted the most, at the section championship — on Fernandez’s home course. They’re both great players, of course — they showed that with their rounds at  the SoCal regional — but give Shah his due. He’s always had great potential and just needed to tap into the game a little more mentally. When he did that, the results were awesome. If he can do thatconsistently, the sky is the limit for him.
Honorable mention: Pete Fernandez, Stockdale; Stephen Harmer, Garces; Bryce Keene, Stockdale; Connor Huser, Bakersfield

Best event: I’ll go with the Southern Cal regional, despite thathail storm. I’ll bet there are people living in Temecula Valley who had never seen anything like what we saw that day: A kind of swirling storm that never seemed to pass, throwing down sheets of rain and big hail balls about half the size of a golf ball. In the Midwest, you get that sort of thing. You’re not supposed to in Southern Cal. Anyway, when play resumed the next day, Shah and Fernandez continued to play really well. Shah hit every fairway and green in regulation but one, but he narrowly missed some putts, including one on 18 that would have gotten him to state. Instead, he settled for a berth in the playoff, where the two Bakersfield boys were the ones eliminated, just on the brink of advancing. Heart-breaking for the golfers; thrilling for spectators.
Honorable mention: South Area meet, Central Section individual championships

A look ahead: The returns of Fernandez and Keene make Stockdale the immediate favorite again, though it’s worth noting the Mustangs had quite a few battles with Centennial in SWYL mini-tournaments (the Golden Hawks even took a couple of them). Centennial’s team, led by Shah, also was quite young, so we could be in for more showdowns. On the east side, Highland had quite a few seniors, so the door might be open for Garces, Liberty or Bakersfield to re-take control. I like the way Garces finished the season, but losing Harmer at the top hurts.
On an individual level, the battle between Fernandez and Shah, the last two Californian Players of the Year, will be fun to watch every week as well. We’ll someone else come up and challenge them? Could even be their own teammates, Keene and Centennial’s Joseph Choi. Also — and I feel like I’m saying this in every sport — watch out for the rise of Frontier. It’s a matter of when, not if, the Titans become as golf-savvy as their league rivals.

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
July 13: Boys soccer
July 14: Girls soccer
July 15: Baseball
July 16: Softball
July 18: Boys track and field
July 19: Girls track and field
July 20: Boys swimming
July 21: Girls swimming
July 22: Boys tennis

An unfortunate note to pass along before we get going — Liberty two-sport star Mariah Alvidrez, who will be a senior tore an ACL a couple of weeks ago at a soccer camp and will miss volleyball season and at least part of soccer season. She's an outside hitter and striker and one of the best, if not the best, high school girl around in both sports, so this is devestating news for her and for Liberty. Alvidrez had torn her other ACL a couple of years ago and made a full recovery, so hopefully she's able to get through the rehab process again and come back to play a little more in high school and earn herself a college scholarship. Good luck, Mariah.

On to the Year in Review for tennis, which happens to be one of my favorite sports. Very few other sports are this kind of one-on-one thinking game — wrestling is another. In golf, you've got to think your way through a course, but you don't have to react to an opponent. In track and swimming, there isn't that one-on-one interaction, either. Not to mention, having played quite a bit of tennis, I can tell you it's a much more physically demanding sport than it looks.

Here's a review of who did what last year. Tomorrow brings boys golf and the end of our 2008-09 Year in Reviews.

2008-09 Kern County BOYS TENNIS

Overview: Quite an exciting year for local boys tennis, though, like in so many of these spring sports, most of the excitement centered around a certain school at Buena Vista Road and White Lane. That’d be Stockdale, home of two-time Central Section singles champion Jeremy Quiroz, home of Central Section doubles finalists Blaine Davenport and Pierre Tamer and home of a Central Section Division I team finalist. The Mustangs were present in the three biggest events in high school boys tennis in the Valley. They went 1-for-3.
Quiroz found out just how hard it is to repeat as a singles champion, especially when you’re heavily favored to do so. He needed three sets to get by Visalia-El Diamante’s Ryan Andrade in the section semifinals and then lost a tiebreaker in the first set to El D’s Josh Lorentzen in a rematch of last year’s final. Quiroz and Lorentzen were locked in a tight first game of the second set — Quiroz told me later he felt like he was slowly turning the tide but knew he was in for quite a tussle — when Lorentzen’s calf started to cramp up. It got progressively worse, and Quiroz took the second set rather easily, then was up 2-1 in the third set when Lorentzen finally had to call it quits. Quiroz is the first repeat singles champion since Centennial’s Ryan Haymond in 1999-2000, and while some might call Lorentzen’s retirement a stroke of luck for Quiroz, I say that fitness is a part of the game.
Meanwhile, Davenport and Tamer made a run from the No. 6 seed to the section final — they did get a break when Tehachapi’s No. 10 seed, Tyler Thoms and David Croy, knocked off the two-seed, but Davenport and Tamer beat the Warriors. But the Mustangs’ road would end there with a straight-set loss to Clovis’ Andrew Combs and Steven Gilbert. A few days later, the Mustangs would be groomsmen again, losing a couple of tight singles matches that left them hamstrung in doubles in a 6-3 championship loss to Clovis West.
Elsewhere? 2007 section singles champ Alex Nichols of Bakersfield Christian lost in the semifinals to Lorentzen, but his Eagles easily won the Division V team title. They did not, however, win the South Sequoia League. That honor belonged to Tehachapi for the first time in school history. The Warriors also made a run to the D-III team championship but lost 5-4 to Hanford West. In the very deep SEYL, Bakersfield was a bit better than Liberty and Garces. The Drillers reached the D-I semifinals before losing to Clovis West. Garces, the defending D-III champion, moved up to D-II and reached the final but were blasted there by El Diamante, which might have been the best team in the section in any division.

Best team: Stockdale had a lot of momentum all year, winning the Lynch Cup over Bakersfield Christian and Bakersfield (with Quiroz taking out Nichols and BHS’ David Mossman in a tight match) and then cruising through the SWYL for the umpteenth straight time. The Mustangs had also had some success up north, but they were given the No. 2 seed to Clovis West based on result against common opponents. That road trip proved to be costly, and the Mustangs ended up playing second fiddle to the Golden Eagles. Still, there was clearly no better team around, either at the top — with Quiroz, Davenport and Tamer — or at the bottom of the ladder, where Stockdale’s depth was so overwhelming that they often brought up half the JV team and still swept local opponents.
Honorable mention: Bakersfield, Tehachapi, Garces, Liberty, Bakersfield Christian

Best player: It’s safe to say that Quiroz’s decisions as a sophomore — to leave Bakersfield for a year at an Indian Wells tennis academy — and as a junior — to come back to play for Stockdale — have paid off. It’s rare to see a Valley player back up the singles title with another, either because of complacency, other opportunities (see current pro Robert Kendrick, who didn’t win two at Bullard and Clovis West because he was off to Florida for a while) or younger players coming up and stealing the glory (like what happened to Nichols). But Quiroz did it, and that’s a big credit to his consistent, thundering groundstrokes and clear head. He’ll head to Niagara University in New York next year and try to make some noise at the collegiate level.
Honorable mention: Alex Nichols, Bakersfield Christian; D.J. Johnson, East; David Mossman, Bakersfield; Nick Jacobs, Garces; James Griffin, Frontier; David Croy, Tehachapi

Best event: I saw quite a few entertaining matches this year, but the answer here has to be the individual section finals at Clovis-Buchanan, where Quiroz battled through, Thoms-Croy and Davenport-Tamer sprung some upsets to meet in the semifinals and all of the matches were close. It’s hard to match that much drama packed into one day on a few courts.
Honorable mention: Clovis West 6, Stockdale 3, Division I championship; Hanford West 5, Tehachapi 4, Division III championship; SEYL individual championships

A look ahead: With Quiroz and Nichols both gone, the title of Best Local Player is going to immediately fall to sophomore D.J. Johnson at East. Johnson was home-schooled throughout grade school, but I remember hearing about him when he was eighth grade. The kid is good, and he’s got some competitive fire, too: After he beat David Mossman in a fairly close match for the SEYL singles title, he was truly pumped. I believe some more young guns might come into the picture to challenge Johnson locally, which is a good thing, because Mossman, Jacobs and Griffin are all gone, too. David Croy of Tehachapi might be the other guy who can compete with Johnson locally. Can any of them catch Lorentzen, who will be the hands-down section favorite? Johnson lost to him convincingly in the section quarterfinals, so the local boys have some catching up to do.
On a team level, Stockdale will still be very deep, but the Mustangs will need it because they’ll lack the automatic points that Quiroz often provided. Probably a bit of a slide there. Who fills the gap? Bakersfield maybe, Liberty maybe, Frontier or Centennial maybe. But if Bakersfield Christian gets the influx of talented freshmen it’s expected to, the Eagles likely will at least pass Tehachapi and probably pass everyone locally. Another D-V title is a shoo-in.

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
July 13: Boys soccer
July 14: Girls soccer
July 15: Baseball
July 16: Softball
July 18: Boys track and field
July 19: Girls track and field
July 20: Boys swimming
July 21: Girls swimming

Tomorrow: Boys golf

I'll second what I said yesterday. It's hot, and talking about swimming somehow helps.

2008-09 Kern County GIRLS SWIMMING

Overview: The north part of the Central Section was especially dominant in girls swimming this year, leaving precious few bread crumbs for Kern County. There were some bright spots, like Frontier’s Stevie Hughey winning the section title in the 100-yard breaststroke and a very deep Stockdale team placing third in the section despite having just one individual place as high as second — Olivia Ramos, who was runner-up in the 100 butterfly and third in the 100 backstroke. The Mustangs also boasted top-10 finishes from Tiffanie Boe, Olivia Ramos, Emily Myers and all three relay teams. Garces’ girls made like the school’s boys and won a Division II Central Section title the week before.
It was outside the realm of consciousness of Bakersfield that Kern County’s best swimmer did her work. Out in Ridgecrest — and not even at the town’s public school, Burroughs, but at tiny Immanuel Christian — Mary Hanson was busy with some really special swimming. She won the Southern Section (and swimming is a sport that’s much, much deeper down south) in the 100 backstroke with a time, 53.48 seconds, that’s the second-fastest high school time in the nation this year. Hanson also placed second in the 100 freestyle with an impressive All-American time of 50.39.
Karlee Grundeis of East and Brooke Shuford of Bakersfield led the SEYL with a combined five titles and three top-10 finishes at the section meet (third in 200 IM and eighth in 500 free for Grundeis, and third in 100 breaststroke for Shuford). Liberty’s Jordan Reed and Frontier’s Kristyn Kirschenmann both finished in the top five in diving after battling to be Kern County’s best all year.

Best team: Like I said yesterday, swimming is one sport where it’s going to be very difficult to knock Stockdale from the pedestal. Between the Ramos sisters (there are three, including freshman Natalie), Boe and Myers, plus section contributors Brooke Meeler, Amber Nelson and Franchesca Wyatt, it was very easy for the Mustangs to rack up big points — even in the section meet, where they didn’t have a truly elite swimmer to compete with the Clovis and Clovis West stars. Still, the team’s prowess was evident in relays — they easily won all three in the SWYL, then finished in the top five in all of them in Porterville.
Honorable mention: Frontier, Bakersfield, Liberty, Garces

Best athlete: Hanson belongs in the conversation with Shafter’s Anna Jelmini, Stockdale’s Alex Collatz and Foothill’s Chris Schwartz from the track and field world — she is a competitor on the national stage. Hanson competed with the country’s best of any age at the USA Swimming National Championships and World Championships Trials in Indianapolis earlier this month. But no one around here knows much about her because she does her thing out in Ridgecrest, where her dad, Grant, coaches her team at Immanuel Christian. Do yourself a favor and keep an eye on Hanson as she goes through her senior year with a chance to really make some high school history.
Honorable mention: Stevie Hughey, Frontier; Sara Ramos, Stockdale; Olivia Ramos, Stockdale; Karlee Grundeis, East; Brooke Shuford, Bakersfield

Best event: The Central Section’s Division II concept in a bit strange in individual sports because the smaller schools, or those perceived as weak in a certain event, have a chance to earn a championship — and then they go for the gusto with all of the section’s schools in the Division I (or Masters) championship. It’s the same in track and field, wrestling and swimming. And because the smaller schools usually fade from the spotlight when they’re put up against the shine of a Stockdale, Bakersfield, Bullard or Clovis, we tend to forget about the D-II title completely. But this year’s battle to the wire between Garces and Kingsburg at the D-II finals in Tulare was one to watch. The Rams — much like Stockdale at the D-I level — didn’t have the horses to win a bunch of individual titles. They did get one, from Paige Lifquist in the 500 freestyle, but they were still considered underdogs to the Vikings. A bunch of points earned from top-10 finishes, though, left Garces close, and when the 400 free relay came along to end the day, they needed just a fourth-place finish or better to win the team crown. Kingsburg was first, but Garces touched the wall in second to claim an unlikely 294.5-290.5 victory.
Honorable mention: Central Section masters meet, SEYL Championships

A look ahead: Unlike in boys swimming, there’s bad news for those schools hoping to get a piece of the success pie on the girls side. Looks like Stockdale will be hoarding most of it again next year. Yes, Tiffanie Boe and Olivia Ramos have graduated, and two-time Californian Swimmer of the Year Emily Irvin has already been gone a year, but the Mustangs’ aquatic assembly line keeps churning out fast swimmers. Sara Ramos probably was the most impressive of any Stockdale girl this year, and she’ll only be a junior when school reconvenes next month. Her little sister Natalie, who’s not far behind Sara, will only be a sophomore. And a host of other swimmers I talked about above are coming back, too. Don’t know that it’ll be enough to challenge Clovis West’s 15-year reign of supremacy, but the Mustangs should have a fine team.
And on the other side of things, many of the best swimmers from other teams are headed off to college. Hughey, Grundeis, Shuford, Bakersfield’s  Erica Becker, Bakersfield Christian’s Kara Grant. None will be back. We do have another year to keep an eye on the battle between top divers Reed and Kirschenmann, who both will be seniors seeking an elusive Central Section title. Garces was also young this year, and the Rams might get a chance to be the favorite at the D-II meet.
That leaves Hanson. It really is a shame in a way that such a great Kern County athlete competes in a remote location in a sport that’s out of the mainstream. Do what you can to follow her times, and if you’re a swimming fan and she’s in town — Hanson does compete for the Bakersfield Swim Club — get out to a pool near you and see one of the fastest high school back-strokers in the nation.

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
July 13: Boys soccer
July 14: Girls soccer
July 15: Baseball
July 16: Softball
July 18: Boys track and field
July 19: Girls track and field
July 20: Boys swimming

Tomorrow: Boys tennis

Mmm, swimming. I could use a good swim on Bakersfield's first 110-degree day of the year. Beat that heat with a quick read of today's Year in Review session at School House Zach.

2008-09 Kern County BOYS SWIMMING

Overview: The four horsemen (sailors?) of Kern County swimming this year were three from Stockdale — Dan Wickensheimer, Brian Collier and Jonathan Kim — and Randy Aakhus of Frontier. Between them, they won seven of the eight individual-event SWYL championships (plus Stockdale won two of three relays with those guys heavily featured, and four Central Section championships. At the section meet in Porterville, Wickensheimer won the 50-yard freestyle and the 100 butterfly and Kim won the 100 backstroke for the Mustangs. Aakhus was first and Collier fourth in the 200 individual medley, which featured four automatic All-American times.
That left Stockdale clearly as the best team around. The Mustangs finished third in the section after going unbeaten in local meets. Also give credit though to Garces, which has built quite the Division II powerhouse at a school with about 700 students. The Rams back-floated their way to the D-II title at Tulare this year, out-pacing Kingsburg by nearly 200 points, 376-185.
As for diving, the story was Centennial's Bryce Ogden, who was undefeated in section meets and didn't have any trouble winning the section with a 475.15 to second-place finisher Jacob Ruiz of Clovis East, who scored 437.10.

Best team: Certain schools just have monopolies in certain sports, and Stockdale's supremacy in swimming is reaching Bakersfield-in-wrestling levels of dominance. The Mustangs won the SWYL 413.5 to Centennial's 284 and rose to third place in the section behind the trio listed above and some depth from swimmers like Andy Castilleja and Even Szablowski that any other team would love to have. The Mustangs are still chasing Clovis West and the rest of the Clovis Unified schools with their Olympic-quality training facilities and tremendous support, but what they're doing is impressive nonetheless.
Honorable mention: Liberty, Garces, Centennial, Tehachapi

Best athlete: I'm using the word athlete because I think Bryce Ogden, the section-champion diver, deserves serious consideration here. Diving gets a bit overlooked in swimming; competitions are often on separate days, and divers train and compete by themselves, even though their points count towards the same cause. And so I'm going to take this rare opportunity to name a diver the best athlete here. Ogden dominated the section and did as a nice kid with a lot of confidence. That's saying something for a guy who grew up with a stutter and faced the taunting and teasing from peers that often goes along with it. Ogden was a gymnast as a youngster, and he took that acrobatic ability and transferred to the diving board. I'll take him over Californian Swimmer of the Year Dan Wickensheimer and the rest of the big four.
Honorable mention: Dan Wickensheimer, Stockdale; Randy Aakhus, Frontier; Jonathan Kim, Stockdale; Brian Collier, Stockdale; Justin Kraetsch, Liberty; Logan Peeples, Centennial

Best event: The SEYL meet at McMurtrey Aquatic Center came down to the wire between Liberty and Garces. The Patriots came in favored, but a couple of disqualifications hurt Liberty and allowed the Rams to hang around and actually take the lead late in the meet when Kyle O'Malley won the 100 breaststroke. The result of that was a swimming fan's dream: All of the marbles came down to the final relay, swimming's glamour event, the 400-yard freestyle relay. Michael Rowe swam the last leg for Liberty and held off Garces' Paul Steele by 1.44 seconds to give Liberty its title with 386 points to Garces' 384.5.
Honorable mention: Central Section Masters meet; Central Section Division II meet

A look ahead: It's possible the tide (water, get it? Man, I'm good) could be turning slightly away from Stockdale next year. I hesitate to say that, because the Mustangs are loaded with depth, and the two young guys I mentioned earlier, Castilleja and Szablowski, are going to be the anchors of another strong team. But Stockdale does lose Wickensheimer, Kim and Collier, while Frontier brings back Aakhus and Liberty brings back talented Michael Rowe and David James. Garces could turn into the main threat if the Rams get a couple of swimmers from their multitude of solid group to get to an elite level. Are any of those teams going to have enough to pass the Mustangs? I wouldn't bank on it, but next year the door is slightly more open that it has been for the past few years.

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
July 13: Boys soccer
July 14: Girls soccer
July 15: Baseball
July 16: Softball
July 18: Boys track and field
July 19: Girls track and field

Tomorrow: Girls swimming

Rolling right along with our spring sports Year in Reviews, today with girls track and field.

These reflections on 2008-09 will be finished next week. Shortly thereafter, we'll be talking football. The time's almost here, Kern County ...

2008-09 Kern County GIRLS TRACK AND FIELD

Overview: This year, predictably, was all about Anna Jelmini. She had won state championships in the shot put and discus as a junior, so the hype was considerable heading into her senior year. She lived up to it. Bigtime. Not only did Jelmini become the first California girl to win back-to-back titles in those events (that was a mere formality by the time it happened), but she also set the national high school record in the discus at 190-3 and became second all-time in the shot put at 54-4.75. If that weren't enough, she won junior national championships in both events and reached the final of the senior discus national championship in Eugene, Ore., last month, competing with a bunch of Olympians.
There were some good stories beyond Jelmini, too. Stockdale sophomore Alex Collatz was the second-best discus thrower in the state, by a good margin. She also was the area's best triple jumper, and, when a heel injury forced her to stop jumping for a month, she picked up a shot put for the first time just to earn a few team points. How'd that turn out? With a sixth-place finish in state, that's all. Also with a great year was Frontier hurdler Taylor Jackson, who dominated both the 100-yard and 300-yard races throughout the year, then stumbled in the 100 hurdles at the section meet. She won the 300, though, and then made the state final with a PR in the event. Bakersfield sprinter Brushay Wandick and distance runner Sarah Baker, Liberty pole vaulter Amanda Klinchuch and middle-distancer Erica Wilcox and Golden Valley long jumper and sprinter Shanesha Epps were also stars.

Best team: It's a tough call here, because local girls track and field was more about the individual success than the teams' right now. But I'm going to go with Bakersfield. The Drillers sported a solid, deep lineup, between Wandick and a set of sprinters that were the best around, to Baker and some good longer-distance runners, good jumpers and good throwers. The Drillers won the SEYL for the second straight year and advanced the most athletes to the section meet. In just his second year, coach Steve Anderson has the Drillers track machine humming along like old times.
Honorable mention: Frontier, Ridgeview, Liberty, Shafter

Best athlete: I probably don't need to tell you who gets the nod here — perhaps a good hint would be that Anna Jelmini was Gatorade's National Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year. Her accomplishments are unparalleled amongst high schoolers everywhere, so her competition both locally and statewide was mostly against herself, with the small exception of the qualifying round at state, where Collatz bombed a huge PR of 177-0. Jelmini recovered to easily win the title the next day. She's the perfect blend of hard work, supreme talent and great coaching (hat tip to Matt Godbehere and, from Jelmini's past, his wife Dawn Dumble) and the result has been historic. Jelmini's headed to Arizona State and so many other places; it'll be fun to see where she goes.
Honorable mention: Alex Collatz, Stockdale; Taylor Jackson, Frontier; Brushay Wandick, Bakersfield; Sarah Baker, Bakersfield; Erica Wilcox, Liberty

Best event: I mentioned that Jelmini owns the best discus mark in high school history and that she's No. 2 in the shot put. What I didn't say is that both of those historic marks came on the same day. No other high school girl ever is on both top-10 lists, and Jelmini's in the top 2 from one day, the Sierra-Sequoia Divisonal meet at Oakhurst-Yosemite that's a section-meet qualifier for small schools. It must have been some kind of experience to watch up amongst the mountains as Jelmini unleashed those furious throws.
Honorable mention: CIF State Championships, Central Section Championships, South Area meet

A look ahead: With Jelmini's brilliant career on to its next step, the local spotlight will shift to Collatz. Her 177-0 throw at state was a national sophomore discus record, and so it's logical that in a couple of years, she could be challenging Jelmini's discus mark. We'll see if she can take another step towards that next year. Add to that Collatz's prowess in the triple jump and her potential in the shot put, and you've got a star in the making that could shine as bright or brighter than Jelmini's if she continues to improve. That's hard to belive, but Collatz could be the one to do it. She's already got a silver medal in the discus from the World Youth Championships in Italy under her belt.
Bakersfield High will be good again. The Drillers lose Wandick, but Baker will just be a junior and she heads a list of track stars that should rack up quite a few points at most meets. If BHS can make some noise in the field events, it very well might be a factor for a section title. As for individuals, I'd expect Jackson to medal in one or both of her hurdles events at the state meet, and I'd keep an eye on Shafter's Lacie Rasley in the shot put, Ridgeview's Tijerra Lynch in the distance races and on Liberty's Erica Wilcox in the 200 and 400. Their times could approach state-level quality with some improvement.

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
July 13: Boys soccer
July 14: Girls soccer
July 15: Baseball
July 16: Softball
July 18: Boys track and field

Tomorrow: Boys swimming

Sorry about the delay on this post. I'll have the girls track and field post up Sunday to make up for the missed Friday and will continue with swimming on Monday and Tuesday.

2008-09 Kern County BOYS TRACK AND FIELD

Overview: It was another grand year for the runners, jumpers and (duh) throwers of Kern County, who took home three gold medals at the CIF State Championships in front of a Central Section audience at Clovis-Buchanan. Frontier's Matt Darr stepped in where Dayshan Ragans left off last year, winning both the discus and the shot put title. Darr's marks weren't as good as Ragans' last year, but he peaked at the right time, PRing in both events during the state finals. And then there's this: Darr's two victories gave Frontier a share of the TEAM state title in a year where parity ruled in California boys track and field.
Foothill's Chris Schwartz capped a magical career with a thrilling victory in the 3,200 meters at state, running an 8:51.60 that beat his season best by some 25 seconds. It was the third-fastest high school time this year, anywhere in the country.
Elsewhere, Ridgeview had a deep team that won three individual section titles (Jerrid Lewis in the 800, Isiah Purvis in the 200 and Johnny Carter in the triple jump) and placed second in the Valley as a team. Carter was second in state  a year after winning the triple jump. West's George Robbins won a section title and narrowly missed medaling at state.

Best team: That'd be Ridgeview, which had Purvis transfer in the offseason to live with his mother. When that happened, coach Adam Setser had a team that was deep in sprints and relays (the 1,600 relay team was ranked in the state's top five for much of the season) and was better than any team the Central Section had to offer except for loaded Buchanan. The Wolf Pack had a bad weekend at the state tournament, other than Carter, who had been injured for much of the year, but Ridgeview clearly was the best team around.
Honorable mention: Frontier, Stockdale, Liberty, Bakersfield, Tehachapi

Best athlete: Call it a tie between Darr and Schwartz. Darr because he won a team state title all by his lonesome, and Schwartz because his time was historically very good. Both have interesting side stories: Darr is a junior who has verbally committed to USC to be a punter in football. He's basically throwing on the side, and winning state championships. Schwartz, whose difficult journey has been mentioned many times here before, won a second state title to add to his 2007 cross country crown and fulfilled a dream by getting a scholarship to run at Cal Poly.
Honorable mention: Ridgeview triple jumper Johnny Carter, West's George Robbins, Ridgeview's Jerrid Lewis, Ridgeview's Isiah Purvis, Stockdale's Nathan Alade

Best event: I missed the section tournament this year, so maybe I'm biased, but I'll go with state. The meet was already a thriller — and a successful one for Kern County — before Schwartz's heart-stopping 3,200 comeback win in the second-to-last boys race of the weekend. Add to that Darr's double and Carter's silver medal despite a year almost completely lost to injury, and you've got a dandy of a couple days.
Honorable mention: Central Section tournament, South Area tournament

A look ahead: Darr might or might not be back, but I wouldn't be surprised if he gave up throwing to concentrate on punting just a few months ahead of becoming a USC Trojan next year. Carter definitely will be back, and if he stays healthy, it'll be fun watching him try for a 50-foot triple jump. This kid might challenge records by the time he's done. Elsewhere, Lewis will return for Ridgeview, which should have a strong team again, and two sprinters — Alade and Garces' Matt Sumlin — and high jumpers — Robbins and Garces' Phillip McCullum — will stage some meaningful, exciting battles all year long.

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
July 13: Boys soccer
July 14: Girls soccer
July 15: Baseball
July 16: Softball

Tomorrow: Girls track and field

I spent the lunchtime hour at the Bakersfield Museum of Art, listening to Fresno State football coach Pat Hill talk to the local Rotary Club about Bulldogs football, in general, and specifically about the contributions of some of Bakersfield's finest.

Former West running back Ryan Mathews? Apparently healthy after an injury-riddled '08 season and ready to rock for his junior season. Hill pulled out this stat a couple of times: FSU is 12-2 when Mathews is able to finish a game.

Former West defensive back A.J. Jefferson? Didn't play as well in '08 as he did in '07, but Hill thinks he's ready to go.

Former Highland receiver Anthony Johnson? Got the test score he needed to become eligible and was in spring practice.

Former Liberty linebacker Matt Akers? Now done with his redshirt year, he'll get some playing time on Fresno State's nickel blitz package.

Former East receiver Ryan Skidmore? Will compete for the team's starting tight end job.

Former Bakersfield quarterback Phillip Thomas? Redshirt freshman has a shot of starting at safety.

Anybody I'm forgetting? Oh yeah, that one guy, Derek Carr. He's as good as advertised, Hill said, coming from Bakersfield Christian as a heralded recruit. Hill wouldn't disclose whether Carr or former Visalia-Central Valley Christian QB Ryan Colburn would, but it sounded like they'll both get a chance to prove themselves in game action. That means Carr will be get some significant playing time as a true freshman. Pick up a copy of Friday's Californian for a full report on the Carr situation and Hill's appearance in Bak-town.

In the meantime, we press forward with our Year in Reviews.

2008-09 Kern County SOFTBALL

Overview: We came in thinking Centennial was going to be able to roll over the section and left thinking Stockdale will do the same thing in the next couple of years. The Golden Hawks returned the majority of their starting lineup from the 2008 Central Section D-I championship team, including pitcher and best hitter Ensley Gammel, a Florida signee. And that held true for about half the season. But then Centennial lost a game. Then it lost another, this time surprisingly easily to rival Stockdale. By the time the playoffs rolled around, the Hawks were just a shell of what we thought they'd be and had to hit the road for the quarterfinals. They lost to Clovis-Buchanan.
Stockdale, meanwhile, started to ride a wave of momentum — and Justine Vela's right arm. Vela, just a sophomore, stepped in for former Californian Player of the Year Mackenzie Oakes and won the award herself. Her accomplishments included that shutout of Centennial, a second win over the Hawks that clinched the SWYL, and a no-hitter in the section quarterfinals. The run came to an end with a wild 5-3 loss to Buchanan in the section championship.
Elsewhere, Liberty won a three-way race in the SEYL, though Golden Valley enjoyed its best season, and Wasco and Tehachapi split the SSL title. Strangely enough, many of those teams suffered upset losses early in the playoffs — Golden Valley as the No. 1 seed in D-III, Wasco as the No. 1 in D-IV, and left just two Bakersfield teams alive come the semifinal round: Stockdale and Ridgeview, which lost to Hanford. McFarland reached the Division VI final and lost 10-9 to Laton.

Best team: I kept waiting for Centennial to assert itself and claim this spot, but it never happened. I had players tell me the team just didn't have the same magical feel as last year's squad, which won its last 17 games, did. Stockdale had that magic, and the Mustangs almost used to get all the way to the promised land as well. Amanda Hockett, in her first year, pushed a lot of the right buttons with this team. It relied on Vela's pitching — and she was extraordinary for a sophomore — and good defense, plus a few timely runs created by a speedy team that didn't hit that much. The best news for Stockdale is that the team's starting lineup was made up entirely of underclassmen. This now becomes next year's Centennial, but with the added motivation of not having that title already under your belt.
Honorable mention: Centennial, Frontier, Liberty, North, Golden Valley, Garces

Best player: Vela missed most of her freshman season with a broken finger — plus she was blocked from the starting lineup by Oakes anyway. She made the most of her chance when she got the ball as a sophomore. Vela was 19-5 with a 0.27 ERA and 241 strikeouts and just 16 walks in 155 innings. Those are good numbers; it's the deception created by her large palette of pitches that causes batters fits. Kind of cool to watch an artist at work rather than a flame-thrower. Anyway, the most amazing thing here is Vela's age. She's got two more years to wow us, and this year she was already more valuable than Ensley Gammel or Cassidy Bell, the other two MVP candidates.
Honorable mention: Centennial P Ensley Gammel, Liberty SS Cassidy Bell, Garces IF Kayla Gardner, North OF Brooke Sampson

Best game: The day Centennial's aura of invincibility came crashing down for me (and please note, I'm not trying to pick on the Golden Hawks; They had a very good season, but the expectations for them were so high and so universal that's it's hard not to come back to that point) was its loss at Frontier. It was HOT that day (hey, kind of like today!) and I was thankful the game was flying by so fast. I kept waiting for Centennial to scratch across a run and win the game (I did the same thing in an epic at Ridgeview last year), and the Hawks finally got it in the sixth inning. Funny thing, though: Frontier came back and got one in the seventh inning and the game-winner in the eighth. The Titans, I guess, didn't feel like following any script. It was a sign that Frontier's program was rising (they had beaten Stockdale earlier in the year, too) and that Centennial might not be the juggernaut they had been labeled.
Honorable mention: Clovis-Buchanan 5, Stockdale 3, Central Section championship;  Liberty 9, Garces 6; Clovis-Buchanan 4, Centennial 3, D-I quarterfinals; Stockdale 3, Centennial 2

A look ahead: The onus of having everyone return from a championship-caliber team is now something Stockdale must learn to deal with, though the Mustangs might have the benefit of some key components being just juniors next year, not to mention that they didn't actually finish their run this year. There will be plenty of landmines, though. Frontier was young, and the Titans are building something. North returns the core of its pitching staff and exciting infielder Brenna Moss, who led big schools in the area in hitting last year. In the SEYL, I'd keep an eye on Golden Valley. The Bulldogs have been rising and will have many key parts returning, including pitcher Julie Estep. Might be time for a league title there, with Garces and Liberty both losing a few parts. In the SSL, Kelsey Kapitzke's return to Tehachapi ensures that the Warriors will be favored.

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
July 13: Boys soccer
July 14: Girls soccer
July 15: Baseball

Tomorrow: Boys track and field

Some news out of the ESPY Awards from Hollywood, which air Sunday on ESPN but are being taped this afternoon ... we've caught word that Shafter's Anna Jelmini was not named Gatorade National Girls Athlete of the Year.

Jelmini won the Gatorade National Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year last month (note the distinction) and so was one of six finalists for the overall award. It went to Skylar Diggins, a girls basketball player from South Bend (Ind.) Washington High School. Diggins is going to Notre Dame. I really thought Jelmini, who holds one national high school record in the discus and is second all-time on the shot put list, had a chance, but I suppose when you're down to just six athletes in the whole country, you can't really make a wrong choice. Anna did get to attend the ESPYs and walk the red carpet and all that, so good on her (again) anyway.

Garrett Gilbert, a quarterback at Austin, Texas, Lake Travis High School and a University of Texas commit, won the boys award. He beat, among a few others, Matt Hobgood, a Norco baseball player who was drafted fifth overall in last month's MLB draft.

One of the other top baseball prospects in California is one of the highlights of our next Year in Review segment.

2008-09 Kern County BASEBALL

Overview: Bad news for locals is that in the lower four divisions in the Central Section playoffs, Kern County failed to put a single team in a section championship game. Good news is that for the first time since the early 1950s — and let's face it, baseball is not even the same game as it was then — Bakersfield has a back-to-back big-school section baseball champion. Stockdale looked heads and shoulders above everyone else, suffered a couple of minor hiccups in the league season, then tight-roped its way to the Division I title game past Centennial and Fresno-Bullard. In the championship, the Mustangs left no question that they deserved to be there, dominating Clovis West 6-2 on the road. Philip Valos was the best pitcher in town, K.C. Hobson the best all-around player and the supporting cast the best of anyone also.
Liberty won the SEYL again, and if you're counting, that's seven for seven for the Patriots in that department. But they're also oh-for-seven in section titles in that time, this year beating Madera before losing to Clovis in the quarterfinals. Centennial put a scare in Stockdale in the quarters before losing. Frontier and North both had good seasons, but they were matched up early in the D-II playoffs, and after Frontier won, the Titans were eliminated by Fresno-Edison. Bakersfield Christian and Taft split the SSL title, but they weren't able to go beyond the Division V quarters and D-IV semis, respectively.

Best team: No questions here. High school teams normally only play two games a week, so when you faced Stockdale, you were either getting Valos — a dart-throwing, accurate righty with uncanny control and enough movement to fool hitters — or Hobson — a flame-throwing, effectively wild left with a plus arm and enough movement to scare hitters. Add to that a lineup that featured Hobson, a .490 hitter with a section-leading 15 homers, in the middle, plus Kyle Desimone and Scott Denesha at the top, both with an on-base percentage better than .500 and Isaiah Turner and Tyler Boren in the middle, and you had a team that wasn't going to lose a lot of games. Stockdale lost a doubleheader to Clovis early in the year (with both Valos and Hobson on strict pitch counts), dropped a couple of games at a competitive tournament in San Diego and then lost an SWYL game to North. But everything else was cruise control, all the way up until the Mustangs were champs again.
Honorable mention: Centennial, Liberty, Frontier, North, Taft, Bakersfield Christian

Best player: Funny thing with K.C. Hobson: Even if you'd never heard of him before, you could go watch a game and come away thinking he was by far the best player on the field. That's rare in a game like baseball, where failure is so common. But Hobson looked the part — he's a 6-foot-3, 225-pound man-child — and acted it. He carried himself with an, I don't know, regal air? He was patient at the plate, but if the pitcher made a mistake, he'd crush it. He was solid on the mound, even though that's not where his future lies (he hadn't even pitched before moving to Bako from New Hampshire), going 17-1 over the past two seasons. And he produced a winner. The fun part now will be watching where his career goes from here. He expected to be drafted in the first two or three rounds in June but fell to the Blue Jays in the sixth round. That would lead you to believe he'll go the college route — he's got a scholarship waiting at Texas A&M — but last I talked to him, Hobson said Toronto was willing to pay him like a second-round pick to get him into the system. The Jays and Hobson have until Aug. 17 to make that happen. In the meantime, he's working out with dad and former ML player and manager Butch Hobson's minor-league team in Maryland. Clock's ticking.
Honorable mention: Stockdale P Philip Valos, Liberty SS Chris Neal, Stockdale 3B Scott Denesha, Bakersfield Christian OF Riley Showers, Centennial OF Joe Riddle, East IF Perry Rogan

Best game: I like to think we're pretty thorough at School House Zach, and as evidence, I present to you the Game of the Year in Kern County high school baseball, 2009 edition. It happened when not many in the sports world at-large were paying attention: The weekend of the state wrestling tournament, the March Meet drag-racing extravaganza, the Central Section basketball championships in Fresno, the Condors in the middle of a playoff chase, yada, yada. High school baseball still was on the backburner. But when Stockdale and Liberty got together Thursday March 5, at Sam Lynn Ball Park as part of the Terrio Therapy tournament, it was a doozy. Liberty held a somewhat surprising 2-1 lead going into the seventh, when it padded the lead with four runs to make it 6-1. Insurmountable lead, early statement game for the Pats? Wrong. Stockdale stormed back in the bottom of the seventh, tied it on a Tyler Boren grand slam, then won it on Kyle Desimone's RBI single — his second at-bat of the inning. Here's the MaxPreps box score, though the home and visiting teams should be flip-flopped; it was a walk-off win for Stockdale.
Honorable mention: Stockdale 4, Fresno-Bullard 3, Division I semifinals; Stockdale 11, Centennial 8, Division I quarterfinals; Frontier 18, North 8, Division II quarterfinals

A look ahead: The fact that Stockdale stalwarts Hobson, Denesha and Valos have all graduated has to be a sweet truth for the rest of the city's and section's baseball teams, but don't count out the Mustangs for next year just yet. A trio of returning hitters — Boren, Desimone and Isaiah Turner — are going to make that team an offensive force right off the bat. To even have a shot at a three-peat, though, Stockdale has to answer the question of pitching. I saw Shane Kotz throw a couple of times this year and was impressed, but he's not yet a Hobson or Valos, and the question of a No. 2 starter has yet to be answered as well (it could end up being Turner or Boren, in fact).
That's going to open the window for other teams. Centennial, of course, has to be mentioned. The 2007 section champs will return two of their better pitchers, Tyler Painton and Grant Watson, plus outfielder Joe Riddle and infielder Tory Blair. Those Golden Hawks-Mustangs showdowns will be huge again. Frontier is going to be a baseball power, of that there's no doubt. Will it be as early as next year? And in the SEYL, Bakersfield has a nucleus returning that's going to give Liberty a run at that eighth consecutive title. Either of those teams have a playoff future beyond that? Believe when you see it at this point.
Among smaller schools, Taft loses stud pitcher Matt Davis but returns stud pitcher Clint Jorgensen, which will keep them a factor in the SSL. Bakersfield Christian split the league title with a young team in '09, so the Eagles will be back, too.

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
July 13: Boys soccer
July 14: Girls soccer

Tomorrow: Softball

Buzzing right along to the end of the winter sports Year in Reviews with girls soccer today. Into spring Wednesday with baseball, just in time for the only professional sports off-day of the entire year, the day after the All-Star Game.

2008-09 Kern County GIRLS SOCCER

Overview: After a couple of years of Bakersfield vs. Stockdale supremacy arguments, Liberty thrust itself to the forefront of this year’s discussion at the early-season Garces Holiday Soccer Festival by beating Buchanan and tying Stockdale (though the Mustangs won on penalty kicks), then tying Stockdale again later and beating Bakersfield twice. But it was Stockdale who went farther in the end, shocking previously unbeaten Clovis in the Division I section semifinals before losing to Buchanan in the final for the second straight year. Buchanan also took out Liberty in the semifinals.
Elsewhere, it was a magical finish to the season for Frontier, which had a solid season but was rewarded with just a No. 8 seed in the Division II playoffs. Undeterred, the Titans went off, beating Lemoore in a shootout, top-seeded Tulare Union in a shootout, and 2-1 at Visalia-Redwood. After all that, Frontier got to come back home for the Division II final because No. 11 Reedley had made its own Cinderella run out of the other side of the bracket. This time, Frontier had its stadium lights ready for the first time in school history. They made the most of the occasion and pounded Reedley 4-0.
Golden Valley, fourth behind Liberty, BHS and Garces in the talented SEYL, made another surprising playoff run, going from the No. 4 seed to beat Clovis North in overtime for the first girls soccer title in school history. Bakersfield Christian had a case of the almosts, missing out on the SEYL title at icy Tehachapi and then on the Division V section title by a 1-0 score to SLO-Mission Prep.

Best team: Really, really difficult call here once Stockdale outlasted Liberty in the playoff chase. The teams tied in both of their meetings, and Stockdale actually won the first, in the Garces tournament final, on penalty kicks. But I’m going to stick with Liberty. Both went unbeaten and untied in their league, but the SEYL was tougher. Stockdale lost to Bakersfield when they played; Liberty beat ’em twice. And yes, Stockdale knocked off No. 1 seed Clovis, but the real top dog in the section was Buchanan, and the Patriots beat the Bears at the Garces tourney and then gave them a fight in the section semis. Stockdale did not put up much of a fight in the final. You’ll probably be able to make a good argument the other way around if you tried, but I’ll stick to my guns. Liberty it is.
Honorable mention: Stockdale, Bakersfield, Garces, Frontier, Tehachapi, Bakersfield Christian

Best player: Another tough call, same schools involved, and this time I’ll go the other way. Stockdale’s Erica Shelton proved that she was as dangerous a scoring threat from the midfield — 25 goals and 18 assists — as any player was in the county from any position. Shelton, a junior, already is a bigtime recruit, and it was her influence and play that allowed the Mustangs to rebound as well as they did from losing nine starters off of their 2007-08 section finalist team. The other side of the argument is the marvelous Mariah Alvidrez, a Liberty junior who was among the top two or three volleyball and soccer players around. She finished the year with 26 goals and 12 assists. Alvidrez blew out her knee as a sophomore during soccer season, so this was a great rebound year for her as well. The best part? We get to have this argument all over again next season, when these two are seniors.
Honorable mention: Stockdale M Michelle Spinner, Bakersfield F Sam Pena, Liberty D Darci Smith, Bakersfield M Elizabeth Crowe, Centennial M Jessica Crowe, Frontier F Cami Privett

Best game: Liberty’s early-season results had been encouraging, but the Patriots still had yet to play the defending SEYL champions, Bakersfield. So the first time they laced it up, at BHS, the winner was going to have some serious leverage in the league race — and the loser some serious catching up to do. What transpired was a classic. After a scoreless first half, Alvidrez broke through in the 44th minute, a pretty finish off of a cross from Olivia Gonzalez. Samantha Callagy answered for the Drillers just three minutes later. The game stayed tied — and almost finished that way — until, in second-half stoppage time, Alvidrez gave Liberty its most important goal of the regular season, a turn-and-shoot finish that gave the Pats a 2-1 victory and sent them on their way to a perfect league season.
Honorable mention: Frontier 2, Tulare Union 1, shootout, Division II quarterfinals; Stockdale 1, Clovis 0, Division I semifinals; Stockdale 0, Liberty 0, Stockdale wins in shootout; Liberty 3, Bakersfield 1 (second meeting); Stockdale 3, Liberty 3; Bakersfield 3, Stockdale 2.

A look ahead: As I alluded to earlier, Liberty and Stockdale both have their top gun coming back — Alvidrez for the Patriots and Shelton for the Mustangs — for what should be a shootout of a senior year. Both, however lose a key teammate, Spinner of Stockdale and Smith of Liberty. Where will that leave us? Probably with the same big three — Bakersfield will need some lesser-known players to step up to stay in that group — but with a slight opening for others to join. I’m looking at young, successful Frontier perhaps to take that step towards competing with the city’s best. Centennial, too, always seems to be close; it would be wise to keep an eye on the Golden Hawks in what should be a wide-open year.
Garces, Bakersfield Christian and Golden Valley also are smaller-division candidates for an up-and-coming role.

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
July 13: Boys soccer

Tomorrow: Baseball

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

Next up on the Year in Review train here at School House Zach is one of Kern County's most successful sports, wrestling. Between here and track and field, Kern earns more than its share of state championships in this massive state.

Speaking of track and field, give a School House Zach pat on the back to Stockdale junior-to-be Alex Collatz, who won a silver medal at the IAAF World Youth Track and Field Championships this morning. Second in the world among 16- and 17-year-olds. Pretty darn good.

We'll take a break from Year in Reviews tomorrow, and pick up with boys and girls soccer on Monday and Tuesday.

2008-09 Kern County WRESTLING

Overview: Lots of storylines, and they all had intrigue. There was of course Seth Hicks, the Centennial senior who had qualified for state two years running but hadn't made too much noise. Then, finally healthy and down five pounds, Hicks exploded onto the scene. His first big announcement came at the Doc Buchanan Invitational in Clovis; the last big one came at Rabobank Arena in the 135-pound state finals.
Then there was Bakersfield High (isn't there always BHS in wrestling?), which had a young team just waiting to explode. And at times the Drillers were really, really good. Then they put together a great performance in the Central Section Grand Masters Tournament, putting four wrestlers in the finals (Bryce Hammond won it) and placing a close third behind fellow state powers Clovis and Clovis-Buchanan. But BHS had a terrible quarterfinal round in the state tournament, and they never fully recovered from it. The good news is that most of that young talent, plus some more, is back next year.
Also great to watch was the next step in Frontier becoming a section (and in this sport, that means state) power and stunning state tournament runs from a guy who has been in and out of trouble his whole career, Ridgeview 140-pounder Javier Sanchez, and a guy nobody had heard of until he started winning as a senior, Foothill heavyweight Angel Posadas.

Best team: After winning state championships in 2002 and 2004, Bakersfield has failed in trying to reach anything close to that plateau since. But this is the group that might do it. The Drillers used a solid returning nucleus — Jonah Cruz, Bryce Hammond, Jose Ramirez, Brian Schoene, Timmy Box — and added to it a couple of really talented newcomers, including 112-pounder Natrelle Demison, who finished fourth in the section, and 145-pounder Adam Fierro, a section finalist. When Cruz moved down to 140, that opened up the 145 spot for Fierro, who completed a murderer's row of middle weights. The group came together at East High and gave Clovis and Buchanan a run, but the state meet was a bit disappointing. Cruz suffered an unlucky stunner of a pin, Demison went 0-for-2 on the big stage, and Hammond was 86ed in the quarterfinals by a couple of questionable calls. Still, this was by far the best team around.
Honorable mention: Frontier, Centennial, East, Foothill, Tehachapi

Best wrestler: This is not a hard question when you¹ve got one guy who went undefeated and won a state championship. Seth Hicks, come on down. Hicks' story is interesting — he an inflammatory disease that worsened when he was a junior and fatigued him, keeping him from working out or dropping a lot of weight like wrestlers often do. His dad and Centennial's coach, Mike Hicks, took him to a children's hospital in Madera and got some medication to contain the problem. Seth did the rest. He lost a bunch of weight in the offseason so he could wrestle at 135 and increased his training to the point where his fitness was an asset, not a liability. His long arms and legs and thinking man's philosophy paid off bigtime. Hicks came into the state meet as the favorite in a weight class where there was no juggernaut. He more or less coasted through to the final, where Poway¹s Conrad Snell gave him a scare, keeping the lead in the match until an unusual move (told you he was a thinker) gave Hicks the takedown he needed to win a state title.
Honorable mention: Javier Sanchez, Ridgeview; Bryce Hammond, Bakersfield; Angel Posadas, Foothill; Jonah Cruz, Bakersfield; Rene Medina, Shafter

Best event: Hicks' state-finals match, with special mention to Sanchez's semifinal victory over Lemoore¹s Nicholas Sierra, wins the individual-match category here, but as far as an entire event, I'm going to go with the section masters meet. There were three Kern County champions — Hicks, Hammond and Sanchez — and a bunch of great upsets and state-level matches right inside East High's gym. There was a preview of the 145-pound state final between Clovis' Scott Sakaguchi and Fresno-Washington's Alex Rodriguez in the quarterfinals, for crying out loud. Nearly every finals match produced a great match or an upset. The Central Section's quality truly was on display. It's hard to top the state meet, of course, but this year's section meet is best in my memory.
Honorable mention: State championships, Central Section Yosemite Divisional

A look ahead: Of the BHS wrestlers I mentioned above, many are returning — Demison will be a sophomore, Box, Fierro and Hammond will be juniors, Schoene a senior, and only Cruz and Ramirez are gone — and there are others who didn¹t make the state tournament waiting in the wings. If that weren't enough, Hammond's brother, Coleman, is the centerpiece of another talented incoming freshman class. It's going to be another even year, like 2002 and 2004, and I'm not going to be shy in saying that, barring injury or eligibility issues, the Drillers should be right there for the state title next year.
Elsewhere? Many of Kern County's best wrestlers from other schools — Hicks, Sanchez, Posadas, Liberty's Greg Kapler, East's Peter Gonzalez, Marc Collier
and Antonio Hernandez — were seniors. That leaves Shafter's Medina, Tehachapi's Jason Hail, Cesar Chavez's Noel Gomez and some holes to be filled. I'd keep an eye on Foothill's Derik Rizo, a two-time state qualifier who'll be a senior, plus Julio Gonzalez at East.
Also don't forget about Frontier. Kirk Moore, a former Foothill state champion himself, is building BHS' biggest local rival up in northwest Bakersfield. The Titans won a surprise SWYL championship two years ago without seniors, then ran roughshod over the league last year and sent its first two wrestlers, Lance Castaneda and Shane Ellis, to the state tournament. Castaneda is gone but Ellis and most of the rest of the team returns, including talented 103-pounder Alex Gomez, who will be a junior and take another shot at becoming the first female state qualifier from Kern County.

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

Monday: Boys soccer

Motoring right along into girls basketball on our Year in Review train. Remember, when these are over, it'll be time to get into football football football all the time. Busy and we love it.

In the mean time, for baseball fans out there, I've been doing some work on the Bakersfield Blaze this week. The team is playing very well in the last month or so. If you can stand the heat and the sun for the first inning or two out at Sam Lynn Ball Park, it might be worth going out to see the Blaze when they return home next week.

2008-09 Kern County GIRLS BASKETBALL

Overview: Stockdale, a huge dropoff, then Garces, another huge dropoff, and not much else. Maybe that’s being harsh, but that was reality in Kern County girls basketball last winter. There were other good teams — Bakersfield made the Division I semifinals, North had a few nice wins, Ridgeview exceeded expectations, etc. — but Stockdale and Garces were a cut above the rest. Especially, as usual, the Mustangs. Stockdale finally ditched its bridemaids moniker, winning the Division I section title with a brilliant performance against Clovis West after losing in the championship each of the past three years — once to West and twice to Clovis West. It was their fifth straight trip to the D-I final (they won it in ’05), an amazing streak.
As for Garces, it was a remarkable year. The Rams lost an early-season game at an out-of-town tournament, then didn’t lose again until they reached the Division II section championship. There, nationally ranked Hanford handed them a lopsided loss, and nationally ranked Santa Ana-Mater Dei did the same thing in the state playoffs. But it was what happened in between that made the season such a success. Garces went undefeated in the SEYL, twice out-lasting Bakersfield in close games and pulverizing the “next-best” teams in town, North, Ridgeview and Golden Valley, a couple of times each. The Rams, who were led by sensational soph Caitlin Bernardin and post Sarah Allen, saved their most impressive effort for the D-II semifinals. Keep in mind Garces had moved up two playoff divisions from 07-08, so beating third-seeded Sanger 69-45 and then taking a state playoff game for win No. 30 was quite the feat.

Best team: Unfortunately, Garces and Stockdale never met. What Stockdale did in the playoffs, and in some games against common opponents, makes me think the Mustangs would have taken that one easily.
So many great girls basketball teams win by executing a full-court style, and Stockdale is a perfect example. Against a weaker team, the Mustangs simply coasted to big wins — they had 16 victories by 30 or more points. The pressure usually wore down tougher teams, too, with a couple of wins against Fresno-Edison, including one in the D-I semifinals, being a good example of that. What really set this Stockdale team apart, though, was its post presence. Say what you want about Alexi Smith, the BHS transfer who was the area’s best post two years ago, suddenly appearing to fill Stockdale’s most pressing need, but it was apparently on the up-and-up, and, more important for our purposes, it worked wonders. Really, though, the duo of Jalei Kinder and Melissa Sweat is again what made Stockdale special. The duo combined for 37 points and 15 rebounds as the Mustangs won the big game at long last.
Honorable mention: Garces, Bakersfield, North

Best player: During All-Area selection time, I went with a split for Player of the Year between Kinder and Sweat. Not sure I can break it now. If you force my hand, I think I’ll go with Sweat — she had the best performances come playoff time, and she’s the bona fide triple threat on offense, plus a great rebounder. Kinder had a better regular season and probably was the best on-ball defender in the county, not to mention a great 3-point shooter. The point is, between these two and Smith, Stockdale probably had the three best players in the area (though I’d listen to an argument for Bernardin). Easy to tell why they were so dominant locally.
Honorable mention: Stockdale C Alexi Smith; Garces F Caitlin Bernardin; North C Brooke Sampson; Garces C Sarah Allen

Best game: A little bit under the radar here, but before Garces took out Bakersfield High 51-49 on Jan. 8, the Drillers were still the top dogs in the SEYL. They had ran through it undefeated the year before, and even without Alexi Smith, there wasn’t a bona fide reason to believe BHS wouldn’t give Garces everything it could handle. Well, it did. And the Rams were up to the task, erasing a five-point fourth-quarter deficit and then outlasting the Drillers in overtime. When the teams met again later in the year, the Rams won another slugfest, leaving no doubts that they were the new kings of the east side.
Honorable mention: Stockdale 70, Clovis West 60, Division I championship; Stockdale 74, Fresno-Edison 54, Division I semifinals; Bakersfield 48, North 47; Stockdale 64, Bakersfield 47

A look ahead: The big news of the offseason came early, and it’s that Melissa Sweat won’t be returning to Stockdale next year. Her dad took a job in Madera, and she’ll attend Madera Ranchos-Liberty for her senior year. Sun’s shining on that school. Sweat has graduated, also, so Stockdale might experience a bit of a down year. But that’s not saying much, considering how far above everyone they were to begin with. Kinder is more than enough talent to start with, and I’d keep an eye on the Mustangs’ little point guard, Alyssa Shannon, who impressed me tremendously as a freshman last year.
As for everyone else, Bernardin will be a year better and Garces should threaten for the SEYL again, though I think that whole league will be better (Garces and Golden Valley, too). Centennial should be back to contention after a down year, and Hernan Santiago is building something at North.

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

Tomorrow: Wrestling

Seems like basketball doesn't get quite its due during the regular season, between football running into December and the state wrestling finals being the same week as section basketball, but there's no doubt hoops is one of the more popular games around. With that in mind, here's an extended version of the boys basketball Year in Review.

2008-09 Kern County BOYS BASKETBALL

Overview: The season contained about everything you could hope for in terms of good teams, good players, good games and dramatics. Garces and Liberty were Kern’s best teams, and we got to see them play four (!) times. The Rams we knew would be good; Liberty, on the other hand, was coming off a lost 2008 where injuries hurt and things snowballed, plus it had a new coach. So it was a surprise when the Patriots won the final of the Garces Tournament against the hosts, then repeated the trick a few weeks later at Liberty. The third game was an absolute classic (get to that in a sec) and was again won by Liberty. So that means — of course — that it was Garces that finally took its victory when it really, really counted — the Division II section championship game. Stephon Carter went for 33 points and 19 rebounds with a broken hand (get to that in a sec, too) in that game, leading Garces to a 91-78 victory.
Elsewhere, Centennial’s solid squad ran roughshod through the SWYL in a down year for the league, then gave Fresno-Central fits in the Division I semifinals before falling. Bakersfield Christian won Division IV easily, then was the only Kern team to win a state playoff game. The Eagles’ run ended with a loss at Torrance-Bishop Montgomery in the D-IV state quarterfinals.

Best team: I’m going to go the cop-out route and say both Garces and Liberty deserve this spot. Both beat Centennial, which was unbeaten in the other league, so you’ve got to consider them one and two. Garces, with the super athleticism and spirit of Stephon Carter, Ryan Bush and Chris Dixon, passes the eye test more easily than Liberty, which relied on tough defense, sharp shooting and exquisite ball movement from point guard Sam Marcus. But Liberty beat the Rams thrice in the regular season. Is the fact that Garces turned it around in the D-II section championship enough to give this title to the Rams anyway? I say no; consider the whole body of work, and these teams were as even as even can be.
Honorable mention: Centennial, Bakersfield Chrisitan, Ridgeview, East

Best player: After more or less unanimously winning this honor the past couple of years, Carter had some competition here. In fact, I’m not so sure Centennial’s Cody Kessler wasn’t the top choice before Carter’s incredible playoff run, and Sam Marcus, Liberty’s exceptional point guard, was the SEYL MVP. Kessler is a guy we’re going to hear a whole lot of positive stuff about in the next two years in both basketball and football. But Carter, man oh man. If you watch him, you know how good of a player he is. Maybe you don’t know him, but you know he can play. But the cherry on top, at least for this season, was how he did in the playoffs. Quarterfinals vs. Porterville-Monache: Carter poured in 36 of Garces’ 68 points and added in 10 rebounds, three assists and three steals. Semifinals vs. Lemoore: 30 points, 17 rebounds and six assists as the visiting Rams held off the Tigers in a shoot-out, 92-81, all despite Carter having his hand stepped on in the second half, breaking a couple of bones. Championship vs. Liberty: We all know this one. Despite the hand getting worse by the day, Carter threw down his 33 and 19, then had to sit out the Rams’ state-tournament game against L.A.-Leuzinger. They lost by 34 points.
Honorable mention: Centennial G Cody Kessler, Liberty G Sam Marcus, Stockdale G Jordan Burris, Bakersfield Christian G Marcus Hall, Ridgeview C Kaylin Evans

Best game: I hate to keep going back to the Garces-Liberty well, but I’d be remiss if I went in another direction. This has to be Liberty’s third win against Garces. The Rams and all their fans thought the Patriots’ first two wins were a fluke, and they packed their little gym and made noise. The Patriots and all their fans thought Garces was arrogant and over-reliant on Carter, and they packed the other side of Garces’ little gym. There was a line of people that wrapped around the building that wouldn’t fit inside. And the game didn’t disappoint. The Rams jumped out early, but like in the other two meetings, Liberty hung around, clawed its way back and then won it at the end. This time, the big shot was Westin Hill’s banked 3-pointer with 2.9 seconds remaining. That gave Liberty a 73-70 lead. After a timeout — during which two Liberty players spilled water on the court and had to quickly clean it up less a technical foul be called — Carter narrowly missed a game-tying 3 at the buzzer. The win gave Liberty an unexpected SEYL championship, and though Garces got the last laugh a couple of weeks later, this was the classic between the teams.
Honorable mention: Ridgeview 61, Stockdale 59; Garces 64, Bakersfield 54, OT; Centennial 63, Clovis 59, Division I quarterfinals

A look ahead: With the Stephon Carter era over (or at least moved on to Cal State Bakersfield), the obvious stars for next year are Kessler, Burris, Marcus and Evans. But who out of that foursome has the best support? Kessler loses Nick Jensen, an insanely productive big man. I don’t think Kessler’s slice-and-dice style is going to be as effective for Centennial unless someone can step into Jensen’s shoes. That hurts the Golden Hawks’ shooters too. Plus, there are rumors Kessler will be focusing on football only by next winter. Of course, there are also rumors he’ll be focusing on basketball only. We’ll wait and see.
As for Burris, he didn’t have a great team around him at Stockdale this year. Mostly it was young, though, and there should be enough talent there to make Burris’ senior season his best. We’ll see if that means the Mustangs can climb the SWYL standings. Ridgeview, with Evans, will also be in the way. The Wolf Pack loses Travon Wesson at point guard, but they’ve got enough talent in the backcourt there to fill out an AAU roster. The problem might be, as it has in the past few years, keeping all of the great players eligible. That leaves us Marcus. Liberty loses some parts, for sure — Calen Coleman, Cody Darling and Jeff Hicks — but with Hill back on the perimeter and another year of seasoning for a couple of frontcourt guys, Marcus can still make things churn there.
Among other teams, I’d really keep an eye out for Bakersfield High. They’ve slipped a bit on the local basketball radar in the past two years, but Tim Billingsley was great last year, and this is two years after BHS dominated the junior-varsity circuit with many of the same players. Garces also still has Chris Dixon, but the Rams will need time to adjust to life without Carter (and PG Ryan Bush).
Bakersfield Christian, even without Hall, is the team to beat in the SSL again, methinks.

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

Tomorrow: Girls basketball

Before we get to the daily Year in Review, I've got some interesting news from the Fresno area: Clovis West coach Gary Kinne, who led the Golden Eagles to a Central Section Division I championship in his first season there, is gone back to Texas as suddenly as he arrived.

Kinne, a former Baylor assistant who was 10-3 at CW in one year, was hired by Sherman (Texas) High School on Tuesday night, just more than a year after Clovis West nabbed him from Canton (Texas).

What does this have to do with us? Well, for one thing, it makes things really tough on one of the main competitors for the D-I title. It's exceedingly late in the game for Clovis West to be seeking a new coach — the season starts in less than two months, and full-on practices in less than one — so I suspect they'll promote someone from within the program. That will help, but there's no telling if there is anyone there who is prepared and ready to take over the head job. The players there also are going to have a rough time of it. For the seniors, this is the fourth head varsity coach in four years. I don't care how much talent you've got, or how good the coaches you're bringing in are, that's not easy to deal with.

Anyway, back to Year In Review for 2008-09, where we've reached the end of the fall sports road with girls golf. To the winter, and boys basketball, tomorrow.

2008-09 Kern County GIRLS GOLF

Overview: It was kind of an interesting year in that the best team all year (Garces) didn’t play the best on the right day (Frontier did) and the best golfer all year (the Rams’ Mica Guzman) didn’t either (Liberty’s Deidre Crabtree did). In the end, that turns into a lot of positives for everybody involved, but not a stellar year for anyone, necissarily. Frontier had to be happy after winning the SWYL, the Division II area and the Division II section. The young Titans (aren’t they young in all of their sports?) actually posted the second-best overall score at the team section meet, so they got to go down to the SoCal regional. That didn’t work out too well, but the experience will come in handy. Meanwhile, Guzman was a nose ahead of other SEYL stars Crabtree and Garces’ Cassie Clayton. But when it came time for the individual section championships, Crabtree had a fantastic round of 73 at RiverLakes and took home the hardware.

Best team: Still Garces, which dominated the area meet and then took a step back on an unfamiliar course in Madera for the section. The Rams were hoping to get down to the SoCal, where a good day would have put them in contention for the state meet, but that dream died with a bad round. That’s the breaks in California high school golf, where tournaments insist that you play well on that particular round. But take nothing away from the Rams. Guzman and Clayton provided low scores at the top, and Julia Berchtold, Jasmine Rodriguez and Veronica Rindge routinely provided the solid scores good teams need.
Honorable mention: Frontier, Stockdale, Liberty, Tehachapi

Best player: There were plenty of highlights to share (Clayton shot a 68! at RiverLakes early in the year, not to mention Crabtree’s section title), but Mica Guzman was consistently the best player out there. Her stroke average of 75.5 was more than four strokes better than any other player in Kern County, and she didn’t really have bad rounds. She finished second in the section and then was the top finisher from anywhere in the section at the SoCal regional. The folks at Cal State Fullerton, who are starting their program anew after it was axed in the 1980s (boy, it’s nice to see some people actually spending money; I just hope they’ve got it), have themselves a recruiting jewel in Guzman (and another in Crabtree, actually).
Honorable mention: Crabtree, Clayton, Stockdale’s Tammy Park, Stockdale’s Abby Marina, Frontier’s Meghan Shain

Best event: There were dramatics at both the team and individual section meets, but I’m going with the individual round at RiverLakes here. Guzman and Clayton was busy putting together solid rounds at a course they know well, but both were eclipsed by Crabtree, who stormed through with an eagle and a birdie on a back nine that she played in under par. Don’t think I’ll ever forget her sitting on a big rock overlooking the 18th island green behind the clubhouse at RiverLakes, watching players come in and then waiting for their scores to be posted. Her 73 held up and she had a dramatic championship — plus bragging rights over her rivals and friends, Guzman and Clayton.
Honorable mention: Team section championships

A look ahead: The SEYL’s big three — Guzman, Clayton and Crabtree — were all seniors, as was Tammy Park, who won every SWYL event. That means we’ll see a new crop of talent at the top of the local leader boards. Stockdale’s Abby Marina, just a freshman, should step into that void, as should a few of Frontier’s better players — Meghan Shain, Jordanne Barr, Taylor Shweiki and Malea Miller were all underclassmen with potential to be really good. From a team perspective, that means the Titans might assume the favorites’ role from week-to-week. Will there be another upstart at the end of the year? Wouldn’t surprise me. It could be Stockdale or Garces coming from underdog status to postseason success.

Year in Review Index
July 1: Football
July 2: Volleyball
July 3: Boys cross country
July 6: Girls cross country
July 7: Girls tennis

Tomorrow: Boys basketball

I received a note over the weekend reminding me of another fall sport in Kern County this year — water polo. I'm not going to do a full Year in Review there because just one school, Garces, had the sport in boys and girls formats, but it is worth a quick mention.

The Rams met with some moderate success, a very good sign for an infant program. The girls team finished 14-11 and the boys 7-18. Both teams had one second-team choice on the all-Central Section Division III team, Allie Ruettgers for the girls and Josh Shambaugh for the boys. Keep in mind also that Garces is building a pool, meaning its water polo and swimming teams will continue to improve. The timing is a bit off for water polo, it seems, because with the budget constraints the public schools are facing, the Rams won't have any short road trips any time soon. It will be interesting to see how the program progresses without that benefit.

Now on today's main Year in Review topic.

2008-09 Kern County GIRLS TENNIS

Overview: The year’s highlights came fast and furious, with Bakersfield Christian’s Lyndsay Cooke taking another crack at Visalia-Redwood’s Gabrielle Gatewood in the Central Section singles final on the same day that the Stockdale team of Frances Ellison and Julie Hutton won the section doubles crown. Then, a few days later, also in the Fresno area, Stockdale swept three dramatic doubles matches from Bullard when they needed two to win yet another Division I section title — their sixth straight — and the first in 20 years for Dave Hillestad, who just started coaching the Mustangs girls this year. Bakersfield Christian romped through Division V, predictably, and Tehachapi racked up a Division III title. Other solid teams included Liberty, which lost to Bullard in the D-I semifinals, and Garces, which reached the Division II final before losing.

Best team: Bakersfield Christian proved at the early-season Lynch Cup that it was a hair better than Stockdale, winning four of six highly contested matches. The Eagles might have had even more success had the dual been a traditional nine- or 12-match format. They had tremendous depth, especially for a small school, and found little competition in the SSL or in Division V. No matter. That two-day Lynch Cup performance, which also included victories over a couple of Clovis schools, Liberty and Garces, was enough to convince most of their supremacy.
Honorable mention: Stockdale, Liberty, Garces, Tehachapi

Best player: There were plenty of great singles players around town, but there was a pretty clear hierarchy. Julie Hutton was solid for Stockdale, but she was No. 2 to Frances Ellison on the team all year — until they teamed up for the doubles championship. Ellison lost both times she played Liberty’s Estefania Limpias, who lost the SEYL championship to East’s amazing Nancy Ramirez. Ramirez, though, was no match for Chelby Cooke, Lyndsay’s sister, in the section’s third-place match. But Chelby was BCHS’ clear No. 2 to Lyndsay — or so it was said. At the top of that chain, you’ve got to figure there’s a pretty good player, and Lyndsay Cooke was that.
Honorable mention: Chelby Cooke, Nancy Ramirez, Estefania Limpias, Frances Ellison

Best match: I’ll mention two winners here. If you’re looking for an individual match, it’s hard to top the drama of Ellison and Hutton’s doubles-championship victory against Allison Gobel and Irene Rios of Clovis-Buchanan. The Mustangs took a tight first set, 6-3 but then trailed 5-3 in the second. Rather than face a for-all-the-marbles third set, Hutton and Ellison dug in and reeled off four straight games — with two going to deuce, if memory serves — to win it 7-5. If you want a team dual, you’ve only got to go a few days later, when Ellison and Hutton split into different doubles teams and won two tense doubles matches to help the Mustangs to another Division I team crown.
Honorable mention: Stockdale 5, Clovis-Buchanan 4, Division I semifinal; Bakersfield Christian 4, Stockdale 2, Lynch Cup

A look ahead: Lyndsay Cooke will have one more shot at Gatewood — they’re both juniors — with the big caveat that they’ve both got to make it there. Ellison, Hutton and Limpias were all seniors, but the other two locals who made it to the section’s final four are back. Ramirez, whose hand injury could remain a concern, and Chelby Cooke could push Lyndsay Cooke or Gatewood for a spot in the final. On a team level, Bakersfield Christian will be LOADED once again, but the Eagles’ matches will again be short on drama because of their school-size competition. Look for the Lynch Cup to be a show of strength again. As for Stockdale, they’ll look for lucky number seven in a row with a team that needs to rebuild a bit at the top but always has some depth.

Year in Review Index
July 1: Football
July 2: Volleyball
July 3: Boys cross country
July 6: Girls cross country

Tomorrow: Girls golf

Hope everyone had a happy and safe holiday weekend. Back to our Year in Review series with girls cross country.

On another note, a former Kern County athlete, Grant Desme of Stockdale, is back in town as a professional with the Stockton Ports of the California League. Stockton is at Sam Lynn Ball Park one more time tonight to face the Blaze at 7:45. If you've got an inkling, get out to Sam Lynn to see Grant play. Otherwise, you can look for a story about him in Tuesday's paper.

2008-09 Kern County GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY

Overview: Everything came together at once for Ridgeview, which had traditionally bowed to league rivals Stockdale and Centennial in cross country like in so many other sports. But this year, coach Adam Setser and the Wolf Pack ran their way to the top of the SWYL, the county and eventually the entire Division III portion of the Central Section. Elsewhere, there wasn’t a whole lot to shout about: Stockdale had another solid team, and some individual runners (Bakersfield sophomore Sarah Baker, Garces junior Monica Guzman, North’s Cecilia Lopez and Shafter’s Elizabeth Wittenberg) enjoyed nice seasons.

Best team: Ridgeview had a motley bunch of athletes assembled by Setser that found their talent together. The Wolf Pack was led by Tijerra Lynch, a sophomore who finished third in the D-III section race, and the trio of Desiree Armendariz, Ashley Duran and Jessica Huizar was enough to dominate the rest of the county and outlast the section at Woodward Park in November.
Honorable mention: Stockdale, North, Shafter, Foothill

Best runner: Always an 800-meter specialist, Lynch found that she was pretty fast when you took her off the track and made her run farther and up hills, too. She got better and better as the year went on, shattering her PR at the Kern County championships at Hart Park with an 18:58.20. Then she ran her best ever at Woodward in the section meet, a 19:31 and then a solid 19:38 in her first state meet.
Honorable mention: Elizabeth Wittenberg, Shafter; Monica Guzman, Garces; Sarah Baker, Bakersfield; Natalie Fernandez, Foothill

Best race: Has to be the section meet, where Ridgeview ran well and then counted runners and did math until the official results came in, proclaiming them the narrow Division III winner over Clovis North and Madera South. Also exciting was Lynch’s PR and corresponding third-place finish and a couple of sub-20 times turned in by Guzman and Wittenberg.
Honorable mention: Kern County championships, East Invitational

A look ahead: The best thing about this past year in Kern County girls cross country was the youth. Only one member of The Californian’s All-Area team was a senior (Wittenberg), and three — Lynch, Baker and Fernandez — were only sophomores. I’d expect at least one or two of that group to make a big step from section contention to state contention over the next two years. On the team level, all fingers point to Ridgeview again, where talent, youth and energetic coaching from Setser have built a budding powerhouse. Baker, by the way, will try to win her third SEYL championship in three tries next fall, and Fernandez will try to improve on her performance last year when she became Foothill’s first girls state qualifier. Guzman and East’s Lucy Garcia were both had impressive junior seasons and will be back as well.

Year in Review Index
July 1: Football
July 2: Volleyball
July 3: Boys cross country
July 6: Girls cross country

Tomorrow: Girls tennis

First off, Happy Fourth of July weekend to everybody, and please be safe if and when you're traveling. Make sure this stays a happy holiday for everybody.

Moving deeper into the summer means moving deeper into our series of high school season reviews. Today we move into boys cross country — but before you turn up your nose, think of this as a great, quick way to catch up on some sports you might not have paid a whole lot of attention to during the school year. There are lots of great athletes around the county playing other sports, and they've all got good stories.

One of the year's (decade's? century's?) best stories comes from cross country, so let's quickly move on.

2008-09 Kern County BOYS CROSS COUNTRY

Overview: It was a disappointing state meet for a couple of local hopefuls, Foothill’s Chris Schwartz and the McFarland boys. I’ll be honest; I thought Schwartz would take the Division III state race easily. He had won Division I as a junior, so when Foothill got moved down, you’d figure it was a lock. But Schwartz looked in pain throughout the race, and though he had the lead with a mile to go, he fell to seventh place. San Diego-University City’s Mac Fleet won it, and he’s a great athlete, but Schwartz wanted more. He admitted after the race to not getting enough sleep and probably not eating right. McFarland, meanwhile, just didn’t have the race it needed to top Big Bear, which dominated the Division IV race. Second place in state is great for most teams, but the Cougars have a recent history of becoming bridesmaids, and it happened again.

Best team: It’s truly amazing what McFarland is able to do with such a small school. The Cougars were by far the area’s best boys team again, with Ridgeview and Highland running neck-and-neck for the next best. McFarland was led by four runners who would have been the top guy on any other team in the county except Foothill: Alfonso Cisneros, Eddie Garcia, Marco Perez and Francisco Nava. Of course, McFarland also had three other runners capable of breaking into that group — the school went 2-3-4-5-7-8-9 in the Central Section Division IV race. Needless to say, whenever locals all got together, McFarland’s group chased Schwartz, kept its point total way down and won easily.
Honorable mention: Ridgeview, Highland, Wasco, Shafter

Best runner: Funny how you can call a seventh-in-state finish disappointing. That’s how good Schwartz was in the final two years of his career. I got a call the other day from sports writer Josh Scroggin at the San Luis Obispo Tribune; he wanted to know some details on Schwartz, who’s headed to Cal Poly next year. I told Josh that given a disciplined environment — think about that state race and his sleeping and eating habits — he could be one of the best in the nation. He proved it in track season with his 3,200 time, and he proved it at the cross country Western regionals, which he won, and at the Foot Locker national race, where he was in the top 10. This guy is special — and don't forget his mind-boggling background.
Honorable mention: Alfonso Cisneros, McFarland; Francisco Nava, McFarland; Eddie Garcia, McFarland; Ascension Mendoza, Wasco; Curtis Kelly, Stockdale; Robby Baker, Ridgeview; Marco Perez, McFarland

Best race: The state meet was dramatic, but with McFarland’s and Schwartz’s corresponding duds, it really wasn’t much fun for Kern County. If you’re looking for something more uplifting, how about the Kern County Championships, which told the story of the season well. Schwartz dominated with a personal-record time of 14:59.76 (a high schooler going under 15 minutes is pretty rare), and then the next nine runners came in within 20 seconds of each other. McFarland ran in a pack and had enough to outlast everyone else.
Honorable mention: State meet, section meet

A look ahead: The Schwartz Era of Kern cross country was far too short. What now? McFarland loses Cisneros and Eddie Garcia but will be just fine with a nucleus of Marco Perez, Marco Camargo and Francisco Nava coming back. Whether the Cougars can win their 10th state title — one that’s eluded them for amost a decade now — with that group remains to be seen. They’ve always got some up-and-comers who score plenty of points, too. As for others, Ridgeview returns a team that was led by juniors, so Robby Baker, Alex Garcia and Brian Solis ought to have the Wolf Pack in top form. On an individual level, look out for a big jump by sophomore-to-be Curtis Kelly of Stockdale or senior-to-be Jake Van Zandt at Highland.

Year in Review Index
July 1: Football
July 2: Volleyball

I'm going to take the weekend off on the blog as well, considering many won't be checking it anyway, but we'll continue the Year in Review series on Monday.

Monday: Girls cross country

Here's some breaking high school sports news/economy news: JV sports are back!

I'm sure that's a positive for most followers of this blog and for a lot of people out there, but it did come at a cost. The Kern High School District has decided to hold off on cutting JV sports for at least a year — giving coaches and parents time to mobilize fundraising efforts — but the funds will be taken away next year regardless of whether enough money to save the programs have been raised.

At the same meeting, it was discussed that KHSD teachers may have to take a 5 percent pay cut. That will be decided within the coming months. Don't make the mistake, though, of thinking that that is in place of the JV cuts — the JV programs cost about $430,000 a year to maintain; cutting every teacher's salary by 5 percent would account for much, much more than that. This is not tit for tat.

In the meantime, here's today's Year in Review segment on volleyball. If you missed yesterday's, it was football.

2008-09 Kern County VOLLEYBALL

Overview: Liberty was Kern County’s best team from start to finish, nearly going unbeaten in the tough SEYL and then getting to the Division I Central Section championship behind a veteran nucleus led by junior Mariah Alvidrez. But Bakersfield also improved throughout the year, and you could make the argument the Drillers were playing just as well — or better — than the Pats by season’s end. They beat Liberty in the final game of the regular season and then went to the section semis, where they took a game off Clovis West — more than Liberty could do. Centennial won the SWYL easily but fizzled in the playoffs, getting swept at home by BHS.
Garces, also from that tough SEYL, won the Division II title. Bakersfield Christian won Division IV after moving up, but the Eagles, with a team that could have contended for the D-V state title, made it only to the second round of the D-IV playoffs.

Best team: I’ll still go with Liberty, because like I said, the Patriots were more consistent than BHS. They also took care of Centennial and Stockdale early in the season and went out of town to win a few impressive matches. All three games with Clovis West in the section final were close, but the Golden Eagles found a way to win them in their loud little gym.
Honorable mention: Bakersfield, Centennial, Garces, Bakersfield Christian, Stockdale

Best player: You could probably argue about this one for days, but during All-Area time, I went with BHS’ Lauren Holderman, and I will again. She’s an outside hitter who will become a defensive specialist at Cal State Bakersfield. That probably tells you all you need to know about Holderman’s versatility. The other obvious option is Alvidrez, who was the most powerful offensive player in the county and also a good passer. Very slight edge to Holderman here, but it’s really splitting hairs.
Honorable mention: Alvidrez, Garces MB Shelby Staab, Centennial OH Alyssa Gammel, Bakersfield Christian OH Clare Flood, Liberty S Emily Cote.

Best match: The lead to this story says it all about Liberty and Centennial’s rivalry, and this game was no exception. It was, in reality, a meaningless non-conference game, but bragging rights made it important, especially after Centennial beat Liberty last year for the Division II section title. Also, the Patriots staving off the Golden Hawks’ comeback made a pretty big announcement that they were the local team to beat.
Honorable mention: Clovis West 3, Bakersfield 1, Central Section semifinals; Bakersfield Christian comes from behind to beat Tehachapi 3-2; Garces 3, Bakersfield 2.

A look ahead: There were plenty of young teams in Bakersfield last fall, so expect quite a bit of improvement. Centennial’s best hitter, Gammel, was a sophomore, as was its starting setter. Stockdale has one of the area’s better setters in Alex Collatz, who’ll be a junior, and no seniors in last fall’s rotation. Liberty, though, should be the lion’s meow again, with Alvidrez, Cote and Kristin Halling all coming back to lead what should be a scary offense. But the Patriots need to re-create their scrappiness from last year, when Mikinzi Demarco led the back line. She’s gone. The other bad news for Bakersfield teams is that Clovis West also had a young team, and it was dominant in Division I last year. We’ll see if a Kern team can break through.
Among smaller divisions, Garces should be a factor again, though the loss of Shelby Staab to graduation will take its toll. Bakersfield Christian will always be a Division IV factor, but this might be a little bit of a rebuilding year. Tehachapi, with its key pieces all returning, just might be the favorite in the SSL.

Tomorrow: Boys cross country

Here it is folks, your first installment of the 2008-09 Year in Reviews. Today we're taking a look at the most popular high school sport of all.

We'll do one sport a day over the next three weeks or so, following about the same format for each: A quick overview, followed by a glimpse at the best team, best player, best game/event and a look ahead to next year. Throughout the reviews, I've linked to some stories that ran during the season, and at the end, a teaser to what's ahead the next day.

2008-09 Kern County FOOTBALL

Overview: At the top, a tough year for Kern County, with Bakersfield rebuilding (reloading?), Centennial down, Stockdale resurgent but still learning Mike Snow’s system and Liberty a defensive stalwart but offensively challenged. Tehachapi and Bakersfield Christian, however, both defended their Central Section titles, giving the South Sequoia League five Valley championships in the past two years.

Best team: I’m inclined to go small here and say that Bakersfield Christian could have beaten about anybody in Kern County with that high-flying offense behind QB Derek Carr and WRs Jake Peterson and Colby Herron. Carr-to-Peterson could be a common sight at Fresno State in a few years. The Eagles dominated Division V, pounding unbeaten Corcoran 49-27 for the championship. Perhaps even more impressive is that BCHS went unbeaten in the SSL, knocking off D-III Tehachapi along the way.
Honorable mention: Liberty, Division III champion Tehachapi, Stockdale, Bakersfield

Best player: It was going to be nearly impossible for Carr to live up to the hype that preceded him — everybody was talking about what his brother, David, did at Stockdale before becoming the NFL’s No. 1 draft pick at Fresno State. Derek was supposed to be better. And all he did was take that pressure and hype and actually exceed it. Carr threw for 4,068 yards and 46 touchdowns, both second all-time in the Central Section. That included 544 yards against Arvin, a single-game section record, and six TD passes in two other games, second all-time. And to think, Carr and his accurate laser of an arm didn’t even play the fourth quarter of most of BCHS games because they were blowouts.
Honorable mention: Highland LB Pat Su’a, Golden Valley RB Byron Newman, South QB Jose Ramos, Bakersfield Christian WR Jake Peterson, North RB Julian Dean-Johnson

Best game: I hate to be repititive with these things, but it’s hard to top Tehachapi at Bakersfield Christian for pure entertainment value. It was BCHS 40, Tehachapi 35, with the Eagles dominating the air in the first half to the tune of a 34-7 lead early in the third quarter and the Warriors moving the ball on the ground — and, oddly enough, also through the air — to cut the lead all the way down to 34-28 with seven minutes left and then to 40-35 with 2:30 to go. BCHS hung on in a game that featured more than 1,000 total yards and turned out to be the decider in the SSL race.
Honorable mention: Tehachapi 21, Hanford 14, Division III championship; Clovis West 14, Liberty 6, Division I playoffs; Liberty 17, Stockdale 10;  Bakersfield 17, Liberty 10; Clovis-Buchanan 41, Bakersfield 34.

A look ahead: I won’t go too far into this, because within a month we’ll be previewing the 2009 season team-by-team, but I will say it’s going to be a very interesting season this fall. Could it be a return to power for Bakersfield and Centennial, teams with the best young quarterbacks around (juniors Brian Burrell and Cody Kessler)? You know those teams won’t be down for long, and upstart teams from last year like Golden Valley, North and South lost most of their star power. Stockdale should be improved again in Year 2 of the Mike Snow Era, meaning the Mustangs could challenge 8 or more wins again. So should Liberty, which returns many players on the lines.
It’s also the last season of the two-league system — in 2010, we’ll have a “power” league featuring BHS, Liberty, Stockdale, Frontier, Centennial and Independence, and then two lesser leagues. That means it’s the last chance for a team like Ridgeview — always talented and now with reknowned coach Dennis Manning at the helm — to take a league title from the big boys.
Among small schools, BCHS loses a ton, so focus might shift back to the Tehachapi-Taft power struggle in the SSL. I hope that whet your whistle for now; more to come in July.

Tomorrow: Volleyball