Wolfpack, Spartans duel to stalemate

It looks as if we'll have to wait a bit longer to find out who the best boys soccer team in the Sierra League is.

In what was one of the best high school soccer matches I've seen, Claremont and Damien played for 100 total minutes, which included two 40-minute halves and two 10-minute overtime periods. And while both teams had their opportunities to score, the game ended with the score still deadlocked at 0-0.

Kudos to both teams on what was an intense and highly competitive match that was exciting the whole way through. Even though neither team could pull out the win, Claremont coach Fred Bruce-Oliver was pleased with his team's effort.

"I'm very happy because for a while, I was thinking that we were playing not to lose," Coach Bruce-Oliver said. "Then I showed them video of a previous game and they told me that they saw some bad things. Tonight, we got back to playing and I felt like we were not playing safe."

Both the Wolfpack and Spartans are now 4-0-1 in Sierra League play. Look for further coverage in Saturday's issue of the COURIER.

Hollywood Knights coming back to Claremont

The celebrity-studded Hollywood Knights basketball team is returning to Claremont High School for another showdown with the best of the Claremont Unified School District this Saturday.

Last year, the Knights defeated Claremont, 99-88, in the first ever meeting between the 2 teams with the CHS boys basketball program raising $15,000 as a result of the game. The program hopes to top that amount in 3 days.

All of Saturday's action will begin at 6 p.m. inside the main CHS gym. Tickets are $10 at the door while children under 5 years of age are free.

Here's a listing of the CUSD participants:

Rick Dutton - head coach
Brett O'Connor
Steven Patterson
Jamie Oberbeck
Jon Snapp
William Robinson
Brian Evans
Colin Nesbit
Chris Willoughby
Craig Crampton
Kevin Grier
Kevin Gross
Scooby

Here's the celebrity listing:

Aaron Hill
Alan Ritchson
Allen Evangelista
Arlen Escarpeta
Casey Deidrick
DJ D-Wrek
Greg Finley
Manny Guevara
Stoney Jackson
Blake Lewis
102.7 KISS FM

For more information, visit the Hollywood Knights website HERE.

Webb athletic director receives MacKenzie Award

Congratulations to the Webb Schools Athletic Director Stephen Wishek, who recently was named the Norm MacKenzie Award winner by the California State Athletic Directors Association.

The award is given to an athletic director who is recognized as the CIF Southern Section's most outstanding athletic director in his or her first one to 4 years of service. More than 570 public and private schools make up the southern section.

Wishek came to Webb in 2003 and worked as an instructor before becoming athletic director in 2008. Before Webb, he taught at Sage Hill School.

Wishek also maintains a blog on the Webb Schools website that provides updates on the schools' sports teams. Visit the site by click HERE.

Congrats once again to Wishek.

(photo courtesy of the Webb Schools website)

The Battle of the Undefeateds

Perhaps there has been no greater rivalry in Claremont High School's history than Damien High School. The two teams will continue their long-standing rivalry on the boys soccer front tomorrow in a Sierra League clash that may be one of the most important in recent history.

The Wolfpack and the Spartans, both with undefeated 4-0 league records, will collide at Damien High School in a nighttime match scheduled for a 5:30 p.m. start. Claremont has yet to lose a match this season with an impressive 12-0-4 record. Damien is 7-2-5 to date.

Look for coverage for tomorrow's match in Saturday's edition of the COURIER, along with a few notes about the match on this blog on Wednesday night or early Thursday morning.

C-M-S strikes first

There wasn't a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Championship on the line this time but the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's basketball team got the upper hand in the regular season series against Pomona-Pitzer last night with a 68-61 win at Ducey Gym. The win improved the Stags to 4-0 in conference play while the Sagehens fall to 2-2.

Both teams were tied at 33-33 going into the 2nd half. But while C-M-S dropped in field goal efficiency (42 percent to 33 percent) in the last 20 minutes, the Stags were able to constantly get to the charity stripe. C-M-S made 19 of 23 free throws in the 2nd half alone compared to 7 of 10 for Pomona-Pitzer.

The women's version of the Sixth Street Showdown (Claremont-Mudd-Scripps vs Pomona-Pitzer) will take place tonight at Ducey Gym at 7:30 p.m.

Tuliaupupu maybe headed north to Washington

Claremont High School defensive lineman Brandon Tuliaupupu recently received an offer to attend Washington State University on a full-ride athletic scholarship this fall. Tuliaupupu is coming off a solid senior season at CHS as he helped the Wolfpack (7-4) to its first playoff berth in several years while contributing 63 total tackles and 4 sacks.

Congratulations to Brandon and the Tuliaupupu family on the news.

Claremont sports seeing a resurgence?

Maybe it's the fact that Claremont is in a new league. Or it could just be the Claremont High School sports teams are getting better.

The years of records .500 and below may be coming to an end as CHS is making the 2010-2011 season of sports a year to remember. And with many of Claremont's wins coming outside of Sierra League play, the switch from the Baseline League is not the biggest difference for the Wolfpack.

One of the big differences is that we are seeing many juniors and seniors that have had time to gel within the same system for a few years. If we were to take a look at football for example, this was the senior year of quarterback Daniel Kessler, defensive lineman Brandon Tuliaupupu and receivers Aaron Dockery and Tanner Kuramata. Translation? Claremont finishes the season with a 7-4 record and makes the playoffs for the first time in several years.

Let's continue with CHS boys cross country. The team had its best finish in school history this year behind the efforts of seniors Paul Ross, Colin Domonoske and Henry Falotico. Once again, senior leadership pays off.

How about applying the same idea to the CHS basketball teams? With teams led by strong season classes, the boys team has jumped out to a 9-9 start and the girls are currently above .500 at 9-7. And the girls water polo team, also filled with lots of seniors, is also off to a great 10-3 start. We can also put the varsity boys soccer team (9-0-4) in this category as well of CHS teams with seniors dominating the roster.

But CHS freshmen and sophomores are showing they can get the job done as well. The strong efforts by the CHS girls cross country and girls tennis teams this year the result of many younger standouts such as Cindy Liu and Drew Espinosa. The varsity girls soccer team has used a blend of both underclass and upperclass talent to kick their way to a 10-4-1 record this season.

It's the players who are making the difference this season and the coaches have done a great job in growing talent in the players over a 4-year period. With a new start in the Sierra League, Claremont is beginning its ascent at just the right time. Other sports programs will come along as well but just need a bit more seasoning before they're ready.

All I know is that I'm seeing a difference in Claremont teams this year, a good difference. And I'm hoping that this is the start of something good for years to come.