Foothills Sentry August 2024

Page 15 Foothills Sentry AUGUST 2024 COMMUNITY SPORTS BY CLIFF ROBBINS AND CHAD CLINE All-CIF athletes honored by CIF-SS Baseball These student athletes were honored by the LA84 Foundation, selected by the CIF-SS baseball coaches. Div 1: Garrett Davidson (12, FHS); Ross Clark (12, ORL), Derek Curiel (12, ORL); and Jus- tin Tims (12, VP). Div 2: Austin Duarte (12, CAN). Div. 3: Nick Santivanez (12, ELM). All-League honors: Nick San- tivanez, a senior from El Mode- na High School, was named the Crestview League Most Valuable Player. Garrett Davidson, Foot- hill High School, was named Crestview Offensive Player of the Year. Named to the Crestview First Team were, from Foothill High, Gavin Lauridsen, Brian Harbour and Noah Macalino; from El Modena, Logan Asch, Christian Tafua and Lukus Alvarado. Crest- view Second Team athletes from football are Ezekiel Vargas and Mason Souter; from El Modena, Clint Dodson and Logan Honikel. Austin Duarte from Canyon High School was named North Hills Most Valuable Player, and Cohen Gomez was named North Hills Pitcher of the Year. First Team athletes from Canyon High were Johnny Lopez, James Law- rence, Christian Tapia and Gil Vargas. CHS athletes named to the Second Team were Camden Goetz and Evan Bohen. Softball The athletes selected by the CIF-SS softball coaches include: Div. 1: Carson Cooper (12, CAN); Brianne Weiss (12, ORL), Kai Minor (11, ORL); and Auddrey Lira (11, VP). Div. 2: Sara Pinedo (11, ELM). All-League athletes were named. Jordan Simmons from Canyon High School was named Crestview League Pitcher of the Year. Crestview First Team hon- ors went to Canyon High’s Carson Cooper, Sophia Sandoval, Saman- tha Gresham, Jade Diaz and Irma Urincho. From El Modena High School were Kaitlyn Galasso, Sara Pinedo and Kylie Tafua. Sec- ond Team athletes from El Mode- na High School were Monica Garcia and Jocelyn Alatorre; and from Canyon High School, Ken- dall Nevin, Victoria Oropeza and Mia Saenz. Receiving Honorable Mention were athletes from El Modena, JuJu Brower and Devin Drummond. El Modena High team awards included: Kaitlyn Galasso and Sara Pinedo, Most Valuable Play- ers; Jocelyn Alatorre, Silver Slug- ger; Kylie Tafua, Gold Glove; Devin Drummond, Most Im- proved; and Ava Espinoza took the Hailey Fink Heart and Hustle Award. Canyon High team awards: Vic- toria Oropeza and Irma Urincho, Coaches Award; Maya Valen- zuela, Most Improved; Kendall Nevin, Team Most Inspirational; Mira Saenz, Comeback Player of the Year; Carson Cooper and Sa- matha Gresham, Best Defensive; Sophia Sandoval and Jade Diaz, Best Offensive; Paloma Saenz, Commemorative 2024 Michelle Crew Most Inspirational Player of the Year. Carson Cooper and Paloma Saenz will be inducted into the 2024 Canyon Softball Hall of Fame. Boys Lacrosse Athletes named to Div. 1 First Team from Foothill included: Bode Jellerson (12, mid-field, FHS), Sean Sanchez (12, attack, FHS) and Blake Wozniak (12, at- tack, FHS); Div. 1 Second Team athletes were Isaiah Chavez (FO, FHS), Dylan Eidsvoid (12, attack, FHS) and Connor Pietras (12, at- tack, FHS). Div. 3: Jake Tieskoet- ter (11, midfield, ORL) and Ben- nett Yonkers (11, defense, ORL). All-League honors went to Isaiah Chavez, midfield faceoff specialist from Foothill, who was named Crestview League Most Valuable Player. Bode Jellerson, a FHS midfield athlete, was named Offense Player of the Year, and Dylan Eidsvoid, FHS, was named the Defensive Player of the Year. First Team honors went to Foot- hill High athletes Sean Sanchaz, midfield; Blake Wozniak, at- tack; Connor Pietras, attack; and Landon Mohktari, defense. Foot- hill Second Team athletes were: Tavin Russel, midfield; Jackson Bennett, defense; and Lucas Miles, midfield. All-League Hon- orable Mention Foothill athletes were Gavin Solomon, a goal- keeper; Eric Orman, defense; and Reese Neuer, midfield. Foothill boys lacrosse was back in the news, as Bode Jellerson was honored as All-American, and Jackson Bennett was named as Academic All-American. Foothill High awarded the Team MVP honor to Bode Jeller- son; Offensive Player of the Year was Sean Sanchez; and Defen- sive Player of the Year was Dylan Eidsvold. Additional awards were Attack Player of the Year, Blake Wozniak; Midfield Player of the Year, Isaiah Chavez; De- fensive Player of the Year, Land- on Mohktari; Most Improved, Josh Wyatt; Rookie of the Year, Hudson Brown. The Bill Brogden Award went to Lucas Miles; the Hank Nunez Knight of the Year was awarded to Gavin Solomon. Reese Neuer and Connor Pietras took home the Coaches Award. Girls Lacrosse CIF-SS Div. 1 honors went to: Brynn Perkins (11, midfield, FHS); Jenna Cardeno (12, goal- keeper, FHS); and Kayla Agarie (10, midfield, FHS). Boys Volleyball Named as Crestview All- League First Team was Ethan Bonnell, 12, from El Modena; Second Team El Modena athletes were Nick Tomlinson, 12, and Scott Tran, 10. Ferragamo is ready to kick off the flag football season By Andie Mills Vince Ferragamo, former NFL quarterback for the Rams, has created a flag football program at Santiago Canyon College (SCC). SCC has a women’s flag foot- ball program, but the Ferragamo Flag Football League is geared for boys and girls in first through eighth grade. Ferragamo has been involved in youth sports since his retire- ment, and is a longtime supporter of sports programs through his foundation. He began coaching his grandson’s flag football team two years ago. When approached by SCC, he enthusiastically pulled together former teammates and key NFL people to bring a new level of flag football to the kids. He developed a program that will not only teach the skills, terminol- ogy, schematics and combination routes, plus how to run the ball, throw the ball and catch the ball, but also incorporates respect and discipline – attributes that will help each player in everyday life. Ferragamo, himself, had begun playing flag football. Learning the skills and mechanics, exercis- ing, developing agility, playing as a team and having fun on the field will serve each player well in other sports. Flag football does not, he stressed, take a backseat to tackle football. Flag will become an Olympic sport in 2028. And, he said, it is easier to adjust to putting on pads than making the mental leap to tackle. Football is “80% mental and 20% physical,” and he firmly believes that discipline, respect and, especially, the right mental approach are vital. The Ferragamo Flag Football League (FFFL), ferragamoffl.com, brings years of professional expe- rience to the playing field. The SCC facilities offer outstanding fields. A full-time athletic trainer, Conrad Gallegos, will be on hand to ensure there are no, or minimal injuries. There will be full-time staff to monitor referees. Former Rams teammate Jackie Slater will serve as commissioner; Ivory Sully, also an NFL player on the Rams, is the marketing director. Mike Alexander, wide receiver for the Broncos, will be the head of officiating. Longtime high school coach and brother Chris Ferraga- mo will be the Director of Fields. LeRoy Irvin, another NFL great, will be helping out, as will Denor- vas “Dee” Warren, who holds 20 years of coaching experience. The FFFL will mimic the NFL, with both a summer and fall league. The fall league, in Sep- tember and October, will have an eight-week season. Each week there will be one practice, a Friday night concentration on mechanics, and one game in the appropriate age bracket in a slot between 5-8 p.m. There are no weight restric- tions, and each game will have two 20-minute halves and one time-out. Ferragamo’s enthusiasm for the kids, flag football and league is contagious. He has underwriters and sponsors, and has worked to make the game affordable, though he can scholarship kids, if needed. Football, he said, is a great game, and the benefits are great for computer-entrenched kids today. He plans to expand the league in 2025, and ultimately take it na- tionwide – a touchdown for the kids! Football takes on a whole new look this season, the only high school sport to have its own CIF- Southern Section leagues. All leagues have been com- pletely redesigned. No longer will OUSD schools play their cross-town rivals or meet each other in league play. Only one league went untouched, the Trin- ity League with Mater Dei, Or- ange Lutheran, Servite, JSerra, Rancho Santa Margarita and St. John Bosco. Twelve new leagues, consist- ing of six teams in each league, have been created, and will re- main in place for two years. The Greek alphabet was used to name each of the new leagues. The new league system organized the school football squads based on their 2023-24 win-loss season re- cord, instead of enrollment. The releaguing is designed to match teams more competitively, and avoid blow-out wins. CIF of- ficials will re-evaluate school placements every two years. This first weekend of the sea- son, all five local teams saw action on the road. El Modena traveled to Thousand Oaks; Villa Park trekked to Inglewood; Can- yon headed south with a game at Dana Hills; Orange traveled to Huntington Beach; and Foothill made the trip to San Diego and faced Madison High School. Upcoming games to watch: Aug. 30, Villa Park at Orange and Foothill at Tustin for the gaunt- let; Sept. 5, Orange vs. Foothill; Oct. 3, Villa Park at Yorba Linda; and Oct. 17, El Modena against Tustin. Villa Park joins the Bravo League with Yorba Linda, Corona Del Mar, San Juan Hills, Tesoro and Newport Harbor. El Modena joins the Delta League with Western, Cypress, Capo Valley, Trabuco Hills and Tustin. Foothill joins the Epsilon League with Huntington Beach, Laguna Hills, El Dorado, La Habra and Crean Lutheran. Orange joins the Foxtrot Leagu e with Laguna Beach, Northwood, Fountain Valley, Aliso Niguel and Dana Hills. Canyon joins the Iota League with El Toro, Troy, Sonora, Irvine and Santa Ana. NFL Rams quarterback Vince Ferragamo