Outlook changes for preps

Prep athletics in the Santa Clarita Valley might avoid the budget ax altogether. Jaime Castellanos, superintendent of the William S. Hart Union High School District, said Tuesday he doesn't anticipate prep sports in the district being largely affected by the still-pending California budget and the cuts that will be made based on it. "A lot of our kids are involved in sports. If we cut athletics, it would have a damaging effect," Castellanos said. "I ...

Switching gears

Kris Rincon faced the realization that so many big-time high school athletes face once they reach college. There are other big-time athletes and even more bigger-time athletes.

A cut that might lead to worse

A friend of mine made the comment to me after reading a story in Saturday's sports section about the budget crunch having an effect on preps sports in the Santa Clarita Valley.

Budget ax may swing at sports

The state budget crunch may mean individual schools have to pay for substitute teachers when coaches travel with their teams, missing a day of school, according to some reports Friday.

Canyon sees bittersweet end

Just how costly was the residency falsification that cost the Canyon girls basketball team 10 wins, two players and its head coach? The final answer came Thursday.

Last day chaos: Foothill League showdowns abound

We used a headline for our Foothill League girls soccer preview that read: "Last team standing."

Around the Divisions: Just like in league, top three are close

We've reached the final week of Foothill League play and still noting is decided in girls soccer. Saugus, Valencia and Canyon are still tied atop the league standings.

Pillars for success

Saugus High fashions itself as having a blue-collar athletic program. But being the underdog or being overshadowed rubbed Saugus girls basketball player Gabrielle Conn the wrong way.

TMC teams are off track

Down the stretch they come. Two wounded Mustangs in the final leg of two separate races. With eight games left in each of their seasons, The Master's College's men's and women's teams are in danger of missing the NAIA National Tournament. Flip the calendar page back to this time in January and that wasn't the case. On Jan. 6, the men were 11-3 and ranked 20th in the NAIA top 25. The women were 8-5 ...

All signings point to college

With the increasing media coverage of prep sports, National Signing Day is becoming a bigger event.

Races start to find focus

Finally, some sort of clarity. In Foothill League boys and girls soccer, a couple of games from Tuesday gave some answers. The first answer came from boys soccer. Canyon defeating Golden Valley 1-0 gave the Cowboys what would be considered a giant five-point lead over the Grizzlies in the race for the Foothill League title. The Cowboys could clinch as early as Tuesday. With Saugus defeating West Ranch 1-0 Tuesday, it gave the Centurions a ...

Speedbumps could appear down the road

Last week we focused on boys basketball in the first edition of around the divisions. This week, we take a look at girls basketball. But let's make some quick points on boys basketball.

Perfect no more: Golden Valley suffers first league loss

Hart basketball's Patrick Abbott had possibly one of the ugliest stat lines to ever come out of the Hart High gymnasium.

Wildcat verbals with SDSU

In Jake Bernards, San Diego State sees untapped potential. That's why the school offered him a scholarship. The West Ranch senior quarterback accepted the scholarship offer from San Diego State Monday. Other schools were looking at him, including Washington and UC Davis, Bernards said, but he said San Diego State was the perfect fit. It wasn't so much Bernards' football numbers that the Aztecs were intrigued by as much as his size. The 6-foot-5-inch, 205-pound ...

The find

Tom Barber's goal is to spread Jesus' word. So he goes on foot and tries to spread that message. He encounters all kinds of people - the mildly interested, those who dismiss Jehovah's Witnesses and those who listen. Then there was the old man. Barber found the old man by going door to door on the outer edge of Canyon Country in 2006. Talk began about the Bible. It soon turned to baseball. And something ...

COC’s winning streak ends at 10 straight

Hart graduate Chris Valaika is getting another shot at the Major League

Santa Clarita Valley athletes had mixed results in Spring Training

West Ranch golf and senior Joey Downey win again

West Ranch baseball gains steam

Proving again that it could be any team's day in the Foothill League, the West Ranch Wildcats knocked off the Saugus Centurions 13-6 on Wednesday.

Foothill League golf: Favorites first

No surprise and surprise.

Saugus' Braden Lewis: Quietly confident

One of the best compliments one could pay a golfer is calling their game "boring."

2013 Foothill League boys golf preview: Beginning of a tradition

Last season, West Ranch won its fifth straight Foothill League championship.

Hart baseball's Baggio Saldivar: At the head of the pack

The way coaches throw around the label "leader" makes it lose its impact.

SCV Hoops Finale: Kevin Harris MVP of boys game

Quite simply, it was Kevin Harris' night in the smaller picture.

Canyon baseball surges to front of Foothill League

Canyon Cowboys head baseball coach Adam Schulhofer can't be swayed away from his one-game-at-a-time thinking.

Golden Valley High hires boys hoops coach

The most unstable coaching jobs in the Santa Clarita Valley over the last couple of years took steps toward stability on Friday.

SCV Hoops Finale almost here

By Cary Osborne

West Ranch baseball picks up first Foothill League win of 2013

Regardless of how West Ranch Wildcats baseball got the win, the important thing is it got the win. The Wildcats are now on the board in Foothill League play after a 10-1 win over the Golden Valley Grizzlies on Wednesday at Golden Valley High. "It's a win and we needed to have one," said West Ranch head coach Casey Burrill. "If we want to find ourselves at the end of the season competing for a ...

Valencia baseball puts it all together

There's a reason why many people thought going into Foothill League baseball play that the Valencia Vikings were the team to beat.