Senior Daniel Klein (Rossmoor), one of the top-ranked quarterbacks in the area, didn't get much of chance to show off his arm when Servite fell to Santiago of Corona 23-9 last Friday.
      Klein, one of the Serra League's top passers the last two seasons, completed 9 of 17 passes in the contest, with most of his attempts coming on third-and-long situations or late in the game.
      Klein is a two-sport athlete who has committed to play baseball at UCLA, although college football coaches have not given up all hope yet.

There was a veritable gaggle of ex-Griffins in action at college and pro stadiums this past weekend,

      Antoine Cason – Arizona - while the ex-Griffin ('04) got some props by being named a pre-season All-America by Sports Illustrated (and considered one of the top three cornerbacks in the country by some), it was not a week to remember for his Arizona Wildcats against LSU, as they lost 45-3. Cason did pick up his eighth career interception.
      And Cason's former Griffin teammate Conan Amituanai (who played his senior year at Poly) is drawing attention to his play more than his hair at Arizona.

      Lots of ex-Griffins are playing at Boise State -- Orlando Scandrick, Quinton Jones, Jeremy Childs (pictured right), and Cameron Filkins. Scandrick was a starting cornerback and second team freshman All-American last year while Childs, Orange County's all-time leading receiver, redshirted. But the latter's been getting attention this year for a good reason -- he gets open and he catches passes.

      Dan Rowlands is starting at right guard for Washington State which pummeled Idaho 56-10 last Saturday.
      No longer playing for Idaho is junior safety DJ Dykes (LAHS '04) who was named to the The Sporting News All-WAC preseason team, but left the team before the season started. Dykes was Idaho's third-leading tackler last season with 69, and led the Vandals with four interceptions.

      John Hale – UCLA – After missing the Bruins season opening win over Utah due to a suspension, the former Griffin linebacker (LAHS ’05) saw some playing time in UCLA’s 26-16 win over Rice, but may have lost his starting linebacker spot.

      Moving to the pro football scene, former Griffin Chris Kluwe seems to have returned well from off-season ACL surgery and is again the starting punter for Minnesota. Kluwe has also assumed the placekicking holder responsibilities this season -- and botched his first attempt and narrowly avoided being the "goat" in the Vikings 19-16 win over Washington on Sunday.

      Mike Patterson had four tackles and helped set up some sacks for the Philadelphia Eagles in their 24-10 win over Houston on Sunday.

      Former Griffin Keenan Howry, struggling with a recurring hamstring injury, was released by the Seattle Seattle Seahawks on August 28.

      Los Al Griffins Kevin Carroll and Geena Unrango were both selected to the USA Youth National Volleyball teams which competed at the NORCECA (North America, Central America, Caribbean) Junior National Championships this past summer in Mexico City.
      Unfortunately for Carroll, he and a teammate came down with a severe case of food poisoning -- haven't we warned you about those street tacos? -- while at the tournament and saw very little action – at least on the court. (He did get in some hospital time, however, IV units tend to put a cramp on one's volleyball action).
      Urango helped the U.S. Women’s Youth National Team capture the gold medal at the NORCECA Continental Women’s Junior Championship with a marathon five-set victory over the Dominican Republic at Monterrey, Mexico. She had four points in one set start.

      Over in the beach volleyball column, Griffin sophomore Brian Miller of Rossmoor and teammate Ryan Wilder of Long Beach placed third in the Boys 14 division of the 12th annual AAU Boys Beach Volleyball championships in Hermosa Beach on July 17. The event drew 107 teams from seven states and two countries.

      Led by former Griffin Hayley Bolt, the Long Beach State womens soccer team is off to its best start in school history. The 49ers, which downed Southern Utah 2-0 and University of San Francisco 1-0 this past weekend, is now 5-1. Their only loss came on Sept. 3 against national powerhouse UCLA when they fell 1-0 on a late goal.
      Bolt (LAHS '05) and starting 49er defender Julie Megorden ('05) are two of 10 former Lady Griffins playing Div I college soccer.

      Niccole Grimaldi (LAHS ’04) is a starting defender for Oklahoma State, which suffered its first loss of the season on Sunday, falling 1-0 to Loyola Marymount which scored with 50 seconds remaining in the second overtime at the Loyola Marymount Tournament. Oklahoma State defeated Cal Poly San Luis Obispo on Friday.
      For Grimaldi it was a homecoming. Not only did lots of relatives and friends show up to see her play, her parents hosted a team dinner for Grimaldi’s Cowgirl teammates at their Rossmoor home.

      Rocky Hearst (LAHS '05) scored her first goal of the season for Evansville last Sunday, but it didn't hold up as Belmont defeated Evansville 2-1. Evansville routed Troy 7-0 on Friday. The Purple Aces are now 2-3-0 heading into next Saturday's home match with the Virginia Tech Hokies.
      The Hokies come into the game with a 4-1-1 record after splitting a pair at their own tournament this past weekend. On Friday they fell to James Madison 3-2, but they dropped Liberty 2-0, outshooting them 21-7. Hearst’s former Griffin teammate Megan Strawther, a freshman on the Virginia Tech team, missed both games due to illness, but should see action next week. She starts in their flat four defense and comes off the bench when they use a three-back defense.

      Former Griffin keeper Mandy Trojan (LAHS '06) stopped a penalty kick but couldn’t stop a rebound shot as Washington State ended Sacramento State's 3-game win skein, 1-0, on Sunday. On Friday, the Hornets recorded their largest victory over a Division I opponent in program history, blanking Idaho 6-0. Trojan played half the contest.

      Pepperdine improved its record to 3-1-2 with a win and a tie this past weekend at home. On Friday they downed Tulsa 3-1, and on Sunday they played Wisconsin to a 1-1 tie. Ex-Griffin Bo Medina (LAHS '06) started both games at the forward position this past weekend.

      Wright State remained undefeated this year, coming from behind to beat Dusquesne 2-1 on Sunday and downing cross-state rival Kent State 5-0 on Friday. Former Griffin Dana Meisner (’06) saw action in both contests.

      Former Griffin Jon Bornstein continues to impress with Chivas USA in Major League Soccer. He is considered one of the top candidates for the league's Rookie of the Year award. For you Bornstein junkies out there, he did a Q&A with Soccer365.com.

      Ex-Griffin Ryan Gay assisted on two goals to help Cal State Bakersfield to a 4-1 victory over Fresno Pacific last weekend.

      Former Griffin Geremy Uhl is hoping to lead USF to its third straight WCC title. The 8th ranked Dons (4-0-1) won the Penn State Classic championship last weekend and face Cal State Northridge Friday and #8 UCLA Sunday in the Southland.

      Former Griffin Mike Munoz (LAHS '02), now playing for Chivas USA, underwent successful surgery to repair a derangement of his right ankle. Munoz has had recurring ankle problems for the past few years. While he is re-habbing, he is helping coach the Infinity U17 club soccer team.

      For those who don’t know, Los Alamitos has a new principal, as long time assistant principal Kelly Godfrey assumed the Griffins’ big kahuna position on July 1.
      Godfrey is no stranger to Los Al sports fans. His three children all played Varsity sports for the Griffins. Kylene was on the Griffins CIF championship soccer teams of the mid-90s, while Ryan played on championship football and baseball teams a few years later and then went on to play baseball at Vanderbilt University. Brandon, who currently plays baseball for Long Beach State, also was an all-league performer for the Griffin baseball team.
      Kelly himself played baseball at UCLA and in the Twins minor league system before getting into education but he is still no stranger to a baseball field. He has often been seen on Sunday mornings at Los Al, a solitary figure doing maintenance on the Griffin baseball field.
      While Godfrey has been an assistant principal for twenty year he also served as interim principal for almost a year in 1999-2000 after Rebecca Shore left, but chose not to seek the vacant principalship which eventually went to Dan Brooks.
      As assistant principal he focused on facilities and technology and many Los Al faculty members give him much of the credit for seeing that the school’s recent construction was completed on time and with a minimum of chaos when construction projects at other local high schools were failing to meet their deadlines or budgets.

      Ex-Griffin Kara Uhl, one of the top players for University of Pacific, will petition the NCAA for a medical redshirt season after deciding to undergo season-ending knee surgery.

      Ronnie Prettyman (LAHS '00) is one of the leaders on and off the field for minor league baseball’s Inland Empire Sixty Sixers, who opened the best-of-five California League South Division finals last Saturday. Here’s a good article on him from the San Bernardino Sun.

      Los Al grad Jeff Hansen (1982) was on the brink of entering the Speedboat Racing Hall of Fame as he prepared for the Long Beach Sprint Nationals, held a few weeks ago.

    Tangii Crain, a 36-year old Rossmoor woman who admitted embezzling $140,000 from Pop Warner Football Leagues in Orange and Los Angeles counties was sentenced Monday to a year in county jail and ordered to repay the organization.

      If you think you got it tough – check out this guy who taught himself to do a backflip in his wheelchair.

      Who was the first famous athlete with a Los Alamitos connection? The answer might be George Yardley.

      In a more humorous vein, check out these Star Wars auditions.

      This one's for all the real and wanna-be Boeing engineers out there -- or anybody who enjoys car crash tests such as this one showing a Car vs. 747 footage.

      And this one will totally put me in the nerd herd, but here's how you can follow a shark or park trail with new Google Earth features.

      And finally, if you're a Los Al grad from the 70's and you want to see how other grads have seasoned, check out the 1976 Reunion photo pages.