For those who prefer their community news ahead of their sports, just click on the news you want to see in the "In this issue" block.  

It's late, but there's probably still time to sign up for the August 27th golf tournament honoring long-time St. Hedwig school figure John Russell.  (Proceeds will go to improve the sports facilities over there in Celtic-ville.)  Here's a link to the tourney flyer  and here's a n email lionk to tourney organizer Paul Nolta.  One of them should work for you.

Los Al girls soccer coach Pat Rossi, the winningest coach in the program's history, has taken an assistant coaching position with the Long Beach State womens soccer team.  At a meeting last Friday, Rossi announced not only his resignation, but also that his successor would be former Griffin JV coach Nicole Woiemberghe.  It seems simple enough, but the situation has gotten a little more complicated than it probably needed to.  More

Los Alamitos city officials are seeking the help of volunteers to help them broadcast Los Al High football games this season.  Anybody interested can check out this flyer for more info.

Last issue, in mentioning that the Los Al High girls softball program had received a $2,000 field improvement grant from the Seal Beach 5K/10K folks, we mistakenly identified booster parent and grant proposal writer Alan Gardner (third from left) as an assistant coach.  Mrs. Gardner wants us to make clear that Alan is a parent, not a coach.  We're assuming she was living in fear of some irate parent calling "Coach" Gardner to complain over playing time. 

MAKE-DO'S:   While lauding the success of Greer Wilk and her SoCal Blues U17 team which won their bracket at the tough and prestigious Surf Cup a few weeks ago, we neglected to mention Ari Carillo, a Los Al soph-to-be who joined the Blues team this year.  Carillo, who made the Griffin Varsity as a freshman forward, moved over to the San Juan Capistrano-based Blues after spending a season on the Tustinclub.  (Apparently, that drive wasn't long enough.)

Intrepid reader John Holmquist has oh-so-politely informed me I left two former Griffins off my list of locals playing fall college sports.  Jon McDaniel, (LAHS '03), a center on the 2002 CIF Championships, and co-captain of the 2003 team, is playing his second at Concordia University in Nebraska.  McDaniel had earlier spent a couple of years in the football program at the Air Force Academy.  And Ian Perez has signed on to play football at DePauw University in Indiana.

REGISTRATIONS:  St. Hedwig fall ball registrations are open online at www.sthbaseball.com.   The schedule will be eight games, all Sundays between September 22nd and November 18th.  Registration fee is $60 and includes a hat.   Walk up registration will be Saturday, September 8th (12 - 2pm) at the Hedwig Snack Shack.  Deadline to enroll is September 8th, but if you enroll online by August 31, you save $10.

NJB registrations is just around the corner.Online registrations will take place during the month of September --  www.losalnjb.com.

Okay, enough of my verbose ramblings. Let's get to the good stuff.

The Los Al football team, which - like most of the SoCal high school football teams -- began its two a days this week, will scrimmage Cypress next Friday, Aug 31 at 10am. Lots more details are available at the teams web site.  

Los Al Coach John Barnes, who is usually cautious in his pre-season comments, told us "we're going to be good this year," although he did caveat that with the exception of a couple players the Griffins are not a very big team, "but with our style of play, we don't need to be that big."  The exceptions are offensive linemen Darren Koontz (6-4, 260) and Austin Hill (6-5, 270) who are being courted by UCLA among others.  Linebacker Kameron Jones ("a super kid, super player") is also getting the attention of college scouts.  Quarterback Clark Evans has improved a lot and understands a lot better how and when to throw the ball.  Barnes said receivers Darrell Jenkins (junior) and Paul Richardson (sophomore) are on the small side, but "they can make plays."

ALUMNI PLAYING COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Jimmy Barnes, who seems to have been given the starting quarterback job at Weber State, will get his big-time college baptism when he leads the Wildcats against 24th ranked Boise State next Thursday. August 30.
   Barnes will be throwing against former teammate Orlando Scandrick, a standout cornerback for the Broncos.  Also playing for Boise are receiver Jeremy Childs (the Griffins and Orange County's all-time leading receiver), while former Griffin defensive lineman Kevin Linehan plays for Weber.
   Also:  Weber State optimistic over Barnes

 D.J. Dykes (LAHS '03/Rossmoor) is not only battling for the strong safety position at Colorado, but is also one of four walk-ons up for a scholarship position.  Dykes was an all-conference safety at Idaho but left school after the 2005-06 year and sat out last season.

ALUMNI PLAYING PRO FOOTBALL

Former Griffin (LAHS '2001) Quinton Jones is in a dream situation with San Diego Chargers, and still has a good chance of making the team.  Jones returns to the University of Phoenix Stadium this weekend when the Chargers take on the Arizona Cardinals.  The stadium was the site of last year's Fiesta Bowl where Jones and Boise stunned Arizona in what many call the most exciting bowl game ever played.

Former Griffin and UCLA punter Chris Kluwe, now the punter for the Minnesota Vikings, may be on the bubble in Viking-land as he fights for his job against a top-notch rookie.

The Long Beach State women's team opens its season with two tough home matches this weekend against San Diego and Stanford. The games will be played in the Gold Mine gym. Coach Brian Gimillaro's team has a mature experienced team with high hopes.  Among the top returness on this year's 49ers squad is junior setter Nicole Vargas (left).  Vargas, from Seal Beach and St. Joseph's HS, was a first team All-Big West setter last season.

Ashley Tarutis (Long Beach, LAHS '04) and her Notre Dame squad have been picked as the favorites to win the Big East volleyball title... Duke (with Rachael Moss, LAHS '06, Cypress) kicks off its season with the Duke Invitational this weekend.  Next week Moss, the 2006 ACC Freshman of the Year, returns home as Duke plays in the USC Classic.  Moss may go up against long-time teammate Geena Urango when SC and Duke tip off at 7pm on Friday, August 31.

MENS VOLLEYBALL

Paul Lotman (LAHS '02/Lakewood/Long Beach State) scored eight points on six kills and two aces to help the US mens volleyball team trounce Italy 3-0 (25-15, 25-22, 25-16) and win the bronze medal at the World University Games in Bangkok, Thailand.   The team was led by Long Beach State mens volleyball coach Alan Knipe.
   Complete results 

HIGH SCHOOL VOLLEYBALL

The Los Al Girls volleyball team will kick off its season and its quest for another CIF championship on September 4 against Long Beach Poly.  The girls schedule includes a September 20th match at Mira Costa, the top team in the nation last season.   Costa defeated the Griffins in the Division I semi-finals for the CIF-Southern Section (whose brackets are determined by strength of league) and then captured the Division two title for CIF-State (whose brackets are determined by enrollment).  Los Al won the CIF State title last year.   The complete schedule is available here.

YOUTH BEACH VOLLEYBALL

Courtney Crosby (Rossmoor) and teammate Amber Stoebe (Buena Park) reached the finals of the girls' U12 bracket at the USA Junior Open Beach Volleyball Championships which were held in Long Beach on August 5.  Sara Hughes (Costa Mesa) and Justine Wong-Orantes (Cypress) won the gold medal by a 21-9 score. 

Crosby's older brother Kevin Crosby and his partner Sean Senozan reached the finals in the Boys 16 bracket, but fell 21-10.  The Crosbys' older sister Katie is a senior setter on the Los Al Griffins volleyball squad.

The Los Al boys baseball team dropped its first two games at the double elimination State American Legion tournament a couple weeks ago.  The Griffins opened the tournament by dropping a tough game to Covina 3-2, then were eliminated after a wild 14-11 loss to Yolo.

In the latter, the Griffins gave up a six-run sixth inning to go down 13-4, but then rallied for five runs in the eighth and two more runs in the ninth to make things interesting.

Los Alamitos was led by Mickey Lorenzini who was 4-for-6 with a double, Kenny Uyetake, who went 3-for-5 with three RBI, Kirk Singer, who was 2-for-5 with two RBI, David Compton, who went 2-for-5, Mario Quezada who was 3-for-5 and Jack DeAngelis who was 2-for-5.

US Junior Water Polo team (with Scott Davidson, LAHS '05/Seal Beach) has advanced to elimination rounds at the 2007 FINA Men's Junior World Championship which are currently taking place at Long Beach State and the Joint Forces pool.

The US team, which finished atop Pool B with a 5-0 record, takes on Japan Thursday evening at 7pm in the round of 16 in Los Alamitos.

Club notes - Cypress Futbol Club  U13 Blue won the Orange Soccer Club Classic last Sunday, downing CFC Spitfire in a 5-4 shootout in the championship game.  Cypress advanced to the finals by going 2-0-1 in pool play, downing Glendora 2-0, OJSC Lights Out 6-0, and then tying arch rival Canyon Hills 0-0.
   Cypress reached the semi-finals in its own tournament the first weekend of August.
   Locals on the Cypress squad are Shelby Riphagen, Maddie Cole, Kaila Sells, Sina Bacol, Mallory Strawther (all Rossmoor/Oak), Abby Ryan (Rossmoor/St. Hedwig), Kaitlin Braden (Los Alamitos/McAuliffe), C.J. Jehoich (Long Beach/McAuliffe).  Others on the team are Hannah Bredesen, Natalie DeLeon, Rachel Price, and Alysa Winter (Cypress), Courtney Turudic, Emma Erbes and Ashley Esquitini (Buena Park) and Jaimie Gracie (Long Beach).

The Orange County Panthers, an adult baseball team fielding a gaggle of ex-Los Al Griffins, captured the championship of the National Adult Baseball Association 28 and over AA Wood Bat League, by downing the Dukes 6-3 in the championship game.

Brooks Peters (LAHS '86) hit a home run and pitched a strong seven innings to lead the way for the Panthers.

The Panthers finished third in the regular season standings with a 9-5 record, finishing the season with a 6-game winning streak.  They then advanced to the finals via playoff wins over the 5th place Orioles (4-0), and the 4th place Tigers (7-6).  In the latter, Greg Harris (LAHS '74) got the save, was 2 for 3 with two bullets in the gap driving in 3 runs, and Doug Wolfe (LAHS '77) was 2-for-3 with 2 RBI's.

The Panthers will next be playing in the NABA World Series held in Phoenix Arizona September 29-October 4. 

Players with local connections playing on the Panthers are  Los Al High alumni Bob McKelvey (class of '73) Harris ('74), Tim Krauss ('76), Doug Wolfe ('77), Tim Thompson ('79), Brooks Peters ('86), Mike Cassidy ('86), Tony Muser ('87), Tony Fusco ('87) and Rob Lilley ('81).

Craig Chamberlain (LAHS '74) also plays but has sat out most of the year due by injury.

Want to check out the local speed traps?  (courtesy of Angelo Karapoulios, the gregarious Greek -- is that redundant?)

And check out how this guy paints.  And make sure you have the music turned up.