Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. I’m Eric Sondheimer. It’s championship week in high school basketball with some big-time semifinal matchups Tuesday in the Southern Section playoffs.
Championship week
Brandon McCoy of Sierra Canyon soars for a tomahawk dunk.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
The toughest divisions in high school basketball in the state have their semifinals Tuesday for boys and girls. Get ready for intense, crowd-pleasing matchups.
For boys in the Southern Section Open Division, it’s Sierra Canyon hosting Sherman Oaks Notre Dame and Harvard-Westlake hosting La Mirada.
Both games are rematches, so there will be no surprises for the coaches. Sierra Canyon and Harvard-Westlake won the first meetings, so they deserve the favorite’s role to reach Saturday’s championship game at Ontario Arena. But that doesn’t mean the favorites will win.
Notre Dame has athleticism to play with Sierra Canyon, especially if Zach White is rebounding and NaVorro Bowman is hitting threes. Sierra Canyon, though, is 25-1 and surging with its depth. Harvard-Westlake looked done after losing three of its last four regular season games, but has come on to beat Damien, Santa Margarita and Crespi in the Open Division playoffs.
La Mirada is the surprise team, seeded No. 12 and winning every game on the road. The Matadores eliminated Redondo Union in the quarterfinals behind Gene Roebuck. You have to admire La Mirada. Last season they desperately wanted to be in the Open Division, giving up a chance to be in the state playoffs. Now the Matadores are one win away from playing for a section title.
The girls’ competition should draw even bigger crowds than the boys Tuesday, with the featured matchup Etiwanda hosting Sierra Canyon. The two powerhouses have been preparing for this game all season. Jerzy Robinson of Sierra Canyon will try to make sure Etiwanda doesn’t serve as a roadblock to winning the Open Division or state championship. The other semifinal has top-seeded Ontario Christian hosting Sage Hill. If Etiwanda and Ontario Christian win, they’ll get to play in front of lots of fans Saturday night in Ontario.
Boys basketball
Freshman Phillip Reed was in dominant form for Palisades in the City Section Open Division semifinals.
(Steve Galluzzo)
It comes as no surprise that No. 1-seeded Palisades will play No. 2 Cleveland in Friday’s 8 p.m. City Section Open Division final at L.A. Southwest College. They’ve been the top two teams all season. Palisades is the heavy favorite. Here’s a report from the semifinals.
Jack Levey celebrates a big win in the Dolphins’ return to their home court against Western League rival Fairfax.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
One of the unsung standouts for Palisades is junior guard Jack Levey, who has made 103 threes this season. Here’s a look at his journey to become a three-point specialist.
Sylmar coach Bort Escoto has his team in the City Division II finals. Two of his ex-players at Sylmar, Jeff Bryant and Sam Harris, have their teams in finals. Bryant for Palisades and Harris for Chatsworth in the Division I final.
The Southern Section Division 1 championship game has two surging Orange County schools meeting: JSerra vs. Crean Lutheran.
Division 2 has two surprise finalists in Hesperia taking on Bishop Amat. Hesperia eliminated Mater Dei and Bishop Amat took out defending Open Division and state champion Eastvale Roosevelt.
Here’s the scores from last week’s Southern Section semifinals.
Girls basketball
Etiwanda is ready to take on Sierra Canyon at home on Tuesday night in an Open Division semifinal.
(Nick Koza)
Etiwanda continues to rely on a balanced attack, which should help the Eagles in their showdown semifinal game against Sierra Canyon. Here’s a report from the quarterfinals.
Valencia’s girls basketball team has reached the Southern Section Division 1 semifinals under coach Jared Honig.
(John Duncan)
Valencia has reached the Division 1 final behind coach Jared Honig, who had previous success at Granada Hills. Here’s the report.
In the City Section, top-seeded Westchester and No. 2 Birmingham will play Saturday night at Pasadena City College in the Open Division final. Westchester has the top player in the City in Savannah Myles. Birmingham has used a young team to get better and better.
Baseball
The approaching storm from last week caused South Hills to come up with the novel idea of playing its season opener against Covina early Monday morning before rain came. So the teams began at 12:40 a.m. and finished at 3:34 a.m. in a new way to pull off Midnight Madness. Here’s the report.
Harvard-Westlake unveiled freshman Louis Lappe of El Segundo Little League fame. Here’s the report.
With darkness coming, Huntington Beach took a 7-5 lead over Loyola in the top of the ninth inning. Coach Benji Medure confirmed that he tried to have his players on base get into a triple play to end the inning immediately to try to win the game before the umpires called the game. Two players were tagged out at home plate, but the home-plate umpire stopped everything before a third runner one could be tagged out. It ended up as a 5-5 tie because of darkness.
The first runner tagged out at home was Jared Grindlinger, who responded to Medure’s instructions to get tagged out by saying, “What?” The creativity wasn’t approved by the umpires.
No. 1 St. John Bosco and No. 2 Orange Lutheran begin their seasons this week.
Here’s a look at The Times’ top 25 baseball rankings after the opening week of the season.
Softball
Norco pitcher Coral Williams was the Southern Section Division 1 player of the year last season.
(Steve Galluzzo)
If you want to win a softball championship, you have to beat Norco and its top pitcher, Coral Williams, a UCLA commit.
Here’s a preview of the season ahead.
Volleyball
Mike Boehle is entering his 28th season as volleyball coach at Loyola.
(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)
The boys volleyball season has begun, and Loyola figures to be one of the title contenders in Division 1 after a rough season last year in which players lost homes to the Palisades fire, their coach had prostate cancer and a classmate was tragically killed.
Here’s a look at how the Cubs intend to come back this season.
Huge congratulations to @CDMBoysVball on winning the Redondo Union/Mira Costa Tournament. The Sea Kings swept Mira Costa in the final 25-21, 25-23, handing the Mustangs their first home loss since March 25, 2024.
Tournament MVP was libero Chapman Warmington of the Sea Kings. pic.twitter.com/yQju3Uqnkc
— OC Boys Volleyball (@ocboysvball) February 22, 2026
Soccer
It’s championship week in high school soccer. Once again, the top two boys teams in the City Section all season face off. El Camino Real will take on South East. Both teams won their semifinal games by scores of 1-0.
In girls, No. 1 Cleveland will face No. 7 Granada Hills in a rematch from their West Valley League battles.
Trinity League rivals Orange Lutheran and Mater Dei have advanced to Saturday’s Southern Section Open Division boys final after beating Placentia Valencia and JSerra, respectively.
The girls final will have Santa Margarita taking on Mater Dei in another Trinity League rematch.
Wrestling
The state wrestling championships are set for Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Dignity Health Arena in Bakersfield.
The Southern Section held its Masters Meet last weekend, and here’s the results of players headed to Bakersfield.
Notes . . .
TWICE AS NICE
The Oaks Christian Girls’ Water Polo team is the back-to-back CIF-SS Open Division champions. The Lions defeated Mater Dei 11-8 to retain the title. pic.twitter.com/HMmuCOLBi5
— Oaks Christian Lions (@OaksChrstnLions) February 22, 2026
Oaks Christian won its second consecutive Southern Section Open Division girls’ water polo championship with an 11-8 victory over Mater Dei. . . .
Senior Jaslene Massey of Aliso Niguel, one of the top girls discus and shotputters in the nation, began her outdoor season with a discus mark of 179-6 to set an Orange County record. . . .
Aaron Riekenberg has resigned after nine years as boys basketball coach at La Habra. . . .
Junior defensive lineman Isaia Vandermade from Division 1 champion Santa Margarita has committed to USC, where his father, Lenny, was a lineman. . . .
Pat Harlow, a former head football coach at JSerra, is returning to serve as an assistant coach under new coach Hardy Nickerson. Harlow is well known for his ability to coach the offensive line. This is the second time he’s come out of retirement. “I really believe in the school,” he said. Also added to the staff is former Servite, Notre Dame and NFL quarterback Steve Beuerlein. . .
Former Gardena Serra and USC star Robert Woods has retired from football. . . .
Former Garfield football coach Lorenzo Hernandez has come out of retirement to become football coach at Whittier. Here’s the report. . . .
Former St. Margaret’s and Long Beach Poly coach Stephen Barbee is the new football coach at Irvine Northwood. . . .
Standout pitcher Jared Grindlinger of Huntington Beach has reclassified from junior to class of 2026, making him eligible for this year’s amateur draft. Here’s the report . . .
Chad Rolison from Oaks Christian baseball has committed to Loyola Marymount. . . .
Twins James and Miles Clark from St. John Bosco baseball have committed to Duke. . . .
For the fifth straight year, NFL receiver Trenton Irwin is holding a camp on March 8 at his alma mater, Hart, for grades four through eight. . . . .
Quentin Hale, a junior receiver who transferred from Cathedral to Corona Centennial, has committed to USC. . . .
Patrick Goodpaster is the new football coach at Narbonne. He’s a Narbonne grad, member of the Gardena Police Department and former football player at Colorado State. He’s been a youth football coach in the area. . . .
From the archives: Russell White
Former Crespi, Cal and Rams running back Russell White, who led Crespi to the 1986 Division 1 football championship.
(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)
Russell White was one of the greatest running backs in Southern California history, leading Crespi to the 1986 Big Five Conference championship as a sophomore when the Celts routed St. John Bosco in the final.
He’d go on to star at Cal and get drafted by the Rams. He has been at Flintridge Prep the last 10 years coaching eight-man football but is stepping down to perhaps coach 11-man football. His son, Zach, is a standout basketball player at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame.
Here’s a story from 2008 when he was coaching in Northern California
Here’s a story from 1993 detailing White’s emotion obtaining his college degree.
Recommendations
From USA Today, a story on South Carolina legislators moving to replace its high school athletic association over transfers and other disagreements.
From CBS, a story on a Florida proposal to allow high school coaches to spend up to $15,000 on player needs known as the Teddy Bridgewater Act.
From KTLA, a story on how AI cameras are helping youth sports parents capture videos.
From the Los Angeles Times, a story on the controversy surrounding trans high school athletes in California.
Tweets you might have missed
Robert Woods has retired from football. This is one of my favorite stories from his high school days at Gardena Serra explaining his inspiration.https://t.co/lihVQqP60f
— eric sondheimer (@latsondheimer) February 18, 2026
Former Loyola, Cal and NFL safety Chris Conte has joined JSerra as assistant. There are so many ex-NFL players coaching now in the Trinity League there needs to be an all-star game for coaches only.
— eric sondheimer (@latsondheimer) February 18, 2026
A great opening day for the Notre Dame throwers going 1-5 in the shot put at the Eagle Invite in Santa Margarita. 4 boys throwing over 51. Jadin Beckford 53’ 6, Jordan Peck 51’ 9. Alex Parker 51’ 6, Palmer Connery 51’ 4 and Sacha Galatzan 48’ 5. pic.twitter.com/px6aypjzvT
— eric sondheimer (@latsondheimer) February 21, 2026
Until next time….
Have a question, comment or something you’d like to see in a future Prep Rally newsletter? Email me at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com, and follow me on Twitter at @latsondheimer.
Did you get this newsletter forwarded to you? To sign up and get it in your inbox, click here.
