Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. I’m Eric Sondheimer. Let the bidding begin. A 15-year TV contract that the CIF signed with Time Warner Cable in 2011 ends in 2026. What will happen next?
CIF seeks new TV deal
The California Interscholastic Federation is about to open up bidding for its television broadcast rights because a 15-year deal with Time Warner (now Spectrum) is ending on July 31, 2026.
Signed in 2011, the $8.5-million deal gave Time Warner Cable the rights to televise state championship games and playoffs. It turned out to be a boon for the CIF, because game rights fees for high school sports ended up declining. Charter Communications acquired Time Warner in 2016 and rebranded to Spectrum, which has struggled at times as to how to maximize its investment in the TV package. Spectrum recently signed a three-year deal to broadcast Southern Section games.
CIF executive director Ron Nocetti.
(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)
This year, the final payment of $952,422 is being made and will go into the CIF general operating budget. The deal started with a $550,000 payment and has gone up 4% each year. The CIF, which runs high school sports in California, uses money from membership fees, championship events and corporate sponsorships for its budget. The TV package is the largest financial deal among the sponsorships and helps reduce dues charged to schools.
Executive Director Ron Nocetti said the CIF will soon initiate a request for proposals and put it out for bidding. The market has changed considerably since 2011, with online streaming coverage of high school events surpassing linear coverage.
It will be interesting to see which media companies decide to bid, how much money they are willing to pay and how long the contract might last.
Another contract ending next year is with SBLive, which originally was trying to compete with MaxPreps and help the CIF design a way for fans to get immediate scores from games. SBLive changed its focus, entered into a partnership in 2021 with The Arena Group and in 2024 joined Minute Media, which runs Sports Illustrated sites. MaxPreps has moved to take further control of the prep sports scene after being acquired in April by PlayOnSports, the owner of GoFan and the NFHS Network, which started streaming a national game of the week.
This changing world of high school sports offers opportunities for the CIF to expand its media reach but also possible pitfalls depending on how media companies view the future.
How it started
Eric interviewing Sophomore Tajh Ariza after a basketball game. Son of Trevor Ariza. Taken December 2022.
(Nick Koza)
Starting with John Elway as a high school student at Granada Hills High in the 1970s, my journey covering prep sports has been going on for 49 years. It’s been quite a journey.
My mission has always been to entertain, inform and make a difference. There’s no reason to quit something you enjoy as long as the challenges keep coming and the athletes keep getting better and better with personalities that make you laugh and cry.
Here’s some observations how it started and where I’m going.
The opening weekend of Southern Section football saw a terrific matchup of top 10 teams: Mission Viejo vs. Santa Margarita. It turned out to be a defensive struggle until Ohio State-bound quarterback Luke Fahey struck late in the third quarter with a 33-yard touchdown pass to Jack Junker to give the Diablos a 7-3 victory. Here’s the report.
Three Trinity League teams — Mater Dei, St. John Bosco and Orange Lutheran — traveled to Florida for games, and each one came home with a victory. Here’s the report. Mater Dei plays Bishop Montgomery on Friday at home. Bishop Montgomery went to Hawaii and lost to St. Louis in Honolulu 34-27 in a game that ended with 51 seconds left when players from both sides left benches. Here’s the report.
Huntington Beach showed off its passing attack in a win over Orange. Here’s the report.
Corona Centennial defeated Servite 42-16 to give coach Matt Logan victory No. 296 in his 29 years with the Huskies.
Here’s the score list from last week.
Here’s The Times’ top 25 rankings.
Here’s the schedule for this week.
Here’s a list of top individual performances in the Southland.
Granada Hills Kennedy quarterback Diego Montes, right, and Eagle Rock quarterback Liam Pasten stand next to each other after Kennedy’s 59-56 win on Friday night.
(Benjamin Royer / For The Times)
The best high school football game of the weekend belonged to City Section teams Kennedy and Eagle Rock in a battle of All-City quarterbacks. After more than three hours, 15 touchdowns and the game ending past 11 p.m., Kennedy prevailed 59-56 on a late touchdown by Diego Montes. Here’s the report on the drama.
Granada Hills’ Troy Versa makes interception in 50-16 win over North Hollywood.
(Craig Weston)
Granada Hills rushed for 420 yards with no passing yards or attempts in an impressive 50-16 win over North Hollywood. Here’s the report.
Birmingham knocked off Hart 24-14 in a sign the Patriots are clearly the No. 1 team in the City Section. Quarterback Kevin Hawkins ran for more than 150 yards and Jimmy Renteria had a touchdown on a fake punt, catching a pass and also recovered a fumble.
Crenshaw defeated Fairfax 37-6 to give coach Robert Garrett victory No. 291.
Teams will be playing Thursday this week, with Dorsey at Carson a big one for future playoff seedings. Also Hamilton opens up its new stadium Thursday against Gardena Serra.
Here are the top 10 City Section rankings.
These three City Section football teams have forfeited their opening games: Dymally, Maya Angelou and West Adams. Sotomayor may not have a team this season. No Sotomayor games scheduled until Oct. 3. Teams can either take forfeit or schedule another opponent.
— eric sondheimer (@latsondheimer) August 19, 2025
JSerra is unbeaten and looking like a challenger to Orange Lutheran. The Lions won their own tournament championship with a 19-0 win over Carlsbad.
The JSerra Girls Flag Football team remained undefeated and claimed the Surf Division championship at the inaugural Surf & Turf Invitational on Saturday, as the Lions blanked the Carlsbad Lancers 19-0 in the title game at JSerra Catholic High School.
Junior Stella Day played a… pic.twitter.com/g5XoBe2Gvr
— JSerraAthletics (@JSerraAthletics) August 24, 2025
Camarillo defeated Oxnard 13-12 in the championship game of a tournament at Rio Mesa.
Here’s score list from Friday and Saturday.
Girls volleyball
Marymount put an end to Harvard-Westlake’s seven-match winning streak with a 3-0 win at Marymount.
Mater Dei swept Los Alamitos 3-0 to improve to 2-0 on the season. The Monarchs are headed to Florida for a tournament.
Girls Volleyball: @CIFLACS Matches To Watch
Mon: 8/25
Kennedy At SOCES
Marquez At South Gate
Verdugo Hills At Reseda
Venice At Cleveland
Wed: 8/27
Birmingham At Kennedy
North Hollywood At Granada Hills
Mendez At Roosevelt
Eagle Rock At Reseda
Thu: 8/28
Palisades At Venice
— Rene Lopez (@renelopez19) August 25, 2025
Redondo Union hosts Long Beach Poly on Tuesday in a big nonleague match in preparation for a showdown against Marymount on Sept. 2.
Prep talk
Athletic trainer Jonathan Rivas of Culver City helped save an athlete who went into cardiac arrest last spring.
(George Laase)
Every day, there’s positive information coming from high school sports. That’s Prep talk. Here are last week’s stories.
Athletic trainer Jonathan Rivas saved an athlete last spring in cardiac arrest. Here’s a report.
Mira Costa’s special teams trio of punter Jackson Shevin (left), snapper Jackson Reach and kicker Nico Talbott.
(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)
Mira Costa has a trio to make its special teams pretty good this football season. Here’s a report.
Harvard-Westlake started the girls’ volleyball season 7-0 under a first-year coach. Here’s a report.
John Michael Flint is quite a two-sport star at Bishop Diego with a 38-inch vertical leap. Here’s a report.
Ty Plinski of Corona Centennial became a media sensation with his one-handed catch on Friday night. Here’s a report.
Notes . . .
High school sports participation has risen to record levels aided by one of the new sports, girls flag football. Here’s the report. . . .
Last season’s Southern Section singles tennis champion, Sophie Suh of Orange Lutheran, will not be playing for the team this season. The sophomore will be focusing on the International Tennis Federation circuit. . . .
Grant Leary of Crespi won the Southern Section individual golf championship. He’s also a photographer for the Yearbook.
(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)
Crespi golfer Grant Leary, the winner of the Southern Section individual title last season, has committed to San Jose State. . . .
The Downey vs. Warren football game on Oct. 24 has been moved to Dignity Health Sports Park at Cal State Dominguez Hills at 7 p.m. . . . .
Richard Schroeder is the new baseball coach at San Marcos. . . .
Beverly Hills basketball coach Jarvis Turner announces he is stepping down as coach. A tough loss to the basketball community. pic.twitter.com/Ulj8OgXreR
— eric sondheimer (@latsondheimer) August 20, 2025
After 16 years as basketball coach at Beverly Hills, Jarvis Turner announced he has stepped down. . . .
Orange Lutheran girls water polo coach Brenda Villa has resigned to become associate head coach at Stanford. She’s a former Olympian and won two Open Division championships coaching the Lancers. . . .
Omari Cuffe, a 6-foot-4 junior basketball player who’s played sparingly the last two seasons at St. Pius X-St. Matthias, has transferred to Loyola. So has senior guard Deuce Newt from Campbell Hall. Newt started at times. Loyola has a new coach, Cameron Joyce. . . .
St. Francis basketball coach Todd Wolfson said his school has received a 7-foot-4 transfer in Cherif Millogo from Burkina Faso. Mater Dei has transfers from IMG Academy and the state of Oregon. . . .
Corona del Mar water polo standout Nathan Simoncelli has committed to USC. . . .
Pitcher Colten Rainer of Royal has committed to UCLA. He was throwing in the 90s this summer in a major improvement. He’s the younger brother of former Harvard-Westlake star Bryce Rainer, a first-round pick of the Detroit Tigers last season. Other UCLA commitments include pitchers Garrett Jacobs (Mira Costa) and Robert Zimmerman (Redondo Union) and outfielder Jaden Jackson (St. John Bosco). . . .
Rob Loehle is the new boys basketball coach at Simi Valley. . . .
Nareg Kopooshian, head coach of AGBU, has been appointed as the head coach of the FIBA Armenia U16 National Team by the Armenia Basketball Federation. The Eurobasketball competition is scheduled for the summer of 2026. . . .
Pitcher Jake Chung of Harvard-Westlake has committed to Brown.
From the archives: Lars Nootbaar
St. Louis Cardinals’ Lars Nootbaar celebrates with teammates in 2021.
(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Former El Segundo and USC standout Lars Nootbaar has been in the major leagues for the St. Louis Cardinals since 2021.
He was a much decorated athlete during his days at El Segundo as the school’s quarterback in football and star baseball player.
Here’s a story from 2014 when El Segundo was 10-0 led by its star two-sport athlete.
Recommendatons
From Texas A&M, a story on how youth sports can create future leaders or future cheaters.
From the Los Angeles Times, a story on how Carson Palmer views coaching high school football.
From the Daily Pilot, a story on two Huntington Beach surfers creating a documentary.
From the Washington Post, a story on premium seating in high school sports.
From the Los Angeles Times, a question and answer with former USC quarterback and Orange County legend Todd Marinovich.
Tweets you might have missed
True freshman Bear Bachmeier is going to start at QB for Brigham Young. Here’s a profile from 2023 that explains his talent and instincts. https://t.co/oAt91fNknt
— eric sondheimer (@latsondheimer) August 19, 2025
“Ever since I got drafted by the Rockies… I’ve dreamed of pounding my chest, showing them my logo…”
Kyle Karros says he’s always dreamed of hitting a homer off the Dodgers.
Dude was BORN to be a Rockie🔥 pic.twitter.com/lgGAXx4XU5
— DNVR Rockies (@DNVR_Rockies) August 20, 2025
The Mission League keeps getting stronger in all sports. Arriving at Harvard-Westlake is freshman Calvin Portley, who’s run a 10.74 100 meters. Also plays baseball, so beware catchers trying to throw him out stealing.
— eric sondheimer (@latsondheimer) August 22, 2025
Who knew that cutting hair has become such a lucrative business for high school students. Besides Eagle Rock All-City QB Liam Pasten cutting his teammates’ hair, Kennedy All-City QB Diego Montes gets his hair cut by receiver Miguel De La Torre. There’s an MTV show in this.
— eric sondheimer (@latsondheimer) August 24, 2025
Here’s a first: No fight reports from the officials in City Section 11-man football in the opening week. But there was one fight for girls flag football. The boys behaving. The girls, well . . .
— eric sondheimer (@latsondheimer) August 25, 2025
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.
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