Just like the WCJ, teams have changed in brackets for several tournaments. Top bracket at So. Cal. Holiday Prep Classic has changed, as several So. Cal. teams have backed out and is now:

Monday, 12/27
Long Beach Poly (7-2, #85 CA Maxpreps) vs. Sage Hill of Newport Beach (10-3, #31 CA Maxpreps) at 4:30 pm
Mission Hills of San Marcus (4-3, #86) vs. McClatchy of Sacramento (6-1, #57) at 6:00 pm
El Camino of Oceanside (6-1, #38) vs. Oak Ridge of El Dorado Hills (8-3, #17) at 7:30 pm
Del Norte of San Diego (9-3, #99) vs. Orangewood Academy of Garden Grove (7-2, #45) at 7:30 pm

Second top bracket
Whitney of Rocklin (9-4, #193 CA Maxpreps) vs. Westview of San Diego (8-1, #76 CA Maxpreps) at 3:00 pm
Lincoln of Stockton (7-2, #55) vs. Maranatha Christian of San Diego (3-3, no ranking listed) at 6:00 pm
Cardinal Newman of Santa Rosa (7-4, #141) vs. Serra of Gardena (3-5, #301) at 6:00 pm
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Note: Folsom (11-0, #4 CA Maxpreps) is no longer playing in the Gold Crown Holiday Tipoff in Chula Vista. Their next game scheduled is league play on Friday, January 7 according to Maxpreps website. Also Sierra Canyon and Etiwanda both backed out of the same tournament. Only NorCal team playing:

San Ramon Valley of Danville (6-2, #39) vs. Bishop Montgomery of Torrance (8-2, #15) at 6:00 pm, Monday
CA Maxpreps ranking as of 12/20/2021 - a week old.

Rossi is also Palma's quarterback as a two-sport standout

First Round
Riordan 67 St. Stephen’s -Austin, TX 49

Riordan advances and plays winner of Archbishop Moeller, OH- St. Joseph’s, TXin the semis.
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In the non-league, Central Catholic will take on Merced, St. Francis, St. Mary's, Serra and Windsor before going into a good Valley Oak League

Day 1:

DeSoto beat San Joaquin Memorial 61-56
Salesian beat Centennial-Corona 77-68
Mitty beat Oakland Tech 88-63
Carondelet beat Bishop O'Dowd 61-54

Day 2 Matchups:

DeSoto-Salsian
Mitty-Carondelet
San Joaquin Memorial-Centennial
Oakland Tech-Bishop O'Dowd

Somehow we survived the first day with only a few missed games -- though many adjustments were made.

Thanks especially to the officials, who made it work, and to all the people at all the host sites who dealt with everything from blown electricals to rapidly changing schedules.

Things are a little confusing -- I'm not even sure what I did in the Quartz/Ruby loser's bracket -- and the Diamond and Turquoise are now round-robin brackets. You can find the info by bracket at


To find a bracket for a particular team, you have to go to that team's MaxPreps' schedule, click on Preview and then, somewhat hidden but at least highlighted on the screen, you can click on the bracket. Well, except for the round-robin teams, for which all their games are only on their MaxPreps' schedule.

We abandoned the idea of printing large-scale brackets because we feared changes, and since six teams dropped out yesterday, we were sadly right.

Thanks again to the teams, fans, officials and everyone involved.

Pleasant Valley beat Edison-Stockton 76-74 in OT. Noah Thomas had 27 points for Pleasant Valley. Leon Mills and Mwandishi Adams each had 15 points for Edison.

Cosumnes Oaks beat Bullard 61-48: Elias Weathers had 21 points for Cosumnes Oaks. Damon Carter had 12 points.

Clovis West beat Ripon 69-25: Bronson Burrow had six points for Ripon. Clovis West had 10 different players score.

Vanden beat Manteca 44-39: Takai Emerson-Hardy led all scorers with 19 points. Ryan Inderbitzin had 18 points for Manteca.

Bakersfield Christian beat Weston Ranch 90-82: Khristian Holmes had 27 points to lead Weston Ranch. Elijah Mobley had 18 points and Elliot Mobley had 12 points,

Durango beat Turlock 67-46: In the loss, Jed Ladine had 21 points and Daniel Malagon had 17 points.

Modesto Christian beat Beyer 85-41: BJ Davis had 19 points and Jamari Phillips had 22 points to lead the Crusaders. Beyer was led by 20 points from Gio Primofiore.

Clovis East beat Gregori 79-67: Kobe Nunes had 30 points for Gregori, which also got 15 points from Kyle Monk.

Day 1 Varsity Results - Newark Optimist Club - Newark Memorial Holiday Classic

Tuesday, December 28, 2021
Castro Valley defeated Menlo-Atherton, 50-38
Sequoia defeated Santa Clara, 39-24
Newark Memorial defeated Napa, 63-42

Schedule for Wednesday, December 29
3:30 pm Santa Clara vs. Napa
5:00 pm Castro Valley vs. Lick-Wilmerding
6:30 pm Menlo-Atherton vs. Mills
8:00 pm Sequoia vs. Newark Memorial

Tournament is being held at the Event Center on the campus of Newark Memorial High School, 39375 Cedar Boulevard, Newark,

Campo plays in the first game of the day (unfortunately) against San Ysidro, who is 7-4 and I think went to overtime last night before falling to Coronado.

Or one game. At Cornerstone Christian tomorrow against teams like South Fork, Chowchilla, Hayward and Concord. claykallam@gmail.com

In the best matchup on Day 1 of the Holiday Hoop Classic at Modesto Christian, #31 Pleasant Valley beat Edison-Stockton 76-74. Senior guard Noah Thomas (6-foot-2) had a season high 27 points (7-for-22 from the field) with five rebounds, two assists and five steals. He made four threes and scored 11 points in the fourth quarter as the Vikings overcame a nine point deficit.

Thomas has a quick release on his shot and freed himself up multiple times on Monday with off-ball movement that turned into catch and shoot looks. He had a pair of threes from the left wing and two more from the left corner.

He was most effective as a driver when he could receive the ball on the move going toward the basket. From there, he used his quickness and athleticism to charge into the defense for paint looks or get to the foul line. Thomas finished 9-for-12 from the foul line.

Defensively, Thomas was an active on-ball defender closing off driving lanes aginst some quick Edison guards. He was aggressive going after dribbles and also contested shots well on drive attempts.

Thomas was ranked No. 29 in the 2022 class heading into the season.

Not sure what Buchanan brings back, but that should be a good test for an Escalon squad that has 16 or 17 starters slotted to return

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Gym wifi-is nonexistent and the cellphone recption is pretty weak…. Not sure how well this is gonna work. I already moved way down to the end, closer to an open door in hopes of getting a decent signal…

Anyway, right now I am half-watching a lower-bracket game whilest I await the top-bracket games starting next.

Acalanes HS (Lafayette) is looking for a team for the Chris Huber Classic 12/28-30. Please contact me ASAP if you are available. Worst case (or best case) is we have teams willing and able to play 12/28, 29, and 30
Bill Powers
925 286-8270

The 33rd Annual Newark Optimist Club - Newark Memorial Girls Holiday Basketball Classic, December 28, 29, & 30 at Newark Memorial High School, 39375 Cedar Boulevard, Newark.

Opening Round Varsity Schedule - Tuesday, December 28

3:30 pm. Castro Valley vs. Menlo-Atherton
5:00 pm. Sequoia vs. Santa Clara
6:30 pm. Napa vs. Newark Memorial
Bye: Lick-Wilmerding

We have some good NorCal teams representing at the Torrey Pines Holiday Classic this year, including Campolindo, Bishop O’Dowd, Lincoln-Stockton, Clayton Valley, Capital Christian and Bellarmine. https://theholidayclassic.org/brackets

Mitty wins the Iolani championship.

Hotly contested game. Mitty went up by as many as 15 in the 3Q. Salesian cut it to one with 10 seconds left. Siena Guttadaro hit two clutch free throws for Mitty, and a Salesian three at the buzzer fell well short.

Mitty sophomore Morgan Cheli was tournament MVP. Guttadaro, Noemi Bariteau and Maya Hernandez from Mitty were on the all-tournament team, as were Salesian's Makiah Asidanya, Sofia Fidelus, and Kaylie Edge.

Crush in the Valley Basketball Showcase will once again take place after MLK
weekend on January 21-23, 2022 but for the first time include a Girls game between

Salesian College Preparatory HS and Antelope HS

at Contra Costa College (San Pablo, CA)


Friday January 21st, 2022

9:15pm Veritas Prep (CA) vs. Dream City Christian (AZ)

7:30pm Prolific Prep (CA) vs. Seattle Prep (WA)

5:45pm Golden State Prep Black (CA) vs. Denver Prep (CO)

4pm Golden State Prep Grey (CA) vs. Seattle Prep PG (WA)


Saturday January 22nd, 2022

9:30pm AZ Compass (AZ) vs. Our Saviour Lutheran (NY)

8pm Denver Prep (CO) vs. Prolific Prep (CA)

6:30pm Durango HS (NV) vs. Salesian College Prep HS (CA)

5pm Dream City Christian (AZ) vs. Donda Prep (CA)

3:30pm Sacramento HS (CA) vs. Bishop O’Dowd HS (CA)

2pm Lincoln HS (Stockton, CA) vs. Sacred Heart Prep HS (CA)

12:30pm Campolindo HS (CA) vs. Vanden HS (CA)

11am Antelope HS Girls (CA) vs. Salesian College Prep HS Girls (CA)

9:30am Seattle Prep (WA) vs. Golden State Prep Grey (CA)

8am Seattle Prep PG (WA) vs. Golden State Prep Black (CA)


Sunday January 23rd, 2022

4pm Prolific Prep (CA) vs. Veritas Prep (CA)

2:15pm Donda Prep (CA) vs. AZ Compass (AZ)

12:30pm Our Saviour Lutheran (NY) vs. Denver Prep (CO)

10:45am Golden State Prep Black (CA) vs. Seattle Prep (WA)

9am Golden State Prep Grey (CA) vs. Seattle Prep PG (WA)

Co-Hosted by Salesian College Preparatory HS (CA) and NextMax Inc. (KY)

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Event Preview: https://simplybasketballhq.com/simply-showdown/

Hearing that Ben Rosenborough has left Sac hs for Prolific. Can anyone confirm this?

How is this new program progressing? When will they be admitted to the WCAL regular season schedule.

We just had a Girls Varsity Team drop from our tournament that begins on Tuesday, December 28, due to COVID issues. We are looking for a Varsity team(s) that can play 1, 2, or 3 games December 28, 29, & 30 at Newark Memorial High School, 39375 Cedar Boulevard, Newark. Open until filled. The tournament entry fee would be waived.

If your team is interested and available please contact Coach Darryl Reina at darryl14r@aol.com or call (510) 917-4060.

Thanks,

Coach Darryl Reina
Newark Memorial HS

Got here a little bit into the Freshman game…

Right now, it’s tied at 11.

I have zero idea what the Lancers record is, since there’s practically nothing in their page on Maxpreps. But I know the Cougars have something like a 7-1 record.

Now it’s 15-13 Lancers with a minute left in the 1st.