NorCal Issue 185, Sept. 2020 by Sport Stars Magazine

SEPTEMBER 2020 NORCAL EDITION VOL. 11 ISSUE 185

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Sept. 15, 2012 Christian Brothers’ Junior Falcons peewee player, Bryan Garrett, delivers a stiff arm during a Saturday afternoon youth football game in Sacramento. Garrett will be a senior receiver this year for the Christian Brothers varsity team. He’s coming off a junior season in which he caught 46 passes for 603 yards and six touchdowns. Photo by James K. Leash

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here are two ways to look at the next 14 weeks. One is to groan and contemplate how we can possibly wait that long before high school football teams (hopefully) return to the field for practice. The other is to pump our fist and see it as an opportunity to extensively expand our preseason coverage. We think we’ll go with the latter. After all, there’s no health risk in writing about football. Right? Beginning this month at SportStarsMag.com, we’ll be posting exclusive preseason watch lists, features and more. And we won’t stop until New Year’s Day, when we’ll rid ourselves of this crummy year and celebrate 2021 with the release of our annual NorCal Football Preview. And if we’re all so lucky, games will begin just a few days later. Some of the topics we’ll be digging into include: ›› Top under-the radar teams. ›› Early stabs at NorCal rankings from multiple staff writers. ›› Top breakout season candidates. ›› All-to-early NorCal position rankings. ›› Player-perspective content. ›› Fan votes. ›› Plus a lot more. Perhaps we might even start a podcast. In the meantime, is there a team or player who you’d like to see included in our VERY extended preseason coverage? Email me, or drop us a DM on one of our social channels. We’ve got the time. For those wondering what our production plan is over the next few months, here’s our issue release schedule. Our October issue will be out Oct. 2, followed by our November issue on Oct. 30. We’ll follow that with a Nov. 16 bonus issue, and close out 2020 with a December issue highlighting the upcoming girls volleyball season on Dec. 14. And, as I stated above, SportStarsMag.com is the place to be for everything in between. Also, if you haven’t heard, we’ve got our own app now. You can have all of our content just one click away on your phone or tablet. Visit the Apple Store or Google Play and download the SportStars NOW app. If you enjoy reading our content, it’s a no-brainer. Now, let’s start that countdown. 100 days to go... ✪

YOUR TICKET TO CALIFORNIA SPORTS ADMIT ONE; RAIN OR SHINE This Vol. #11, August 2020 Whole No. 185 is published by Caliente! Communications, LLC, PO Box 741, Clayton, CA 94517. SportStars™© 2010-2014 by Caliente! Communications, LLC. All rights reserved. Receive FREE Digital Subscription in your inbox. Subscribe at SportStarsMag. com. To receive sample issues, please send $3 per copy, or $8 total for bulk. Back issues are $4 each. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission of Publisher is strictly prohibited. The staff and management, including Board of Directors, of SportStars™© does not advocate or encourage the use of any product or service advertised herein for illegal purposes. Editorial contributions, photos and letters to the editor are welcome and should be addressed to the Editor. All material should be typed, double-spaced on disk or email and will be handled with reasonable care. For materials return, please enclose a stamped, selfaddressed envelope. SportStars™© and STARS!™© Clinics are registered trademarks of Caliente! Communications, LLC.

Read Me. Recycle Me.

Behind the Clipboard by Clay Kallam

No More

MR. NICE GUY? Our head coach left, and now the assistant from last year is taking over. I think it’s great because the assistant coach was really easy to get along with, and the head coach could be a jerk sometimes. My dad says I shouldn’t count on the old assistant being just like he was — he says things will be different. Is he right? P.I., Stockton

irst, an old Mark Twain story. “When I was 14,” said Twain, “I didn’t think my dad knew anything. When I was 24, I thought he knew everything. The old guy had really learned a lot in ten years.” So, to begin with, don’t doubt your dad. And as to your question, there’s an Oscar-nominated documentary from a few years back titled “Twenty Feet from Stardom.” It was about really talented backup singers who worked with big-time rock and roll bands. These singers often had more musical talent than the stars they were supporting, but they stayed off to the side, 20 feet from the spotlight. Bruce Springsteen was interviewed early in the movie, and when he was asked about the difference between singing backup on the side of the stage and carrying the show at the main microphone, he smiled and said, “It’s a long walk.” The same is true of the distance between that second seat on the bench to the spot a few feet away where the head coach stands. I’ve done both, and there’s a lot to be said for being an assistant. You can always be the good cop; you can always be sympathetic; you can always say you talked to the head coach about an issue. And when a parent wants to know why their budding superstar is only playing five minutes a game, you can always lift your arm, point across the room and say “The head coach is right over there.” As a head coach, you can’t duck the hard questions, you can’t avoid the problem parents, and you can’t help but be the bad guy some, if not a lot, of the time. So yes, moving from assistant coach to head coach at the same school is a tough jump, because the relationships have been based on a different dynamic. The assistant doesn’t make the substitutions, or have to make a decision about whether to sit a player who missed a big game because his grandmother was sick, or any of the other daily decisions that can make people unhappy. And now, suddenly, your buddy the assistant is the guy telling you you got beat out by a sophomore and you’ll be lucky to get 10 minutes a game. It’s one thing to hear that from someone who’s always been the authority figure; it’s another to hear that from someone who has usually been more supportive and sympathetic. Then again, some coaches make that jump with ease, and they have no trouble with the transition. Others might take a year or two to figure it out (and the players have to figure it out too). But generally, it’s actually easier to go to a different school, where the relationships are new and the lines of authority can be clearly drawn from day one. Either way, though, it’s a tough adjustment — and a long walk. ✪

Clay Kallam has been an assistant athletic director and coached numerous sports at a handful of high schools throughout the Bay Area. This specific column ran once previously in SportStars. To submit a question for Behind the Clipboard, email him at claykallam@gmail.com. Follow Us On Twitter & Instagram, Like Us On Facebook!

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Xceleration Volleyball Club teammates Colbie Atlas, left, and Alissa Sayama.

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If High School Sports Happen In 2021, It Will Likely Coincide With A Brave New World Of Collaboration With Certain Club Sports 12

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Diane Scavuzzo/Soccer Today

Adam Cooper, Walnut Creek Surf Soccer’s director of coaching, wears a mask as he oversees an August workout.

Story by Mike Wood

n a world filled with “ifs,” there is one large question for youth sports. If current scenarios stand, could Northern California clubs and high school sports coexist in the same season? In this year of the unimaginable, it just might happen. With a renewed spirit of cooperation and imagination, it could work. In the COVID-19 world of sports, NorCal high schools are in a wait-andsee bubble until a potential resumption near the end of 2020. What might that be like, if sports like girls volleyball are played in winter instead of kicking off the school year? “Well it’s gonna be interesting, to say the least,” said Andy Schroeder, head coach of Xceleration Volleyball Club’s top 18-under Blue team for 11 seasons. It’s similar for the club-heavy sport of soccer, which would have its high school season played in the spring rather than winter. What’ll that be like? “Nobody knows,” said Adam Cooper, longtime men’s coach at Saint Mary’s College and the director of coaching and college recruitment for Walnut Creek Surf Soccer Club. “It’s such a fluid situation. ...There are a lot more questions than there are answers.” In studying jargon, the table has been set for a cram session like no other. In July, the California Interscholastic Federation scrapped sports action for this fall, consolidating all high school sports into two seasons. Football was moved to a Dec. 14 start of practices, basketball to mid-March. And boys and girls volleyball would play simultaneously, starting before year’s end. Of course, any plans are contingent on how areas are faring with COVID-19 cases. When CIF also temporarily set aside its long-standing ban on high school athletes playing in a specific club and school sport at the same time, that changed the landscape again. “We didn’t want to put families in a situation where they had to choose one way or another,” said North Coast Section Commissioner Pat Cruickshank. “We didn’t want to put schools in a situation where there might be a potential for a forfeit.” Even if everything falls into place, can club sports and high schools find a way to work together? And will athletes opt to do both? These are issues that draw concern from those with ties to both the scholastic and club sports worlds, two worlds that historically don’t always see eye to eye. “There’s the potential a kid could be playing seven days a week, and that’s a problem,” Cooper said. “That would be wrong, putting kids in a situation where they are going to get injured.” Even while staying active with allowable no-contact training sessions, athletes won’t immediately be game-ready. “If they are doing six practices a week and four games, their bodies won’t last,” said Zach Sullivan, director of coaching for the Diablo Valley Wolves Soccer Club and the head women’s coach at Los Medanos College in Pittsburg. “We have to figure out what is best for the player, and find a common ground. Otherwise there will be a lot of overuse injuries, as fitness won’t be 100 percent by then.” Whether classes are in-person or virtual, education and study time factor in, too. “I don’t think it’s feasible for an athlete to do five days of high school sports and 2-3 days of club in a week,” said Sean Stratton, Diablo Valley Volleyball Club President and a longtime coach at San Ramon Valley-Danville. “I don’t think (doing both) is the right choice, so they might have to make a choice.” Mustang Soccer League is one of the state’s biggest programs, with over 4,300 athletes participating in the program and a storied history that dates back to 1972. Mustang Soccer executive director Fred Wilson said “collective conversations are the first steps to making this work.” He detailed a conversation he recently had with De La Salle-Concord soccer coach Derricke Brown about each limiting its activities, with Sundays possibly being off-limits for both. “We are prepared to go to any lengths for the health and well-being of the athletes, and also backing off in any way so that we can make it all work,” said Wilson, who coached boys soccer at Monte Vista-Danville from 1998-2005. Even with campuses closed and games on hold, communication lines are open. “We are working on a letter for all high schools in the area, saying we want

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to work with you, realizing there will be give and take on both ends,” Cooper said. “Maybe there’s no high school games on Saturday, but then they might say, we have to play on Saturday because of football.” “I think the majority will play club, that is the place to be,” Schroeder said, noting either side may need to back off tournaments. “Everybody is going to have to give and not take, and try to work with our student-athletes until we get through this mess.” “I think it will affect the oldest ages like U-19, who know they want to continue in college, and they will continue with club,” said Cooper, who has coached collegiately at Saint Mary’s for 20 seasons, 15 as head coach. “There will be those who will choose to play both and some will decide they will play high school only.” There’s also a fields and facilities issue, and rethinking of tournaments. “There are going to be schools that have to be creative, as they will not have the flexibility they had in the past with gyms,” Cruickshank said. Cruickshank spent 14 years as Heritage-Brentwood’s first boys basketball coach. He knows that even in normal times, the logistics of a basketball tournament are difficult and the pace is rigorous. “When I was at Heritage, we’d go up to the Bambauer Classic at Marin Catholic, and have four games in four days,” he said. “ 14

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I’m not sure how that kind of tournament can work right now.” With an agonizing summer drawing to a close, some sports club organizations like volleyball and soccer were offering minimal workouts, with social distancing and no contact. It’s a far cry from the norm, but it is something. Activities are limited to 12 or fewer in a group, so traditional team concepts have had to change. For soccer, that means no contact, kids staying 6 feet apart, limited to passing, shooting and finishing exercises. Schroeder said Xceleration’s beach volleyball program, run by Saint Mary’s women and beach volleyball coach Rob Browning, has worked well. Like all clubs, Xceleration functions with strictly-run isolated workouts. “It’s all highly accountable, highly contained, like the NBA bubble,” Schroeder said. “Leslie Ray, our club director, runs it correctly. It’s amazing what she’s done ... everything condensed down.” With high school campuses quiet, clubs fill in some of the activity breach. “Mentally they need it; they need to get out of the house and see their friends,” Cooper said, who wants to make sure athletes stay in a good frame of mind. “I’m telling our coaches to look for signs of stress, and it’s even more so for parents, who have to figure how to work from home, how to arrange day care. For us, there’s a lot of responsibility.” With games and tournaments shuttered for now, leagues Follow Us On Twitter & Instagram, Like Us On Facebook!

Recent Monte Vista-Danville graduate, Megan Edelman (3), starred for both her high school and the Mustang Soccer League during all four years of her prep career.

and clubs still forge ahead in implementing big structural changes. The Diablo Valley Wolves were formed this spring in a merger of Diablo Futbol Club and Heritage Soccer Club. Isolated tryouts were held in June, and Sullivan said he was amazed to see 600 kids registered, despite the difficult timing. In August, Xceleration announced it was forming the West Coast Volleyball Association with five other clubs, starting with the 2021 girls competitive season. With all league games at one site, Placer Events Center in Roseville, it will have a similar feel to the NBA bubble, Schroeder said. Mustang’s elaborate work on sanitation, social distancing, testing and contact tracing plans are so detailed they were the subject of a national webinar and drew attention from the state of California, Wilson said. Amid all this, athletes by and large are not getting bogged down in frustration, coaches and officials agree. “What we preach, one of the things we talk about is unconditional gratitude, to be grateful, because what is the alternative?” Schroeder said. “To do that, even if your circumstance sucks. They embrace that pretty well.” The reward of witnessing kids enjoying getting to do something is motivation for officials and coaches who have been working tirelessly and endlessly. “The biggest thing was on June 11, when we did our test run with a small group, seeing all the comments from people,” Wilson said. “The psychological lift that it gave these kids was just incredible.” ✪ Follow Us On Twitter & Instagram, Like Us On Facebook!

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Nothing is a certainty in these times, but there’s always hope. That’s what the NCVA is leaning into after announcing its 2020-21 girls season schedule. In a late-August press release, the NCVA unveiled its Power League schedule as well as its 2021 girls tournament slate. While the schedule follows a timeline similar to the regular club season, this one carries a bit more complications due to the CIF having to push back the high school season to a January start. “With the high schools announcing major changes to their sports schedule, the NCVA has had to make similar changes,” the press release read. “Our goal with the new schedule was to secure as many private facilities as possible since getting into high schools and colleges may be an issue this season.” The first Power League qualifier will be for the 18s 16

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Division and is set for the weekend of Dec. 12-13 at the Capitol Sports Center in McClellan. The first date of high school practice for most CIF sections will be Dec. 14. While the 18s Power League schedule will essentially follow the high school season, the qualifiers for 14s through 17s won’t occur until the weekend of Feb. 6-7. That’s just three weeks before the high school regular season is set to end on Feb. 27. The regional championships for those divisions will not take place until the first and second weekends of May. While seniors may be forced to make a choice between club or high school competitions — or attempt both — it appears most underclassmen may not face as many conflicts. NCVA’s 2021 girls tournament calendar will hope to open with the Kick Start and the California Kickoff tournaFollow Us On Twitter & Instagram, Like Us On Facebook!

ment from Jan. 16-18 across three different NorCal venues. Action will take place at the San Jose Convention Center, Santa Clara Convention Center and the San Mateo Event Center. The Sierra National Qualifier for all 18s divisions will be held at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center from March 5-7. The two-weekend Far Western Regionals, also held in Reno, will take place on the weekends of April 17-19 and April 23-25. Like everything in today’s world, the schedule will be fluid. “Understand that this is the schedule as of today,” read the press release. “Any changes or developments with the current pandemic may create changes to our season, but much like high school sports, we must have an optimistic plan to return.” Cross those fingers. ✪ Follow Us On Twitter & Instagram, Like Us On Facebook!

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The Finalists A brief glance at the other five teams considered for 2019-20 NorCal Team of the Year alongside Acalanes girls water polo. Listed alphabetically.

Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland Boys Basketball Led by first team All-NorCal junior Marsalis Roberson, and third team All-NorCal freshman Jalen Lewis, the Dragons went 20-0 against NorCal opponents. The team finished 23-7 overall. It claimed the NCS Open Div. championship and earned a berth to the NorCal Open final before it was cancelled.

Marin Catholic-Kentfield Girls Volleyball With Loyola Marymount-bound senior Kari Geissberger leading the way, the Wildcats went 35-4 and claimed a fourth straight NCS title and their first in Div. II. They went on to win the CIF NorCal Open championship, avenging their only NorCal loss of the season (Bishop O’Dowd) in the finals.

Mitty-San Jose Girls Basketball The Monarchs went wire-to-wire as NorCal’s No. 1 team in seemingly every poll and set of rankings. They went 26-3 overall and 22-0 against NorCal opponents. The team, which only graduates two seniors, won the Central Coast Section Open Div. title and the CIF NorCal Open Div. crown. MaxPreps. com had them ranked No. 2 nationally prior to the state championships being cancelled.

Montgomery-Santa Rosa Boys Soccer After two straight years as NCS Div. II champs, the Vikings moved up to Division I and never blinked. They won their first three section playoff games by a combined score of 11-1 before defeating defending-champ Berkeley 3-2 in the final. The Vikings dominated the CIF NorCal Div. I field as well, winning all three matches by a combined score of 10-1. They finished 26-0-1 overall

Sheldon-Sacramento Boys Basketball Perhaps only the COVID-19 pandemic stopped the Huskies from a three-peat as CIF NorCal Open Div. champions. Sheldon went 28-5 while arguably playing NorCal’s toughest nonleague schedule. With allstate senior Marcus Bagley leading the way, the Huskies won the Sac-Joaquin Section Div. I title and reached the CIF NorCal Open final. The showdown with Bishop O’Dowd was cancelled. ✪ 20

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Acalanes Girls Water Polo Players, Coaches Provide Oral History Insight Into Its Quest For A Second Straight Perfect Season

o fully appreciate the perfect 27-0 season that led to the Acalanes High girls water polo team becoming our 2019-20 NorCal Team of the Year, one needs to go even further back. Back to the 2018 season — when they also finished 27-0, though it wasn’t quite on their terms. California’s wildfire season forced havoc on the end of the fall sports calendar and led to the cancellation of CIF’s Northern Regional Championship tournament. Acalanes was able to secure its North Coast Section title after a long delay, but it was denied from making the full statement it wanted to. “We felt like we were the best team out there,” Dons coach Misha Buchel said. Though Acalanes missed out on one NorCal title that season, it did win Sacred Heart Prep-Atherton’s 16-team NorCal Invitational in late October of 2018. The way in which they accomplished it set a tone for the next 13 months. “We won the final without our goalie, who was out with a concussion,” Buchel said. “We literally didn’t have a backup goalie, and we were playing Leland with a pair of sisters who could score from anywhere. We still won that game 15-14. “What that told us at that time was the dynamics of this group was unique. It didn’t matter what was going against us, referees, bad luck, or whatever. We just had this will.” That fortitude was on display from preseason goal-setting chats to the team’s dominant finish at the 2019 CIF NorCal final. When SportStars Magazine recently held an online vote to name our 2019-20 NorCal Team of the Year, the Dons drew more than 50 percent of the vote among five other finalists. “The joke in our group chat was that we weren’t going to lose now,” Buchel said. Join us in an oral history-style journey through the team’s stellar season.

Acalanes Girls Water Polo 2019 Roster Cap Player

Grade

Ava Donleavy

Alana McCartney

Jr. Jr.

Heidi Heffelfinger

So.

Angelina Shaw

Jr.

Mary Beth Heffelfinger

Sr.

Emma Miller

Jr.

Jewel Roemer

Sr.

Caroline Schirmer

Jr.

Alex Mould

Jr.

10 Claire Rowell

Jr.

11 Zoe Benisek

Sr.

12 Mala Neuman

Sr.

Brooke Westphal

PRESEASON (AUG./SEPT. 2019) BUCHEL: We had three seniors that graduated from that 2018 season who had played quite a bit, but basically we had brought everyone else back. Going into the season, we felt like we had faced pretty much everything we could face with this core group, and were ready to go through it again. AVA DONLEAVY (Goalkeeper/Class Of 2021): When we got to the pool deck, we were super ready to be back with each other and get to work. We just wanted to try and keep that going. We started setting out a plan on how we would handle our opponents and work Always More To Read at SportStarsMag.com

Story by Chace Bryson Photo contributions by Tori Heffelfinger, Paula Carter and Ava Donleavy

Jewel Roemer

“I had done some research in the offseason and found that no team in NorCal history had gone undefeated in back-to-back seasons. Even back to the Maggie Steffens teams (at Monte VistaDanville). We could be the first. So that was a goal that we took on to keep everyone focused.” — Acalanes coach Misha Buchel

together in an effective way.

MARY BETH HEFFELFINGER (Wing/2020): I remember it was a lot easier because we hadn’t added a lot. We all knew each other well already. We understood how each other played and that helped us a lot. CLAIRE ROWELL (Center/2021): In a sport where you don’t play a ton of teams, you have a couple teams you know from the beginning that are going to be the hard games. We were confident early on that we could win those games when we really needed to. DONLEAVY: There was definitely a sense of confidence and pride coming off of that undefeated season. But we couldn’t let that overshadow our need to continue working. If we were overly confident it would end up hurting us in the long run. The only team that could hurt us was ourselves. BUCHEL: I had done some research in the offseason and found that no team in NorCal history had gone undefeated in back-toback seasons. Even back to the Maggie Steffens teams (at Monte Vista-Danville). We could be the first. So that was a goal that we took on to keep everyone focused. DONLEAVY: The chemistry was so strong too. We have a Lake Tahoe retreat that we take at the beginning of each season. This year we decided to go to a thrift store and buy the most random outfits. They were all over the place and absolutely crazy. We came back and choreographed a dance routine in the outfits, and then decided to go perform it down at the docks. On the walk back, we had so many cars slowing down and looking at us. We didn’t care what anyone else thought. We were just having so much fun with each other.

FIRST MONTH (September 2019)

Acalanes teammates hamming it up during an early season retreat to Lake Tahoe. Follow Us On Twitter & Instagram, Like Us On Facebook!

BUCHEL: We’d started previous seasons without Jewel (Roemer) due to her Junior Worlds Team USA commitments, and were doing so again. But really that just gave us an opportunity to force everyone to expand their role. However, Claire Rowell also had an injury, which left us pretty short handed in the early part of the season. To escape (those first two weeks) without taking a loss really built that confidence. ROWELL: Even though I wasn’t playing, one thing I learned was that I could trust my team even when I wasn’t in the pool. We learned what all of us can do. Those couple weeks, I was putting all my trust in my team to keep our undefeated record up, and they did. HEFFELFINGER: It was an adjustment, but to continue to win without them was really important for us. It really helped our team in the long run. Support Your Advertisers — Say You Found Them in SportStars!

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JEWEL ROEMER (Wing/2020): I actually really enjoyed rejoining them (in a 14-1 win over Monte Vista on Sept. 18). A lot of the girls on the team are some of my best friends. Having that connection makes it much more enjoyable. I tried really hard to apply what I learned with the national team at Acalanes. I tried to teach some of the girls a few things along the way. BUCHEL: It starts with Jewell. Her physical talent is only exceeded by her understanding of the game and her unselfishness. My teams have gone up against other players who are super talented, but just don’t put the same amount of trust in their teammates. ROEMER: Back in high school games, I feel it was definitely easier to compete. I felt like I could take over a lot more and also set up my teammates better by drawing people to me. Overall, it was just very comforting to come back to them. It’s just a fun and inclusive environment.

THE FOILS (October 2019) BUCHEL: Going into the season, we viewed two teams as our biggest threats: Sacred Heart Prep (Atherton) and Miramonte (Orinda). ROWELL: Miramonte. We knew all the girls on their team. They’re part of our district. Each meeting was a big meeting. BUCHEL: Even though Sacred Heart was widely considered the second best team out there, and had beaten everybody but us, they were a favorable matchup for us. Miramonte had the recipe, though. ROEMER: Miramonte has championship history, and I think that helps a lot. They are super fast and super aggressive. Our team isn’t used to playing such a quick team. We are usually faster than our opponents. We had to match the intensity that they brought. ROWELL: We played them that first time (on Oct. 2), and I think we barely won (6-4). Their goalie played an amazing game and our shots just weren’t going in. They’re also a very young team, and they had a super deep bench and would use 22

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big sub groups, which we don’t do. Playing a team like that can get really tiring. It can really be a grind. LANCE MORRISON (Miramonte coach): That first match we had an idea of what to expect. We knew about Jewel and a few other key personnel. We knew what they wanted to do and had a game plan against that. That first match we also got some of our shots to go in too. You have to try and attack them. It’s not just about defending them. DONLEAVY: It was definitely a tough game. They are such a challenge — mentally and physically. They have a bunch of really strong players that we might have blown off a bit. We were probably overconfident. I know I got scored on a few times and I remember being embarrassed by it. I’m not even going to lie, I remember thinking ‘What am I doing?!’ HEFFELFINGER: We definitely checked ourselves during that game, and reminded each other that (Miramonte) was a really good team and we had to raise our level of play to beat them. BUCHEL: A few days (after the Miramonte win), we played Sacred Heart Prep for the second time that season. I wasn’t there. My cousin is an actress in Moscow and was in (San Francisco) for a one-night performance. I was getting water polo updates throughout — it was an agonizing moment. I didn’t want the streak to end while I was sitting in the Sunset District watching a play in Russian. ROEMER: With Sacred Heart, they have some really fast girls and outside threats. All around they just have solid players. We tried to shut down the main girls and let the rest beat us. That worked most of the time but they would change up their play a lot. BUCHEL: We played them in the final of their own NorCal Invitational at the end of the regular season. We raced out to a lead and we couldn’t seal it. To their credit they came all the way back and had a chance to tie it. We had the hostile crowd, their pool, nothing is going right and yet we still ground out the result. I think those last couple of games cemented things for us. We were ready.

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ACALANES 8, MIRAMONTE 6 DONLEAVY: That was one of my favorite games of the season. NCS. Big game. What we’ve been working for. It was really just incredible. We started the game and it was just crazy. HEFFELFINGER: I remember it was really high emotion. A lot of our high school came. The stands were full and loud. Very overwhelming. You had to definitely kind of focus on what was happening in the game because everything was going on around you. DONLEAVY: I try to totally disregard all that extra noise and home in on what I need to do for each game. But I remember when that game started, I got scored on right off the bat. BUCHEL: It was really a similar game to that first one against them. They were definitely good enough on the right day to beat us. They got the first goal on us, but that game was very typical of us: You might get us early on, have a good game plan against us, but the thing about our team in this run is it’s impossible for me to conceive that I’ll ever have a smarter team. The players would recognize those plans organically, with Jewel as the leader, and we’d slowly take away what you want to do to attack us. MORRISON: One of the greatest things about Jewel — and I’ve watched a lot of game film on her — she spends an incredible amount of effort doing the little things. She never turns her brain off. She’s constantly scanning and constantly moving. ROEMER: It’s really hard beating a team three times in a row. Especially good teams. We really just tried to stick to our game plan and play how we knew we could play. Everything would figure itself out. MORRISON: It was a pleasure to play them. The losses were painful, but they were good, clean, hard fought matches. Any time you can get the best out of both teams, it’s hard to be too upset.

Mary Beth Heffelfinger

CIF NORCAL FINAL: ACALANES 10, SACRED HEART PREP 2 ROEMER: By the final game of the NorCal tournament, we and Sacred Heart knew each other so much. We knew what each person would do, and what the game plans were, and it was simply going to be who fought hardest and who wanted it the most. DONLEAVY: When we got into the pool, we just had this sense of belonging and happiness to be there. ROWELL: We weren’t at home and we couldn’t build off the emotion that much. It was in this giant pool, and it was really cool, but I remember we came out slowly in the first quarter. BUCHEL: It was clear they had drawn up some plays to attack us. Jewel just happened to be in the right place both times. She just smothered both shots with a coupe of shot blocks. They drew up the plays, executed them perfectly, and they couldn’t even get the shot on frame. Jewel was everywhere in that game. JAMIE FRANK (Sacred Heart Prep coach, to the San Mateo Daily Journal): She’s a great player. She’s a great cog in a really strong machine. BUCHEL: The last couple minutes of the second quarter led to Brooke Westphal’s buzzer-beater to make it 6-1 at half. That was the crusher. ROEMER: That’s the one thing I remember the most. We came into that (halftime) huddle and the feeling was like fire. We had so much energy. It really led into that third quarter. We just came out and there was no stopping us. I remember saying to myself, ‘Ok, this is where we end it. Right now.’ BUCHEL: At that point we were so close to the goal we set out for us that they weren’t going to let it slip. ROWELL: We were not going in thinking we were going to beat them by eight. We played so well together, it just happened. We’d been preparing that whole season for that one game, against Sacred Heart in the finals. Thankfully, we put it all together.

Misha Buchel

EPILOGUE (TEAM OF THE YEAR) DONLEAVY: That was just a huge sense of pride. It’s such an honor to receive. It’s a great sense of how much we all worked together. We were able to achieve everything together as a team, and it feels incredible and amazing. ROEMER: I think it’s amazing because water polo doesn’t get a lot of credit. To be able to win an all-sport, allgender Team of the Year award is amazing, and it’s great for the sport. ROWELL: I’ve never been on a team closer than we were. I’m always laughing with this team. It was just so fun. ✪

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Dylan Carlson’s MLB Debut Continued A Wave Of Thundering Herd & SacramentoArea Talent Reaching The Bigs

hile regional baseball fields sit eerily quiet, Sacramento baseball is making some noise at the highest level. Area stars, and Elk Grove High alumni in particular, are making their way to the big leagues and further establishing Ca lifornia’s capitol as a Major League Baseball hotbed. The latest to join the growing number of locals to take the field in a big league uniform was Dylan Carlson, a 2016 Elk Grove graduate and first-round pick (33rd overall) by the St. Louis Cardinals that same year. He made his debut on Aug. 15. Then a little more than two weeks later, 2014 Elk Grove graduate Derek Hill received his big league call-up to the Detroit Tigers. He had not made his debut as of Sept. 3. Carlson’s first big league action was perhaps a little more special to the architect of the Elk Grove baseball powerhouse. He’s the son of former Thundering Herd coach Jeff Carlson, who turned over the reins of the program in 2018 after 19 seasons. His youngest son, Tanner, graduated that same year. Dylan Carlson’s debut came against the Chicago White Sox. Because of COVID-19, it was anything but normal. Despite being considered among the Cardinals’ top Major Leagueready prospects, Dylan wasn’t part of the team’s 30-man roster when the 60-game, pandemic-shortened season began on July 24. However, the St. Louis clubhouse experienced a COVID outbreak after just five games and the team was shut down for more than two weeks. The Cardinals called up Carlson from the 30-man taxi squad and plugged him into the lineup for the team’s first game since July 29. His first big league start was for a seven-inning game (doubleheader games have been shortened this season) played in an empty stadium. That meant the Carlson family could not witness Dylan’s big league debut in person. Jeff Carlson and his wife, Caryn, decided to do the next-best thing to travelling to Chicago to see their son’s debut. They headed to Southern California to join Caryn’s family and Tanner, who is hopeful for a 2020-21 college baseball season at Long Beach State.

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All three Elk Grove baseball alums in this 2012 photo now have Major League experience. From left to right, Nick Madrigal (debuted with the White Sox in July 2020), Dom Nunez (debuted with Colorado Rockies in Aug. 2019) and Rowdy Tellez (debuted with Toronto Blue Jays in Sept. 2018). Gathered around the big screen in Winnetka (a San Fernando Valley suburb north of Los Angeles), the family watched and waited anxiously for Dylan’s first major league hit. It would come on a double in the second game of the doubleheader. “It’s hard that families can’t be there in person, but we were still extremely proud to witness that moment,” Jeff Carlson said. “I’ve seen him in big situations at all levels and in the Futures Game, but to be at the top level and get that first hit is a pretty special moment.” Despite playing in Chicago against the White Sox, Dylan was unable to connect with former teammate and close friend Nick Madrigal. Madrigal made his debut as Chicago’s second baseman of the future on July 31 before suffering a separated shoulder in his fifth major league game — two nights after going 4-for-5 with two runs and an RBI against Kansas City. The COVID-19 protocol for rehabbing players did not allow for a face-to-face meeting. However, another former teammate and current MLB player made sure to connect with the family after Dylan’s first hit. Rowdy Tellez, a 2013 Elk Grove grad and Toronto Blue Jays’ designated hitter/first baseman, watched Dylan get hit No. 1 from the Blue Jays clubhouse prior to Toronto’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays. Immediately after the hit, Tellez FaceTimed his former coach to congratulate Dylan and the family, and perhaps to try to catch the old ball coach in a vulnerable situation. “That’s was one of the coolest moments to have a former player call right after the hit to pass along his congratulations,” Jeff said. “I think that he wanted to see me cry because he knew that it was such an emotional moment.” The area has seen a significant influx of local talent making its way to the big leagues. Current Thundering Herd alumni on active rosters or taxi squads include David Freitas (Milwaukee Brewers), David Hernandez (Cleveland Indians), Hill (Detroit Tigers), J.D. Davis (New York Mets), Dom Nunez (Rockies), Tellez (Blue Jays), Madrigal (White Sox), and Carlson (Cardinals). Hill’s call-up gave the 2013 Elk Grove roster five future major leaguers (Carlson, Hill, Madrigal, Nunez and Tellez). In addition to former Elk Grove stars, other regional players have made it to the highest level with others on the brink. Rocklin’s Logan Webb is in the San Francisco rotation and Giants teammate Mauricio Dubon (Capital Christian-Sacramento) is seeing significant playing time. Jesuit-Carmichael graduate Zach Green made his MLB debut with the Giants last year and could find his way back this year, and Sheldon right-hander Matthew Manning is a top prospect in the Detroit organization who could break into the Tigers’ rotation in 2020. “It’s a great network in Sacramento,” Jeff Carlson said. “The guys keep in touch and want to see each other succeed at the highest level.” The current crop of future big league stars have worked out together, and are open to giving and receiving pointers and feedback despite playing for different organizations. Jeff Carlson is most excited and proud of the way his former players and other former area stars continue to return to the area and give back to the community its next generation of baseball stars. “That’s the secret,” Carlson said of his program’s success at Elk Grove. “I was lucky to have guys that were willing to come back and be role models not just for my teams, but younger players and other schools in the area that welcomed that. I’m so grateful for that. They buy into the program and continue to give back, and that goes back to how they were raised.” ✪ — Story by Jim McCue 26

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