Sierra Canyon softball 2-0 to start the year

By Jacob H. Pollon

 

The Sierra Canyon softball team got its season off on the right foot with two victories this past week against Cleveland and Chatsworth.

The Trailblazers beat Cleveland 10-0 and Chatsworth 11-0, two solid shut outs to begin the year.

Duke-bound Hailey Shuler threw a no-hitter with 16 strikeouts in the win against Cleveland.

Shuler was equally impressive at the plate with two home runs, a double and three RBI’s.

Nina Johnson hit two home runs  with three RBI’s.

Lianna Lara homered, doubled and had an RBI.

Sophia Sarni had a two-RBI double and Peyton Jackaon had an RBI.

In Friday’s game just down the street on DeSoto Ave., Sophia Debs tried to match Shuler’s performance with a one-hitter and 16 strikeouts.

Debs homered and had two RBI’s.

Shuler belted two solo home runs.

Lara had a home run and two RBI’s. Tatum Fisher did the same.

Sarni, Johnson and Peyton Jackson each had an RBI.

Sierra Canyon is off for a few days before a nonleague game at Rio Mesa Thursday.

Sierra Canyon loses to Harvard-Westlake, beats Corona Centennial

By Jacob H. Pollon

 

The Sierra Canyon boys basketball team failed to advance to the Southern Section Open Division championship game for the third consecutive year after getting trounced by Harvard-Westlake 72-38 Tuesday.

After beating the Wolverines (28-3) back on Jan. 19th in Chatsworth, it was a completely different story in North Hollywood just weeks later.

HW took a 20-10 lead after one quarter, led 34-19 at halftime and outscored the Trailblazers (25-3) 38-19 in the second half.

The Wolverines took advantage of seven combined 3-pointers from sophomore Amir Jones and UCLA-bound Christian Horry. The big three of Trent Perry, Robert Hinton and Nik Khamenia didn’t hurt Sierra Canyon too badly. Perry had a workman-like triple-double with 11 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists.

Sierra Canyon could not get anything going against a locked in defense.

Bryce Cofield and Noah Williams combined for 25 of the 38 points for Sierra Canyon.

HW used a 17-2 run to start the third quarter to put the game away and led by 36 points late in the game.

Sierra Canyon bounced back Friday with a 61-55 victory against Corona Centennial to end pool-play and secure a spot in the state Open Division tournament the week of Feb. 26th.

Isaiah Elohim scored 22 points, Justin Pippen scored 13 points, Cofield had 11 and Ethan Johnson 10 in a balanced offensive attack.

Corona Centennial (20-13) led early 18-13 before the Trailblazers clamped down on defense getting several stops.

Sierra Canyon held 5-star Arizona-bound forward Carter Bryant to nine points.

Sierra Canyon baseball wins season opener

By Jacob H. Pollon

 

The Sierra Canyon baseball team got off on the right foot in its season opener Saturday with an impressive 5-0 victory against Castaic.

Or should we say got off on the right arm.

Specifically, the right arm of freshman right-hander Sean Parrow.

Parrow threw five scoreless innings, combining with Armando Solorio on a no-hitter.

Parrow gave up just one walk and struck out five batters.

The game was scoreless for four innings. Sierra Canyon (1-0) finally broke out after leaving the bases loaded with nobody out in the third.

UC San Diego-bound Julian Areliz had two doubles and a walk.

Greyson Gullage was 2 for 4 with two RBI’s.

Ethan Montes drove in a run and scored a run.

Desi Delgado and Andrew Nelson each had a hit and run scored.

Sierra Canyon takes on Agoura and Westlake in a quarterfinal game of the Easton tournament coming up.

Sierra Canyon on a mission to win another Open Division championship

By Jacob H. Pollon

 

The Sierra Canyon girls basketball team took the first step to a second consecutive SS Open Division championship Saturday night with an easy 82-43 pool-play victory against Orangewood Academy of Garden Grove.

McDonald’s All-American Mackenly Randolph scored 26 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and dished out six assists to lead the Trailblazers (28-1).

Jerzy Robinson scored 21 points and had 14 rebounds while fellow sophomore Emilia Krstevski had 13 points and four rebounds.

Sierra Canyon is on a collision course to meet Etiwanda in the championship game Feb. 23rd at Cal Baptist Univ. in Riverside.

The Trailblazers led 23-14 after one quarter and 41-25 at halftime.

The lead was 61-34 after three quarters before a 13-0 run triggered the running clock.

The Trailblazers host Sage Hill of Newport Coast Wednesday and Mater Dei of Santa Ana Saturday.

bot games tip at 7 p.m.

Sierra Canyon opens playoffs with pool-play victory

By Jacob H. Pollon

 

The Sierra Canyon boys basketball team went on the road for its first ever true road game in the Southern Section Open Division playoffs and came away with a wild 72-67 victory against No. 4 St. John Bosco.

Noah Williams scored 23 points, Justin Pippen poured in 20 points and the Trailblazers led from wire-to-wire in Bellflower.

Sierra Canyon fended off every comeback attempt from the Braves (23-6).

Bryce Cofield and Arkansas-bound Isaiah Elohim each scored 12 points for the Trailblazers. Cofield added seven rebounds. Elohim was ejected in the third quarter for getting into a tussle during a scrum on the floor for a loose ball with SJ Bosco’s Jack Turner.

Sierra Canyon was clinging to a 48-43 lead with 2:43 remaining when Elohim left the court. The lead ballooned to 62-50 midway through the fourth quarter before a furious rally from the Braves cut the advantage to 69-67.

Sierra Canyon received a huge 3-pointer from Crespi-transfer Stephan Kankole and another big 3-pointer from Williams to fend off the Matt Dunn-coached team.

Brandon McCoy, a sophomore, scored 21 points to lead SJ Bosco. Turner scored 18 points, including three 3-pointers. Elzie Harrington and Kade Bonam each scored 10 points for the Braves.

Sierra Canyon got out of the gate quick, scoring 25 points in the first quarter and led 39-30 at halftime. SJ Bosco closed fast but could never tie it up or go ahead.

The Trailblazers beat the Braves for the fourth consecutive time in the playoffs (2019, 2020, 2021).

Sierra Canyon travels to Harvard-Westlake at 7 p.m.Tuesday. SJ Bosco hosts Corona Centennial at 7 p.m. the same day.

Elohim is not expected to play Tuesday serving a one-game suspension for being ejected in the previous game.

Sierra Canyon drops to No. 5 seed after league semifinal tournament setback

By Jacob H. Pollon

 

The Sierra Canyon boys basketball team was given the No. 5 seed in the Open Division when playoff pairings were announced Sunday by the SS office.

The Trailblazers will open on the road at No. 4 St. John Bosco, travel to No. 1 Harvard-Westlake on Tuesday, Feb. 13 and host No. 8 seed Corona Centennial on Friday, Feb. 16

Last year, Sierra Canyon traveled to top-seeded Corona Centennial and nearly came away with a victory before falling 63-60 in a tight one.

Justin Pippen, Isaiah Elohim and Noah Williams are veteran leaders capable of propelling Sierra Canyon on a deep playoff run.

This year is wide open and any team can win it.

The other pool in the Open Division has Roosevelt, Mater Dei, St. Pius and JSerra.

The pool winners meet Feb. 23rd at Cal Baptist Univ. in Riverside for the championship before the state playoffs begin Feb. 27th.

Sierra Canyon is the only school in SS history to be include din every Open Division playoff bracket since it was created in 2014. That’s 11 consecutive years of excellence at its finest.

The Trailblazers advanced to the championship game in 2016 (lost to Chino Hills), were upset in 2017 at Galen Center and lost to Mater Dei in 2018 at Long Beach State before finally breaking through and winning back-to-back titles in 2019 and 2020. Corona Centennial won the first of its three consecutive championships with an upset victory  against Sierra Canyon and Amari Bailey (Charlotte Hornets) in the Spring-Covid 2021 season.

Sierra Canyon lost a heartbreaker semifinal at home against Harvard-Westlake in 2022 and was 0-3 in last year’s pool-play before rallying to make it to the Div. 1 regional state final against Notre Dame.

Sierra Canyon is No. 1

By Jacob H. Pollon

 

The Sierra Canyon girls basketball team is once again the No. 1 overall seed for the Open Division playoffs.

After going 27-1 in the regular season and unscathed through Mission League play for a second consecutive season, the Trailblazers will be the hunted prey for the second straight season.

Sierra Canyon on last year’s title against No. 2 Etiwanda before losing to it in the state regional playoffs.

Sierra Canyon will play Orangewood Academy, Sage Hill and Mater Dei on Feb. 10, 14 and 17, respectively.

The Trailblazers own a victory against Sage Hill earlier this year.

“We get three home games and we need to protect our home court to get to the championship game, again,” Sierra Canyon coach Alicia Komaki said. “We are ready for the challenge.”

Sierra Canyon will rely heavily on seniors Mackenly Randolph (double-double machine) and Louisville-bound guard Izela Arenas.

Two key sophomore are Jerzy Robinson and Emilia Krstevski.

The Trailblazers will also need contributions from Christy Reynoso and Kayla Malek to make it through.

Sierra Canyon girls basketball is the top-ranked team in So. Cal.

By Jacob H. Pollon

 

The Sierra Canyon girls basketball team finished up the regular season with two easy victories against Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks and Marlborough of Los Angeles to go 27-1 and earn the No. 1 spot for the Open Division playoffs.

With Mackenly Randolph out nursing her wisdom teeth being pulled, sophomore Jerzy Robinson stepped up in a big way with 40 points and 18 rebounds in a 93-88 dismantling of Notre Dame.

Izela Arenas scored 13 points and had five rebounds and three assists. Christy Reynoso scored 16 points and had four rebounds and five assists. Ashley Redd contributed eight points and eight rebounds.

Randolph came back and was front-and-center for senior night in a 75-46 victory against Marlborough.

The McDonald’s All-American finished with 11 points, 11 rebounds and four assists while going over the 2,000 point mark for her careeer.

The game was stopped briefly when coach Alicia Komaki called three timeouts in a row so Randolph could be recognized for the great achievement with a balloon and commemorative ball celebration along with paper poppers and silly string. Great clean-up by David Sobel!!!!!

Arenas scored 26 points with four rebounds and Reynoso added 16 points, four assists, three rebounds and three steals.

Sierra Canyon is 20-0 since joining the Mission league two years ago.

Sierra Canyon loses semifinal game in Mission League tournament

By Jacob H. Pollon

The Sierra Canyon boys basketball team was upset last Wednesday in a Mission League semifinal tournament game in Chatsworth.

Crespi of Encino came away with a wild 64-61 overtime victory when sophonore Joe Sterling made a 25-foot 3-pointer with 1.4 seconds remaining to give the Celts the upset win.

After taking down Harvard-Westlake and Notre Dame on consecutive Friday nights, Sierra Canyon seemed to have a bit of a letdown.

The Trailblazers trailed 35-24 at halftime before a 19-4 run gave them a 43-39 lead late in the third quarter.

However, Sierra Canyon (24-2) allowed Crespi to regain the lead on the strength of a 9-0 run.

Sierra Canyon received two made free throws from junior swingman Bryce Cofield with just seconds remaining in regulation to force overtime.

Sierra Canyon went ahead 61-56 with about two minutes remaining and Cofield had a point-blank layup to go up seven points. But the ball rimmed out and Crespi took advantage with a huge 3-pointer from Carter Barnes and a steal and layup from Sterling before Strerling’s game winner to cap off an 8-0 run to end the game.

Sierra Canyon was denied a league championship game appearance. Crespi was shellacked 72-54 against Harvard-Westlake two days later.

Trailblazers are now 24-1 heading into the Mission League culminating tournament

By Jacob H. Pollon

 

The Sierra Canyon boys basketball team won the Mission League regular season championship Friday night after a drama-filled 81-75 comeback victory against previously unbeaten Notre Dame.

The Trailblazers trailed 66-49 with just over six minutes remaining. What happened after that is truly amazing.

Sierra Canyon (24-1, 7-0) went on a crazy 32-9 run to end the game. The Trailblazers full-court press created several turnovers and Notre Dame’s energy level seemed to dip.

Bronson Schmidt-Uili, a 6-foot-8 forward fouled out with over four minutes remaining and the Knights had trouble rebounding the ball.

“It was do-or-die time,” Sierra Canyon coach Andre Chevalier said. “We had to go to crazy mode.”

Sierra Canyon led early 14-9 but Notre Dame quickly rook control and led 41-33 at halftime. The lead was down to 53-49 before a back-breaking 13-0 run from Notre Dame at the end of the third quarter and start of the fourth.

Mercy Miller scored 28 points and Lino Mark had 21 to lead Notre Dame. Zach White, a promising sophomore scored 10 points for the Knights. Mark was held scoreless in the fourth quarter and Notre Dame committed 10 turnovers.

Justin Pippen scored 19 points, Isaiah Elohim had 18 and Bryce Cofield 14 to lead Sierra Canyon. The Trailblazers made 11 3-pointers.

It was a sweet victory for Sierra Canyon not only because of the fashion in how it was done or the sold-out, standing room only crowd or live telecast on ESPNU.

Last year Notre Dame beat Sierra Canyon four times in a span of 40 days en route to the Division 1 state title.

Earlier in the week, Sierra Canyon escaped Mission Hills with a closer-than-expected 67-55 victory against Alemany.

Elohim and Noah Williams each scored 18 points, Cofield scored 11 points and Jayden Alexander 10.

The Trailblazers only led 52-51 after three quarters and needed a 15-4 burst to finally put away the pesky Warriors, who featured junior big man Burgeois Tshilobo and sophomore Samuel Mbingazo.

Michael Lindasy, a grid-hooper, committed to Idaho State for football, scored 14 points and Jared Mims added 15 to lead Alemany.