Schuster Leaves Mark on Sea King Program

Although Corona del Mar was a first-round loser in the football playoffs, first-year Coach Mark Schuster’s imprint on the program was evident. He did away this year with the helmet logo that looked like the L.A. Raiders’ shield and replaced it with a side view of a charging Sea King, trident pointed forward.

“They were trying to get a real Raider look--that’s what (former Coach Dave Holland) told me,� Schuster said. “I’m more a 49er or Dolphin kind of guy.�

There was a valid reason--to Schuster’s way of thinking--for the change.

“I think an athlete has to have a connection with his high school team, not a pro team,� Schuster said. “These kids are old enough to have their own identity and relate to their own city and not some professional team. We need to identify with Corona del Mar.�

*

Mater Dei, Tustin, Servite, and Los Alamitos are among the Orange County teams participating in the Tournament of Champions boys’ basketball tournament this week.

The tournament features some of the strongest teams in the Southern California, including Los Angeles Fairfax, Westchester, Nogales and Manual Arts. The semifinals are Friday and the championship game is scheduled at 8 p.m. Saturday at Ocean View High.

Santa Ana Valley, Long Beach Jordan, Estancia and Trabuco Hills are playing in the Irvine World News tournament at Irvine, University and Woodbridge High Schools. Saturday’s final is scheduled at 5:30 p.m. at Concordia University.

Sonora, Cypress and La Quinta headline the Sonora Cage Classic tournament with the finals scheduled for Saturday at Sonora. Sunny Hills, Canyon, Valencia and host El Dorado play in the El Dorado Coed Classic. The final is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Saturday at El Dorado High.

*

There are six girls’ basketball tournaments this week. The 16-team Cypress Classic ends Friday with Newport Harbor a probable choice to be one of the finalists and the host team hoping to make a return to the championship game, which it lost last year to Woodbridge.

Another 16-team field is in the Lady Matador Classic at Bolsa Grande, which ends Saturday; among the teams in that field is Capistrano Valley, fresh off a title in the University tournament.

Two eight-team tournaments are the Estancia Lady Eagle Classic, which ends Thursday with a probable Marina-Estancia final; and the Orange Lutheran Pride Invitational, which begins Thursday and ends Saturday.

Two round-robin tournaments, the El Dorado Coed Classic, which features an El Dorado-Canyon matchup on Wednesday, ends Saturday; the La Quinta Lady Aztec Classic ends Friday.

*

The unranked Ocean View girls’ soccer team pulled off two surprise victories last week, beating sixth-ranked Edison and No. 2 Mater Dei.

As expected, Seahawk forward Kimberly Engesser, who scored three of Ocean View’s five goals in the week, has been outstanding, but the rest of the team has also come up big.

“Everyone’s clicking,� Coach Ron Uehle said. “It’s taking all 15 people to do what we’ve been doing.�

Uehle said the defense--stopper Karen Dawes, Jessica Funke, Heather Gordon, Melissa Bellmore and Danielle Flowers--has been excellent and the main reason the Seahawks outshot Edison and Mater Dei by two to one.

Dawes and Funke even played goalkeeper in the 1-0 victory over Edison because Jacqueline Knebel was ill.

*

There wasn’t much drama in Brea-Olinda’s title run in the Ladycat Classic, but there was an intriguing trend.

On consecutive nights, in the semifinals and championship, sophomore guard Jennifer Saari made baskets from beyond half court as the clock ticked down at halftime.

It was a one-point game when Saari made her long basket in the championship game against Torrance Bishop Montgomery, which the Ladycats won, 64-42, blowing open the game in the third quarter.

“That, of course, is an offensive play we just put in,� Coach Jeff Sink said.

*

There were a couple of big punts this season. Among them, Capistrano Valley’s Chris Culbertson had an 81-yarder against Edison, and Corona del Mar’s J.J. DiCesare had a 76-yarder against Kennedy.

The Southern Section record is held by Deron Johnson of San Diego High School. That’s Deron Johnson, the former baseball player, and that’s really San Diego, which was part of the Southern Section when Johnson boomed the big one--98 yards in 1955.

*

Orange Lutheran quarterback Joe Juliano is the first player in school history to rush for more than 1,000 yards and pass for more than 1,000 yards. He surpassed the rushing milestone in Saturday’s 53-13 loss to Montclair Prep in the Division X championship game.

He finished with 1,047 yards rushing, 1,723 passing.

*

Newport Harbor’s Division V championship victory over Servite, 20-15, was the school’s first football title and the 100th career victory for Coach Jeff Brinkley; his record at Newport is 72-35.

Said Brinkley: “That was pretty good timing.�

*

Mater Dei’s Casey Rouintree, who caught the game-winning touchdown against Los Alamitos in the Division I football semifinals with 43 seconds remaining, paid the price--he suffered a hairline fracture on his right lower leg and played only a few plays in Saturday’s 28-21 victory over La Puente Bishop Amat before deciding he couldn’t go on.

*

You don’t need to be a football player to play with pain. Katella’s Silvia Panak showed as much moxie as anyone in an Empire League volleyball match against Cypress in the final week of the regular season.

Panak, with a sprained ankle, entered the gym on crutches. She watched from the bench as her team split the first two games, 1-15, 15-9, but it bothered her terribly; she had trainer Wendy Webber fit her with an air cast and tape her ankle. She had the three minutes between periods to warm up and she hobbled onto the court.

“The chemistry of this team is so good, and she’s like our quarterback,� Coach Mary Starbuck said.

Panak’s teammates passed the ball as closely to her as possible and, limping badly, she set the ball back to them; The Knights won the next two games, 15-6, 15-0, behind Panak’s effort, putting the finishing touch on a 12-4, 9-1 regular season.

* Martin Beck, Michael Itagaki, Mike Terry and Don Turnbull contributed to this story.