Highlights of 2004, Via the Crystal Ball

It’s time to dust off my crystal ball and take a look at what the new year has in store for high school sports. The images are becoming clear:

Pitcher Phil Hughes of Santa Ana Foothill, armed with a 94 mph fastball, will be a first-round pick in the June amateur baseball draft and will receive a bonus offer in excess of $2 million.

Former Thousand Oaks quarterback Ben Olson will transfer from Brigham Young to USC.

Concord De La Salle will agree not to run up the score in winning its 156th consecutive football game on Oct. 8 against Mission Viejo.

Coach Steve Grady of L.A. Loyola will promise to dance an Irish jig if his team repeats as Division I football champion.

After recording 68 1/2 sacks in his high school career, defensive end Brigham Harwell of Hacienda Heights Los Altos will change his name to “Horrorwell� to scare more quarterbacks.

Instead of checking players before games for wearing jewelry or illegal cleats, high school referees will search the padding of goal posts to make sure there are no hidden cell phones in case someone wants to emulate the New Orleans Saints’ Joe Horn.

Matt Cassel, a 6-foot-4, 230-pound quarterback at USC, will play baseball for the first time since his junior year at Chatsworth High and become a bona fide pitching prospect for the Trojans.

Jared Clark of Valencia will throw two no-hitters.

Josh Shipp will be named City Section player of the year after leading Fairfax to the City basketball championship.

Jason Corder of Mission Viejo Capistrano Valley will hit three home runs in one game.

Taylor King and Marcel Jones of Mater Dei will combine to make 15 three-pointers in one basketball game.

Friday’s CaliFlorida Bowl at Moorpark College will feature dominating performances by four players from Westlake Village Westlake -- quarterback Rudy Carpenter, receiver Michael Stuart, linebacker Greg Newman and tight end Jimmy Miller.

The Dream Classic at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion on Saturday will be the most exciting day of the year in high school basketball, with fans treating Sebastian Telfair from Brooklyn, N.Y., and Dwight Howard from Atlanta as if they were the next LeBron James.

Taryne Mowatt of Corona Santiago will emerge as the most dominant softball pitcher in Southern California.

College basketball recruiters will spend hours debating who’s the No. 1 junior point guard in girls’ basketball, Erika Arriaran of Norco or Ashlee Trebilcock of Newhall Hart.

The Dominguez brothers, senior Jason and freshman Matt, will lead Chatsworth to the City Section baseball championship with a victory over Woodland Hills El Camino Real at Dodger Stadium.

Sophomore quarterback Jimmy Clausen of Westlake Village Oaks Christian will grow to 6-4, pass for 2,500 yards, and someone will start a campaign for him to win the Heisman Trophy in 2009.

Golfer Daniel Im of La Mirada will shoot a nine-under-par 63 and get a phone call from Tiger Woods congratulating him.

Outfielder Ozzie Lewis of Granada Hills Kennedy will thrill professional scouts with his bat, arm and speed.

Junior quarterback Michael Herrick of Valencia will pass for 500 yards in a game.

Quarterback Karsten Sween of Ridgecrest Burroughs, who passed for 3,762 yards and 40 touchdowns as a junior, will challenge Brandis Dew of Hemet and Mark Sanchez of Mission Viejo for honors as the top senior passing prospect.

Sophomore forward Josh Guiliry of Lynwood will become one of the top underclassmen in Southern California.

Sophomore pitcher Eric Pettis of El Camino Real will earn All-City honors because of his excellent curveball.

L.A. Dorsey’s talented running backs, senior Jeremiah Johnson and junior Stafon Johnson, will form the City Section’s most dominating backfield since San Fernando’s Charles White and Kevin Williams in the 1970s.

USC baseball Coach Mike Gillespie will do a somersault into the Trojan pool in street clothes to celebrate pitcher Trevor Plouffe of Encino Crespi and pitcher Mark Trumbo of Villa Park showing up on campus instead of accepting lucrative signing bonuses from major league teams.

Linebacker Luther Brown of Lakewood will be unstoppable sacking quarterbacks.

Center Amir Johnson of Westchester will regain his basketball eligibility, but the Comets will remain banned from postseason play for recruiting violations.

Woodland Hills Taft freshman Pierce Brooks and his size-18 shoes will take on Bellflower St. John Bosco freshman Alex Jacobson and his size-18 shoes in a one-on-one game. The winner will face Shaquille O’Neal and his size-23 shoes.

UC Irvine baseball Coach John Savage will have to decide if he wants to become the next coach at UCLA.

Jordan Farmar of Taft, Josh Shipp of Fairfax and Nick Young of Reseda Cleveland will receive invitations to play in the McDonald’s All-American basketball game.

Santa Margarita will have an all-star infield second to none in Doug Reinhardt, Matt Cusick and Blair Dunlap.

North Hollywood Campbell Hall, led by junior Joe Ford, will win the Division IV-AA boys’ basketball championship.

*

Eric Sondheimer can be reached at [email protected].