Be loud, be proud, be positive.
That should be the motto that all student cheering sections should follow at high school sports events.
Most of the time, that motto is followed. Sometimes, it is not.
These student cheering sections at basketball games are growing in popularity.
The four schools in the Crestview League – Canyon, Esperanza, Foothill and Villa Park – have outstanding rivalries going with their student sections.
The Garden Grove-Santiago game brought together two of the county’s better groups. Sonora and Sunny Hills have big, vocal sections, and the same can be said of many of the south county schools, including Trabuco Hills and too many others to mention here. Santa Margarita has its wild supporters, and Servite’s “Asylum” is legendary. (Check out Jonathan Khamis’ video on ocvarsity.com, in which he becomes part of the group, for hilarious details.)
These sections can get out of hand and good taste is not always intact. This season, somebody in Foothill’s student section held up a sign with a word derogatory toward Hispanics, and somebody in the Esperanza section said some out-of-bounds things directed at Foothill’s Reed Nakakihara (which, to his credit, Nakakihara handled maturely with a positive spin).
People my age did dumb things as teenagers, most of our children did dumb things as teenagers and most of their children will do dumb things as teenagers. It’s inevitable.
And so we get some ignorant kids at high school games. Fix the problem, but don’t put a negative label on the larger group that is doing what they do the right way.
Follow the motto – Be Loud, Be Proud, Be Positive – and everything will be OK.
Taking a look around Orange County high school sports:
• Yes, kids, it’s true. Like last year, we are going to run a list of the top 10 student sections in mid-February.
• A celebration of El Toro boys basketball coach Todd Dixon’s 400th career win, achieved in December, will happen before the Chargers’ home tonight against San Clemente.
• Will Sam Darnold play in that game? On Wednesday morning, San Clemente’s All-County quarterback signed his letter of intent with USC and that evening he landed on his tailbone three minutes into the Tritons’ home win over Aliso Niguel. He did not play the remainder of the game, and San Clemente coach Marc Popovich said more will be known about the injury today.
• Darnold was football player of the year in the Sea View League. He is a leading candidate for that honor in Sea View basketball.
• The letter of intent signing period also is a time for active recruiting of non-senior football players. San Clemente junior tight end Cole Fotheringham just received an offer from Boise State and sophomore running back Brandon Reeves, who with his running and receiving skills is like the Darren Sproles of Orange County, got an offer from Colorado State.
• Not everybody who signed letters of intent Wednesday are playing high school sports. Some are involved in sports that are not CIF-sanctioned sports, like rowing. There are athletes like Tesoro senior Natalie Jacobs, who is on the U.S. Under-20 National soccer team, who is not playing for her high school team but still got plenty of recruiting attention and signed with Notre Dame.
• The next letter of intent signing period for basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball, tennis and many other sports begins April 15.
• Former Angels pitcher Don Aase will be inducted into the Savanna Athletic Hall of Fame today at halftime of the Rebels’ basketball home game against Katella. Aase also pitched for the Boston Red Sox, but don’t hold that against him.
• Savanna would clinch at least a share of the Orange League championship with a win over Katella. Savanna, consistently good in boys basketball for several years, is 19-7 overall and 7-0 in league.
• Officials are needed in the sports of basketball, water polo and track and field. Training is available to become an official, which can be a fun way to supplement the income. Contact Speed Castillo, CIF-Southern Section Orange County liaison of officials, at 714-778-4421 and at bigspeed@att.net.
• Mike Marrujo has told Valencia administration that he will coach football there this coming fall for what will be his 35th season. His 274 career wins is third on the county’s all-time list behind Los Alamitos’ John Barnes (319) and Mission Viejo’s Bob Johnson (311).
• Westminster basketball senior Tyler Burch scored 43 points Wednesday in the Lions’ 76-60 win over Orange. He has scored 30 or more points in three of his past four games. Burch is averaging 24 points a game.
Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com
