Weather rarely affects football in Orange County.
It threatened to do so this week. And it was weather happening more than 2,000 miles away.
Hurricane Hermine made IMG Academy change its travel plans so that the Bradenton, Fla., school could play Centennial of Corona on Saturday in one of the six games that make up the Honor Bowl at Mission Viejo High. IMG Academy is ranked No. 3 in USA Today’s national rankings that have Centennial at No. 14.
IMG Academy bussed to an airport that was able to facilitate the Ascenders flight here for Saturday’s 7:30 p.m. game.
Including IMG-Centennial, The Honor Bowl still has a heck of a schedule.
Today, Oaks Christian of Westlake Village, ranked No. 1 in CIF-Southern Section Division 2 and No. 9 in CalHiSports.com’s state top 25, plays St. Joseph’s Prep of Philadelphia. County No. 2 Mission Viejo, which looked great in a win over Santa Margarita last week, plays 2015 CIF-SS Eastern Division champion Oak Hills of Hesperia at 8 p.m.
Saturday’s three-game schedule starts with Serra of Gardena against St. Joseph Regional of Montvale, N.J. at noon; Clayton Valley of Concord, No. 10 in California, against state No. 19 Helix of La Mesa at 4 p.m.; and, possibly, Centennial-IMG at 7:30.
Mission Viejo accepted the honor of being host of the Honor Bowl after it had been at Oceanside High in past years. Tributes and memorials to the United States military, past and present, occur throughout the event. Fundraising for military veterans is a central part of the Honor Bowl.
Tickets are $5-$7 for children and students, and $10-$15 for adults. Parking is $5. The website thehonorgroup.org has more information.
Taking a look around Orange County high school sports:
• Edison has a bye this week. Maybe the Chargers can fill in and play Centennial? Just kidding – that would mean Edison would have to cancel a nonleague game and pursue the impossible task of getting ready for Centennial in a day’s notice.
• Mitchell Cook would have been a senior at Canyon this school year. A football player there, Cook died of cardiac arrest after collapsing at a practice in August of 2013. Canyon’s players at a recent practice gathered around a photo of Cook and designated him their 12th man this season.
• Allie Schaff, San Clemente’s football coach from 1972-86, died this past weekend. He coached the Tritons to two South Coast League championships and led them to a CIF-SS championship game in ’79. Services are pending, and are expected to be private, but San Clemente High is working on a memorial for Schaff before a home game this season.
• San Clemente athletic director John Hamro played for Schaff. He offered the following via email: “He had many great players that shed their surfboards for football helmets. … I think what was most impactful was the respect that he had from his players, that then carried forward in how they conducted their lives after high school.”
• Former El Toro football coach Robert Frith is an assistant coach at San Clemente. He is coaching the Tritons’ defensive secondary.
• Los Alamitos is playing a varsity football home game on its campus Friday for the first time since the school opened in 1967. It’s a 5 p.m. game against Paraclete of Lancaster. The game time was a compromise with the school’s neighbors, and the seating for 1,200 should suffice given Paraclete, two hours from Los Alamitos, probably won’t bring a huge following.
• Having watched Mater Dei’s football team obliterate Bishop Amat on a Prime Ticket replay the other night … we’ve got it right. Mater Dei is the No. 1 team in O.C. and Mission Viejo is No. 2. Not saying that it would be impossible for Mission Viejo to beat Mater Dei, but Mater Dei would be favored.
• The Register went with Aliso Niguel running back Andre Cotton as its offensive player of the week, for his 254 yards and three touchdowns rushing and two touchdown receptions. Among the candidates were Tustin running back Kenneth Carr (233 yards and four touchdowns on 12 carries), Edison receiver Shaun Colamonico (7 receptions for 82 yards and two touchdowns), Whittier Christian quarterback Quinn Commans (443 yards passing with five touchdowns), Trabuco Hills quarterback Tommy Germain (348 yards pass with three touchdowns and a rushing touchdown), Pacifica quarterback Ben Jefferson (186 yards and three touchdowns passing, 201 yards and one touchdown rushing), Mission Viejo quarterback Matt McDonald (379 yards and five touchdowns passing) and Mater Dei receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown (seven receptions for 137 yards and four touchdowns, including a ridiculous one-handed catch, and two punt returns for 62 yards).
• Magnolia lost to Glenn of Norwalk but won the hearts of those in attendance. A report was received that after the game Magnolia’s players were respectful and attentive while the Glenn band played the school alma mater. We need more reports of this sort.
• The first big meet for cross county is the Laguna Hills Invitational on Sept. 10. Registration for the meet closes Sunday. So far, there are more than 4,000 runners and 113 teams registered.
• In boys water polo, the South Coast Tournament again will have many of the top teams in the CIF-Southern Section. The tournament, which will be played at a couple of locations, is Sept. 22-24.
• Former Santa Ana Valley basketball great Ike Harmon has returned to the school as its boys basketball coach. Harmon was an All-O.C. player in the 1990s. One of his assistant coaches is Carrie Egan, who was a standout for Brea Olinda’s girls basketball team in the 1980s.
• JSerra has a new athletic director. It’s Christopher Ledyard, who has been in the athletics department the past 20 years at Franciscan University in Ohio.
• Lance Neal is the new athletic director at Laguna Beach. He previously had that position at Beckman.
Contact the writer: sfryer@scng.com
