Quick turnaround for Extravaganza teams

No rest for the Raiders, and not much more for the Griffins.

Sonora's boys basketball team plays a Freeway League game tonight at Buena Park, then plays Saturday at 8 a.m. against Colony of Ontario in the Nike Extravaganza at Mater Dei.

Los Alamitos plays a Sunset League game tonight at Fountain Valley, then plays Saturday at 9:30 a.m. against Servite in the Extravaganza.

Los Alamitos coach Russ May said whatever weariness comes will be worth it.

"It's an honor to be in the Extravaganza," May said. "If this is the schedule they have for us, then we're obligated to be there. These kinds of challenges are good for us."

Colony also is playing Friday, against Montclair. Servite is not playing Friday, so there won't be that tough turnaround for the Friars.

Taking a look around Orange County high school sports:

• The Mater Dei-St. Benedict's matchup, Saturday night at 9 at the Nike Extravaganza, lost some allure, as St. Benedict's of Newark, N.J. lost to St. Patrick of Elizabeth, N.J., on Wednesday for St. Benedict's first loss. Mater Dei is No. 1 in USA Today's national rankings, and St. Benedict's is No. 3. "But the way I look at it," Mater Dei coach Gary McKnight said, "St. Benedict's is going to be upset they got beat, and they're going to look to redeem themselves by beating the No. 1 team to stay high in the national rankings."

• The coach of St. Benedict's is Dan Hurley, a son of Bob Hurley, who has more than 900 victories as the coach at St. Anthony's High of Jersey City, N.J., and brother of former Duke star Bobby Hurley.

• Marina senior guard Garrett James, the county's fifth-leading scorer at 18.5 points a game, underwent an MRI on Thursday to determine the nature of a knee injury James suffered toward the end of the Vikings' 71-60 victory over Newport Harbor on Wednesday night. Marina coach Roger Holmes said there is belief and hope that it was just a hyper-extension.

• In interest of full disclosure, it is noted that former Aliso Niguel quarterback Drew Westling, who in this space Wednesday strongly criticized the pressure Aliso football parents have created to possibly remove Jeff Veeder as Wolverines varsity football head coach, is the son of Aliso freshman football head coach Kurt Westling. There is doubt here that Drew Westling's intention was to help dad retain a coaching job. Given that Kurt Westling has coached football in various capacities for 15 years at Aliso, where he is a full-time faculty member, and has coached at Capistrano Valley, Saddleback and San Clemente high schools, anything that might happen to Veeder would not keep Westling out of coaching football in some way somewhere this fall.

• More on the Aliso Niguel football saga: school principal Charles Salter will meet with Aliso football parents Monday evening. Aliso was 0-10 overall and 0-5 in the South Coast League last year.

• Veeder's complete county head-coaching record: 10-21 in 1996-98 at La Quinta (including an 8-3 finish in '98, the Aztecs' first winning season in seven years); 8-21 in 1999-2001 at Capistrano Valley; and 16-26 in four seasons at Aliso (a 9-3 finish, with a playoff victory, in '05, in Division VI; 7-23 in the top-division South Coast League since).

• To start the releaguing process, county principals met Wednesday when they approved procedures and a timeline for the creation of leagues that would take effect for a four-year cycle that begins with the 2010-11 school year. They meet again next Wednesday when, as releaguing chairman Dan Burch, principal at Tesoro, said, "things will get interesting. That's when every school will have the opportunity to say what they want out of the deal, whether it be which league they want to be in or which schools they want to be teamed up with."

Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com