Corona del Mar’s football team takes the field for the CIF finals vs. Grace Brethren.
First of all, from all of us at the OC Sports Zone: editor/owner Tim Burt, advertising director/social media director Gabriel Calderon and designer/photographer Fernando M. Donado, we would like to wish our readers a Happy New Year!
We hope this is a special time for all of you.
We started OC Sports Zone in the middle of July and are so appreciative of the response we have received from so many of you and thank you and our advertisers for your support. We welcome your feedback on how we can keep moving forward in 2019 and we can ask that you please tell your friends about our site.
It’s our intent to include as many Orange County high school programs in our coverage as possible. We want to continue to offer our website without charging for our content.
We are excited about the future.
As sports teams take a bit of a break for the holidays, we thought this was a good time to look back at some of the memorable events we’ve covered in these six months.
These six months have included CIF titles, some runs at titles, league titles and plenty of other memories.
Please click on the first photo to see the slide show.
Cypress boys basketball team celebrates after winning the Bellflower Tournament.
PHOTO COURTESY CYPRESS BASKETBALL
Drew RamÃrez, Nick Larriva and Julian Gomez of Santa Ana are playing with the Saints basketball team after a highly-successful season with the football team.
FERNANDO M. DONADO, FOR OC SPORTS ZONE
Tustin's boys basketball team celebrates a victory over Foothill.
PHOTO COURTESY TUSTIN BASKETBALL
Villa Park's boys basketball team won the Godinez Grizzly Invitational.
TIM BURT PHOTO, FOR OC SPORTS ZONE
It was a tough ending for Corona del Mar's football team after a great season.
FERNANDO M. DONADO, FOR OC SPORTS ZONE
Mater Dei Coach Bruce Rollinson celebrates after his team won the CIF Division 1 title.
PHOTO COURTESY MARK BAUSMAN
University's girls basketball team opened the season with a tournament victory.
PHOTO COURTESY UNIVERSITY BASKETBALL
Foothill's boys water polo team celebrated winning the CIF title.
TIM BURT PHOTO, FOR OC SPORTS ZONE
Beckman's band supported the water polo team by performing in the pool for the last game.
PHOTO COURTESY MARK BAUSMAN
Santa Ana football captains head out the field for a game. The Saints reached the semifinals of the CIF playoffs.
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Santa Ana Coach Charlie TeGantvoort celebrates after Santa Ana conquered it’s third consecutive league championship with a 29-0 win over Orange.
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The Santa Ana Saints take the field at Santa Ana Stadium.
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Foothill's football team captured the Crestview League title.
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Woodbridge's football team,led by quarterback Kyle Hurry, captured the Dennis Toohey Fence Post Trophy.
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Tustin's boys water polo team, top seeded in the playoffs, finished as runner-ups in the CIF playoffs.
TIM BURT PHOTO, OC SPORTS ZONE
Woodbridge athletes who signed national letters of intent were (from left) Amanda Anderson, Kaitlyn Lim, Yuki Yoshihara, Jenny Leitman, Juliana Witting and Jamie Yeh (Photos: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).
TIM BURT PHOTO, FOR OC SPORTS ZONE
Western's football team captured its first CIF title.
FERNANDO M. DONADO, FOR OC SPORTS ZONE
Mater Dei lineman George Miki-Han celebrates with his family after the Monarchs won the state title.
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Mater Dei's football team celebrates winning the CIF state title.
FERNANDO M. DONADO, FOR OC SPORTS ZONE
Cypress boys basketball team won its 12th game in a row with a victory over Torrance at the Staples Center.
PHOTO COURTESY CYPRESS BASKETBALL
After nine seasons, Erik Terry resigned as football coach at Irvine.
TIM BURT PHOTO, FOR OC SPORTS ZONE
Tesoro Coach Steve Garrett led the Titans to the championship of the So Cal Elite Gary Raya Classic.
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Crean Lutheran freshman Taylor Feldman set a school record with 51 points against Orange.
PHOTO COURTESY CREAN LUTHERAN
Mater Dei's boys basketball team, which included Aidan Prukop, won the Corona del Mar Beach Bash Tournament.
TIM BURT PHOTO, FOR OC SPORTS ZONE
Corona del Mar football coach Dan O'Shea holds the CIF runner-up trophy.
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Corona del Mar's football team takes the field before the CIF championship game.
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Western football players celebrate after winning the school's first CIF title.
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Western Coach Dan Davidson talks with his players during the CIF championship game.
FERNANDO M. DONADO, FOR OC SPORTS ZONE
Corona del Mar's John Humphreys (left) and Ethan Garbers teamed up to become an almost unstoppable duo on offense for the Sea Kings.
TIM BURT PHOTO, FOR OC SPORTS ZONE
Woodbridge swimmer Jamie Yeh signed with Yale University.
TIM BURT PHOTO, FOR OC SPORTS ZONE
Woodbridge volleyball player Jenny Leitman signed with UC Santa Barbara.
TIM BURT PHOTO, FOR OC SPORTS ZONE
Beckman senior Dylan Thoerner became the school's all-time leading scorer.
PHOTO COURTESY BECKMAN HIGH
Marc Filia of Irvine set some school passing records and helped lead the Vaqueros to the CIF playoffs.
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Patrick McMorris of Santa Ana, a transfer from Godinez, was nearly unstoppable on offense and led the Saints to the semifinals of the CIF playoffs.
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Woodbridge seniors (from left) Jacob Nash, Kyle Hurry and Elyjah Rush led the Warriors to the PCL title.
TIM BURT PHOTO, FOR OC SPORTS ZONE
Woodbridge's football team celebrates after winning the Dennis Toohey Fence Post Trophy.
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Corona del Mar captains walk out for the coin toss.
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Northwood junior Max Abravanel led the Timberwolves water polo team into the quarterfinal round of the CIF playoffs.
Northwood football coach Pete Mitchell led the Timberwolves to the CIF playoffs. It was announced after the season he had stepped down.
TIM BURT PHOTO, FOR OC SPORTS ZONE
Northwood Coach Pete Mitchell (left) and University Coach Scott Meyer meet before a game. Both have stepped down as coaches in Irvine.
FERNANDO M. DONADO, FOR OC SPORTS ZONE
Woodbridge's football team celebrates after a big league victory over Irvine.
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Natalie Castro of Segerstrom had a successful season with the Jaguars as a placekicker.
PHOTO MARK BAUSMAN, FOR OC SPORTS ZONE
A new baseball stadium open at the Orange County Great Park.
TIM BURT PHOTO, FOR OC SPORTS ZONE
Segerstrom's fooball team finished 8-3 overall under Coach Joseph Tagaloa.
FERNANDO M. DONADO, FOR OC SPORTS ZONE
Tesoro's boys basketball team won the title at the So Cal Elite Gary Raya Classic.
TIM BURT PHOTO, FOR OC SPORTS ZONE
Woodbridge captains (from left) Kyle Hurry, Jacob Nash, Colin Turner and Mathew Ploof before an early season game.
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Segerstrom football coach Joseph Tagaloa expresses himself during a game.
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The Segerstrom football players charge out onto the field before a game.
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Laguna Hills football players head out onto the field before a game.
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Crean Lutheran's football team had a new coach as Randall Reynoso took over to lead the team into the Empire League.
COURTESY PHOTO
Coach Peter Abe led Portola's first varsity football team into action.
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The Portola Bulldogs took the field for their first varsity game.
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Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors held a youth basketball camp in Ladera Ranch.
TIM BURT PHOTO, FOR OC SPORTS ZONE
Dan Selway, former Northwood quarterback, held a youth football camp at the Great Park.
TIM BURT PHOTO, FOR OC SPORTS ZONE
Woodbridge softball standout Kaitlyn Lim signed with Stanford.
TIM BURT PHOTO, FOR OC SPORTS ZONE
Irvine Ranch Little League Manager Doug Euper who helped lead his squad to the District 55 title, was banned from the Section 10 Tournament in Aliso Viejo for violating a Little League rule having to do with mandatory play, a District 55 official said.
TIM BURT PHOTO, FOR OC SPORTS ZONE
Frostee Rucker of the Oakland Raiders, a former Tustin High standout, held a youth football camp at Tustin.
TIM BURT PHOTO, FOR OC SPORTS ZONE
Quarterback Bryce Young led Mater Dei to the CIF and state title.
TIM BURT PHOTO, FOR OC SPORTS ZONE
Irvine's football team advanced to the second round of the CIF Division 11 playoffs.
TIM BURT PHOTO, FOR OC SPORTS ZONE
It was a memorable run for the Santa Ana football squad, which won the Orange Coast League title and advanced to the semifinal round of the CIF playoffs.
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Newport Harbor's boys basketball team won its 10th in a row, including a victory over Tesoro at the North-South Challenge.
TIM BURT PHOTO, FOR OC SPORTS ZONE
Natalie Castro of Segerstrom was the placekicker on the football team and was also selected Homecoming queen.
PHOTO MARK BAUSMAN, FOR OC SPORTS ZONE
Marc Filia (left) of Irvine and Sean McLain of Beckman Marc Filia of Irvine and Sean McLain of Beckman were selected to play in the Major League Baseball Scouts Association All-star game. McLain has committed to Arizona State and Filia to UC San Diego.
Riley Pittman led Woodbridge to its first Pacific Coast League boys water polo title and was named the MVP of the league.
Patrick McMorris (left) and Julian Gomez helped lead the Santa Ana Saints to the Orange Coast League title.
FERNANDO M. DONADO, FOR OC SPORTS ZONE
Long-time Tustin football coach Myron Miller said he was resigning as the Tillers head coach.
FERNANDO M. DONADO, FOR OC SPORTS ZONE
Beckman's Matt McLain, drafted in the first round by the Arizona Diamonbacks, turned down a $2.6 million signing bonus and honored his commitment to attend and play baseball for UCLA in July.
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