A year to remember
Simi Valley, Royal sports teams blew away expectations during 2007-08 school season
By Thomas Gase tgase@theacorn.com

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers A LOT TO ROOT FOR- Members of the Simi Valley High softball team, which finished the year 30-1, cheer on the school's baseball squad during the CIF-SS Division I title game at Dodger Stadium.

In January, Simi Valley High held a special reunion for the 1987-88 boys' basketball squad that won a CIF-Southern Section Division 4A championship.

Judging by the school's recent success, 20 years from now there could be a few more reunions in the works.

It was a great year to be an athlete at SVHS, as the baseball team captured the CIF-SS Division I championship against Long Beach Wilson at Dodger Stadium, the softball team won its first 30 games, and the boys' basketball team went undefeated in the Marmonte League for the first time in eight years.

"This was absolutely the best year the school has had in sports since I've been athletic director," said Simi Valley's Matt La Belle, who also serves as head varsity baseball coach.

"Coming into this year, Simi Valley had only won two league championships (boys' volleyball and softball, both in 2003) since I had been athletic director. This year alone we had three (boys' basketball, softball and baseball).

Royal High also did well in the past school year, especially in wrestling.

Highlander grapplers won another league title and had six individuals claim league championships. The six grapplers with individual titles were Philip Dimalanta, Mike Dumelle, Aaron Van Driessche, Matt Rulon, Diego Vargas and Sergio Cortez.

The Highlanders' success, however, began in the fall, as the boys' water polo team made the semifinals for the second straight year before losing to Mira Costa. The team was led by seniors Barry Snyder, Stash Dabrowski, T.J. Suffolk and Brian Giegoldt.

"This group was very close and really came together after winning the El Dorado Tournament prior to the start of league play," Royal head coach Steve Snyder said.

"Another highlight was beating Oaks Christian in the semifinals. We had lost to them earlier in the year, so it was a sign the team improved."

Simi Valley and Royal's cross country and girls' golf teams each made the playoffs.

Although both girls' golf teams qualified for the Northern Team Divisionals, neither advanced. The Pioneers, however, had the Marmonte League's Golfer of the Year in Amanda Hawes.

The Pioneers girls' tennis team also qualified for the postseason and placed second in the Marmonte League.

In football, Simi beat Moorpark for the first time since 1996. Royal, however, continued its dominance over the Pioneers with 28-21 victory in the teams' season finale.

In winter sports, the Royal boys' soccer team made the playoffs after finishing 5-4-5 in league, but the Highlanders couldn't get past the second round of the postseason when they lost to Millikan High, 3-2.

Both Royal and Simi had solid wrestling teams with Cortez of Royal and Chris Barr of Simi Valley making the CIF State Championships. The real story of the winter, however, was the school's basketball teams.

The SVHS boys' basketball squad featured the league's top two players in seniors Lorne Jackson and Michael Meza, and the result was an undefeated record in league.

In fact, the Pioneers only lost two games by a combined total of three points. Unfortunately for Simi, one of the losses came in the

second round of

the CIFSS Divi

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offs against Long Beach Wilson. While Simi ruled on the boys' hardwood, it was

the Royal girls

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The Highlanders went 13-1 in league and 22-5 overall. The team was led by seniors Erika Ward, Kris King and Shana Moore. Royal lost in the first round of the CIF-SS Division I playoffs to Jordan High, 52-39.

Although both schools featured great teams in the fall and winter, it was the spring season that featured the most success.

In boys' golf, Royal went wiretowire with Westlake before losing the league title on the last day of the season. Making an impact on the links for RHS were Danny Katz, Kyle Holden, Shane Blanchard, Julian Ho, Chris Gilbert and Bobby Holden.

It was also a good year for boys' volleyball at Royal, as the squad won a league title for the first time since the Highlanders took 14 consecutive banners under the guidance of ex-head coach Bob Ferguson from 1989 through 2002.

The 2008 Highlander netters were led by Kyle Auge, Trevor Jones and Jerame Maas. Although Royal lost in the first round of the CIF-SS Division I playoffs to Fountain Valley, head coach Dean Borth was proud of the team's season.

"I was tickled to death to win a title here at Royal," Borth said. "Having won one as a player in 1989, I know what it feels like for these kids to win one.

"As a coach, it wasn't like a monkey was finally off my back, but instead the culmination of a lot of dreams. Ever since I was a junior at Royal, I wanted to know what it felt like to be Ferguson. Now I know."

The track and field teams from both schools were excellent thanks to Phil Burks at Royal and Liberty Miller of Simi Valley.

Royal made the playoffs in baseball thanks to strong pitching from Matt Magill and Tanner Peters- Magill was eventually drafted by the Dodgers- but the real story of the spring was the play of Simi Valley's softball and baseball teams.

Royal actually featured more playoff teams than Simi in 200708, (13 for Royal, eight for Simi Valley) but only Simi had a team that made the championship game.

Simi Valley's softball team won an amazing 30-straight games, but was heartbroken when they lost the CIF-SS Division I title game to Valencia High, 3-0.

The Pioneers were led by Marmonte League Player of the Year Sam Fischer, along with Brianna Stephan, Haley Thomas, Kelli-jo Killingsworth, Ali Mapes, Amber Olive, Tawny Reeger and Amanda Oliveto.

"Odds are you're going to lose at least one game during the season," head coach Russ Michael said following the Valencia loss.

"It was just unfortunate our loss came in the last one. Still, I told my team to hold their heads up high."

In baseball, Simi Valley earned the CIF title as well as some revenge on Long Beach Wilson- the same school that defeated the Pioneers boys' basketball team in the playoffs earlier in the year.

Thanks to a masterful pitching performance from junior Drew Sandler and a busted squeeze play from Kyle Raskin that went the Pioneers' way, SVHS topped Long Beach Wilson, 4-1.

The Pioneers were led by Jonathan Meyer, Nick Russo, Chance Cross, Brett Hale, Brent Keys, Matt Orloff and Eric Bernstein.

"At the graduation ceremony last week, some of the loudest cheers came when our athletic teams were mentioned in speeches," La Belle said. "I thought that was pretty cool."