December 3, 2004

Evergreen Sports

EVHS girls cross country team places first in top BVAL league

Cougar football lays foundation of tradition

By Lilea Eshoo
Times Intern

EVHS Girls Cross Country Team

The Evergreen Valley High School cross-country team finished a strong season, with the girls taking first place in their league.

Two factors make this a remarkable accomplishment: The program has only been in existence for three years, and the team has advanced one league each year.

Winning first place in the first year of competing in the Blossom Valley Athletic League’s Mount Hamilton “A” division, the EVHS girls have proven their strength and vast progress through the years.

“It’s been an outstanding season,” says Frank Slaton, the cross-country coach at Evergreen. “I think overall, our athletes have risen far and above the coaches’ expectations.”

A strong season
The girls finished with a 5-1 overall record losing only to Silver Creek High School, which they defeated the second time they met at league finals on Nov. 1. These league finals placed them first in their league, ensuring qualification to Central Coast Section (CCS) regional competition on Nov. 13.

“This year has been spectacular. Everyone has been working so well together throughout the season and especially at league finals,” says Jessica Gonzales, the varsity girl’s co-captain.

The varsity boys’ cross-country team took fourth in their division during league finals on Nov. 1, and the junior varsity and freshman/sophomore boys both took second, making an extremely well rounded team.

Last year the varsity girls helped bump up the Cougar team by placing exceptionally high in the 2003 CCS meet. This season the varsity and junior varsity boys have proven that they too deserve to be in the A division of the league.

“We really did well in the Mount Hamilton division and we are one of the league’s strongest teams,” says Coach Slaton.

The past two years
As such a young team, the Cougar cross-country team has faced many obstacles over the past two years and has overcome them with great power in every stride.

Beginning in the West Valley (C) division two years ago, they advanced to the Santa Teresa (B) division last year and earned a spot in the Mount Hamilton (A division) this year, making them one of the fastest advancing teams in the area.

This is the fist year that Evergreen Valley High School actually had seniors on the team. Although the departure of senior athletic stars may set some teams back, the entire Cougar cross-country team only has one senior. This ensures young and promising athletes for next year’s season.

“Our varsity teams are made up of mostly our youngest athletes! Great accomplishments are awaiting our cross-country teams,” says Sappan Shah, a sophomore on the varsity team.

CCS
Upon winning league finals, the Cougars qualified for CCS on Saturday, Nov. 13. The boys finished in 13th place, and the girls finished eighth out of the 14 teams in each of their Division 2 races. Although they came out a bit short of their potential, the Cougars stay positive and retain their goals for next year.

“CCS was a great second experience, although we didn’t do as well as we could’ve done,” says Peter Hoang, a junior varsity runner. “There is always time for next year to get up there and try to advance on to state. We practice hard, we run hard and that’s how we win. My expectations of this team are high.”

Some exceptional runners in CCS included Jonathan Gragert, who placed 14th out of 106 runners with a time of 16:36, and Samantha Baker, who placed 11th with a time of 19:10 for the 2.9-mile course.

Although no one advanced to state this year, the team has high expectations. “We would like to go to state as a team, because in previous years, we’ve only sent individuals,” says Rachael Ambrosia, the varsity girl’s co-captain.

With an excellent record behind them and ambitious goals ahead, the Evergreen Valley Cougars will continue to build their cross-country program based on hard work, determination and effort.

Driving to the future like Mike

Kings, Nets win Evergreen Friday Night Basketball championships

By Jeffrey Lo
Times Intern

The lights dim, dramatic music plays and the crowd buzzes with excitement as the announcer screams, “At point guard, standing at umm, four-foot-ELEVEN?”

Replace the dimmed lights with the lights of the Chaboya Middle School gym, the dramatic music with a radio, and the excited fans with enthusiastic parents and you have arrived at Evergreen’s Friday Night Basketball League.

The league has been going strong for 12 years, providing 11- to 14-year-old teens a chance to play basketball in an NBA-type season with NBA team names and NBA-type jerseys—but not the NBA height.

“We started this league 12 years ago with Parks and Recreation because there was a need for teens to play basketball,” said Chaboya’s physical education (PE) and leadership teacher Allen Ventura, who is also the girls’ basketball coach.

Several firsts marked the season. It was the first season played without sponsorship from the San Jose Parks and Recreation Department., and it was the first season that all 110 spots were filled before the season began.

“We had a large amount of support this season. I give a lot of credit to the Evergreen Times for the great publicity,” Ventura said.

Despite the lack of sponsorship, the league prevailed with the hard work of Ventura and John Franza, Chaboya’s athletic director, boys’ basketball coach, and PE teacher. “Allen and I are a perfect fit working together,” said Franza.

Kings take younger league championship
The championships were held Friday, Nov. 19, at Chaboya, wrapping up the 10-week season. In the 11- and 12-year-old division, both the teams competing in the championships were pushed to the limit in their semifinal games.

The Kings beat the Warriors in a nail biter that was close throughout the whole game. In the second 11- and 12-year-old semifinal game, the Mavericks beat the previously undefeated Celtics.

The Kings and the Mavericks competed in the final championship game. During the first 12 minutes of the second half, the Kings went on an incredible 22-2 run stretching their 24-18 halftime lead to 46-20.

Despite the Mavericks’ late game surge that pulled them within 11 points, the Kings won the game with tremendous performances from their backcourt.

Nets retain undefeated record
In the 13- and 14-year-old division championships, the Heat faced off against the undefeated Nets. Early in the game the Nets demonstrated their defensive ability, recording two early steals that resulted in easy fast break points.

The Nets’ coaches demonstrated their ability to motivate their team, as the Nets scored the first six points of each half. The Nets pulled the biggest lead of the night midway through the second half when they scored eight unanswered points stretching the lead to 44-29.

In the end the Nets retained their undefeated record winning by a score of 60-47.

After the championship games, each participant received a medal at the awards ceremony and the champions took home plaques.

Volunteer support makes it happen
A big part of the seasons’ huge success can be attributed to the volunteer support. “The heart and soul of this program are definitely the volunteers, the coaches and the referees,” said Coach Franza.

Along with the volunteer teachers and parents, the league also received support from the Evergreen Valley High School basketball team. Nine members of the EVHS basketball team participated in the league as a referee or coach.

“It’s rewarding to see the kids from the Evergreen Valley team, who came up through our Friday night league when they were 11, now refereeing for us. We can tell the younger kids, ‘You know that referee played in the league, and now he’s playing at the high school,’” Franza explained.

The experience is rewarding for the EVHS team as well. “It’s fun to watch the kids playing and having fun. It makes you feel happy,” said eleventh grader Morgan Blakely, a member of the EVHS varsity basketball team.

With the league ending and another season resuming in the spring, Coaches Ventura and Franza will focus on their respective Chaboya basketball teams. When asked for a prediction of the upcoming season, Coach Franza replied with, “No predictions, but our team will definitely have the fundamentals down.”

Laurelwood Elementary student wins first place in DPS soccer competition

Fourth grader Jason Romero tops 8- to 9-year-old division

Laurelwood Elementary School student Jason Romero recently catapulted to first place in his age division in the national Dribble, Pass & Score (DPS) soccer competition sponsored by Major League Soccer (MLS) and Sierra Mist.

Sierra Mist MLS Dribble, Pass & Score is the largest national grassroots soccer skills competition in the country. It challenges kids between the ages of 6 and 14 in a nationwide event culminating with the crowning of the winners at MLS Cup.

Since the program kicked off in 1998 as Dribble, Pass & Score, more than one million kids have participated in the fun and free opportunity to test their soccer skills in the areas of dribbling, passing and shooting.

First round in Evergreen
Competing against roughly 20,000 contestants in the 8- to 9-year-old age group in the 10 MLS cities around the country, this young Evergreen star won the first round of DPS as a third-grader last June.

It was the third year in a row that Laurelwood had hosted a Dribble, Pass & Score event, organized by third-grade teacher Ned Zuparko in conjunction with the San Jose Earthquakes front office.

“Jason was in my third grade class last June when we did the first round of DPS, and he was one of the best 8-year-old soccer players I’ve ever seen at school,” said Zuparko. He told Jason, “If we can just keep you reading and playing soccer, you will be a great success!”

Cream of the crop
After winning round one at their local competitions, the young soccer players progressed to sectional competitions and then moved on to the Team Championship, with the top five scorers nationwide in each age division winning the opportunity to compete in the final round at MLS Cup 2004.

With approximately 150,000 participants nationwide starting at the local competitions, it would come down to awarding one first place medal to a boy and a girl in three age categories: 8- to 9-year-olds, 10- to 11-year-olds and 12- to 14-year-olds.

As a fourth grader at Laurelwood this year, Jason completed the third round at Spartan Stadium in San Jose on the last weekend in September. He had to wait a week for his scores to be compared to those of other finalists around the country.

When picking Jason up from school one week after the third round, his 13-year-old brother Brian delivered the good news that Jason had made it to the finals.

“I was hoping I made it,” said Jason. He immediately headed into his backyard to begin practicing his shooting every day until the final round, using a goal his mother Eva had purchased for him a few months before.

Jason’s brother Sergio, 15, brought Jason and some plastic orange cones to Laurelwood after school and helped Jason practice his passing accuracy, too.

Principal Dan Deguara noted how happy Jason was before school on the morning after he had gotten the call. Jason “was so excited he could hardly stand still,” said Deguara, who told the student body in the morning announcements, “We are all very proud of Jason.”

The finals
The original pool of 150,000 soccer players had now been narrowed down to just 30 kids, 15 boys and 15 girls, in their respective age divisions—Evergreen’s Jason Romero among them.

Major League Soccer and Sierra Mist flew Jason and his father Ignacio to Los Angeles and put them up in a hotel for the weekend of the MLS Cup. The DPS competition took place on Saturday, the day before the Cup Final between DC United and the Kansas City Wizards at the new Home Depot Center soccer stadium in Carson, Calif.

This was Jason’s first time at that stadium, which he described as “beautiful” and after visiting there, Jason says he thinks that here in San Jose, “There should be one stadium for the Spartans and one for the Earthquakes, and lots of practice fields.”

Pro players Pat Noonan and Kevin Hartman attended the competition and rooted the entrants on. When it came time for his age-group competition, Jason was the second of five players in the 8- to 9-year-old division to compete. Even though there were still three competitors to go, he said, “I thought I did good. I wasn’t nervous.”

The next day Jason, his dad and the other finalists and families were given seats to watch the MLS Cup Final.

Afterwards the youths were honored with a dinner and awards presentation, where Jason received his first-place medal in addition to an autographed soccer ball, and even a bobblehead of Freddy Adu, the 15-year-old phenom who plays for DC United.

Of the Dribble, Pass & Score competition, Jason said, “I think other people should do it because it is not just about winning, it’s about having fun.” When asked if he had fun, Jason grinned and replied, “Yeah … AND I won!”

About Jason Romero
Jason Romero is a fourth-grader at Laurelwood Elementary School. Academically, his teacher Michelle Correia commented, “Jason has the gift of applying real life events to his math problems.”

He began playing soccer at age 5, and now plays competitive club soccer in the Alum Rock League. Nine-year-old Jason is a starting forward for CD Tigres and the youngest player on this under-12 team.

His favorite Major League Soccer team is the San Jose Earthquakes and his favorite MLS player is Craig Waibel. He is also a huge fan of the Mexican club Atlas and dreams of playing professionally someday.