Following the Te'o trail to Palmdale

It wasn’t until I received a Facebook message from a friend of a friend asking if I could help cover a story for USA Today that I started giving Lennay Kekua any more than a passing thought.

Of course Lennay doesn’t exist. She is the fake girlfriend of Notre Dame star linebacker Manti Te’o. She made for a great story though, becoming the tragic love interest of one of the most popular college football players in the country.

But instead of living happily ever after, like in all good fairy tales, she wound up in a car accident, then contracted leukemia and died. Te’o told Sports Illustrated and ESPN, among other reputable media outlets, about his girlfriend’s tragic demise. They all bought it, never once stopping to ask if she had any family members, friends or classmates who were grieving as passionately as Te’o.

Te’o claimed he was duped. Writers and editors at Sports Illustrated claimed they were duped. Reporters and producers at ESPN claimed they were duped. As the hoax unraveled, a trail led to Palmdale, where the suspected creator of the fake girlfriend lived.

Paraclete eliminates San Dimas in Mid-Valley football semifinals

Paraclete quarterback Tyler Carvalho threw three touchdown passes and iced the game with a bruising 4-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter in a 28-20 win over San Dimas in the CIF Southern Section Mid-Valley Division semifinals on Friday night.
San Dimas took a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, but Carvalho threw two touchdown passes in the second quarter to tie the score.
A last second field goal gave San Dimas a 17-14 lead at halftime.
Carvalho threw his third touchdown of the game in the third quarter to give the Spirits their first lead, 21-17. The Paraclete quarterback scored his team's fourth touchdown to give the Spirits an eight-point lead.
Paraclete will play Monrovia in the Mid-Valley championship game next week.
Go to the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin for more on the game between Paraclete and San Dimas.

Photo: Tyler Carvalho (11) and the Paraclete football team prepare for their semifinal playoff game against San Dimas at Antelope Valley College. (Credit: Tim Haddock)

Jurupa Hills eliminates Fillmore from East Valley Division playoffs

The Fillmore football team had home-field advantage in the first round of the CIF Southern Section East Valley Division playoffs, but it didn't do the players much good.
Visiting Jurupa Hills had a 23-point lead at halftime and scored three touchdowns in the third quarter in a 47-19 blowout.
Fillmore running back Collin Farrar rushed for a game-high 185 yards and scored a touchdown. Josue Valenzuela scored a touchdown on a 60-yard fumble return and had an interception. But that was about all the highlights for the Flashes.
Jurupa Hills quarterback Damion Wright threw three touchdown passes and running back Wayman Cooley scored two touchdowns.
Go to the Ventura County Star for more on the game between Jurupa Hills and Fillmore.

Photo: The Fillmore football team lost to Jurupa Hills in the first round of the CIF Southern Section East Valley Division playoffs. (Credit: Tim Haddock)

Ventura College completes 10-0 football season

Ventura College back-up quarterback Chase Smith guided his team to a come-from-behind, 27-14, win over visiting Pasadena City College on Saturday night. Smith threw one touchdown pass, rushed for another and led Ventura in rushing with 103 yards on 14 carries. Ventura completed a 10-0 regular season, its first perfect record in school history. Smith's touchdown run in the third quarter gave Ventura its first lead of the game, 20-14. The Pirates trailed Pasadena 14-6 in the first half and 14-13 at halftime. Go to the Ventura County Star for more on the game between Ventura and Pasadena.

Photo: The Ventura football team celebrates its 27-14 win over Pasadena City College and its first 10-0 season in school history. (Credit: Tim Haddock)

Moorpark beats Westlake on last-second field goal

Source: tout.com via Tim on Pinterest

Moorpark Eric Kreitz kicked a 36-yard field goal with no time left on the game clock in his team's 38-35 win over Westlake in the third-place game in the Marmonte League.
Moorpark will play Alemany, the Mission League champion, in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Northern Division playoffs on Friday night.
Westlake plays Mission Viejo, the No. 2 seed in the Pac-5 Division and the champion of the South Coast League, in the first round of playoffs.
Go to the Ventura County Star for more on the game between Moorpark and Westlake.

Famous fathers and their football sons

Cordell Broadus is developing into a top-recruited wide receiver at Diamond Bar High School. He already has a scholarship offer from UCLA and is drawing interest from Duke University and the University of Oregon.
His father is Snoop Dogg. If Broadus ends up at UCLA, he will be teammates with another son of hip-hop icon.
Justin Combs, a red-shirt freshman defensive back at UCLA, is the son of Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs.
But Justin Combs didn't exactly receive a warm welcome when he decided to attend UCLA on a football scholarship. He met criticism for accepting a scholarship to UCLA when his dad was such a rich and successful entertainer and singer.
Will the same reception await Broadus if he ultimately decides to go to UCLA or any other college to play football?
Time will tell. For now, Broadus is weighing his offers and looking forward to playing football at Diamond Bar and UCLA.
Go to SB Nation for more on Broadus, Combs and their famous fathers.

Photo: Cordell Broadus, a sophomore wide receiver at Diamond Bar High School, is becoming a top college recruit at wide receiver. (Credit: Tim Haddock)

Carpinteria rallies for win against Santa Paula

Caprinteria scored three touchdowns in the third quarter, erased a 14-point halftime deficit and won its first Tri-Valley League game, 35-22, against Santa Paula.
Jonathan Esqueda, Paul Cortez and Peter Ranos each scored in the third quarter. Esqueda started the touchdown barrage with a 60-yard run on the first play from scrimmage in the third quarter.
It was another tough loss for Santa Paula. The Cardinals were up 14-0 at halftime on touchdowns by Corey Peck and Juan Carlos Magana.
Esqueda led all rusher with 167 yards and two touchdowns.
Magana led Santa Paula in rushing with 138 yards and two touchdowns.
Go to the Ventura County Star for more on the game between Carpinteria and Santa Paula.

Photo: The Santa Paula football team warms up before its game against Carpinteria. (Credit: Tim Haddock)

Top 10 athletes turned actors

With the passing of Alex Karras, I started thinking about some of my favorite athletes turned actors.

Karras was one of them. He might best be remembered as the dad on “Webster.” But I remember him best as Mongo from “Blazing Saddles.”

Mongo just pawn in game of life. He was more than a pawn in that movie. He arguably had the best character in “Blazing Saddles.”

Here are my top 10 athletes turned actors.

10. Bob Uecker – He was a teammate of Hank Aaron, a World Series champion with the Milwaukee Braves and he was great as Harry Doyle from “Major League.” But he was probably playing himself, which isn’t much of a stretch for an actor. His day job is as a broadcaster for the Milwaukee Brewers. That makes his inclusion in the top five just a bit outside.

9. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – Loved him in “Airplane” as Capt. Roger Murdoch. Or was he playing himself too? “Listen kid! I’ve been hearing that crap ever since I was at UCLA. I’m out there busting my buns every night. Tell your old man to drag Walton and Lanier up and down the court for 48 minutes.”

Fillmore football team crushes Santa Clara on Senior Night

The Fillmore High football team scored four touchdowns in the second half and beat visiting Santa Clara, 41-7, in a Frontier League game on Friday night.
Fillmore's Collin Farrar scored four touchdowns, all on the ground, and led his team to its second league win of the season.
The Flashes are ranked No. 10 in the Southern Section East Valley Division poll and 2-0 in Frontier League play.
Fillmore was up 20-7 at halftime. Farrar scored all three touchdowns for the Flashes in the first half. He finished with 192 yards rushing.
Teammate Andrey Sanchez rushed for 107 yards and caught a 60-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter.
Go to the Ventura County Star for more on the game between Fillmore and Santa Clara.

Photo: The seniors on the football team, as well as the girls golf team, pep squad, band and color guard were honored before the game between Fillmore and Santa Clara at Fillmore High School. (Credit: Tim Haddock)

Dodgers end season on a hot streak, but fall short of playoffs

The Dodgers finally caught fire, but it was a little too late to do any damage in the National League playoffs.
They put together a little six-game winning streak in the final week of the season and averaged nearly seven runs a game.
This is the kind of offense Dodgers fans can expect next season. Too bad it didn’t do them any good this season.
Still, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly told MLB.com there is no reason to think his players can produce like this on a regular basis.
“It’s good. It’s kind of fun playing like this,” Mattingly said. “It makes you think, ‘Why can’t you do this over the course of a season or a month?’”
Why, indeed.
It would have been nice if the Dodger bats woke up a month ago.
Adrian Gonzalez put together a 13-game hitting streak over the final two weeks of the season. It was the longest hitting streak for any Dodger this season. It started on Sept. 19 against the Washington Nationals. He hit .396 during the streak and the Dodgers were 9-4 over those 13 games.
Gonzalez had two hits, including his 47th double of the season, a career-high, against the Giants on Monday.
Matt Kemp ended the season on a hot note as well. He hit .458 with four home runs and nine RBIs in seven games from Sept. 24 to Oct. 1.
Luis Cruz was a tough out during that same time span, hitting .320 with a home run and four RBIs. He hit .313 in September and had the second-highest batting average on the team for the month.
Little-used Elian Herrera even got into the hitting act with a game-winning, RBI single against the Giants in a game the Dodgers needed to win to stay alive in the playoff picture.

Fillmore football team wins Frontier League opener

Behind the arm and legs of quarterback Carson McClain, the Fillmore football team won its Frontier League opener, 27-6, over visiting Grace Brethren on Friday night.
McClain accounted for all four of Fillmore's touchdowns. He threw two touchdown passes and rushed for two more TDs as the Fillmore football team gradually wore down the Grace Brethren defense.
McClain completed only three passes in the game. Two of them went to Andrey Sanchez for touchdowns. McClain's first touchdown pass came in the second quarter to give Fillmore a 7-0 lead at halftime.
His second touchdown pass came at the end of the third quarter to put Fillmore up 20-0.
Grace Brethren scored its only touchdown of the game in the final minute of the fourth quarter.
Go to the Ventura County Star for more on the game between Fillmore and Grace Brethren.

Photo: The Fillmore defense shut out Grace Brethren for three quarters and didn't give up a touchdown until the final minute of the game. (Credit: Tim Haddock)

Virginia transplant shines for Channel Islands

AJ Oto, a junior transfer from Virginia on the Channel Islands football team, scored three touchdowns in the fourth quarter and paced his team to a 24-7 win over Santa Paula.
Oto scored two rushing touchdowns and gained 269 yards on the ground. He had 109 yards rushing in the first quarter and 156 yards at halftime.
But his biggest play of the game came on a 50-yard interception return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter.
His younger brother, freshman Roy Oto, intercepted a pass in the game as well.
Senior Saili Oto, the oldest of the three brothers and one of the team captains, anchored a defense at safety that allowed only seven points to a team averaging 31.5 points per game.
Go to the Ventura County Star for more on the game between Santa Paula and Channel Islands

Photo: The Channel Islands football team warms up before its game against host Santa Paula. (Credit: Tim Haddock)

Northern Division top three teams hold strong

The top three teams in the CIF Southern Section Northern Division poll all had big wins.
The next seven teams were not as impressive.
Canyon, the No. 1 team in the Northern Division, easily beat Knight, 56-27. Cade Apsay is emerging as the top quarterback in the Northern Division. He threw for 425 yards and four touchdowns and added a 5-yard touchdown run against Knight of Lancaster.
Hart, the No. 2 team in the Northern Division, blew out La Palma Kennedy, 51-3. The preseason No. 1 team won its first game of the season after losing to Tesoro, 10-7, in the first week of the season.
Arroyo Grande posted an impressive, 34-14, win over Templeton.
San Luis Obispo won its first game of the season and, curiously moved up to No. 4. Probably because some of the other teams in the top 10 had some tough losses.
Palos Verdes lost to Central of Fresno, 25-22, has an 0-2 record and dropped to No. 8 in the Northern Division.
Valencia lost to Chaminade, 41-27, also has an 0-2 record and dropped to No. 9.
Eastside, at 3-0, is waiting in the wings if Valencia or Palos Verdes lose again.

Here is a look at the Northern Division:
NORTHERN DIVISION

1. Canyon/C.C. 3‐0
2. Hart 1‐1
3. Arroyo Grande 2‐1
4. San Luis Obispo 1‐2
5. Antelope Valley 2‐0
6. Palmdale 3‐0
7. West Torrance 2‐0
8. Palos Verdes 0‐2
9. Valencia/Valencia 0‐2
10. Righetti 1‐2

The Wolitarsky Watch

Canyon’s Drew Wolitarsky caught 11 passes for 184 yards  and a touchdown against Knight on Friday night. He is in pursuit of the state records for receptions and receiving yards set by Steve Smith.

Wolitarsky has 218 catches and 4,244 yards in his career at Canyon. Smith, who played high school football at Woodland Hills Taft and is a receiver with the St. Louis Rams, holds the state records with 271 catches and 4,545 yards.

Wolitarsky has 26 catches for 371 yards in three games this season. Canyon is off to a 3-0 start after beating Knight, 56-27.

Wolitarsky needs 54 catches and 302 yards to break Smith’s records. The Canyon senior is averaging 8.6 catches and 123.6 receiving yards per game.

Photo: Canyon's Drew Wolitarsky is in pursuit of Steve Smith's two receiving records. (Credit: Tim Haddock)

Delays at Dodger Stadium and the trade with the Red Sox

Sung to the tune of “Take Me Out To the Ball Game” with apologies to Jack Norworth:

Take me out to the ball game
Except on Vin Scully bobblehead night
Cuz if you run late
(Let’s face it, if you live in LA, who doesn’t run late?)
They’ll make you wait
Outside the gate for an hour
If your son scoots, scoots, scoots away from you
Security will make you stay
For it’s one, two, three innings you’ll miss
At the old ball game.

Suffice it to say, not a good time was had by all at Vin Scully bobblehead night at Dodger Stadium. Not only did the Dodgers lose to the Arizona Diamondbacks, 2-0, but it took nearly an hour to get into the stadium while Vin Scully bobbleheads were passed out at the gates.

Photo: Fans waited for about an hour to get into Dodger Stadium on Vin Scully bobblehead night. (Credit: Tim Haddock)

Five high school football players removed from team after hooker scandal

Talk about pay to play.
Five players from a high school football team in Maryland were removed from the team after reportedly hiring prostitutes after a game.
Here is the link to the story. The players are from DeMatha. The hotel is in North Carolina. The game was against Hillside. DeMatha won, as if that matters anymore.

Santa Margarita remains No. 1 in Pac-5 Division poll

Santa Margarita held on to the No. 1 spot in the CIF Southern Section Pac-5 Division poll after a resounding 35-6 win over Jordan.

Quarterback Johnny Stanton threw two touchdown passes, rushed for two more touchdowns and paced his team to a blowout win.

Oaks Christian is showing no mercy. The Lions won for the second week in a row and maintained the No. 2 spot in the Pac-5 Division top 10.

Oaks Christian beat Granite Bay, 48-13, and knocked off another powerhouse team from Northern California. Oaks Christian has outscored its opponents, 88-13, having shut out Del Oro, 40-0, in Week Zero.

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame traveled to Ireland and won its first game of the season. The Knights beat Hamilton from Chandler, Ariz., 27-15. Every team in the Pac-5 Division has at least one win. Notre Dame, at No. 8, is the only team with a loss.

Here is a look at the Pac-5 Division top 10:

PAC‐5 DIVISION

1. Santa Margarita 2‐0

2. Oaks Christian 2‐0

3. Westlake 2‐0

4. Tesoro 2‐0

5. Alemany 2‐0

6. San Clemente 2‐0

7. Mission Viejo 2‐0

8. Notre Dame/S.O. 1‐1

9. Mater Dei 1‐0

10. St. Bonaventure 2‐0

The Wolitarsky Watch

Canyon’s Drew Wolitarsky caught 10 passes for 129 yards in his team’s 56-48 win over Clovis West on Saturday night.

He has 15 catches for 187 yards this season as he closes in on Steve Smith’s state records for receptions and receiving yards.

Wolitarsky needs 65 more catches and 486 receiving yards to break Smith’s records of 271 catches and 4,545 receiving yards set while he was playing at Woodland Hills Taft in high school. Smith is now a receiver with the St. Louis Rams in the NFL.

Wolitarsky broke the Canyon school record for receiving yards in the game against Clovis West. He has 4,060 yards receiving in his career at Canyon. He has 207 career receptions at Canyon, also a school record.

Photo: Canyon High receiver Drew Wolitarsky is chasing Steve Smith for the state record in receptions and receiving yards. (Credit: Tim Haddock)

Royal rallies against Golden Valley

The Royal football team scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns and beat host Golden Valley, 24-20, at Canyon High School.
Derick Okpaise scored on a 97-yard kickoff return and Kyle Jaeger caught a 16-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter as Royal erased an 11-point deficit.
Royal beat Golden Valley for the fourth year in a row. Highlanders quarterback Anthony Couch threw for 229 yards and two touchdowns.
Go to the Ventura County Star for more on the game.

Photo: Royal quarterback Anthony Couch was 17 of 28 passing for 229 yards and two touchdowns against Golden Valley. (Credit: Tim Haddock)

Folsom QB ties national record with 10 TD passes

Sophomore quarterback Jake Browning from Folsom certainly turned some heads, especially those of the Woodcreek of Roseville defenders on Friday night. Browning tied a national record with 10 touchdown passes in his team's 68-28 win over Woodcreek. He was 34 for 51 passing for 686 yards, according to the Sacramento Bee.