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)

UCLA football is hot, USC not, and other rivalries

The UCLA football team is 3-0 and ranked No. 19 in the nation by the Associated Press. Valencia High graduate Steven Manfro is turning out to be a big piece of Bruins puzzle.
Manfro scored the first touchdown of his career, on a 49-yard catch, in UCLA’s upset win over then No. 16 Nebraska, 36-30, at the Rose Bowl.
He scored again in UCLA’s 37-6 win over Houston. He has two touchdowns in three games and is becoming quarterback Brett Hundley’s favorite target.
Manfro is UCLA’s leader in receiving through the first three games of the season. He has 14 catches for 164 yards. He was also averaging nearly nine yards per carry in the first three games. In all fairness, he carried the ball only three times for 26 yards, but scored on a 14-yard run in garbage time against Houston. Manfro added five punt returns for 55 yards for good measure.

Mayer part of deep AVP tour

John Mayer and Brad Keenan reached the final of the AVP Championships in Santa Barbara, the second of two events on the AVP tour in 2012.
Mayer, a Thousand Oaks High graduate who played at Pepperdine in college, teamed up with Keenan for two deep runs in the only AVP tournaments.
The sixth-seeded team of Sean Rosenthal and Jake Gibb won the AVP Championships, showing how deep the competition level is on the pro beach volleyball tour.
Donald Sun, the new owner of the AVP, wants to have as many as six tournament in 2013. Whether Mayer and Keenan will be teammates next year is still a topic for discussion.
What is certain is that the teams who compete in the new AVP are going to evenly matched.
Go to the Ventura County Star for more on Mayer and Keenan and their future on the AVP.

Photo: John Mayer, with teammate Brad Keenan, reached the final match of the AVP Championships in Santa Barbara, the season finale of the AVP tour in 2012.

Palmdale the new Northern Division No. 1 team

The Canyon football team took quite a hit in the CIF Southern Section Northern Division rankings after losing to Quartz Hill, 56-49.

It was a bad loss, but was it bad enough to drop from No. 1 to No. 5 in the Northern Division poll? That seems a little much for losing a close game.

Palmdale didn’t even play last week and took over the No. 1 spot.

Hart traveled to Bakersfield to play Ridgeview, had their game postponed an hour because of the excessive heat, and won, 49-27. The Indians’ reward for playing the toughest road game of the weekend: the No. 2 spot in the Northern Division poll.

At least Valencia earned a boost in the rankings, winning its first game of the season in impressive fashion, 48-9, over then-ranked No. 10 Righetti.

The Vikings moved up to No. 6 and Righetti was knocked out of the top 10.

Mira Costa, Quartz Hill and Eastside moved in to the top 10.

Palos Verdes and San Luis Obispo dropped out with Righetti.

Here is a look at the Northern Division top 10:

NORTHERN DIVISION

1. Palmdale 3‐0

2. Hart 2‐1

3. West Torrance 2‐0

4. Arroyo Grande 3‐1

5. Canyon/C.C. 3‐0

6. Valencia/Valencia 0‐2

7. Mira Costa 2‐1

8. Quartz Hill 2‐0

9. Eastside 3‐0

10. Antelope Valley 3‐0

The Wolitarsky Watch

Canyon’s Drew Wolitarsky caught eight passes for 89 yards in his team’s 56-49 loss to Quartz Hill on Saturday night.

He is in pursuit of Steve Smith’s state records for receptions and receiving yards. Smith, a receiver with the St. Louis Rams who played high school football at Woodland Hills Taft, caught 271 passes for 4,545 yards in high school.

Wolitarsky has 226 catches for 4,333 yards in his high school career. He has 34 receptions for 460 yards in four games in his senior season.

He needs 46 catches and 213 yards to break Smith’s state records. He is averaging 8.5 catches and 115.0 yards per game.

Photo: Canyon's Drew Wolitarsky caught eight passes for 89 yards and two touchdowns against Quartz Hill on Friday night. (Credit: Tim Haddock)

Tagliani flames out; Hunter-Reay snags IndyCar Series title

What a bittersweet end to the Izod IndyCar Series for Alex Tagliani and the Barracuda Racing team.

Tagliani led 19 laps and was out front with 23 laps to go in the season finale MAVTV 500 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana.

But what the team described as mechanical problems ended Tagliani’s night prematurely. He withdrew from the race with 21 laps to go and finished 20^th.

Tagliani, driving for the team owned by Valencia’s Bryan Herta, pulled into the pits and relinquished the lead with smoke seeping from the car’s engine. It looked like the engine burned up.

“I think we were the car to beat at the end,” Tagliani said. “I won’t lie, it’s disappointing, but I would race with Honda any given day. I’m very thankful that they allowed us back into their group. I’m a Honda driver and I want to race with them for a long time. These are things that happen. It’s racing, it’s mechanical and it’s out of our control.”

Ed Carpenter won the race taking the lead from Dario Franchitti on the last lap.

Ryan Hunter-Reay won the IndyCar Series championship by the slimmest of margins. He finished fourth in the race and edged out Will Power by three points to win the series title.

Power entered the IndyCar Series season finale with the lead in the standings. But he spun out and crashed early in the race. His team repaired his car and he returned to the race briefly.

Power ended up with a 24^th-place finish and completed on 66 laps.

“It was team effort right there,” said Hunter-Reay, driver of the No. 28 Honda for Andretti Autosport. “We were struggling all weekend. I didn't want to let anyone really know about it. We were really in the woods. This hasn't sunk in yet. I just drove 500 miles for my life.”

Photo: Alex Tagliani was leading the Izod IndyCar Series season finale at Auto Club Speedway when his engine blew with 21 laps remaining in the race. (Credit: Tim Haddock)

Annika Dries returns to Laguna Beach as an Olympic champion

Annika Dries started swimming at the Laguna Beach Community Pool when she was 7 years old. She joined the junior lifeguard program and eventually the girls club water polo team.
She became one of the best water polo players in Orange County in high school and earned a spot on the United States women's water polo team.
The women won gold in the Summer Olympics in London. Dries returned to Laguna Beach to share her gold medal with the community that built her road to the Olympics.
Go to the Team USA website for more on Dries and her homecoming.

Photo: Annika Dries and the United States women's water polo team won gold at the Summer Olympics in London. (Credit: Tim Haddock)